OSCE/ODIHR comes as an effective tool to bring one group of countries to exert pressure on another one. READ MORE

Exclusive interview  Estonian Foreign Minister READ MORE

Before the first round of the Presidential elections is France the third place in pre-election race was firmly held by a former teacher, ex-Minister of Socialist Cabinet  Lionel Jospin, and by now the leader of the Left Front Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Having left behind his not less radical rival, the leader of another front – already National one – Marine Le Pen, Mélenchon have become a real dark horse of this elections, having proved the growth of radical left spirit in French society. His last meetings in Lipp, Paris and Toulouse were ones of the most crowded and emotional, and such high result hasn’t been predicted by anyone recently. Established in 2008 from the remains of the communist party, of various left-wing supporters, and all those who considered socialists and their current candidate Francois Hollande, to be too moderate and bourgeois, the Left Front breathed a new life in the ideas, uniting the upholders of social equality. Times when French communists were forced to give into rent a part of their head-quarters due to financial shortage are fading away. READ MORE

On 10 April in Washington, D.C., Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Evaldas Ignatavičius discussed an upcoming NATO summit with Assistant Secretary for Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Gordon. The Vice-Minister participated in a round table discussion on Belarus together with representatives from U.S. think tanks and gave a lecture about the Baltic-Nordic-U.S. cooperation. READ MORE

As Turkish Mass Media reported, one of these days the Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan intends to visit Russia under the invitation of Vladimir Putin. As informed earlier, during the talks in Moscow between the Ministers of Culture and Tourism of Turkey and Russia Vladimir Putin contacted by phone Turkish Minister and asked to pass the greetings to his friend the Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and also the invitation to visit Russia at his convenience. “Russian considers Turkey to be its best friend and we intend to develop these relations in any spheres”, this how most of Turkish Mass Media a quoted the comments of the Russian Government Head. It’s worth to add to this also the message that in course of the talks during the Summit on nuclear safety in Seoul the President of Russian Dmitry Medvedev invited Erdogan to visit Moscow to take part in the inauguration of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. READ MORE

The President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė decided not to go to the meeting, arranged by the President of Poland Bronislaw Komarowski, with the heads of Baltic states in Warsaw. It is reported that during this meeting the President of Poland wants to discuss with the Heads of neighbor-states the issues of the on-coming NATO Summit in Chicago. But the plans of Grybauskaitė don’t anticipate the visit to Warsaw. READ MORE

The management of the Uzbek Foreign Ministry and a member of the Cabinet of Ministers, co-chairman of the British Conservative Party, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi have today discussed the current state and prospects of bilateral and multilateral cooperation, some urgent issues of regional and international politics, the Foreign Ministry said. READ MORE

Bulgaria has scrapped two of its three Russian-backed energy projects. Plans to build the 2,000MW Belene nuclear power plant on the Danube River were cancelled last week, and the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline was dropped in December. Usually saying ‘no’ to Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin carries a heavy price. READ MORE

On 20 and 21 May 2012, Chicago will host the NATO Summit. During the Summit, more than 50 Heads of State and Government will come together to deliver on decisions taken at the Lisbon Summit in November 2010, driving forward key Alliance policies and reaffirming the transatlantic link. READ MORE

What is going on in Central Europe? After Viktor Orban’s consolidation of power in Hungary, another political strongman has returned to the helm, this time in Slovakia. Former Prime Minister Robert Fico has once again assumed the leadership of Slovakia following his Smer-Social Democracy (SMER-SD) party’s landslide victory in last month’s elections. Like Orban in Hungary, Fico will preside over the first single-party cabinet in Slovakia since the collapse of communism in 1989. His coalition government between 2006 and 2010 had been accused of abuses of power and a lack of respect toward the opposition, media, and NGOs. And, much like his Hungarian counterpart, Fico could yet use his political mandate to attempt to reinterpret Slovakia’s history, change key laws, or battle with the European Union on nationalistic grounds. READ MORE