Tag: enlargement

Serbia hopes that the next EU summit on 27-28 June will take a decision to start accession talks in October, Suzana Grubješić, Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration of Serbia, told EurActiv Germany in an exclusive interview.

Members of  the European Parliament expressed grave concern yesterday (12 June) about the Turkish government’s response to the Gezi Park protests that have polarised the country over the last three weeks. There was less consensus on whether speeding up EU accession negotiations could help the democratisation process in Turkey, however, EurActiv Turkey reports.

Accepting criticism from people and movements will do Turkey good, as protests give a sense of urgency for a reform of the constitution that should lower the 10% threshold for parliament and give people more rights via-a-vis the state, writes Ska Keller.

As the most largest anti-government protests in Turkey’s recent past look set to enter a third week, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and EU Enlargement Commissioner Štefan Füle sparred over the issue at a conference held in Istanbul on Friday (7 June).

Thousands of protestors blockaded parliament in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo yesterday (6 June), venting anger over a political dispute over ID numbers that has left the country unable to register newborn babies for months.

Thousands of Turks have marched in several European cities to protest the violent crackdown on demonstrators in Istanbul and other cities, and against what they see as an ongoing Islamisation of their country. But some reports say some Turks living abroad see the protests as “foreign-inspired”.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is falling behind on commitments to human rights and the rule of law, making its chances of joining the European Union increasingly remote, according to EU officials and lawmakers.

The new eurosceptic government in Iceland has announced a halt to the country’s EU accession talks, until Icelanders vote in a referendum within the next four years on whether they want membership negotiations to continue.

Germany's Bundestag has approved Croatia's entry to the European Union, clearing the last formal hurdle for the former Yugoslav republic to join the Union on 1 July.

Twenty years down the road, the enlargement policy of the European Union continues to inspire countries in the regions bordering the European Union, say Nicolai Wammen and Stefan Füle.

Iceland's anti-EU centre-right parties began talks yesterday (28 April) to form a new administration, promising to end years of austerity and provide debt relief to households, but haggling over which one of them will lead the government continues.

The recent agreement between Kosovo and Serbia requires that all parallel structures such as police or courts in the Serbia-populated Northern Kosovo should be dismantled, Kosovo Foreign Minister Enver Hoxhaj told  EurActic Slovakia in an exclusive interview.

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dačić said he would ask EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton today (22 April) to set a day for his country to open EU accession negotiations. The moves follows an agreement to improve relations with Kosovo, BETA, the EurActiv partner in Serbia, reports.

In the wake of a Commission report on Macedonia that underlines the country's "good" relations with its neighbours, the Foreign Ministry removed information from its website that was seen as irredentist by Bulgaria and Greece.

Albania's parliament sacked an election official on Monday (15 April) despite warnings from the country's international partners that the move could damage domestic and overseas confidence in June parliamentary elections.

Croatians voted yesterday (14 April) for 12 members of the European Parliament. The low turnout of 20.74% is explained by voters' perception that the election was "unimportant", analysts said.

Serbia has rejected a European Union-brokered plan to tackle the ethnic partition of its former province Kosovo, a move that could hurt Belgrade's hopes of starting membership talks with the bloc.

Talks between Serbia and Kosovo must continue to bring stability to the region, writes Miroslav Lajčák.

Gazprom Neft holds a 56% stake in NIS, the largest energy company in Serbia, but the company vows to do business “outside politics” and support the country’s EU integration, Kirill Kravchenko, CEO of NIS, told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

Crunch talks aimed at ending the ethnic partition of Serbia's former Kosovo province broke up without result early this morning (3 April), in a major setback for Serbia's hopes of starting EU membership negotiations this year.

Greece's ongoing objections to Macedonia's membership in NATO demonstrates that unlimited veto power threatens to make the alliance less responsive, restrictively bureaucratic, and subject to the mercy of any internal disagreement, no matter how small, writes Sally A. Painter.

The EU’s negotiations, or rather non-negotiations with Turkey, turned out to be tricks, jeopardising the EU’s reputation and respectability. What the Germans and others don’t seem to realise is that they expect more from Turkey than they do from themselves, writes Dr. Petra Erler.