Europe-East articles from July 2007

Europe-East archives from July 2007

ALBANIA FAILS TO ELECT A PRESIDENTaAGAIN.(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... Albania's parliament on 9 July failed for the third time to choose a new president, raising the possibility of early parliamentary elections. Speaking after the EU-Albania troika meeting on 19 June in Brussels, the EU's Enlargement Commissioner...

EU/UKRAINE : KIEV HOPES FOR FREE TRADE TALKS WITH EU IN EARLY 2008.
July 23, 2007... Ukraine intends to conclude its accession negotiations with the World Trade Organisation by the end of the year and, shortly afterwards,aopen talks with the EU on a "deep free trade agreement," Foreign Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said on 17...

MAJORITY OF DANES OPPOSE TURKEY'S EU BID.(Turkey's membership of the European Union)(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... More than half of the Danes, 55.7%, are opposed to Turkey's membership of the European Union, a poll published on 3 July in the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten reveals. A total of 29.2% are in favour, while 15.2% are undecided, according to the...

UKRAINE CONFIRMS COMMITMENT TO JOINING NATO.(North Atlantic Treaty Organization)(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Ukraine-North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Charter, a document based on common principles shared by Ukraine and NATO and designed to strengthen bilateral cooperation, the Ukraine-NATO...

JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS : 13 MEMBER STATES FAIL TO IMPLEMENT MEASURES FOR REFUGEES.
July 23, 2007... Some 13 member states have failed to properly implement EU measures for the protection of refugees, according to the European Commission, which has stated its intention to continue infringement proceedings. The proceedings concern the 2004...

INTERVIEW WITH AMBASSADOR VLADIMIR CHIZHOV, RUSSIA'S PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE TO THE EU : AN IMPOSED SOLUTION FOR KOSOVO WOULD BE "DOOMED TO FAILURE".
July 23, 2007... A lot is heard in the media about the EU's concerns about Russia but rather less about Russia's perspective. Russia's former Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Chizhov told Europolitics about his country's fears of Kosovo setting a precedent...

AUSTRIA BACKS MACEDONIA'S EU BID.(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... Austria has expressed its strong support for Macedonia's EU bid and pledged to continue lobbying in Brussels for the accession of Macedonia and other Western Balkan countries to the EU. "Austria won't be an obstacle but a strong supporter of...

EU/SERBIA/KOSOVO : BARROSO: UNRESOLVED KOSOVO ISSUE COULD JEOPARDISE SERBIA'S EU BID.
July 23, 2007... European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has warned Serbia's President Boris Tadic that the prolonged stalemate over Kosovo might jeopardise Serbia's accession to the EU. Tadic has warned the EU that granting Kosovo supervised...

ENLARGEMENT : CROATIA MOVES FORWARD ON EU PATH.(European Union)
July 23, 2007... "It is a real breakthrough," said Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, commenting on the EU's decision to open six new chapters for negotiations with Croatia. "Excellent progress has been made by Croatia [in recent months]....

EPP-ED CONGRESS : DEBATE UNDERWAY ON MEDITERRANEAN UNION' IDEA.
July 23, 2007... The French idea to create a Mediterranean Union based on the EU model is beginning to fuel debate. Formulated by the new French head of state Nicolas Sarkozy during his presidential election campaign and reaffirmed by him as one of his...

EU/SERBIA/KOSOVO : DEL PONTE: NO CONCLUSION OF SAA BEFORE MLADIC IS ARRESTED.
July 23, 2007... Carla Del Ponte, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), has called on the EU to refrain from signing a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with Serbia unless the government in...

EIB SIGNS DEAL WITH TURKEY'S DENIZBANK.
July 23, 2007... The European Investment Bank (EIB) signed on 16 July a loan of 250 million with DenizBank for the funding of small and medium-sized projects in Turkey. This project is the first transaction with DenizBank, the sixth largest private bank in...

EU REFORMS/ENLARGEMENT : ENLARGEMENT CRITERIA WILL NOT BE STRICTER, SAYS IGC MANDATE.(Intergovernmental Conference )(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... Following six months of discussions on the new treaty, focusing, inter alia, on the issue of the future EU enlargement, member states decided only to slightly change the current Article 49 of the Treaty on the EU (TEU), which defines the...

EU/UKRAINE : EP AND COMMISSION AT ODDS OVER UKRAINE'S MEMBERSHIP PROSPECTS.(European Parliament)
July 23, 2007... The European Parliament approved, on 12 July, a report drawn up by Michal Kaminski (UEN, Poland) on a new enhanced agreement between the European Community and its member states, on the one hand, and Ukraine of the other, which says that in the...

ENLARGEMENT : EU OPENS TWO NEW CHAPTERS WITH TURKEY.
July 23, 2007... The EU confirmed on 26 June the opening of two new chapters (financial control and statistics) for accession talks with Turkey. It also made clear that negotiations with the government in Ankara will continue, amid reservations expressed by...

EU-RUSSIA SUMMIT ON 26 OCTOBER.(Brief article)(Conference notes)
July 23, 2007... The next EU-Russia Summit will take place on 26 October inMafra, Portugal, the European Commission's Delegation to Russia announced on 3 July. The twice-yearly summits are hosted alternately by Russia (in the first semester of the year) and by...

EU/KOSOVO : EU SEEKING PLAN B TO MOVE FORWARD ON KOSOVO'S STATUS.
July 23, 2007... Despite opposition from Russia, EU members of the UN Security Council (namely Belgium, UK, France, Germany, Italy) and the US formally submitted their latest version of the draft resolution on Kosovo to the Security Council late on 17 July. The...

AIR TRANSPORT : EU UPDATES BLACK LIST OF UNSAFE AIRLINES.
July 23, 2007... The European Commission is preparing to update the black list of airline companies banned from the EU. This is in response to the unanimous opinion of the Air Safety Committee of the changes that need to be made to the list, received by the...

EU/TURKEY : EU URGES ANKARA TO ACCELERATE REFORMS AFTER ELECTIONS.
July 23, 2007... Turkey needs to step up its reforms after general elections scheduled for 22 July to move things along and get the EU accession negotiations going faster, said the EU's Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn in a newspaper interview on 16 July. ...

EU/KOSOVO/SERBIA : EU WARNS KOSOVO AGAINST ANY UNILATERAL ACTION.
July 23, 2007... The European Union warned Kosovo on 21 June against any unilateral action after Russia had rejected a third draft proposal for the UN resolution defining its future status. Stefan Lehne, the EU's special envoy to Kosovo, called Pristina's...

ENLARGEMENT : FRANCE BLOCKS ECONOMIC CHAPTER IN EU-TURKEY TALKS.
July 23, 2007... The Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper) gave its green light, on 25 June, for two chapters (financial control and statistics) to be opened in talks with Turkey. However, it decided to postpone the start of negotiations on economic...

EU/SERBIA : FRATTINI TO LAUNCH DISCUSSIONS ON VISA-FREE TRAVEL WITH SERBIA.(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... Discussions are to be opened early next year on establishing a visa-free regime between the EU and Serbia, it was announced by EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini, at a joint press conference with Serbian Foreign Affairs Minister Vuk...

GERMANY AND TURKEY'S EU BID.
July 23, 2007... Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel said on 2 July that her country would continue to support Turkey's accession negotiations. She brought back, however, the idea of a privileged partnership' as a good alternative to Turkey's full membership of...

EU/CENTRAL ASIA : GERMANY URGES CENTRAL ASIA TO STEP UP ENERGY DIALOGUE WITH EU.
July 23, 2007... At the end of Germany's EU presidency of the EU, Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier urged leaders of the five central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan to step up their energy...

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT : ISRAEL SIGNS UP TO EU'S FP7.
July 23, 2007... Israel is to be a partner country in the EU's 2007-2013 Seventh Framework Research Programme (FP7), it is now confirmed, following the signing of an agreementon 19 June. The country will have associated status to FP7. This means that its...

LUKASHENKO SHRUGS OFF EU TRADE RESTRICTIONS.
July 23, 2007... In his speech delivered in Minsk on 2 July, on the eve of the country's Independence Day, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko slammed the EU for the recent withdrawal of trade preferences for Belarus under its Generalised System of...

EU/FYROM : MEPS URGE THE EU TO START ACCESSION TALKS WITH FYROM SOON.(Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia )(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... The European Parliament has approved, by a large majority of votes, a report by Erik Meijer (UEL/NGL, NL) on the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), calling on the EU to open accession negotiations with FYROM as soon as possible. The...

EU/BELARUS : MILINKEVICH APPEALS FOR STRONGER EU ENGAGEMENT IN BELARUS.(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... Alexander Milinkevich, the leader of Belarus's Movement for Freedom and former presidential candidate has appealed to the European Union to be "more active" in his country. "We want the European Union to better understand what is going on in...

EU/RUSSIA : MISSILE SHIELD: MOSCOW STILL HIGHLY SCEPTICAL OF US INTENTIONS.
July 23, 2007... Russia's permanent representative to the EU, Ambassador Vladimir Chizhov has stressed to Europolitics that Russian President Vladimir Putin's offer for the US to use two radar facilities [the Gabali radar rented from the Azerbaijan government...

MOSCOW REJECTS LATEST UN DRAFT ON KOSOVO.(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... Russia has rejected the latest draft UN resolution on Kosovo presented to Moscow by Western members of the UN Security Council. The most recent draft is simply a disguised version of UN Envoy Martti Ahtisaari's plan for Kosovo independence,...

INTERVIEW WITHaVLADIMIR DROBNJAK, CROATIA'S CHIEF EU NEGOTIATOR : "MUCH BETTER PROSPECTS" FOR CROATIA'S ACCESSION.(Interview)
July 23, 2007... In an interview with Europolitics, Vladimir Drobnjak, the chief negotiator in Croatia's accession talks with the EU, outlines a plan for Croatia to make quick progress in its accession negotiations and is positive about the outcome of the...

JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS : NEW COOPERATION PROGRAMME WITH NON-EU COUNTRIES.(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... A new programme, launched on 25 June by the European Commission, will seek to support non-EU countries in their efforts to ensure better management of migratory flows in all their dimensions. This programme, which builds on the experiences of...

EUROPEAN NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICY : PORTUGAL WANTS TO RE-DIRECT EU'S ATTENTION FROM THE EAST TO THE SOUTH.(european union)
July 23, 2007... Portugal, the new presidency at the helm of the European Union as of 1 July, has pledged to focus on relations with nations in the southern neighbourhood of the EU. "We will do all we can to place relations with the south higher up on the...

EU/MEDITERRANEAN : PORTUGUESE PRESIDENCY LOOKS SOUTHWARD.
July 23, 2007... After taking up the Union's helm at the start of the month, Portugal wants to put the Mediterranean, the Middle East and Africa back at the centre of EU priorities. Foreign Minister Luis Amado clearly turned the focus southward as he presented...

EU/KOSOVO : REHN: EU READY TO AGREE TO NEW ROUND OF DIRECT TALKS ON KOSOVO.(Olli Rehn)
July 23, 2007... The EU's Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn appealed to Serbia to show responsibility and urged all actors, Kosovo and Russia in particular, to refrain from taking any unilateral actions - whether declarations or veto threats. He also said that...

INTERVIEW WITH DR ANTONIO MISSIROLI, DIRECTOR OF STUDIES AT THE EUROPEAN POLICY CENTRE : "RELATIONS WITH THE SOUTH ARE MORE DIFFICULT NOW".(Interview)
July 23, 2007... Ian interview with Europolitics New Neighbours, Dr Antonio Missiroli, the director of studies at the European Policy Centre, suggests that although some progress has been made in enhancing the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), as was planned...

IMMIGRATION : RELAUNCHING A EUROPEAN POLICY IN 2007-2008.
July 23, 2007... Step by step, several statements lead one to believe that a global framework for an actual European immigration policy, demanded a long time ago but never put together to the extent necessary, could, in the near future, be adopted by the...

CONVENTIONAL ARMED FORCES IN EUROPE TREATY : RUSSIAN WITHDRAWAL MEETS WITH WIDESPREAD DISAPPROVAL.
July 23, 2007... President Vladimir Putin's decision to withdraw Russia from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) on 14 July has gone down very badly throughout Europe with concern expressed by a number of EU countries. The treaty was signed...

ENERGY : SERBIA TAKES OVER ENERGY COMMUNITY PRESIDENCY.(Branimir Gvozdenovic)(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... As of 1 July, Serbia holds the Presidency of the Energy Community with the next Ministerial Council due to take place in Belgrade in November 2007. At a Ministerial Council meeting, co-chaired by EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs and...

JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS/EUROPEAN COUNCIL : SUMMIT GIVES COMMISSION GO-AHEAD ON MIGRATION.
July 23, 2007... A series of European Commission proposals in the area of migration and asylum, including ones on ways to curb the rapidly growing influx of illegal migrants to the EU, have been tabled by European leaders. At their summit on 22 June, heads...

UN DEBATES LATEST KOSOVO DRAFT.(United Nations)(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... The European Commission reiterated on 16 July its call, expressed by Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn last week in the European Parliament, on the Security Council members to resolve the Kosovo status problem without further delay and on all...

EU/US/CENTRAL ASIA : WASHINGTON URGES EU TO USE CENTRAL ASIA AS ENERGY SUPPLIER.
July 23, 2007... The EU should look to Central Asia and the Caucasus, notably Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan as a solution to its problem of over-reliance on Russian gas, US diplomats and politicians have said. Universal support for the...