Europe-East articles from May 2007

Europe-East archives from May 2007

EU/BELARUS : COMMISSION SET TO OPEN REPRESENTATION OFFICE IN MINSK.(European Union. European Commission)
May 25, 2007... The government of Belarus reversed its long-held position on 25 April, granting permission to the European Commission to open a representation in Minsk. The need for closer ties between Brussels and Minsk and the prospect of EU assistance to...

ASYLUM : ASYLUM-SEEKER CANNOT BE EXPELLED PENDING APPEAL OUTCOME.
May 25, 2007... On 26 April, the EU Court of Human Rights unanimously condemned France for having refused asylum and for nearly expelling an Eritrean journalist. Above all, the Court criticised French legislation that does not grant suspending effect to...

ENERGY : BARROSO POINTS TO RISKS OF UNDER-INVESTMENT IN RUSSIA.(European Union. European Commission)(Brief article)
May 25, 2007... Speaking at an energy policy debate organised by the French international relations institute IFRI, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso admitted to being less scared by Russian misuse of energy as a political weapon than...

EU/RUSSIA : BARROSO: RUSSIA HAS NO VETO OVER ANTI-MISSILE SHIELD.
May 25, 2007... The President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, said on 29 April that further talks would be held between the EU and Russia on the US anti-missile system which is set to be located in Poland and the Czech Republic. However, he...

BLACK SEA SYNERGY UP FOR REVIEW.(European Union)(Brief article)
May 25, 2007... The EU foreign ministers, meeting at the General Affairs and External Relations Council on 14 May in Brussels, obliged the European Commission to carry out a review during the first half of 2008 of the development of the Black Sea Synergy...

ENERGY : COMMISSION LAUNCHES NETWORK OF ENERGY SECURITY CORRESPONDENTS.
May 25, 2007... On 10 May, the European Commission held the first meeting of the EU Network of Energy Security Correspondents (NESCO). The network, made up of representatives from the Commission, the Council Secretariat and member states, is intended as an...

EU/ESTONIA/RUSSIA : COMMISSION VOICES CONCERN OVER ESTONIA-RUSSIA EMBASSY SIEGE ROW.(European Union. European Commission)
May 25, 2007... The EU strongly demanded on 2 May that Russian authorities reinforce the protection of the Estonian Embassy in Moscow, which has been besieged by activists protesting the decision to remove a World War II memorial from downtown Tallinn. In...

EU/ENLARGEMENT : CROATIA SHOULD JOIN EU IN 2009,SAYS PARLIAMENT.(European Union. European Parliament)
May 25, 2007... The European Parliament approved on 25 April by overwhelming majority a report drafted by Austrian MEP Hannes Swoboda (PES) which specifies 2009 as the date when Parliament should give its assent to Croatia's membership of the European Union....

EU/WESTERN BALKANS : DELAY OF PRE-ACCESSION AID CONTINUES.(European Union)
May 25, 2007... EU representatives took part on 11 May in the South-East Europe Cooperation Process (SEECP) summit which endorsed creation of a new "more regionally-owned cooperation structure" comprising all Western Balkan countries - the Regional...

EU/RUSSIA/UKRAINE/BELARUS : EP DELEGATIONS SET OUT COMMON' EXTERNAL ENERGY POLICY.
May 25, 2007... Chairs of the European Parliament's three delegations for relations with Belarus, Russia and Ukraine set out some major principles for a common' external energy policy after a meeting with Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs in Strasbourg on...

EU/RUSSIA : EP WANTS COURAGE AND SOLIDARITY IN EU'S RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA.(European Union. European Parliament)
May 25, 2007... The European Parliament adopted, on 10 May, a resolution on the EU-Russia Summit on 18 May in Samara (Russia), condemning the Kremlin for violating human rights, restricting freedom of expression and using illicit methods of violence in...

EU/RUSSIA : EU ENHANCES REGIONAL COOPERATION WITH RUSSIA.(European Union)(Brief article)
May 25, 2007... Danuta Hubner, the commissioner responsible for regional development, and Vladimir Yakovlev, Russia's minister for regional policy, signed on 23 May a memorandum of understanding on regional policy. The document sets the rules for "enhanced...

EU/MOLDOVA : EU OPENS FIRST VISA APPLICATION CENTRE IN CHISINAU.
May 25, 2007... The European Commission has met its commitment made in May 2006 and opened on 25 April the first Common Visa Application Centre' in the history of the EU's visa policy. The new centre is hosted in the Hungarian Embassy located in Chisinau in...

EU RATIFIES VISA AND READMISSION DEAL WITH RUSSIA.(European Union)(Brief article)
May 25, 2007... The Justice and Home Affairs Council approved on 19 April the conclusion of visa facilitation and readmission agreements with Russia. The agreements were ratified last month by Russian President Vladimir Putin) and are due to come into force on...

EU/SERBIA : EU SEALS VISA FACILITATION AND READMISSION AGREEMENTS WITH SERBIA.(European Union)(Brief article)
May 25, 2007... Just a few hours after the Serbian parliament approved late in the night on 15 May a new pro-European-oriented government formed by President Boris Tadic's Democratic Party (DS), Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia (DDS) and former...

IMMIGRATION : EU SEPARATES THE WHEAT FROM THE CHAFF AMONG IMMIGRANTS.
May 25, 2007... The EU opened up its borders and invite guest workers from non-EU countries to its understaffed labour sectors in a move to attract skilled migrants while keeping out illegal, unwanted migrants to the EU. The EU's Justice Commissioner,...

INTERVIEW WITH POLAND'S FOREIGN MINISTER ANNA FOTYGA : EU SHOULD CONSIDER TAKING RETALIATORY MEASURES AGAINST RUSSIA.
May 25, 2007... In an interview with Europolitics, Poland's Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga unveils what went on behind the scenes in the preparations for the EU-Russia Summit in Samara and urges the EU to consider taking retaliatory measures against Russia to...

EU TO OPEN THREE MORE CHAPTERS WITH TURKEY IN JUNE.(Brief article)
May 25, 2007... During an 8 May meeting with Ali Babacan, Turkey's chief negotiator towards the EU, the EU's Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn "underlined the importance of respecting the democratic principles and the rule of law in the Turkish electoral...

EU/RUSSIA : EU TO PRESS MOSCOW ON ISSUES HOLDING UP ITS WTO ACCESSION.
May 25, 2007... The Union tried to use the EU-Russia Summit in Samara on 18 May as an opportunity "to underline a need for progress in Russia's World Trade Organisation (WTO) accession process and further accelerate work" between the Commission and the Kremlin...

EU/TURKEY : EU WARNS TURKEY'S ARMY AGAINST INTERFERING IN POLITICS.(European Union)
May 25, 2007... The European Union is urging Turkey's military commanders to refrain from intervening in politics after the country's General Staff has warned that it was ready to take action if the state's secular model is not respected. "It is important...

EU WELCOMES FAIR ELECTIONS IN ARMENIA.
May 25, 2007... The German EU Presidency and the European Commission expressed their satisfaction on 14 May that the parliamentary elections held in Armenia on 12 May "were, on the whole, conducted fairly, freely and largely in accordance with the...

INSTITUTIONAL REFORMS : FRANCE'S NEW PRESIDENT SARKOZY BRANDISHES HIS SIMPLIFIED TREATY.(Nicolas Sarkozy)
May 25, 2007... "Tonight, France is back in Europe!" said Nicolas Sarkozy, on the evening of 6 May in Paris, just after he had been elected president of the French Republic with 53.06% of votes. the former interior minister and former leader of the centre...

EU/KOSOVO : GERMAN PRESIDENCY APPEALS TO KOSOVO TO STAY PATIENT.(European Union)(Brief article)
May 25, 2007... Germany's Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung appealed on 3 May for ethnic Albanians in Kosovo to stay "patient" and refrain from unilaterally declaring independence before the UN Security Council takes its decision on the future of the province....

GUL NOMINATED AS PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE.(Abdullah Gul)(Brief article)
May 25, 2007... Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul was chosen on 24 April as the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) candidate for the presidency, a decision that, according to experts, will ensure the continuity of the country's efforts to join...

GUL WITHDRAWS HIS CANDIDACY.
May 25, 2007... Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul withdrew, on 6 May, his nomination for the post of president after failing to win parliamentary backing for the second time. Sunday's re-run vote was again boycotted by the opposition, thus making it...

EU/UKRAINE : "IT IS HIGH TIME TO DO MORE FOR UKRAINE," SAY MEPS.(European Union)(membersof European parliments)(Brief article)
May 25, 2007... The European Parliament is urging the EU institutions for stronger engagement in the process of achieving a compromise between the political forces in Ukraine. During the extraordinary debate on 25 April, called by the Parliament following an...

ENLARGEMENT : LEGAL OPTIONS FOR SUSPENDING EU ACCESSION NEGOTIATIONS WITH TURKEY.
May 25, 2007... The winner of France's presidential elections, Nicolas Sarkozy declared his strong opposition towards Turkey's EU membership on many occasions during his presidential campaign and expressed his intention to suspend accession talks with Ankara....

EU/RUSSIA : MEAT TALKS END IN DEADLOCK.
May 25, 2007... EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou and Russian Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev have failed to break a stalemate over the 16-month Russian ban on Polish meat and agricultural products, an issue which continues to block the launch of...

EU/BALKANS : MEPS GIVE GREEN LIGHT TO EUROPEAN COMMON AVIATION AREA.(member of the European Parliment)(European Union)(Brief article)
May 25, 2007... The European Parliament, in Strasbourg on 25 April, approved the conclusion of a multilateral air agreement between the European Union and the Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of...

EU/UZBEKISTAN : MINISTERS EASE SANCTIONS ON TASHKENT.
May 25, 2007... The EU's foreign ministers, meeting at the General Affairs and External Relations Council on 14 May, decided to partially ease sanctions imposed on Uzbekistan in 2005 and to take four names off the list of key Uzbek government officials denied...

EU/ALBANIA : MINISTER SEES TIRANA JOINING THE EU WITHIN A DECADE.(European Union)(Brief article)
May 25, 2007... Albania's new Foreign Minister Lulzim Basha has said he hopes his country will be in the EU within a decade. "It depends as much on us as on the political will in Brussels," said Basha on 7 May during a trip to the US three days after taking...

ENLARGEMENT : MINISTERS TO ASSESS CANDIDATE STATES' ECONOMIC PROGRESS.
May 25, 2007... In the margins of the Economic and Financial Council (EcoFin) on 8 May, EU ministers held a meeting with finance ministers of the candidate countries - Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Turkey - to discuss their...

NEW CEFTA AGREEMENT.(Central European Free Trade Agreement)(Brief article)
May 25, 2007... A new Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) came into force on 1 May, replacing 32 bilateral and free trade agreements which to date were regulating trade relations between Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova,...

EU/NATO/RUSSIA : PUTIN DECLARES MORATORIUM ON CONVENTIONAL FORCES TREATY.(European Union)(Brief article)
May 25, 2007... Russian President Vladimir Putin froze on 26 April his country's compliance with the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty, pending the ratification of this arms control agreement by the other signatories. He linked this move to a US plan...

EU/RUSSIA : PUTIN STAYS TOUGH ON RUSSIA'S RELATIONS WITH THE EU.
May 25, 2007... Following the EU-Russia summit, which ended in deadlock over Moscow's tetchy relations with Estonia, Lithuania and Poland, Russia's President Vladimir Putin, who was visiting Austria on 23-24 May, showed no sign of change on his key...

ENLARGEMENT/ANALYSIS : SARKOZY'S POSSIBLE OPTIONS REGARDING TURKEY'S EU BID.
May 25, 2007... Nicolas Sarkozy'savictory in the presidential elections held in France on 6 May was generally well received in the EU, although the atmosphere of the celebration was partly spoiled by Sarkozy's repeated vocal opposition to admitting Turkey to...

EU/RUSSIA : SUMMIT EXPOSES GROWING DIVISIONS.
May 25, 2007... The EU-Russia summit on 17-18 May in Samara has ended without any concrete results. The talks took place in a tense climate with a sharp exchange of criticism over human rights violations and Russia's bilateral disputes with Poland and Baltic...

DOHA ROUND : THE NEXT FEW WEEKS WILL BE DECISIVE, SAYS COMMISSION.
May 25, 2007... The European Commission says that, short of a breakthrough in the next few weeks, the Doha Round multilateral negotiations will be frozen for several years. It is therefore preparing for the future by relaunching bilateral negotiations....

TURKISH MPS DECIDE ON EARLY POLL DATE.(member of parliment)(Brief article)
May 25, 2007... Turkey's parliament confirmed on 3 May that early elections, proposed by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan after the country's Constitutional Court annulled the parliamentary vote for his party's presidential candidate, Abdullah Gul, will be...

UKRAINE GAS PIPELINE BLAST.
May 25, 2007... Following a gas explosion in Ukraine on 7 May, EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs stayed in close contact' with his Ukrainian colleague, Fuel and Energy Minister Yuri Boiko. There were initial worries as to the exact cause of the explosion...