Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić believes that the success of the Irish EU referendum marks a “new episode in the development of the EU”. He thinks that the expected positive result of the referendum opens the door to all European peoples including those in the Western Balkans.
Posts Tagged ‘Western Balkans’
“U.S. supports Serbia’s EU path”
October 1st, 2009 |
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A stable, prosperous and democratic Serbia is of key importance for regional stability and cooperation, says a senior U.S. official. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Stuart E. Jones was speaking at a debate on challenges in the Western Balkans and measures for overcoming them, held before the U.S. Helsinki Commission, Voice of America reports.
“Western Balkans belong in EU”
September 30th, 2009 |
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French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner says that Serbia and the whole region belong “without doubt in the EU.†He told daily VeÄernje Novosti that the process of “unfreezing†in the Western Balkans had started with the warming of relations between Slovenia and Croatia, adding that “warmer†days would come for the rest of the frozen processes in the region, including the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) between the EU and Serbia.
Tadić warms up for GA address
September 25th, 2009 |
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President Boris Tadić will address the 64th UN General Assembly today, which is being attended by over 100 heads of state and government. Tadić has held a series of bilateral meetings during his stay in New York, visited Columbia University where he gave a lecture on the theme “Opportunity amidst Crisis: Consolidating the European Future of the Western Balkans,“ and attended a round table on climate change.
“Europe mustn’t forget Western Balkans”
September 22nd, 2009 |
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Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis says that Europe must not forget about Serbia and the Western Balkans. Bakoyannis told daily VeÄernje Novosti that Europe must provide firm support to these countries.
“Kosovo’s European future uncertain”
September 18th, 2009 |
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Kosovo’s European future is currently a long way off due to serious hurdles, a conference of experts at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington concluded. “At the EU summit in Thessaloniki six years ago, it was stated that all the states of the Western Balkans would one day become Union members, Kosovo included,” said former UNMIK Chief Soren Jessen Petersen, Voice of America reports.
French FM: Balkans first, then Turkey
September 6th, 2009 |
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French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner says Turkey does not top the list of EU candidates, “because all of the Western Balkans” must join first. “For now we are opening up one negotiations chapter at a time, which takes time,” Koucher was quoted as saying in Sweden as he informally met with his Turkish counterpart Amhet Davutoglu
4,000 missing persons on commission’s list
August 30th, 2009 |
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Of some 16,000 people missing in the Western Balkans, around 4,000 are on the Serbian government’s Commission for the Missing Persons list. This is according to Commission President Veljko Odalović, who on Friday in Belgrade also said that “even though there is a large number of people whose destiny was not revealed, the process of exhumation and identification has come to a serious halt in the past two years”.
Tadić on “wave” of crime, terrorism
August 6th, 2009 |
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President Boris Tadić stated that Serbia will face “a new wave of regional organized crime”. “For the first time in our history we are facing trans-continental organized crime in the Western Balkans. Serbia, as this part of the Balkans’ central country, requires an exceptionally prepared police system to face these challenges,” he told the Serbian police (MUP) publication Police Today (Policija Danas).
“UNMIK still status neutral”
July 24th, 2009 |
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The UN’s position on Kosovo remains neutral, says UNMIK spokesman Russell Geekie.
“I do not believe that the UN has been sidelined, but it’s natural that the EU should play a major role given the Western Balkans’ European perspective,†Geekie told daily Danas.
Rehn begins Balkan tour in Belgrade
July 22nd, 2009 |
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EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has arrived in Belgrade at the start of a three-day tour of the Western Balkans. Rehn arrives in Belgrade seven days after the European Commission adopted recommendations to scrap the visa regime for citizens of Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia traveling to the EU by January 1, 2010.
EP chief on importance of Balkan integration
July 21st, 2009 |
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The new president of the European Parliament has stressed the importance of the Western Balkans’ integration into EU structures provided all conditions are met. “The situation in the Balkans is now promising. Today, there are no longer the tensions that we knew in the past. The countries of the region are now knocking at the EU’s door. We can admit new members, what’s more, in a entirely natural manner. But, the conditions need to be met first,†Jerzy Buzek told daily VeÄernje Novosti.
Serbs set for visa-free EU travel
July 15th, 2009 |
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Citizens of Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro should be allowed to travel to most EU nations without visas, the European Commission has proposed.
"This is a historic moment in our relations with countries of the Western Balkans," said EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Jacques Barrot.
The changes, if approved by all 27 EU members and the parliament, would apply from 1 January 2010.
It would mean travellers could visit all the countries in the Schengen zone.
The Schengen zone includes 25 European countries – the 27 EU members, minus the UK, Ireland, Lithuania, Romania and Cyprus; plus Norway, Iceland and Switzerland.
The EU Commission decided against making the same recommendation for Albania, Bosnia-Hercegovina, and Kosovo. </p
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