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Love Hurts

05 February 2010 |

Simon Cottrell It's a shame that the internet is a virtual medium, because there are a lot of people out there that I'd like to express my deep feelings of friendship to, and having spent the last two years here in Serbia, I'd like to do it in a truly Serbian way.


Feith: 'New Beginning' for Mitrovica
05 February 2010 | Lawrence Marzouk

The International Civilian Representative in Kosovo, Pieter Feith, has said the appointment of a team to create a new Serb-majority municipality in the divided city of Mitrovica could herald a 'new beginning'.

Georgieva, Ciolos Approved with New Commission
09 February 2010 |

The European Parliament has approved the new European Commission at its session in Strasbourg. Kristalina Georgieva and Dacian Ciolos are the new commissioners from Bulgaria and Romania, respectively.

Koricanske stijene: Awareness of Security
09 February 2010 |

A member of the Intelligence-Security Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina says he spoke to Milorad Skrbic while investigating the murder at Koricanske stijene and "determined that he did not have any operational data about this event".



Albania SAA Ratification Process Complete

Tirana | 15 January 2009 |
 
Tirana
Tirana
Greece's ratification of Albania's Stabilization and Association Agreement, SAA, with the European Union on Wednesday was the final step in the formal approval process of the key document by all EU member states, paving the way for Tirana's application for EU candidate status.

Prime Minister Sali Berisha said last week that Albania would officially apply for EU candidate status in the coming months, possibly even during the Czech Republic's six-month presidency of the EU.  

In the last EU progress report for Albania the European Commission acknowledges that the country has continued to make progress in democracy and rule of law.

“Despite some progress, the fight against corruption and organized crime remains a major challenge”, the report says. It says an overall anti-corruption strategy has not kicked off, and emphasizes that corruption “remains widespread and serious problem”.

The report adds: “Fighting corruption in the judiciary remains a key issue”, and it urges a thorough investigation of the Gerdec explosion case. “Much work is needed on all aspects of the issue, including judicial accountability and transparency of political party founding,” the paper notes.

The report notes only limited progress in preventing money laundering, as well as the fight against drug trafficking, which "remains a serious concern”. Albania is lacking an adequate court infrastructure, the report says, stressing a “comprehensive reform strategy for the judiciary is missing”.

According to the paper, Albania needs to make greater efforts to establish an independent, efficient, and merit-based civil service.

Albania has made progress in aligning its legislation, policies, and capacities with European standards and in implementing Interim agreement commitments. However, in the field of justice, freedom, and security, the country has progressed “unevenly”; therefore, the Commission considers there is a need for overall improvement.

In addition, although Albania is participating in dialogue over the liberalization of the visa regime, the report says it has not yet met the EU’s standards regarding the visa regime, with the introduction of biometric passports being a key step.

(Reporting by Besar Likmeta)



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