VMRO-DPMNE - DUI COALITION
On July 5, Macedonian prime minister Nikola Gruevski's conservative VMRO-DPMNE party sealed a coalition deal with the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration (DUI). VMRO-DPMNE, which won a landslide victory at the June 1 snap parliamentary elections, securing itself 63 mandates in the 120-seat Macedonian parliament, will form a government together with DUI, which won 18 seats, as compared with the 11 by its rival Democratic Party of Albanians.

LISBON TREATY CONFERENCE
On July 4-6 the three-day international conference "The Lisbon Treaty - an (Un)Finished Reform" took place in Sofia. The conference, held under the patronage of Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov and French ambassador to Bulgaria Etienne de Poncins, was organised by Sofia University and marked the founding of the Centre on European and Comparative Law for South Eastern Europe.

RICE VISIT
Visa-free travel, energy, military and economic co-operation between the US and Bulgaria were the main topics discussed by US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice with Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin on July 9, during Rice's one-day visit to Sofia. "This visit by Rice to Sofia is an element of the excellent diplomatic relations between our two countries," Kalfin said. Rice also met Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev and President Georgi Purvanov, who presented her with Bulgaria's highest civilian distinction, the Stara Planina order, for her role in freeing the Bulgarian medics detained in Libya.

ALBANIA, CROATIA IN NATO SOON
Nato member states signed the accession protocols for Albania and Croatia on July 9, with the two Balkan states expected to become full members of the military bloc by spring 2009. The signing ceremony took place at Nato's headquarters in Brussels and was attended by Albanian foreign minister Lulzim Basha and Croatian foreign minister Gordan Jandrokovic, the Nato press service said in a statement. For the accession procedure to be completed the parliaments of the alliance's member states have to ratify the documents and then the Albanian and Croatian parliaments will have to do the same. The process usually lasts no longer than a year and a half, but reports say Nato officials would like to see it all finalised before the next summit in Strasbourg/Kehl, which is to be held in April 2009 and will mark the alliance's 60th anniversary.