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(Balkanalysis.com Research Service)- After an EC-commissioned audit, Romania was warned on 13 November “to tighten controls in its farm payment systems or face a severe cut in subsidies next year from the European Union,” the Financial Times reported yesterday. The vast, largely agricultural country in the northeastern Balkans is hoping to receive 443m euros in EU [...]

By Lara Scarpitta* It is old news that geography matters in foreign policy. A dormant EC/EU had to learn this vital lesson in 1989, when communism crumbled behind its safe walls. Faced with the sudden prospect of bordering poor, unpredictable and unstable neighbours, it responded by anchoring the former soviet satellites of Central Europe with [...]

By Paula Ganga For many centuries, water and proximity to water have been important issues in conflicts the world over. Many wars have been fought at least partially due to the lack of this crucial factor of development. However, Eastern Europe has faced in the last few years the exact opposite situation. It seems that [...]

By Andra Matresu* Did you know that in only eight short months, Europe’s honorary cultural capital is moving to Romania? In the following travel article, Sibiu native Andra Matresu makes the case for why her city and its surroundings are eminently worthy of the honor- and why they will enthrall visitors with a unique Transylvanian [...]

By Paula Ganga* There has been a great debate regarding Romania’s level of preparedness for joining the European Union in 2007. Controversy has also surrounded the issue of whether the EU can integrate such a large country, one beset by so many structural and institutional problems. But the question of whether the two partners are [...]

(Balkanalysis.com Research Service)- Romania is in the midst of the worst flooding in a century, according to the Red Cross, which has performed massive relief work while calling for more donor aid for heavily affected regions. Related flooding has also caused widespread damage in neighboring Serbia, while an unrelated deluge caused 650 people to be [...]

By Christopher Deliso The protests seen this week in Bulgaria (and documented in part 1 of this article) were not the first of their kind, and will certainly not be the last. In February 2000, the Romanian Baia Mare gold mine suffered a cyanide leak, which killed thousands of fish in the Tisza and Danube [...]

With the announcement that Bulgaria’s Hemus Air is planning to start flying to Skopje from June 17, a major breakthrough has been made in improving Macedonia’s regional travel connections. But another strike at Macedonian Railways yesterday, called to protest the government’s plan to lay off 868 workers, shows just how easily Macedonian travel can be [...]

By Christopher Deliso Blaming the government of Adrian Nastase for failing to complete reforms in the judiciary system and the state administration, the EU Enlargement Commission is threatening to suspend aid to Romania. According to the Sofia Morning News, Baroness Emma Nicholson, the EP’s rapporteur for Romania, blamed the existing delay on Romania’s “…administrative incapacity [...]