Europe-East articles from July 2008

Europe-East archives from July 2008

ANKARA HOLDS KEY TO SOLUTION, SAY CYPRIOTS.
July 23, 2008... Following numerous failed attempts to reunify their homeland, the island's Greek and Turkish communities are now more than ever hopeful that the 34-year deadlock will be finally broken soon. All Cypriot eyes are now focused on the leaders of...

CYPRUS SLAMS FRANCE FOR QUESTIONING TURKEY'S EU BID.
July 23, 2008... The Cyprus reunification process is inextricably tied up with Turkey's troubled EU membership drive. In its capacity as a member of the Union, Nicosia is trying to use this situation to its benefit by occasionally thwarting Ankara's EU bid....

EU FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE MAY PARTLY COVER COSTS OF REUNIFICATION.
July 23, 2008... The Greek Cypriot community intends to use EU financial assistance to facilitate the implementation of a potential reunification agreement with the Turkish Cypriots. According to Andreas Trokkos, director of finance and investments in the...

ENERGY : MEPS TO VOTE ON NORD STREAM PIPELINE.
July 23, 2008... MEPs will, on 8 and 9 July, debate and vote on the Gazprom-led Nord Stream pipeline project in the Baltic Sea. The project aims to start pumping up to 55 billion cubic metres (BCM) of Russian gas to Germany and on to the Netherlands and the UK...

EU/SERBIA : BARROSO HAILS NEW SERBIAN GOVERNMENT'S PRO-EU GOALS.
July 23, 2008... The European Union welcomed, on 8 July, the formation of a new government in Serbia which aims at quick EU entry, and pledged to "fully" support Belgrade in this endeavour. "Following the mandate that you have been given by the Serbian...

EU/CYPRUS : CHRISTOFIAS AND TALAT AGREE ON SINGLE SOVEREIGNTY.(european union)
July 23, 2008... The Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders have made some progress ahead of their fully-fledged reunification talks, but they decided to hold one more meeting in July before launching direct negotiations. According to a joint statement, the leaders...

EU/RUSSIA : ENERGY IMPORTS WIDEN UNION'S TRADE DEFICIT.
July 23, 2008... Between 2000 and 2007, the EU27's trade in goods with Russia nearly tripled in value: exports rose from 23 billion to 89 bn, while imports increased from 64 bn to 144 bn. As a result, the EU27's deficit in trade with Russia increased from 41 bn...

ENLARGEMENT : EP ADVOCATES PERIOD OF CONSOLIDATION BEFORE FURTHER ENLARGEMENT.
July 23, 2008... Adding its voice to the ongoing debate on the EU's enlargement policy, the European Parliament stressed, on 10 July, that although past waves of enlargement "have been a great success," the Union has to concentrate more on its own internal...

EU KEEPS EYE ON ERGENEKON CASE.(Brief article)
July 23, 2008... The European Commission said, on 2 July, that it is "closely monitoring" the developments in the Ergenekon investigation into an alleged plot to overthrow the Turkish government. The statement came after 24 people, including two retired army...

EU/MACEDONIA CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE.(Brief article)
July 23, 2008... On 30 June the inaugural session of the EU/Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia joint consultative committee took place in the EU's Committee of Regions (CoR). This committee is a flexible structure, gathering members from the CoR and local...

EU/KOSOVO : EU PLEDGES 500 MN EURO AT KOSOVO DONORS' CONFERENCE.(european union)
July 23, 2008... The European Commission pledged, on 11 July, 500 million to accelerate Kosovo's social and economic development at an international donors' conference in Brussels. Together with other donations, which are expected to reach around 1 billion in...

EU/MEDITERRANEAN : EUROMED MINISTERS PLEDGE TO ACCELERATE FREE TRADE TALKS.
July 23, 2008... The EU and its Mediterranean partners have committed to accelerate their efforts towards a free trade area to be established by 2010, during the 7th Euromed trade ministerial meeting, on 2 July in Marseille. The meeting, co-chaired by Peter...

EU/KOSOVO : EU SAYS SERB KOSOVO ASSEMBLY IS ILLEGAL.(european union)(Brief article)
July 23, 2008... The European Commission reiterated, on 29 June, that thea11 May local election held in the northern part of Kosovo by the Kosovo Serbs without any authorisation from the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) is "without legal standing or...

JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS : FRANCE PUSHES FOR MORE PRACTICAL COOPERATION.
July 23, 2008... The informal meeting of justice and home affairs (JHA) ministers in Cannes, on 7 and 8 July, opened the curtain on an ambitious six-month programme of the French EU Presidency in this policy area. The leitmotifs of the French JHA priorities,...

EU/MEDITERRANEAN : FUNDRAISING WILL DECIDE FATE OF MED UNION.(european union)
July 23, 2008... The ability to raise funds from the private sector and neighbouring countries will be critical to the success or failure of Nicolas Sarkozy's Union for the Mediterranean (MU), which will be launched during an extraordinary summit in Paris, on...

EU/RUSSIA : KHANTY-MANSIYSK SUMMIT: FRESH START IN EU-RUSSIA RELATIONS.(european union)
July 23, 2008... The European Union and Russian officials' meeting, on 27 June, in the Siberian oil-rich town of Khanty-Mansiysk, launched negotiations on a new strategic partnership agreement. In an ice-breaking meeting, the new Russian President Dmitry...

KOSOVO TO ISSUE PASSPORTS.
July 23, 2008... As of 21 July, Kosovo's citizens will be able to apply for real passports, the country's Interior Ministry confirmed, on 15 July. Until now, to travel abroad, Kosovars have been using travel documents issued by the United Nations. There will be...

PARIS SUMMIT : MED UNION LAUNCH RAISES MIDEAST PEACE HOPES.
July 23, 2008... Amid fresh hopes for a peace deal in the Middle East, the EU and the countries of the Mediterranean have given a new political impetus to their cooperation during a landmark summit in Paris, on 13 July, although many sensitive issues, including...

EU/RUSSIA : NEGOTIATORS AGREE ON SCOPE OF NEW PARTNERSHIP PACT.(european east)
July 23, 2008... The chief negotiators at the EU-Russia talks on a new accord to replace current Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) agreed, on 4 July, on the scope of their future partnership treaty. "We agreed today that the scope of the agreement...

NO COMPULSORY REFERENDUM IN FRANCE ON TURKEY.
July 23, 2008... The French Senate decided, on 23 June, to remove an amendment lodged by MPs in the institutional reform making holding a referendum compulsory for Turkey's possible accession to the European Union. Under pressure from UMP MPs, the assembly had...

ROMANIA WILL NOT RECOGNISE KOSOVO.(Brief article)
July 23, 2008... Romania, a firm opponent of Kosovo's self-declared independence, said, on 1 July, that it will not establish diplomatic contacts with the newly-born country. "Our position remains very clear: we will not recognise Kosovo," said the country's...

EU/RUSSIA : RUSSIAN VETERINARY SERVICES LAUNCH NEW OFFENSIVE.
July 23, 2008... With the entry into force on 1 July of the Memorandum on export conditions for meat and meat-based products', signed last march by the EU and Russia, there could well be considerable disruptions to exports to Russia starting next week. In a...

SARKOZY-MEDVEDEV ENTENTE CORDIALE.(Brief article)
July 23, 2008... On the occasion of their first meeting, on 7 July in the wings of the Group of Eight (G8) summit in Japan, Russian and French Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Nicolas Sarkozy both wanted discussions between Russia and the European Union to...

EU/FYROM : SARKOZY PUTS PRESSURE ON SKOPJE OVER NAME DISPUTE WITH GREECE.(Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia)(North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
July 23, 2008... French President Nicolas Sarkozy has urged his Macedonian counterpart to "redouble" the country's efforts to reach an agreement with Greece on the prolonged name dispute', which has been blocking the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia's...

EU/TURKEY : SUMMIT: MU CANNOT BE A SUBSTITUTE FOR FULL EU MEMBERSHIP.
July 23, 2008... In an apparent goodwill gesture towards Turkey, countries attending the summit on 13 July in Paris confirmed that Ankara's involvement in the Union for Mediterranean (MU) cannot be a substitute for its EU membership bid. "While...

ENLARGEMENT : SUPPORT FOR EU MEMBERSHIP ON THE WANE IN CROATIA.
July 23, 2008... Support for European Union membership is on the wane in Croatia, a frontrunner in the accession process, a twice-yearly EU survey published at the end of June reveals. The Eurobarometer poll, conducted among 30,170 people in the 27-nation bloc...

EU/RUSSIA : TALKS OPEN FOR NEW COOPERATION AGREEMENT.(Brief article)
July 23, 2008... The EU and Russia are scheduled to meet, on 4 July, for the first round of negotiations towards a new agreement to replace the decade-old Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA), which will remain in force pending a new accord. The agenda...

TWO CHAPTERS TO BE OPENED WITH TURKEY.
July 23, 2008... Two new negotiating chapters will be opened with Turkey during the French EU Presidency, Bernard Kouchner, France's foreign minister confirmed on 15 July. "That has been France's decision," Kouchner said without revealing any further details....

JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS : WATERED-DOWN IMMIGRATION PACT GETS COUNCIL SUPPORT.
July 23, 2008... The European Union's interior ministers largely supported, albeit with some caution, the eagerly awaited European pact on immigration and asylum' presented to them by the French Immigration Minister, Brice Hortefeux. The informal Justice and...

EU/CROATIA : ZAGREB MEETS ALL OPENING BENCHMARKS.(european union)(Brief article)
July 23, 2008... Just hours before the 1 July deadline, Croatia's government had managed to adopt all outstanding draft laws related to the opening of the remaining chapters in the country's EU accession negotiations. At its session on 30 June, the government...