Member states of the United Nations

BELGRADE - First Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Wednesday that Serbia's goal is to achieve the Austrian model of state governance, but noted that for that to happen, the country has to work hard for years and decades and change many things.

BELGRADE - The Coalition of Refugee Associations stated that the meeting between Serbian First Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and his Croatian counterpart Vesna Pusic leads to further enhancement of the two countries relations, but it also warned that mutual respect would not be possible without first finding a fair solution to open issues.

VIENNA - Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz has told Tanjug that he is visiting Belgrade with a message that the future of all Western Balkan countries is in the EU and that Austria will continue to strongly support their European integration efforts.

EU nudges western Balkans toward economic reform

Improving the financial climate will attract investment, the Union said. In other business news: Bulgaria and Macedonia seek more funding for Corridor 8.

The EU believes that financial reforms will mean a better business climate and greater economic prosperity in the western Balkans. [AFP]

"Dialogue has to be continued, results implemented"

BELGRADE -- After elections on March 16, "Serbia must continue reforms and the dialogue with Priština with renewed vigor and implement the results of the dialogue."

This is what Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz has told the Belgrade-daily Danas in an interview ahead of his visit here on Wednesday.

The Bulgarian government is dissatisfied with Ukraine's decision to cancel the recognition of Bulgarian language as regional language.

Earlier this week Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada canceled the State Language Policy Act, which was granting the status of “regional language” to the language of minority groups who make up more than 10% of the residents in an area.

The amendment initiated by the ministry of justice follows reports that a growing number of Albanian citizens have joined radical Islamist groups fighting in the Syrian civil war.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” Arjan Dyrmishi, a security expert with the Albanian Institute of Democracy and Mediation told Balkan Insight.  

BELGRADE - After the early parliamentary election on March 16, Serbia must continue reforms and the dialogue with Pristina with renewed vigor and implement the results of the dialogue, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz has said.

Thousands of Bulgarians and Romanians leave Germany to return to their home countries.

According to the German edition of The Local, which obtained data from the German Federal Statistics Office, in the last two years around 200 000 Bulgarians and Romanians have left Germany.

Bulgaria's President Rosen Plevneliev will pay an official visit to Montenegro, the President press office informed.