advertisement
Fri, Feb 10 2012
European Commissioner Rehn heads for Macedonia, Bosnia
European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn and Serbian president Boris Tadic at the start of their talks in Belgrade on July 22 2009.
European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn is mid-way through his Western Balkans farewell tour, arriving in Skopje on July 23 2009 before heading on to Bosnia and Herzegovina the next day.
In Skopje, Rehn was scheduled to meet Macedonian prime minister Nikola Gruevski as well as the country’s foreign and European integration ministers.
A key topic in talks is expected to Skopje’s dispute with Athens over the use of the name Macedonia, an impasse which a United Nations-led process is attempting to resolve, although the EU has acknowledged that ending the dispute is important to the future of the bloc.
Greece, which rejects Skopje using the name Republic of Macedonia, has blocked its neighbour’s Nato and EU hopes until a satisfactory solution to the dispute is achieved.
In Sarajevo on July 24, Rehn is due to meet the members of the BiH presidency, the chairman of the council of ministers, Nikola Spiric, finance minister Dragan Vrankic, security minister Tarik Sadovic, foreign minister Sven Alkalaj, Republica Srpska prime minister Milorad Dodik and FBiH prime minister Mustafa Mujezinovic. Rehn will deliver a key policy speech at the BiH parliament.
In Belgrade on July 22, Rehn said that the EC was committed to Serbia’s future, but he emphasised the necessity of full co-operation with The Hague tribunal and continuing regional co-operation, Serbian news agency Beta said.
Rehn and prime minister Mirko Cvetkovic agreed that Serbia has made great progress in European integration, according to a Serbian government statement.
Cvetkovic said that the utmost effort was being made toward achieving full co-operation with the tribunal.
Rehn called on Serbia to improve its border control and its fight against organised crime and corruption so that the country’s planned admission to the Schengen visa area "white list" can go ahead.
The intention is that if all conditions are fulfilled, Serbia will join other countries of the Western Balkans, Macedonia and Montenegro, in Schengen visa-free travel from January 1 2010.
"Once Serbia fulfils outstanding conditions, visa-free travel will become a reality," Rehn said.
In Skopje, Rehn was scheduled to meet Macedonian prime minister Nikola Gruevski as well as the country’s foreign and European integration ministers.
A key topic in talks is expected to Skopje’s dispute with Athens over the use of the name Macedonia, an impasse which a United Nations-led process is attempting to resolve, although the EU has acknowledged that ending the dispute is important to the future of the bloc.
Greece, which rejects Skopje using the name Republic of Macedonia, has blocked its neighbour’s Nato and EU hopes until a satisfactory solution to the dispute is achieved.
In Sarajevo on July 24, Rehn is due to meet the members of the BiH presidency, the chairman of the council of ministers, Nikola Spiric, finance minister Dragan Vrankic, security minister Tarik Sadovic, foreign minister Sven Alkalaj, Republica Srpska prime minister Milorad Dodik and FBiH prime minister Mustafa Mujezinovic. Rehn will deliver a key policy speech at the BiH parliament.
In Belgrade on July 22, Rehn said that the EC was committed to Serbia’s future, but he emphasised the necessity of full co-operation with The Hague tribunal and continuing regional co-operation, Serbian news agency Beta said.
Rehn and prime minister Mirko Cvetkovic agreed that Serbia has made great progress in European integration, according to a Serbian government statement.
Cvetkovic said that the utmost effort was being made toward achieving full co-operation with the tribunal.
Rehn called on Serbia to improve its border control and its fight against organised crime and corruption so that the country’s planned admission to the Schengen visa area "white list" can go ahead.
The intention is that if all conditions are fulfilled, Serbia will join other countries of the Western Balkans, Macedonia and Montenegro, in Schengen visa-free travel from January 1 2010.
"Once Serbia fulfils outstanding conditions, visa-free travel will become a reality," Rehn said.
-
Print
-
Send via email
- Translate to
-
Share:
Comments
To post comments, please, Login or Register.
Please read the The Sofia Echo forum comments policy.
‘Political de-mining in the Western Balkans’ – Rehn
For the Western Balkans and Turkey, the prospect of EU membership has been a factor for stability and societal progress, and for democratic and economic transformation, Enlargement Commissioner says.
EU defence ministers discuss pirates, Balkan operations
‘We know that the work in Bosnia and Herzegovina requires some effort and demands that we are vigilant about the domestic political situation,’ Javier Solana, High Representative for the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy, said.
No man’s land
Fourteen years after the Dayton Agreement, which ended fighting in the Balkans, Bosnia and Herzegovina is still a divided country
Rehn gives update on EU enlargement process
Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn says that he has met five out of the six goals he set for himself during his five-year term.
EU Presidency welcomes Iceland’s move to join bloc
Iceland, facing economic meltdown, has voted to apply to join the EU – but membership could take until 2013 and domestic opinion is divided on the move.
EU gives Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia visa-free travel from January 2010
Citizens of the three Western Balkans countries with biometric passports will be able to travel to the Schengen countries visa-free, according to a proposal approved by the European Commission on July 15 2009.
Serbian signals
Ahead of a visit by the Dutch foreign minister and the July EU ministerial, Belgrade insists it is co-operating with The Hague tribunal. The Dutch are not persuaded.
YEAR IN REVIEW: The more things change
Countries around the region wrestled with long-standing disputes, traumatic changes, organised crime and corruption, the impact of the global economic crisis, dismissals and resignations of cabinet ministers - and wrestled with each other
More in this category
Anonymous attacks Croatian presidency website
Denial of service attack the latest by hacking collective as Eastern Europe governments back away from ACTA under public pressure.
Serbia rejects reports of pressure on it to reach deal with Kosovo
Situation in northern Kosovo and EU-facilitated dialogue between Belgrade and Priština discussed at the United Nations.
Reshuffle in Romania
New prime minister-designate faces task of rehabilitating image of ruling party with cabinet of second-stringers.
Greece reaches accord on austerity demands from its lenders
Greece needs the aid package from the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund in order to avoid defaulting on $19 billion in bond payments due in March.
Greek party leaders move closer to deal on more spending cuts
Talks broke up early February 9 2012 with only one outstanding issue remaining.
© 2000-2012, Sofia Echo Media Ltd.
Web Design by RIZN
Sofia Echo Media is part of the Economedia Group.
The news and information content on this website is provided by our editorial team and is copyrighted.
Any unauthorised reproduction or use of it is strictly forbidden. Reproduction of this website's content is permitted only
with prior written permission from the Editor-in-Chief, should be propertly acredited and provide an active link back to our site.
Comments posted by the website's visitors are independent of the editorial materials and do not represent the views of sofiaecho.com.
Sofia Echo Media cannot be held responsible for the statements contained in visitor comments.
The percentаge change in the shares' prices are based on the price of the last transaction of the current session compared to the
price of the last transaction of the previous session. Bulgarian Stock Exchange data is not real-time, but updated every 15 minutes,
and should not be used as a basis for decisions about buying or selling stock options.
- Economedia Group portfolio:
- In Bulgarian:
-
Business:
Капитал,
Кариери,
Пазари,
Ho Re Mag,
Регал,
Градът.bg,
Одит,
Foton.bg,
Online shop
- News: Дневник, Европа, Foreign Policy - България
- IT: IDG.BG, Computerworld, PC World, CIO, Networkworld
- Entertainment: Бакхус
-
In English:
The Sofia Echo
The Greeks seem to be messing up their own case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) - read this:
http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/142/14963.pdf
On present showing, the Macedonians (ERYdM now, not FYRom, as the ICJ uses French) will probably win this case. So what will poor Greece do then ?
Voden will soon have its own name. We are going to call it tke land of the great cucumber!!!!!!!
This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained
This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained
slavodonia sounds good so how bout it?
This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained
Sorry to pour cold water, "Country with no Name", but a compromise with Greece will indeed be avoided once the EU ban on "single nation veto" comes in, and Republic of Macedonia is admitted under that name.
And for that you have to thank Slovenia, for using the "single nation veto" for so long against Croatia....all other Member States have got pissed off, and the Lisbon Treaty will have a minor amendment accordingly.
Still the name issue as a precondition of FYROm's access to the EU block...
They cannot avoid the compromise with Greece. That's a good point.