Croatia blocks Serbia’s EU accession negotiations

Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic announced that Serbia had opened two more chapters in its EU accession negotiations, though not chapter 26 pertaining to education, due to disagreement from Croatia. In connection with this, Vucic left Brussels immediately after his meeting with the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini. Croatian PM Andrej Plenkovic commented that nothing dramatic had happened, as this was an ongoing process and after Serbia gave the respective signal, negotiations would be opened on chapter 26.

Erdogan declares “national mobilization” against terrorist organizations

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a national mobilization against terrorist organizations, adding that if anyone had any information about the activities of these organizations, they should inform the security forces immediately. The President announced that as a result of operations against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the country and abroad, Turkey had lost 9,500 people, many of them commanding officers. 40,000 have been arrested during operations against organizations connected with Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of masterminding the attempted coup in the country in July. They are all enemies of 80 million of our citizens, Erdogan said and stressed that the terrorist attacks target each of the 80 million citizens. Erdogan addressed the security forces to say that the nation is on their side in the fight against terrorism. Never have any doubts and use your powers to the fullest, he said.

EU freezes Greek debt-relief measures

The finance ministers of the Eurozone countries have suspended Greek debt-relief measures after the government in Athens declared there would be Christmas bonuses. Brussels says that to pay out money to minimum pension holders and introduce tax alleviations for the islands where there are thousands of migrants, is an obstacle to the implementation of debt-relief measures. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras motivated his actions, saying that in the past seven years the people of Greece had made great sacrifices for the sake of Europe.

Tirana calls on Albanians in Macedonia to seek full equality with Macedonians

During consultations with the four leaders of the Albanian parties which enter the new parliament in Macedonia, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama recommended that Albanians in neighbouring Macedonia find the strength to fulfil the general programme for attaining democratic coexistence between Macedonian and Albanian citizens. The surprising meeting of the four Albanian politicians from Macedonia with Edi Rama took place just two days after the early parliamentary elections in Macedonia. Two Macedonian bloc parties enter the new parliament in Skopje - the VMRO-DPMNE with 51 MPs and the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia with 49 MPs. The sumtotal of votes of the Albanian parties in parliament is 20 which makes the formation of a government without their participation practically impossible.

Compiled by Stoimen Pavlov

English version: Milena Daynova