Greece's prime minister said in remarks published on Sunday that if Athens and Ankara cannot solve their dispute about maritime zones in the Mediterranean, they should turn to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague to settle the disagreement.

It takes two to tango: the Western Balkans between hope and reality, was the title of the high-level international conference, held at TownHall Europe in Brussels and organised by Friends of Europe, a leading think tank.

Unspoiled rivers in the Balkans are facing new dangers from small hydropower plants that have sprouted up across the region in recent years, environmental experts warned Thursday. In a declaration issued after a meeting in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, they urged Balkan governments to halt any further construction of hydro dams.

Following the 6.3 magnitude earthquake that hit Albania on 26 November, the EU Civil Protection Mechanism has been activated at the request of the Albanian authorities.

Six people died and some 300 were injured in Albania after the strongest earthquake in decades rocked the Balkan country early Tuesday, destroying buildings and burying victims in rubble. The epicentre of the 6.4 magnitude quake was about 34km northwest of the capital Tirana, at a depth of 10 km, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre.

Bosnia named Serb economist and former finance minister Zoran Tegeltija as prime minister on Tuesday after a compromise between its Serb, Croat and Muslim co-presidents on submitting annual reform plans to NATO was finally achieved, ending a 13-month deadlock between opponents and supporters of integration with the West.

The leaders of Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia on Sunday met at Lake Ohrid, in North Macedonia, to discuss setting up a common market, news wires reported. The summit comes weeks after the European Union snubbed bids by Skopje and Tirana to open membership talks.

Turkey will start sending foreign jihadists back to their home countries next week, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu announced on Friday.“Now we are telling you that we are going to send them back to you. We are starting this on Monday,” Soylu said in a speech in Ankara, referring to members of the Islamic State group (IS).

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has rejected a German plan for an internationally enforced security zone along Syria's border with Turkey as "unrealistic", rebuffing German criticism of Ankara's recent military operation in Syria.

Leaders of major political parties in North Macedonia, including those in the ruling coalition, agreed to hold a snap parliamentary election on 12 April after the EU failed to give the country a date to start talks on joining the bloc, news wires reported.