Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Romania: united for the development of the Balkans

At a four-country summit in Belgrade, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and the prime ministers of Bulgaria, Greece and Romania Boyko Borissov, Alexis Tsipras and Mihai Tudose discussed economic cooperation, strengthening regional stability and support to integration of the region’s countries. During the summit the transport ministers of Bulgaria and Serbia signed a memo for cutting international charges for roaming services. The participants in the summit agreed on more frequent four-country ministerial meetings to discuss energy, foreign policy and migration. A new summit in the four-country format is due in Bucharest in March next year.

Talks on Macedonia name to resume

On December 11 and 12 the international mediator in Skopje-Athens talks for the name of Macedonia Matthew Nimetz will meet in Brussels with the representatives of the two sides to the dialogue – Vasko Naumovski and Adamantios Vassilakis. Talks resume after a break of three years and in a period of improved political climate between the two countries. The name dispute between Athens and Skopje has been running since Macedonia declared independence in 1991.

VMRO-DPMNE leader resigns

At a meeting of the Central Committee of VMRO-DPMNE on Sunday Nikola Gruevski stepped down as party leader. He has been leading that Macedonian political party since 2003. A new leader will be elected at an extraordinary congress on 22 and 23 December. Possible successors of Gruevski include politicians from his closest circle such as Nikola Poposki, Antonio Milososki, Kristijan Mickovski, Ilija Dimovski and Nikola Dimitrov.

Kosovo looks forward to peace agreement with Serbia by end 2018

In a broadcast of the Kosovo state television Foreign Minister Behgjet Pacolli said he expected a final peace agreement with Serbia by the end of 2018. The minister said that from January dialogue between Pristina and Kosovo would become busier and would complete with a peace agreement between Kosovo and Serbia. According to Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj however the dialogue under the aegis of the European Union will not continue unless the USA joins in too. The prime minister has demanded the participation of USA with the argument that in Kosovo’s most difficult moments Washington has responded and supported problem solving.

Opposition in Turkey sounds alert that violation of human rights there remains unpunished

A report of the opposition Republican People’s Party covering the period 2002 – 2017 reads that violations of human rights in Turkey remain unpunished and the state does not perform its obligation to protect them. As human rights violations the report points to extrajudicial executions, casual shootings, undisclosed killings, deaths from land mines, attacks by clandestine groups, civil conflicts, murders by village guards, fatalities on the way of migrants, deaths during arrests, hate crime, murders of women by men, torture in prisons and the fatalities following hunger strikes, deaths in labor accidents, killings of children.

Europol identifies Albania as chief cannabis source for EU

In its latest report Europol has again identified Albania as the chief source of illegal cannabis trade in the countries of the European Union. According to the report, criminal groups in Europe earn 24 billion euros a year from smuggling marijuana, cocaine and heroin. Authorities confiscate only one percent of the money generated in drugs sale. There are criminal groups that apart from drug trafficking are also related to terrorism, the report reads.

Complied by Stoimen Pavlov

English Daniela Konstantinova