Diplomatic Diary: Slovenia backs Macedonia's EU aspirations

05/02/2008

Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel was in Skopje last week. Also in diplomatic news: Romania and France sign a strategic partnership agreement.

Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel (left) and his Macedonian counterpart, Antonio Milososki, hold a press conference in Skopje on Friday (February 1st). [Getty Images]

Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel reiterated his country's support for Macedonia's Euro-Atlantic integration during a visit to Skopje on Friday (February 1st). Rupel, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, met with his Macedonian counterpart, Antonio Milososki and said accession talks will likely start this year.

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Romanian President Traian Basescu and France's Nicolas Sarkozy signed a five-year strategic partnership agreement, the first such document signed between France and an Eastern European country. The agreement envisions co-operation in the political, economic and cultural spheres.

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Latvia, the first EU member to ratify Albania's Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU, reiterated on Monday (February 4th) its support for Albania's integration in NATO. Latvia's Ambassador to NATO, Janis Eichmanis, met with Albanian President Bamir Topi and Prime Minister Sali Berisha.

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Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis will travel to Washington on February 14th for a meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Greece's Foreign Ministry announced. Rice and Bakoyannis are expected to discuss the name dispute between Athens and Skopje, ahead of the NATO summit in Bucharest in April.

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Saudi Arabia respects the territorial integrity of Cyprus, Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Saud Al Faisal said on Monday (February 4th) during a meeting with his Cypriot counterpart Erato Kozakou Marcoullis, who was on a one-day official visit to Riyadh. "We support a united and federal island and we are opposed to any secession or division," Al Faisal said.

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The head of the European Parliament's (EP) Committee for Southeast Europe, Doris Pack, was in Sarajevo on Monday (February 4th) and Tuesday. She is attending the 10th inter-parliamentary meeting with members of the Joint Committee for European Integration of the Bosnia and Herzegovina parliament.

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Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder made a private visit to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on Friday (February 1st) and met with Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Ferdi Sabit Soyer. The visit was in support of UN-led efforts to reunite the island. The president of Cyprus, Tassos Papadopoulos, described the move as a "sad development" and declined to meet with Schroeder.

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Pope Benedict XVI met with Kosovo President Fatmir Sedjiu on Saturday (February 2nd) and discussed the latest developments in the Kosovo status issue. The pontiff said the Vatican's stance on an independence declaration would depend largely on the international community. A statement released afterward, however, stressed that the meeting did not signal Vatican endorsement of Kosovo's bid for independence.

(Various sources -- 29/01/08-05/02/08)