Serbian constitution
A new constitution for Serbia was approved by voters in a referendum on October 28 and 29. About 51 per cent of voters approved the constitution, according to the country's election commission.  On October 29, Serbian parliament Speaker Predrag Markovic said that, if the referendum on the new constitution was successful, he would do everything he could to hold a session of parliament, at which it would be proclaimed, on November 5. The new constitution pre-empts UN-backed talks on the status of Kosovo, which are meant to draft a settlement by the end of this year, by asserting that Kosovo is an integral part of Serbia.

Romanian European commissioner
European Commission president Jose Manuel Durao Barroso has announced the confirmation of Leonard Orban for the post of European Commissioner representing Romania. Orban will be the commissioner in charge of multilingualism. As Romania's chief negotiator on EU accession, he has been the counterpart of Bulgaria's Meglena Kouneva, also appointed as an EU commissioner.

Earlier, Romanian senator Varujan Vosganian withdrew his bid to be Romania's European Commissioner after failing to win backing from EU officials.

Vosganian (48) denied allegations of links to the former secret police, but withdrew, he said, to prevent damage to Romania's image.

The EU and Albania
The European Union sent a message to Albania on October 26 that holding free and fair elections was an important factor if the country wanted to achieve its aim of joining the European Union. Albania is to hold local elections between December 20 and January 20, but the country's two main political parties have yet to begin an electoral reform they agreed to in late August after international mediation. They even disagree on the date of the municipal vote, with the opposition Socialist Party saying it should not be held until the spring because Albania's bitterly cold winters could prevent people in rural areas from voting. The Socialists also alleged that the government was distributing birth certificates that could be used to manipulate election results.

Greek `unrecorded funds'
Most Greek government ministers have access to about seven billion euro each year that are not recorded in Greece's national budget but are kept in bank accounts which the ministers manage as they see fit, the October 29 edition of Greek newspaper Kathimerini quoted sources as saying.The funds are allegedly derived from several legal sources, such as fines and payment for licences issued by the ministries, but are not entered into Greece's accounts. According to the newspaper, sources said that the money was deposited into 60 bank accounts which belonged to 13 of the country's 19 ministries. Ministers allegedly used some of the money to pay unrecorded bonuses to their staff, sources said, according to Kathimerini.