Dissension
Macedonian president Branko Crvenkovski and head of the Macedonian parliament Ljubisa Georgievski said that Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin's seemingly anti-Macedonian statements were related to Bulgaria's upcoming presidential elections. On July 24, Kalfin said that Bulgaria's support for Macedonia's European Union entry would not be unconditional, and insisted on the latter's respect for Bulgaria's history and nationship. Macedonian media said that President Georgi Purvanov, who is a candidate in the upcoming elections, supported his statement. "We do not have any pretenses to the past of the Bulgarian nation and its people, quite the opposite," Crvenkovski said on August 1. This was his first reaction to Kalfin's words. As of yet, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry refuses to satisfy Macedonian demands to officially account for Kalfin's words. In another development, VMRO-DPMNE, which won the July elections in Macedonia, excluded the biggest party of Macedonian Albanians - the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) - from the government, even after DUI threatened Macedonia with organised unrest in the case of the latter.

Differings
Serbia will continue to oppose an independent Kosovo even if that puts its EU bid at stake, prime minister Vojislav Kostunica told the Belgrade daily Danas. Entry into the EU requires meeting certain conditions that do not include ceding territories, Kostunica said. It is an idea of "some within the international community" that this should happen, he said. Recently, Slovenian foreign minister Dimitrij Rupel travelled to Belgrade to propose a meeting of Central and Eastern European leaders on the Kosovo issue. Any future solution must be agreed upon, not imposed, Rupel said.

Discourse
On July 28, Bosnia and Hercegovina completed its third round of technical talks about a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU in Sarajevo. The head of the European Commission's negotiation team, Dirk Lange, said the primary focus was issues related to customs policy and trade.

Development
Albania's overall macroeconomic performance was good, but the government should step up structural reforms to ensure economic growth and attract high-quality investments. This is what an International Monetary Fund board review of Albania's economic performance under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility arrangement, and the Extended Fund Facility arrangement said.

Money
The EBRD will give Croatia a 50-million euro loan to modernise the Zagreb-Rijeka motorway, which seeks to improve access to Croatia's coastline and boost trade and tourism, the Southeast European Times said.