Europe-East articles from January 2008

Europe-East archives from January 2008

DEFENCE AND SECURITY : A DIFFICULT MISSION: KOSOVO, CHAD AND THE SECURITY DOCTRINE.
January 28, 2008... The Slovenian EU Presidency will continue the efforts of the German and Portuguese Presidencies to "develop EU civilian and military capabilities" and to improve "cooperation with the UN and NATO," says the country's Minister for Defence, Karl...

EU/TURKEY : ANKARA MOVES TO AMEND CONTROVERSIAL ARTICLE 301.
January 28, 2008... In the face of strong criticism from the European Union, the Turkish government has drafted a proposal to amend the infamous Article 301 of the country's Penal Code which restricts freedom of speech. A bill amending the article, which provides...

ENERGY : CONFERENCE BREATHES NEW LIFE INTO EUROMED ENERGY PARTNERSHIP.(Conference news)
January 28, 2008... Ministers from EU member states and Mediterranean partner countries launched a new energy partnership on 18 December. This fifth Euro-Mediterranean Energy Ministerial Conference, taking place in Limassol, Cyprus, saw ministers and European...

EU/CROATIA : CROATIA IMPOSES ADRIATIC FISHERIES ZONE DESPITE EU WARNINGS.
January 28, 2008... Despite strong opposition from the European Union, Croatia activated its special Ecological and Fisheries Protection Zone (ZERP) in the Adriatic Sea on 1 January 2008. The EU's Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn warned earlier that such a move...

CROATIA, NORWAY JOIN EUROPEAN PATENT ORGANISATION.
January 28, 2008... Croatia and Norway ratified, on 20 December, the European Patent Convention (EPC) and will thus become the newest members of the European Patent Organisation on 1 January 2008. Both countries have acceded to the revised version of the EPC,...

ENLARGEMENT : CROATIA'S NEW GOVERNMENT PLEDGES TO SPEED UP EU ACCESSION TALKS.
January 28, 2008... The new Croatian government, led by Ivo Sanader, has pledged to step up its preparations for membership of the EU. Speaking before the country's parliament after winning a vote of confidence for his cabinet on 12 January, Sanader said that...

EU/KOSOVO/SERBIA : DECISION ON KOSOVO MISSION SET TO BE POSTPONED.(european union)
January 28, 2008... Slovenia, which has been holding the reins of the European Union since 1 January, is in favour of postponing a decision on the deployment of the EU's Kosovo mission until after Serbia's presidential elections. "It is highly possible that a...

KOSOVO : ESDP MISSION READY FOR DEPLOYMENT.(european security and defence policy)
January 28, 2008... Europolitics was able to follow, for a few days and principally in the north of Kosovo, near the border with Serbia, several KFOR and EU police patrols in different cities (Mitrovica, Lesak, Vucitrn). We also met international officials in...

ENLARGEMENT : EU CALLS ON ZAGREB NOT TO ENFORCE ADRIATIC PROTECTION ZONE.(european union)
January 28, 2008... The European Union reiterated its call on Croatia not to enforce the recently activated special ecological and fisheries protection zone (ZERP) in the Adriatic. Speaking on the sidelines of the first meeting between the European Commission and...

ESDP/KOSOVO : EU CAN DEPLOY MISSION WITHOUT NEW UN RESOLUTION.(european security and defence policy)
January 28, 2008... The European Union can deploy its ESDP mission in Kosovo in 2008 without a new United Nations Security Council resolution, conclude certain diplomatic circles in the EU and the UN. It remains to be seen, however, whether such a solution can be...

EU HAILS RELEASE OF FIVE JOURNALISTS IN AZERBAIJAN.
January 28, 2008... The European Union has welcomed the release of five journalists in Azerbaijan. The prisoners were released on the occasion of Solidarity Day of World Azerbaijanis. In a statement issued on 8 January, the EU Presidency said that the presidential...

EU/TURKEY : EU PLEDGES TO SPEED UP TURKEY'S ACCESSION TALKS EARLY NEXT YEAR.
January 28, 2008... The EU opened, on 19 December, two new chapters for negotiations with Turkey and pledged to move further ahead with its accession talks with Ankara by opening two to three new chapters in early 2008. "I expect that during the Slovenian...

EU REBUKES RUSSIA FOR CRACKDOWN ON BRITISH COUNCIL.(European union)(Brief article)
January 28, 2008... In a strongly-worded statement, the EU has expressed concern about Russia's continued demand to close the regional offices of the British Council in St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg and urged it "to allow the British Council to operate freely...

EU/UKRAINE : EU TO START FREE TRADE TALKS UPON KIEV'S WTO ENTRY.
January 28, 2008... The EU and Ukraine reached, on 16 January, an agreement, removing all remaining obstacles to Kiev's membership of the World Trade Organisation and paving its way towards opening negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) with the EU. The...

FRANCE TO DROP ENLARGEMENT REFERENDA.
January 28, 2008... The Slovenian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dimitrij Rupel, congratulated France on 20 December for its decision to abandon the constitutional provision making recourse to a referendum compulsory for any new membership of the European Union....

KOSOVO : HUGE RESPONSIBILITY FOR FLEDGLING PRESIDENCY.
January 28, 2008... Slovenia, a country which did not exist 16 years ago, faces a major challenge on its doorstep in the months ahead. The young state, which declared its independence from Yugoslavia at the beginning of the last decade, will have to control the...

EU/SERBIA : LJUBLJANA ADVOCATES FAST-TRACKING SERBIA'S EU INTEGRATION.
January 28, 2008... Slovenia, the country at the helm of the European Union as of 1 January, is determined to accelerate Serbia's integration with the 27-member club. It advocates signing the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) - a gateway to EU...

EU/MEDITERRANEAN : MEDITERRANEAN UNION TO BE LAUNCHED IN JULY IN PARIS.(EUROPEAN UNION)
January 28, 2008... To take on board the misgivings of some of his European partners, Nicolas Sarkozy has postponed to 13 and 14 July the launch of his Mediterranean Union (MU) project, at a summit in Paris open to all the EU member states, during the French EU...

ENLARGEMENT : MEMBERSHIP TALKS PROGRESSING WITH CROATIA AND TURKEY.
January 28, 2008... EU member states have decided to move ahead with their accession talks with Croatia and Turkey by rubberstamping the opening of new chapters for negotiations. The EU's permanent representatives (Coreper) agreed on 18 December to open two...

NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICY : MEPS URGE CONCRETE PROPOSALS FOR BLACK SEA AND S CAUCASUS REGIONS.(Brief article)
January 28, 2008... The European Parliament called, on 16 January, for more cooperation in the Black Sea and South Caucasus regions and urged the European Commission to come up with new "concrete proposals for fostering regional cooperation" in this part of the...

EU/RUSSIA : MOSCOW LIFTS BAN ON POLISH MEAT, UPHOLDS EMBARGO ON PLANTS.
January 28, 2008... Russia has lifted its embargo on imports of Polish meat, ending a dispute that has been dragging on for over two years, putting a strain on Moscow's relations with the European Union. Following a political agreement reached last week at...

NEW ACCESSION PARTNERSHIP WITH CROATIA.(Report)(Brief article)
January 28, 2008... At its 20 December session, the Council reached a political agreement on the principles, priorities and conditions of the accession partnership with Croatia. This new document updates the current partnership on the basis of the findings of the...

EU/KOSOVO : PM THACI TO COORDINATE INDEPENDENCE WITH EU.
January 28, 2008... The new Prime Minister of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, a former guerrilla leader perceived as a more radical supporter of Kosovo's independence than his predecessor, Agim Ceku, has confirmed that his government's next steps would be closely...

EU/KOSOVO : RESOLUTION 1244 "SUFFICIENT" FOR DEPLOYMENT OF KOSOVO MISSION.(Brief article)
January 28, 2008... The European Commission has, for the first time, clearly stated that the current UN Resolution 1244, which authorised an international civil and military presence in Kosovo in 1999, is "sufficient" for deployment of the EU's civilian mission to...

ROMANIA ON KOSOVO ESDP MISSION.(european security and defence policy)(Brief article)
January 28, 2008... The Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Adrian Cioroianu, announced in a Romanian newspaper that his country could send forth 170 men and experts for the future rule of law' mission led by the EU in Kosovo. This confirms a political...

EU/RUSSIA : RUSSIA AND LATVIA WRAP UP BORDER AGREEMENT.(european union)
January 28, 2008... Latvia and Russia finalised, on 18 December, a border agreement between the two countries, ending a dispute that has been dragging on for over a decade and that has put a strain on Moscow's relations with the European Union. Latvia's...

SERBIA CONFIRMS COMMITMENT TO EU INTEGRATION.(Brief article)
January 28, 2008... Serbia hopes to sign an agreement paving its way towards closer ties with the EU this month, the country's Foreign Minister, Vuk Jeremic, told reporters after meeting with the EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, on 8 January in Brussels....

SERBIA GIVES ULTIMATUM TO EU.(Brief article)
January 28, 2008... The EU "must choose [...] whether it will sign a Stabilisation and Association Agreement [SAA] with Serbia or [...] send a mission to implement [a plan for] supervised independence of Kosovo," Serbia's Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said in...

EU/MACEDONIA : SKOPJE SET TO STEP UP ITS EU INTEGRATION EFFORTS.(european union)
January 28, 2008... Following two years of a stalemate, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is determined to move forward with its EU integration bid. Since November 2005, when the Union granted the FYROM the status of a candidate country, Skopje has not...

EU/WESTERN BALKANS : SLOVENIA PLANS TO CAJOLE SERBIA INTO AGREEMENT ON KOSOVO.(european union)(Brief article)
January 28, 2008... In an attempt to work out a solution on Kosovo in the wake of the stalemate in the UN Security Council, Slovenia plans to cajole Serbia into agreement by speeding up its path to the EU. Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel mentioned the need to...

WESTERN BALKANS : SLOVENIA PLEDGES TO ADVANCE EU EXPANSION IN ITS BACKYARD.
January 28, 2008... As the only member of the former Yugoslavia in the EU so far, it is no surprise that a top priority of Slovenia's presidential agenda will be the countries in the Western Balkans and their progress towards membership of the club. Not only does...

EU/RUSSIA : SLOVENIA PLEDGES TO MOVE AHEAD WITH EU-RUSSIA PARTNERSHIP TALKS.(European Union)
January 28, 2008... The Slovenian EU Presidency hopes to launch long-delayed negotiations on a new partnership agreement between the European Union and Russia by the end of its six-month term in office, which started on 1 January, Slovenia's Foreign Minister...

EU/SERBIA/KOSOVO : SLOVENIA STEPS UP EFFORTS TO RESOLVE KOSOVO'S STATUS.
January 28, 2008... The Slovenian EU Presidency has been intensifying its diplomatic offensive in the Western Balkans and the EU capitals before the forthcoming EU foreign ministers' meeting on 28 January in Brussels, which is set to focus mainly on Serbia and...

SUPPORT FOR TURKEY'S EU MEMBERSHIP FALLS.
January 28, 2008... The autumn 2007 Eurobarometer survey, conducted in the EU's member and candidate states in September and October, has indicated that the number of EU citizens supporting Turkey's EU membership was down to 49% from 54% in the last 12-month...

EU/SERBIA : TALKS ON VISA-FREE REGIME OPEN WITH BELGRADE.(EUROPIAN UNION)
January 28, 2008... Negotiations are to be launched with Serbia on creating a visa-free regime between the Balkan country and the European Union, it was announced on 18 January. The negotiations will start with a meeting of EU and Serbian technical experts,...

ENLARGEMENT : TURKEY LAUNCHES DIPLOMATIC OFFENSIVE TO PUSH EU BID.
January 28, 2008... Turkey is intensifying its diplomatic offensive towards the biggest EU member states to persuade them not to oppose its full membership of the Union. Following his visit to Spain, Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Yayyip Erdogan is due to travel,...

UKRAINE RATIFIES VISA FACILITATION DEAL WITH EU.(Brief article)
January 28, 2008... The Verkhovna Rada, the lower house of the Ukrainian parliament, ratified, on January 15, an agreement with the EU, facilitating the visa regime for Ukrainians entering countries in the Schengen area. The agreement establishes categories of...

INTERVIEW WITH DIMITRIJ RUPEL, MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF SLOVENIA : WE WANT TO ACT AS A FACILITATOR.
January 28, 2008... He will be in the driving seat of the EU for the next six month. Dimitrij Rupel, minister for foreign affairs of Slovenia, tells Europolitics New Neighbours about the challenges and priorities his country faces before it takes over the EU...