SOFIA (AP) - A majority of Bulgarian lawmakers yesterday approved on first reading constitutional amendments aimed at cracking down on crime and corruption — the main obstacles Bulgaria must overcome to join the EU. The chamber voted 183-36, with four abstentions, in support of the government-sponsored package. The proposed amendments strip lawmakers of their immunity from criminal prosecution, grant prosecutors wider powers and create a procedure to dismiss supreme magistrates, who at present are nearly unaccountable.

BELGRADE (AFP) - Serbia’s prime minister yesterday urged the EU to make a clear stand on conditions for union partner Montenegro’s planned independence referendum. Vojislav Kostunica said the 25-nation bloc should come to a conclusion about rules on participation levels for the vote, which the Montenegrin government hopes to hold in April this year.

Albania’s prime minister met yesterday with his Austrian counterpart, pressing his case for eventually joining the European Union and underscoring Albanian support for an independent Kosovo. Prime Minister Sali Berisha had talks with Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, and discussed his ex-communist country’s progress on a range of reforms needed before it can qualify as a serious candidate for membership. (AP)

Kosovo’s prime minister will be allowed to attend the upcoming UN Security Council meeting assessing the province’s progress toward stability, the top UN administrator said yesterday. Security Council members agreed to allow Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi to attend the meeting in New York scheduled for Feb. 14., said Soren Jessen-Petersen, Kosovo’s chief UN administrator. Kosumi said he has been invited as a guest and will not make a speech. (AP)

The leader of Romania’s main opposition Social Democratic Party vowed yesterday to rid his embattled party of corruption, change its leaders and rebuild it into a force that can return to power. The Social Democrats have been dragged through multiple corruption scandals implicating many of the party’s national and local leaders. (AP)