French MEP: Balkans not ready at all to join EU (BETA, TV N1)
Former French Minister of European Affairs and current member of the European Parliament (EP) Nathalie Loiseau said on Tuesday the Balkan region “was not at all ready” to join the European Union, as the bloc was not fit to take in those countries, the Paris France Inter reported as carried by BETA news agency. Speaking […]
Read More →Finland takes over EU, enlargement seems not to be priority (Beta, N1)
Finland took over the European Union six-months rotating Presidency from Romania on Monday and set the sustainability as its main goal, the Beta news agency reported. During his country’s term, Finish Prime Minister Antti Rinne said that “the future of the EU should be social, economic and ecological sustainability.” “The sustainability is also linked to […]
Read More →Western Balkans still threat to United States, Donald Trump says (Beta, N1)
US President Donald Trump extended a warning from 2001 about the Western Balkans as a threat to his state and notified the Congress that it had not changed, the Beta news agency reported. President George W. Bush first sent the message of the National Emergency with Respect to the Western Balkans on June 26, 18 […]
Read More →EU’s Hahn: Political compromise in Western Balkans must be rewarded (N1, FoNet)
Political agreement in the Western Balkans should be rewarded, the European Commissioner for Enlargement Johannes Hahn said on Monday and called on the bloc’s foreign ministers to start accession talks with North Macedonia, the FoNet news agency reported. Hahn added the move would be an essential signal to the whole region. “If the Belgrade – […]
Read More →RFE: Thirteen EU members demand expansion to Western Balkans (N1, Blic)
The European Union countries consider a non-paper regarding the bloc’s enlargement to include the Western Balkans as still a credible option, with 13 member states supporting the idea, Radio Free Europe (RFE) reported on Thursday. RFE had insight into the document which, among other things, said that EU should confirm its explicit dedication to the […]
Read More →EU Commissioner Hahn to present Western Balkans report (TV N1, BETA, Radio Free Europe)
European Commissioner Johannes Hahn will present his report on the Western Balkans to the European Parliament on Wednesday, May 29. Hahn will address the European Parliament Foreign Policy Committee (AFET) to present the report on progress achieved by the region and the European Commission view on Bosnia-Herzegovina’s candidate status. The annual report is the last […]
Read More →Mogherini must do much more, EP official says (Vecernje Novosti, B92)
European Parliament Committee for Cooperation with Serbia Chairman Eduard Kukan believes that inclusion of Russia and the US in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue would end it. The EU and its foreign policy chief had to show much more firmness and determination in the enlargement process and, above all, in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina; the […]
Read More →EU & US failed, Western Balkans needs fresh approach, experts say (N1, Beta)
Europe and the US have tried to put the Western Balkans in order but were unable to do so, and that’s why the region needs a new approach which will recognise the seriousness of the problem and accept that a solution will demand a long time and substantial means, experts agree, the Beta news agency […]
Read More →Western Balkan leaders ask for “full integration into EU” (B92, Tanjug)
Western Balkans leaders have signed a declaration urging the EU to make its enlargement to the Western Balkans “a matter of geopolitical significance.” The leaders, gathered at the two-day Brdo-Brijuni Summit in Tirana, signed the declaration on Thursday, the Slovenian agency STA reported. “The EU should keep in mind that the full integration of the […]
Read More →Western Balkans leaders to attend summit in Tirana (BETA, TV N1)
Albanian capital Tirana will host the leaders of the Western Balkans on Wednesday and Thursday at the Brdo – Brioni Summit, an initiative launched by Croatia and Slovenia in 2013 to speed up the region’s path to the European Union, BETA news agency reported. The leaders of Bosnian tripartite Presidency, Milorad Dodik, Sefik Dzaferovic and […]
Read More →PM Brnabic to attend panel on Western Balkans in Sarajevo (Serbian Government, B92)
Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic will visit Sarajevo on May 8 to take part in an annual meeting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Brnabic will start her visit to Sarajevo with a working meeting with EBRD President Sumo Chakrabarti. She is also scheduled to meet with US Deputy Assistant Secretary of […]
Read More →Regimes in Western Balkans say want firmer relations with West, but act contra, panel concludes (VoA, FoNet, N1)
The Washington John Hopkins University’s panel “Western Balkans (WB): Managing the Challenges” dealt with the regional leaders’ real readiness to get closer to the West, adding it should more clearly criticise the WB’s regimes, the Voice of America (VOA) reported on Thursday, as carried by the FoNet news agency. Florian Bieber, a professor of inter-ethnic […]
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