February, 2011

• 7 February

  EU threatens Balkan countries with reimposing visas because false asylum seekers

  False asylum seekers could bring back EU visas for Serbia and other countries, warnings from Brussels said. As Serbian government officials delivered their answers to the EU questionnaire recently, they were told that a “concrete strategy to reduce the number of illegal immigrants needed to be created”. The European Union …

  Read More »
• 7 February

  Italian Foreign Minister visits Belgrade

  Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini will visit Belgrade on Monday. Frattini will meet with Serbian President Boris Tadić, Deputy Prime Minister for EU Integration Božidar Đelić and Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić. The Italian FM will discuss with Serbian officials the country’s EU integration and regional cooperation, in light of the …

  Read More »
• 7 February

  Turkish Foreign Minister to visit Georgia

  Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will have an official visit to Georgia on Feb.11-12.  Davutoglu is set to hold meetings in Batumi and Tbilisi. During the visit it is not planned to conclude a memorandum on cultural monuments between the two countries, but this issue may be discussed.

  Read More »
• 7 February

  Bulgaria and Romania to join Schengen when they are ready, even if it takes years

  Bulgaria and Romania must take as much time as they need in order to get one hundred percent ready for joining the Schengen Area, which will probably not be just a few months, according to the French EU

  Read More »
• 7 February

  Tens of thousands rallied for early elections in Belgrade

  Tens of thousands of people gathered on Saturday (February 5th) in front of the parliament building in Belgrade at a rally organised by the opposition Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). Its leader, Tomislav Nikolic, gave the government two months to call early elections or face the risk of continuous protests. SNS …

  Read More »
• 7 February

  Albanian protests ended without incidents

  Anti-government rallies organised by the opposition in Tirana and three other cities ended on Friday (February 4th) without incident. According to the organisers, the demonstrations were attended by 100,000 people

  Read More »
• 7 February

  Macedonian president agrees to meet opposition on Monday

  Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov has called a political leaders’ meeting for Monday (February 7th), to discuss the current situation in the parliament following a boycott staged by the opposition. Opposition parties led by SDSM walked out of parliament last week to protest the freezing of the private A1 television channel’s …

  Read More »
• 7 February

  France and The Netherlands ask for Monitoring mechanism for Bosnia and Albania

  The Netherlands and France have asked for a monitoring mechanism for the visa-free regime for BiH and Albania. In a letter sent to the European Commission (EC), the two countries said the time has come to introduce such a mechanism and sanctions should be imposed in case of abuses. Citizens …

  Read More »
• 6 February

  Egyptian government held talks with opposition

  Egypt’s government held talks with the country’s opposition groups today in Cairo. The Muslim Brotherhood was given a place at the table for the first time in decades. Many had refused

  Read More »
• 4 February

  Egyptian Vice-President says Muslim Brotherhood are invited to negotiations

  The Egyptian vice president has called for the protests to end. Speaking on state television he said all the protestors’ demands are being addressed. Asked if opposition parties like the Muslim brotherhood had been invited to negotiations, Suleiman said that they had, as part of a national dialogue. But he …

  Read More »