Serbia speaks on Macedonia name dispute – reports

Greece’s alternate foreign minister Dimitris Droutsas in talks in Belgrade at the start of a Western Balkans tour.

Macedonian PM Gruevski in Bulgaria

Macedonia, hoping for Bulgarian support for its potential EU accession process, was expected to hear tough talk from Sofia on a change of attitudes towards Bulgarians.

Belgrade mourns death of French fan beaten by hooligans

Serbian president Boris Tadic has vowed severe punishment for those who beat Brice Taton to death, while Paris has called for the perpetrators to face justice.

Greece’s snap election ‘suspends’ Macedonia name dispute talks – media

Attempts to resolve long-standing dispute could go on hold until the end of the year as UN mediator reportedly goes on leave and Greece goes to the polls, while Greek opposition Pasok pledges to resolve the dispute with Skopje through ‘reconciliation’.

Bildt to Croatia and Slovenia: ‘Cool it’

Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt, whose country currently holds the EU Presidency, has urged Croatia and Slovenia to tone down their rhetoric in their border dispute that is blocking Croatia’s EU accession hopes.

Kosovo aims to join UN in five years – foreign minister

Many things depend on the geopolitical situation outside Kosovo, especially among UN Security Council members and Russia’s approach, deputy prime minister Hajredin Kuqi said.

Serbia, Macedonia welcome Schengen visa decision

European Commission recommendation to allow citizens of Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia Schengen visa-free travel from January 2010 welcomed by those countries, but disappointment in Bosnia and Kosovo as they are left out.

Economies and the ‘hood

Bulgaria’s five neighbouring countries have economic troubles of their own

Headscarf-wearing Belgian MP sworn in

Mahinur Ozdemir becomes the first woman MP in Europe to wear a Muslim headscarf after being sworn in to the Brussels parliament, a day after Nicolas Sarkozy says headscarves have no place in France, while the Belgian city of Antwerp bans headscarves and other religious symbols in schools.

A matter of law

Serbia’s campaign to get the International Court of Justice to say that Kosovo’s independence is illegitimate goes a step further

Macedonia to take new steps against economic crisis – reports

First attempts failed; private sector urges government cost-cutting while economists propose measures including new agreement with IMF.

Albania to file for EU candidacy on April 28 - Balkan Insight

The Albanian government is expected to apply for European Union candidate status on April 28, sources in Tirana and Brussels have told Balkan Insight

Macedonia poised for elections run-off on April 5

Polls say Georgi Ivanov will win presidency, while second round of mayoral elections being held in Skopje and 43 municipalities

Ivanov set to win Macedonia presidential election runoff - poll

Ruling party's candidate heads for victory on April 5, but many do not intend voting and also-rans decline to endorse finalists

A revolution with no name

In an interview marking the release of the English-language version of his book The Good Balkans – the title refers to Bulgaria – Jack Hamilton mulls on the past, present and future of the country

Macedonia on the eve of campaigns for March 22 elections

Party leaders meet to try to ensure voting goes peacefully, a key condition for Macedonia's European hopes; 'name dispute' with Greece to be big issue

Pope says Macedonia deserves place in united Europe, hopes for resolution of `name dispute' with Greece - reports

Pope Benedict XVI told Macedonian president Branko Crvenkovski that the country deserved to take its place in united Europe, and he hoped that the prolonged dispute between Skopje and Athens over the use of the name "Macedonia" would be resolved, according to Macedonian media reports.

Foreign briefs

US enacts preferential trade deal With Kosovo

A few weeks before handing over his mandate, United States president George W. Bush has included Kosovo in a list of developing countries that may export goods to the US without customs tariffs under the "Generalised System of Preferences" programme. "At the day of the declaration of Kosovo's independence from Serbia, I decided Kosovo to be a beneficiary country from this program", a White House statement said, referring to Kosovo's February 17 secession from Serbia.

Thaci sees Kosovo-Macedonia diplomatic thaw

Kosovo and neighbouring Macedonia will soon settle a border demarcation dispute and establish formal diplomatic relations, Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said on December 22 after a meeting with a Macedonian Albanian leader. "We expect that in the next couple of days, the issue of demarcation be closed, and then we will proceed with the protocol aspects of diplomatic relations," Thaci told reporters after meeting Imer Selmani, leader of a small ethnic Albanian minority party in Macedonia.

Macedonia outlines 2009 priorities

Nato membership, progress towards the European Union and the scrapping of visa requirements for EU travel are Macedonia's top priorities for 2009, Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki says. Macedonia this year failed to enter Nato due to a Greek blockade in April over the country's constitutional name, which Athens insists implies Skopje's territorial claims over its own province of the same name.

EU losing lustre among candidates

The European Union is losing the broad popular support it once enjoyed in the three candidate countries - Macedonia, Turkey and Croatia - the latest survey by Eurobarometer showed. Among the three nations, the EU is most popular in Macedonia, where accession is supported by 62 percent of the population. The same figure was 72 percent when the survey was last done in spring.

EU's Kosovo mission to open Serbia office

Following last week's successful deployment of the EU's law-and-order mission to Kosovo, EULEX, the mission's chief has announced it has to open an office in Serbia's capital. "We need connections with all regional countries as we do with Europol or Interpol," said Yves de Kermabon, referring to regional and international policing bodies.

Greece: Nato, UN back Athens over Macedonia

Athens' demands from Skopje are backed by Nato and the United Nations, Greek foreign minister Dora Bakoyannis said on December 15 in an interview with German media. Greece argues that Macedonia should change its name if it wishes to enter Nato and eventually the European Union. Athens says that the name `Republic of Macedonia' implies Skopje's territorial claims over Greece's own northern province which is also called Macedonia.

Dutch minister puts pressure on Serbia

Serbia can only achieve full cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal once wartime Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic is at The Hague court, the Dutch Foreign Minister tells Balkan Insight. Maxime Verhagen also revealed in an interview with Balkan Insight that in spring, Serbia's Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic promised his European counterparts that if a pro-European government came to power in Belgrade then the first thing Serbia's government will do is arrest Mladic. "We discussed at the signing of the SAA with Serbian President Boris Tadic and Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeremic, exactly those conditions, that there was from the beginning no difference of opinion on what was expected and what was hoped for from Serbia. Jeremic also assured `when we win the elections, we will arrest Mladic`,Ó Verhagen said. Seven months on after the election, and Mladic - who is accused among other war crimes of genocide during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia, including the massacre of some 8,000 Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) in Srebrenica in 1995 - is still evading justice. Serbia signed a key European Union pre-membership deal in April but due to ongoing opposition from the Netherlands, Belgrade cannot reap the benefits of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, SAA, until Mladic is at The Hague. Asked whether his country could agree to "unfreeze" the SAA if Mladic is not arrested he said: "I have always said that having Mladic in Scheweningen is the best proof of full cooperation. What we want is full cooperation with The Tribunal."

`No Kosovo, no EU' Serbia tells Brussels

Serbia's foreign minister says Belgrade will say "no" to further European integration if it was forced to choose between joining the EU and fighting to preserve its sovereignty over Kosovo. Vuk Jeremic was addressing the parliamentary foreign affairs council regarding Serbia's top foreign policy priorities, which consist of protecting its territorial integrity and sovereignty, to become a European Union member state, and maintaining good relations with neighbouring countries.

Macedonia president: 'name' talks blocked

Talks between Greece and Macedonia at the UN over the 'name row' are practically blocked with no signs of progress, Macedonia's President Branko Crvenkovski has claimed. "The stalemate in negotiations means that our integration into Nato and the European Union are also blocked," Crvenkovski said in an interview with the local Alsat-M TV station.

France warns Macedonia over 'name row'

Even if Macedonia meets all the necessary reform requirements, Skopje cannot progress in its bid to join the European Union unless the "name row" with Greece is solved, France has warned. "Without the resolution of the name issue, we cannot move forward, because this issue has to be solved first," the French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, warned on the evening of December 8 after the European Union foreign ministers' meeting.

Doubts hang over Kosovo's EU prospects

An European Union study on Kosovo's bid to join the bloc is being hampered by the reluctance from member states that have not yet recognised Kosovo's independence, Balkan Insight has learnt. The "feasibility study" reviews the position of a country on whether it is ready to take the first steps towards membership of the bloc.

French president Sarkozy in Poland for talks with Eastern Europe leaders on CO2 emissions

French president Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, is in Poland on December 6 2008 for talks with the prime ministers of nine Central and Eastern European countries on the EU's climate change package.