indexed map

(updated 26 June 2009)

   Former Kosovan PM arrested entering Bulgaria
   SkyEurope low-cost airline files for bankruptcy
   President of Ingushetia injured in car bomb attack
   Controversial Justice Minister elected President of Slovakia's Supreme Court
   EU takes new initiative for Belarus
   EU integration depends on Serbia alone
   "Prague declaration" at heart of new European Parliament group
   Latvia's Health Minister resigns over cuts
   New Hungarian property tax to have three bands
   Polish gay march gets UK ambassador criticised
   European Parliament election results in the central European states
  French PM links low turnout at EU elections to 'unacceptable' Czech EU presidency

*  Anti-federalist MEPs form new EP group
*  European Parliament 2009 election results
*  Visegrad Group summit reviews past year
*  Belgium and Denmark to open labour market for all EU citizens
*  EU foreign ministers back Balkans enlargement
*  South-east European states meet to discuss economic crisis and EU integration
*  Schengen area enlargement
*  How the European Union has grown

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Georgia (Gruziya)
Hungary
Kaliningrad
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Latvia
Lithuania
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Moldova
Montenegro
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Russia
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Ukraine

Anti-federalist MEPs form new EP group

55 MEPs from eight EU member states have agreed to form a new “anti-federalist” group in the European Parliament. UK Conservatives will be the biggest party in the new group with 26 MEPs, including Northern Ireland's Jim Nicholson of United Conservatives and Unionists. A mixed bag of other MEPs have agreed to join. They include 15 MEPs from the Poland's PiS opposition party (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość - Law and Justice), 9 from the Czech ODS (Obcanská Demokratická Strana - Civic Democratic Party), and one each from minority parties in Belgium - Lijst Dedecker (LDD), Hungary - MDF (Magyar Demokrata Fórum), Latvia - Tevzemei un Brivibai/LNNK (TB/LNNK), and the Netherlands - ChristenUnie. One member of Finland's Centre Party also intended to join the group, although the remainder of that party's MEPs would remain in the liberal ALDE group.

To form a group in the European Parliament and gain EU funding, the group had to attract a minimum of 25 MEPs from at least 7 EU states.

Senior UK Conservative William Hague said the new anti-federalist bloc in the European Parliament should be "good for European democracy". But former Tory MEP Caroline Jackson warned it could create "bad blood" with traditional centre-right allies of the EPP group.

A UK Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Ed Davey commented that the Conservatives had left the mainstream of European politics and joined forces with “a rag-bag of parties with extreme views”.

European Parliament 2009 elections

Visegrad Group summit reviews past year

Heads of government of Visegrad countries met on 3 June in Poland to decide how well their programme during the one-year Polish presidency had been fulfilled. The Polish presidency of the V4 Group finishes at the end of June. The meeting also set out to define priorities for the next year’s presidency, to be held by Hungary.

The Visegrad Four is a group of four Central European countries. Prime Ministers Donald Tusk of Poland, Jan Fischer of the Czech Republic, Gordon Bajnai of the Republic of Hungary, and Robert Fico of Slovakia joined for a working dinner in the historical salt mine in Wieliczka near Krakow. They discussed climatic issues, energy security and increasing the budget of the International Visegrad Fund.

Belgium and Denmark to open labour market for all EU citizens

The Belgian daily newspaper La Libre Belgique reported on 16 April that in May Belgium would be lifting labour market restrictions for citizens of newer members of the EU. Belgium is one of the four member states of the original European Union that has kept work restrictions for countries that joined the EU in 2004 and later. Denmark had also announced earlier that it would lift the restrictions at the beginning of May.

By the end of May only Germany and Austria will be left restricting worker migration by requiring EU citizens of the central European countries to have special work permits.

EU foreign ministers back Balkans enlargement

A two-day informal EU foreign affairs meeting concluded on 28 March at the South Bohemian town of Hluboká in the Czech Republic. The focus on the final day had been on bringing in countries from the Balkans. EU foreign ministers backed offering membership to countries in the western Balkans once they meet EU entry conditions and dropping visa conditions as soon as possible.

Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, hosting the meeting, said he realised that EU members and candidate countries feared the ongoing Czech political crisis could disrupt ratification of the EU Lisbon Treaty and the entry of new members. But Schwarzenberg insisted at the meeting that the Balkans were part of Europe and should be part of the EU too – a viewpoint not shared by all 27 EU countries.

South-east European states meet to discuss economic crisis and EU integration

Representatives of six countries in the region met in Belgrade on 3 February to discuss joint action in the face of the economic and energy crisis.  They also adopted a declaration on a joint approach to the EU.

The Belgrade meeting officials from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. They agreed that they need to join forces to accelerate the region's EU integration. They noted they must overcome bilateral issues, so as to make association with the EU more efficient and better to offset economic challenges. The countries of the region, the declaration said, should co-operate closely during the global energy and economic crisis. They urged the EU not to neglect the region because of the global economic crisis.

Attending were Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, Ivica Bocevski, Bosnian Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Mladen Zirojević, Croatian Foreign Ministry State Secretary for European Integration Davor Bozinović, Albanian European Integration Ministry General Secretary Arben Kasahu and Montenegrin Assistant Finance Minister Milorad Katnić.

Presiding over the conference, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Božidare Ðelić said "The European Commission has prepared a solidarity package for South-east Europe totalling €120 million." According to Ðelić, participants in the meeting discussed the possibility of EU banks continuing to support their branches in the Balkans in order to preserve the regional banking sector. The Balkan states will also apply for assistance with energy projects – the EU has set aside €3.6 billion for such developments this year.

All six countries have declared their wish to accede to the European Union, and Croatia is already involved in the accession process.

Schengen area enlargement

The Schengen area On 21 December 2007 nine newer EU member states, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenija joined the Schengen area. Before then the Schengen area was composed of 15 European countries. Although not part of the European Union two other countries, Norway and Iceland are part of the Schengen area through a co-operation agreement. The Principality of Monaco allows informal entry to Schengen visa holders. Two other countries, the United Kingdom and Ireland, while part of the European Union do not belong to the Schengen area, and Schengen regulations only apply to the European territories of France and the Netherlands.

The Portuguese EU presidency announced in Brussels on 4 October that passport and customs controls at the borders between the new and the old EU member states will be abolished on the 21 December, two weeks before the original date. The Schengen area will open to nine of the new EU states. Portuguese Interior Minister Rui Pereira, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, confirmed that the Schengen expansion should take place just before Christmas this year. The original plan had been to start the new year 2008 with an expansion of the Schengen zone. The border-free zone currently includes 13 EU countries plus Norway and Iceland. Many of the 2004 accession states have said that an end to border checks is essential for their citizens to feel part of the EU. In Malta on 24 September the Ministers of the Interior for the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovenija and Slovakia had met to endorse progress on the agreement on the border information exchange system called SISone4all. It was agreed that the SISone4ALL project could be successfully implemented and that controls and checks at the internal borders between the Schengen Member States should be lifted by the end of December 2007 for sea and land borders, and by the end of March 2008 for air borders. Cyprus is working to join Schengen in 2009 along with non-EU member Switzerland. Romania and Bulgaria may qualify to be included in 2011.