Turkey may activate Plan B for Cyprus

Turkey is to activate Plan B in an attempt to upgrade the international status of the occupied northern part of Cyprus after the failed talks to reunify Cyprus earlier this month, the Greek newspaper Ekathimerini claims based on unconfirmed information. According to unconfirmed reports, Turkey’s military and diplomatic authorities have received instructions to prepare new initiatives, which include plans to open up fenced-off ghost town of Varosha-the abandoned southern quarter of Famagusta city and allow the return of thousands of Greek-Cypriot refugees.

VMRO-DPMNE will not support good neighbor agreement between Bulgaria and Macedonia

VMRO-DPMNE will not support the good neighbor agreement between Bulgaria and Macedonia. According to Macedonia’s opposition party, the two countries have not yet solved some open issues regarding the identity of the Macedonian people for instance. Bulgaria does not recognize the Macedonian language and contends Macedonian is a Bulgarian dialect, VMRO_DPMNE states. Sofia’s request for amendments to Macedonia’s history books aims at presenting important historical personalities and events as part of Bulgaria’s history, VMRO-DPMNE contends. In a response to VMRO-DPMNE’s position the ruling Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) called on VMRO-DPMNE to stop with its own irresponsible politics and instead to show responsibility and to act towards the solution of open end issues for the purpose of promoting good neighborly relations and opening of Euro-Atlantic perspectives of that country.

Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina accelerate entry into EU and NATO

According to analysis of the Ljubljana-based International Institute for Middle-East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES), Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina will speed-up preparation for NATO and EU membership. According to unofficial information of the authors of the analysis, some decisions aimed at amending the Dayton Agreement were already being prepared in Brussels and Washington, preliminary in the part that refers to parallel special ties between the countries that signed the document. According to IFIMES, these decisions primarily refer to Serbia due to its restraints towards NATO and its warm political connections with Russia.

Serbia is not “Trojan horse” of Russia’s interests in Europe: Serbia’s Minister for EU Integration Jadranka Joksimovic

Serbia is not the “Trojan horse” of Russia’s interests in Europe, although Belgrade appreciates the Russian support, Serbia’s Minister for EU Integration Jadranka Joksimovic told Vecernje Novosti newspaper. On occasion of Lithuania’s request that the EU should revise its enlargement policy with countries which negotiate for EU accession, but meanwhile participate in military exercises with Russia, minister Joksimovic commented that such demands should be viewed in the context of the fact that some Baltic states show different attitude towards Moscow due to their own historical past. On the other hand, Serbia’s joint military trainings with the EU and NATO outnumber those held with Russia, Jadranka Joksimovic points out.

Kosovo will face new elections should Parliament fail to elect new Premier in three rounds

Kosovo will face new elections should the Parliament of that country fails to elect the new Premier in three rounds, local media alarm. If a Prime Minister is not elected in the first round, the biggest Parliamentary group has the right to nominate its candidate two more times. If a Primer is not elected after the third round, new elections are inevitable. The sitting, where the biggest parliamentary group in Kosovo should nominate a candidate for Premier was scheduled by President Hashim Thaçi for August 3. The Parliamentary group of the PAN coalition between the Democratic Party of Kosovo, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo and the Initiative for Kosovo, that won 39 seats in Parliament, is the biggest parliamentary group in that country after the elections held on June 11 this year.

Written by: Stoimen Pavlov

English version: Kostadin Atanasov