Stefan Fule

EU changes its economic approach toward the Balkans

The Union sets new criteria for membership candidate countries and potential candidates.

The European Commission will issue new country-specific recommendations in May. [European Commission]

EU supporting water treatment effort in Cyprus

Rama will hold talks with German Chancellor Merkel in Berlin, the speaker of the German parliament and the head of the Christian Democratic Union’s parliamentary group.

Rama is also expected to meet the Deputy Chancellor and Economy Minister, Sigmar Garbiel.

Balkan countries boost efforts to draw investment

Political stability, co-operation and reforms will lead to foreign investment in the region, officials said.

Balkan states must work together to draw investment, Serbia Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said. [European Bank for Reconstruction and Development]

Ukraine and the EU signed on Friday the political chapter of the Association Agreement.

The event took place at a ceremony attended by European Council and European Commission Presidents, as well as by heads of state and government of all EU members, Ukrainian newspaper KyivPost has reported.

EU is 'obliged' to use enlargement in its policy toward Ukraine, Commissioner Stefan Fule said on Tuesday.

Speaking for German newspaper Die Welt, Fule, who is in charge precisely of the EU's enlargement policy, said the bloc should use "its strongest instrument" if it wants to deal with "this part of Eastern Europe which last events have affected".

“Albania’s future is in the EU… but the political parties need to work together and efficiently,” Stefan Fule said in a joint press conference with Albania's centre-left Prime Minister, Edi Rama, on Thursday.

“The culture of confrontation does not help Albania’s EU integration process,” he added, referring to the country's history of fierce political disputes.

EU takes BiH to task for Sejdic-Finci failure

Some politicians said the October elections are the key to implementing the verdict.

The BiH presidency building stands in Sarajevo. The top government posts are earmarked for the country's three majority ethnicities, which is discriminatory, according to a 2009 European Court of Human Rights ruling. [AFP]

Croatia and Serbia to pursue war reparations

Experts said reparations are important to reconciliation in the region.

Davor Stier (centre), European Parliament member from the Croatian Democratic Union, rasied the issue of war reparations with EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule. [Facebook/Davor Stier]

PM Ivica Dačić participated in a high-level regional forum organized in London on Monday by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

He presented Serbia's results in the creation of favorable business and investment environment, emphasizing that no project can be implemented without stability of the region.