Europe-East articles from March 2009

Europe-East archives from March 2009

EU/CROATIA/SLOVENIA : LJUBLJANA WANTS ZAGREB'S ACCESSION CONFERENCE POSTPONED.(Brief article)(Conference notes)
March 26, 2009... During his meeting with the Czech EU Presidency on the sidelines of the informal EU summit of 1 March in Brussels, Slovenian Premier Borut Pahor requested that the intergovernmental conference on Croatia's accession talks, scheduled for 27...

IMMIGRATION : ASYLUM: EP URGES MEMBER STATES TO CEASE DETENTIONS.
March 26, 2009... With the number of refugees worldwide exceeding 12 million, the European Parliament, like the Commission, is awaiting a "common" and "protective" EU asylum system. In a non-binding own-initiative report by Italian Communist Giusto Catania,...

EU/BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA : AUSTRIA'S INZKO SUCCEEDS LAJCAK AS SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE.
March 26, 2009... The EU's foreign ministers decided, on 23 February, to appoint Austrian diplomat Valentin Inzko as the EU's special representative (EUSR) for Bosnia and Herzegovina, replacing Miroslav Lajcak, who became foreign minister of Slovakia a month...

ENLARGEMENT : COMMISSION CHALLENGES MERKEL'S POSITION.(Conference notes)
March 26, 2009... The European Commission, which is responsible alongside the member states for carrying out EU membership talks, has challenged the German CDU party's call for a temporary freeze on the enlargement process, which it presented in its manifesto...

ENLARGEMENT : CONFERENCE ASSESSES LAST TWO WAVES, NOTES EFFECTS OF CRISIS.(Conference news)
March 26, 2009... The "unquestionable economic and social success" of the last two waves of EU enlargement has been overshadowed by the current economic crisis and the resultant resurrection of protectionist tendencies in certain member states and the "weakening...

EU/MEDITERRANEAN : COURT OF AUDITORS GIVES MIXED REVIEW ON BANKING ACTIVITIES.(Report)
March 26, 2009... The European Commission did not carry out its own monitoring of banking activities covering the Mediterranean in the framework of the MEDA programme (1996-2006) and relied exclusively on the European Investment Bank. The EIB's follow-up work...

EU/MONTENEGRO : DECISION ON PODGORICA'S EU BID POSTPONED INDEFINITELY.(Brief article)(Conference notes)
March 26, 2009... Uncertainty still surrounds the fate of Montenegro's EU membership application in the Council, with the decision on forwarding the request for opinion to the European Commission being postponed indefinitely. "I hope that the next step that has...

ENLARGEMENT : EP REVIEWS ACCESSION PROGRESS OF CROATIA, TURKEY AND FYROM.(Conference notes)
March 26, 2009... The European Parliament voiced, on 12 March, its great disappointment with the continued blockage of Croatia's accession talks over the country's border dispute with Slovenia. In a resolution on Croatia's 2008 progress report, drafted by MEP...

FINANCIAL CRISIS : EU HELP TO UKRAINE VITAL TO AVERT DISASTER, SAYS LITHUANIA.
March 26, 2009... EU political engagement with Ukraine must be stepped up urgently to prevent the deepening financial crisis there triggering a permanent shift in Kiev's political orientation, Lithuania's foreign minister has warned. "We cannot afford to see the...

ESDP : GEORGIA MONITORING MISSION MAY BE PROLONGED.(Brief article)(Conference notes)
March 26, 2009... As the European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) in Georgia reaches mid-term, head of mission Hansjorg Haber (Germany) made an initial appraisal, speaking to journalists, on 12 March in Brussels. The mission is slated to end on 15 June. The...

ICELAND AND ALBANIA NEXT IN QUEUE?
March 26, 2009... Is it an effect of the crisis? The EU seems to be exerting an increasingly pronounced attraction on the European countries that are not yet members or not official candidates for membership. A survey commissioned by the pro-European Federation...

EU/BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA : INZKO APPOINTED HIGH REPRESENTATIVE.(Valentin Inzko)
March 26, 2009... The European Union's foreign ministers, on 16 March, formally appointed Austrian diplomat Valentin Inzko as new EU special representative (EUSR) and welcomed his appointment as high representative (HR) for Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, they...

EU/UKRAINE : KIEV PLEDGES GAS REFORM.
March 26, 2009... In order to attract international investors to participate in the modernisation of its gas transit network, Ukraine has committed itself to carry out a thorough-going reform of its gas sector by the end of 2011. In a pledge of cooperation...

EU/RUSSIA : MEPS SPELL OUT CONDITIONS FOR NEW AGREEMENT.
March 26, 2009... Russia's full compliance with the Sarkozy-Medvedev agreements, which ended the Georgia-Russia war in August 2008, and Moscow's total rejection of "use of force against any of its neighbours" should "be an indispensable condition for the...

ENLARGEMENT : MERKEL WANTS ENLARGEMENT PROCESS PUT ON HOLD.(Conference notes)
March 26, 2009... The prolonged delay in the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty and the global economic meltdown are fuelling opposition to the EU's further enlargement, with the German ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of Chancellor Angela Merkel proposing...

EU/MEDITERRANEAN : MIDEAST AT HEART OF EMPA DEBATE.(Conference notes)
March 26, 2009... The situation in the Middle East was the main focus of debate at the fifth annual plenary session of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (EMPA) in Brussels. With three new member countries (Mauritania, Albania and Monaco), EMPA could...

ESDP : MINISTERS MULL OVER FUTURE OF BOSNIA MISSION.(European Security and Defense Policy )(Brief article)
March 26, 2009... Although the decision is not yet official, the EU's defence ministers agreed, on 12 March in Prague, at their traditional half-yearly informal meeting, to bring to a jointly arranged close the EU's military mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina (EUFOR...

EU/BELARUS : MINSK GETS SECOND CHANCE'.(Conference news)
March 26, 2009... Welcoming "certain positive steps" taken by Belarus over the last six months, the EU's foreign ministers decided, on 16 March, to give the country a "second chance" and extend for nine months the visa ban reprieve for Belarusian President...

EASTERN PARTNERSHIP : MOSCOW ACCUSES EU OF EXPANDING SPHERE OF INFLUENCE.
March 26, 2009... Russia has criticised the European Union for forging closer relations with the six former Soviet republics by establishing the new East-oriented policy - the Eastern Partnership. Speaking at the Brussels Forum, an annual high-level conference,...

INTERVIEW WITH PHILIPPE DE BUCK, DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF BUSINESSEUROPE : PAST AND FUTURE ENLARGEMENTS EXTREMELY BENEFICIAL.(Interview)
March 26, 2009... You are in direct contact with the representatives of business from the old member states. What signals do you receive from them as to the outcome of the last two waves of enlargement? As I have said at the conference [see above],...

EU/CROATIA/SLOVENIA : PRAGUE POSTPONES ACCESSION CONFERENCE WITH CROATIA.(Conference notes)
March 26, 2009... On the request of Slovenia, the Czech EU Presidency decided, on 24 March, to postpone by one moth, until 24 April, the intergovernmental conference with Croatia, whose traditional aim is to open and close new chapters in EU accession talks....

EASTERN PARTNERSHIP : QUESTION MARK STILL HANGS OVER BELARUS' PARTICIPATION.(Conference notes)
March 26, 2009... Uncertainty continues to surround the participation of Belarus in the Eastern Partnership, a high-ranking EU official has said. Briefing the members of the European Parliament, on 12 March, on the content of this new Eastern-oriented...

EU/TURKEY : REHN PUTS PRESSURE ON ANKARA TO SUPPORT NABUCCO PROJECT.
March 26, 2009... The prolonged stalemate in progress on the energy chapter should not prevent Turkey from developing energy relations with the EU, including on the Nabucco gas pipeline project, Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has said. Speaking at a...

ENERGY : RUSSIA SLAMS EU-UKRAINE GAS TRANSPORT UPGRADE DEAL.
March 26, 2009... Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko has expressed serious concern at the expansion of the EU energy acquis to Ukraine. Aside from a joint declaration signed by Ukraine, on 23 March, at the EU-Ukraine high level investment conference on the...

EUROPEAN COUNCIL/EASTERN PARTNERSHIP : SUMMITEERS SEAL DEAL ON 600 MN EURO INITIATIVE.(Conference notes)
March 26, 2009... Concluding weeks of heated internal debate, EU leaders have sealed a deal on the final shape of the Eastern Partnership - a new policy providing for deeper political and economic ties with six Eastern neighbourhood countries. The final...

EU/GEORGIA : TALKS ON NEW TRADE AND VISA DEALS WITH TBILISI STILL ON HOLD.
March 26, 2009... Over six months after declaring a strong commitment to "step up its relations with Georgia" at the extraordinary summit held on 1 September 2008 following the Georgia-Russia war in August, the European Union is still not ready to open...

EU/RUSSIA : TALKS TO OPEN ON JOINT FIGHT AGAINST DRUG PRECURSORS.(Brief article)
March 26, 2009... The EU Council approved, on 23 March, the mandate for the Commission to conduct negotiations with Russia on enhanced cooperation in monitoring the trade and preventing the trafficking and diversion of drug precursors. The decision was welcomed...

EU/BIH : THINK TANK WARNS AGAINST EARLY TRANSFER OF POWERS IN BOSNIA.
March 26, 2009... The EU and other members of the international community active in Bosnia and Herzegovina should postpone to a later stage the transition of supervisory powers in the country, argues an international think thank. In its latest report, the...

ESDP/BOSNIA : TRANSFORMATION OF ALTHEA MISSION UNDER DEBATE.
March 26, 2009... Czech Defence Minister Vlasta Parkanova was probably slightly optimistic at the informal Council of defence ministers, on 12 and 13 March in Prague, when she declared that the member states agreed on the future of the EU's military mission in...

EU/CROATIA/SLOVENIA : TRILATERAL MEETING ON BORDER DISPUTE ENDS WITHOUT DEAL.(Conference notes)
March 26, 2009... After rather long and careful consideration, Croatia and Slovenia have eventually started direct talks on the European Commission facilitation proposal aimed at solving the prolonged border dispute between the two countries and allowing Zagreb...

EU/RUSSIA : UNION RESUMES ENERGY DIALOGUE WITH MOSCOW.(Conference news)
March 26, 2009... For the first time since the Russo-Ukrainian gas crisis that affected Europe, EU and Russian energy officials will be meeting to learn the lessons from this incident, inform each other on their energy policies and explore ways to improve their...

EUROPEAN COUNCIL : WARSAW APPEALS FOR CONSENSUS ON FUNDING FOR EASTERN PARTNERSHIP.(Conference news)
March 26, 2009... Poland, the chief promoter alongside Sweden of the Eastern Partnership initiative, has called on the EU's leaders to support the European Commission's proposal to earmark an additional 600 million for the project. "We need adequate funds" to...