Johannes Hahn

The EU's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn on Wednesday urged Moldova to take "appropriate measures" in order to show respect for the popular vote, after courts in the country annulled the capital's mayoral elections, won on June 3 by the leader of Dignity and Truth Platform, PPDA, Andrei Năstase.

Macedonian and Albanian leaders on Wednesday welcomed the decision by European ministers to give a conditional green light to the start of their EU accession talks.

"There will be sweat, tears and many disappointments but we will succeed!" Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov wrote on Facebook.

Minister of EU Integration Jadranka Joksimovic announced this at the 8th Intergovernmental Conference in Luxembourg

The Macedonian Interior Ministry said the demonstrators - opposed to the deal reached by Athens and Skopje to end a dispute over the country's name - used pyrotechnics and tried to force their way into the Assembly, to which the police responded by using tear gas.

The Macedonian and Greek Foreign Ministers, Nikola Dimitrov and Nikos Kotzias, in the presence of their countries' Prime Ministers, Macedonia's Zoran Zaev and Greece's Alexis Tsipras, signed a historic agreement aimed at ending the long dispute over Macedonia's name on Sunday.

Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) are set to sign a historic accord to modify the latter's name after Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras survived a no-confidence vote in Parliament Saturday.

The accord is to be signed in the Prespes region, a lake district which borders Greece, FYROM and Albania, by the two countries' foreign ministers Sunday.

Leaders of the strongest opposition alliance in Montenegro, the URA movement and the Democrats [Demokrate] are heading to Brussels next week to present what they call a plan to overcome the long-lasting political crisis in the country.

The leader of URA, Dritan Abazovic, and the Democrats' chief, Aleksa Becic, will meet the EU Enlargement Commissioner, Johannes Hahn, early next week.

While leaders in Brussels, Washington and the region have showered praise on the agreement between neighbouring Macedonia and Greece over Macedonia's name, the deal has met a cold response from opposition parties back home.

European Union foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini and Commissioner in charge of regional policy Johannes Hahn issued on Tuesday a joint statement congratulating the prime ministers of Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) "in reaching this historic agreement between their countries, which contributes to the transformation of the entire region of South-East Europe."<

• A Bank delegation led by President Werner Hoyer participated in the Western Balkans Summit in Sofia
• The EIB and Serbia signed a Memorandum of Understanding reconfirming the Bank's support for key connectivity infrastructure, digitalisation, rural development, energy safety and urban transport