Fielding questions from viewers on state-controlled television channels on November 13 Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev announced that on November 27 the leaders of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan would gather in Minsk to sign final agreements on a Customs Union. READ MORE

Hardly Russia counts on the signing of the new European Security Treaty. Its presentation is just a well-considered step, which… should split the views within the Euro-Atlantic area. READ MORE

The OSCE may learn learn a lot from Kazakhstan. This was said at the conference at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, where the agenda of Kazakhstan's chairmanship in the Organization was presented. As the Kazakh Embassy's press service reports, leading American and European experts on the OSCE presented their final report on the results of the work "Kazakhstan's chairmanship in the OSCE - challenges and opportunities". READ MORE

In the meeting with the President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy, President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė underlined that Lithuania would ask the European Union to envisage funds in its new financial perspective for the post-closure maintenance of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant and for the construction of electricity connections with Western Europe. READ MORE

Ukraine will ensure the transit of Russian gas to EU countries and hopes for the EU support to introducing market principles in gas sector, President Viktor Yushchenko has said following the 13th Ukraine-EU Summit in Kyiv. READ MORE

Having visited Washington and New York a couple of times in the last months Rumiana Jeleva, Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister and now Europe’s potential European Commission Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, spoke to New Europe about the shifting geopolitics of gas and the South East Europe region. READ MORE

Moscow has reiterated pledges to improve Russian energy security by promising sizable investments to develop its hydrocarbon sector and power supply networks. However, the economic viability of such solutions appears to remain a matter of debate as Moscow’s ambitious plans require huge investments. Russian authorities have long pledged to replace obsolete and wasteful Soviet-era energy technologies and solutions by what officials describe as “energy-efficient” facilities. READ MORE

After a walkout by opposition Communists, Moldova's parliament failed to elect a president in its second try since November, plunging Europe's poorest country further into uncertainty. READ MORE

President Traian Basescu has been re-elected in a neck-and-neck runoff against challenger Mircea Geoana. But his rival's party says there has been election rigging and will contest the result. READ MORE

Serbia is one step closer to its goal of EU membership after the Netherlands agreed on Monday to unfreeze a trade agreement with the former Yugoslav republic, which has improved cooperation with the UN war crimes court. READ MORE