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The prospect of Serb radicals winning January elections is sowing division in the EU, with some Balkan EU member states keen to give Belgrade moderates a "welcoming message" ahead of the vote while France and the Netherlands want to play it tough on war crimes. Slovenia, Greece, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Denmark and the Czech republic's foreign ministers on Monday pushed for an EU leaders' statement on Friday (15 December) to stress that "Serbia remains welcome to join the European Union" while softening calls to hand over Ratko Mladic to the UN.

It seems like the referendum on the new Serbian constitution succeeded. The two-day period of voting, all the calls for a 'yes' vote, the exclusion of Kosovo Albanians from voting lists, the showing of 'patriotic' movies in Serbian media worked, not-so-su

We are asking for a date [for starting accession talks], because being a candidate country without a date is like arranging a wedding without music and so we can not start with the wedding," foreign minister Antonio Milososki explained.

Am 26. Oktober hat der Deutsche Bundestag mit einer überwältigenden Mehrheit, 529 von 551 Stimmen, dem Beitritt Rumäniens und Bulgariens zur EU zugestimmt. Der Bundestag forderte zudem die Bundesregierung auf, Druck auf die Kommission auszuüben, schon

Kosovo's leadership welcomed on Thursday the Contact Group's stated commitment to achieving a negotiated solution to the province's status issue by the end of the year. [...]

Croatia can only enter the EU when the union has a new treaty, European Commission president Barroso has said, refocusing Brussels' agenda on the "increasingly pressing" constitutional deadlock. [...]

Sofia and Bucharest on Tuesday (26 September) received the long awaited go-ahead from the European Commission to enter the EU as planned on 1 January 2007. But both countries need to demonstrate progress in the most problematic areas - reform of the jud

José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, clearly indicated that the fifth enlargement since 1957 might have to be the last for a long time. An "institutional settlement" must now precede any further increase in EU membership, Barroso s

The European Commission is next month set to call upon EU leaders to launch a "major communication effort" on enlargement - but Brussels itself is struggling to find the right wording to convey the bloc's expansion more positively.

The fifth postwar general election has brought around 53 percent of voters to the polls. [...] This election has proved the constitutional structure's highly negative impact on the voting system.

Croatia has said that only small institutional arrangements in the EU would be enough for the country to enter the bloc, challenging European Commission president Barroso's stance that a completely new treaty is necessary before accession.

EU-Turkey negotiations have hit a wall. A solution for the Cyprus issue appear to remain out of reach. Comments by Barroso have added to the sombre mood around the upcoming progress report.