Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt has declared his opinion that Serbia should acquire official EU candidate country status as soon as possible.

New 'Schengen' countries to guard the EU fortress. Once again a number of internal borders are being scrapped in the European Union. As per 21 December 2007 there will no longer be any border controls between the 'old EU' and nine recently acceded member states.

A recent European Commission report says limits on free speech are undermining Turkey's chances of becoming a full member of the European Union. The report says that Turkey also needs to reform its judiciary, fight corruption and strip the military of its political powers.

The EU and Serbia initialed a key document paving the way for the Balkan country to join the 27-member bloc, the EU press service said on Wednesday.

The European Commission expressed its concern over lack of minority rights, and press and religion freedom in Turkey.

The European Union is urging Turkey to improve its record on human rights and press freedoms, and to keep a promise to open its ports and airports to Greek Cypriot traffic.

An opinion poll says that as many as 41% of Serbs would rather keep the Kosovo province within the country than join the European Union. A total of 1630 Serbian citizens took part in the survey, conducted by the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID) in early September.

The Socialist Party of France will struggle for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey. The Genocide recognition must become the main precondition for Turkey’s accession to the European Union, head of the French Socialist Party Delegation, the Party’s First Secretary Francois Hollande said.

The message from the European Union is clear: economic cooperation -- yes; membership -- no. And for those countries that might have fancied their membership chances, there was another clear signal: all European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) members are to be treated the same.

Turkey's prime minister has unveiled a five-year program he says will strengthen the economy and move the country closer to European Union membership.

Serbia will not recognize Kosovo's independence in exchange for its membership to the European Union, the Serbian ambassador to Russia said.

The Serbian president said in an interview with Russian media Thursday that there is no link between European Union membership and a solution to the Kosovo problem.