Macedonia
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Immigration
Bulgarian passport opens doors to West
7 December 20113Trud Sofia -
European Union
An enlargement of illusions
13 October 20113Dagens Nyheter Stockholm -
Former Yugoslavia
Balkan delusions of grandeur
3 October 20115Jutarnji List Zagreb -
25 March 20111PresseuropLe Soir
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EU accession
The Balkan family photo is blurred
21 January 20112Politika Belgrade -
4 May 20101Kapital Sofia
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Greece/Macedonia
Athens offers Skopje a name tweak
6 April 20101PresseuropAdevărul -
9 March 2010
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8 February 20103Globus-Skopje Skopje
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26 January 2010
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Balkans
Hail Albania!
25 November 20091The Guardian London -
Accession
Zagreb and Ankara "must do better"
15 October 2009PresseuropZaman -
EU enlargement
Auditors find "black hole" of the Balkans
14 October 2009PresseuropTrouw -
23 September 20091Handelsblatt Düsseldorf
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EU enlargement
Never mind the Balkans, here's Iceland
31 July 20092El País Madrid -
Balkans
Frustrated expectations
15 July 2009The Guardian London
Macedonians, Moldavians and Ukrainians are jostling to obtain a Bulgarian passport. Many plan to leave for other countries in the European Union, but first they must confront the Bulgarian administration. 
In opening up the prospect of accession to several candidate countries, the European Commissioner for Enlargement means to put on a show of optimism. But it only reinforces the impression that Europe doesn’t know where it’s going, writes the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter. 
In a phenomenon that has emerged in cities as diverse as Skopje, Niš and Split, the states of the former Yugoslavia are been swept by a craze for megalomaniac monuments. Croatian writer Jurica Pavicic examines the vogue for these nationalist monstrosities, and concludes their goal is to rewrite history. 
The population census demanded by Brussels has become a political challenge in most of the countries of the western Balkans. Twenty years after the start of the wars in former Yugoslavia, the venture brings ethnic and social tensions back into the spotlight. 
After nearly two decades of absurd and counter-productive quarreling, it's high time that Greece and its former Yugoslavian neighbour find a solution to the Macedonian name issue, argues Bulgarian weekly Kapital. 
Five centuries of Turkish domination left their mark on culture, cuisine, language and even gestures in Balkan countries. It is an influence that is still apparent in attitudes that have affected the pace of integration in the European Union for a number of Balkan states. 
On 16 November the EU Council formally approved Albania’s application for accession to the Union. Guardian columnist Peter Preston argues in favour of an emerging country whose enthusiasm for the European project is a welcome antidote to eurosceptic cynicism. 
Pressing ahead with its worldwide expansion agenda, China is now snatching up contracts in highly-indebted Eastern Europe. Beijing is hell bent on out-leveraging the Western competition there by offering dumping prices and cheap loans. But this is not just about fat contracts, writes the Handelsblatt: the Middle Kingdom is also buying political sway.
The enthusiasm with which member states have welcomed Reykjavik's request for accession to the EU is in marked contrast to the prudence — and in some cases hostility — which has greeted similar requests from the countries of ex-Yugoslavia and Turkey. But the EU cannot afford to give the impression that certain candidates enjoy special privileges. 
Croatia's prime minister resigned July 1 because his country's future accession to the EU had been called into question. In Macedonia too, the EU aspirant government is fragile. As the European dream recedes, the more Western Balkan states are destabilised, writes British researcher Ian Bancroft in the Guardian.