As Serbia’s State Auditors finalise their account of the public debt for 2011, the Finance Minister has accused the former government of concealing its true size.Radoslav Sretenovic, head of the State Audit Institution, DRI, is to publish the final data on the public debt as it stood on December 31, …

Head of Serbia’s Office for Kosovo says that Belgrade wishes to restart negotiations with Pristina as long as there are no preconditions.Aleksandar Vulin, head of the Serbian government’s Office for Kosovo, said that Serbia was “ready for negotiations and wants to negotiate” with the breakway former province. “However, we do …

Erdogan said he believed Bosnia-Herzegovina would be a member of the EU before Turkey.Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that he believed that Bosnia-Herzegovina would be a member of the EU before Turkey. Erdogan and Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Council of Ministers Chairman Vjekoslav Bevanda held a joint press conference …

New statement of German conditions for Serbia’s further EU progress, related to Kosovo, revives tension between Germany and Serbia.Oliver Ivanovic, Serbia’s former state secretary for Kosovo, said German demands for Serbia to establish “a contractual relationship” with Kosovo were a red line that Belgrade could not cross.The retort comes after …

As the deadline for submission of electoral lists in Montenegro nears, OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights announces it will oversee the elections.Geert-Hinrich Ahrens, the head of the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission, said that 12 observers would monitor the elections, before and on the day of the vote, …

Kosovo’s opposition parties told the Alliance of Trade Unions on Monday that they would support a motion to stop the privatization of nationalized industries.Several opposition parties have pledged to support the cause of the Alliance of Independent Trade Unions of Kosovo, BSPK, to prevent the sale of the three biggest …

Unions say that 10,000 workers will also stage a public protest against the privatization of the Post-Telecom PTK and the Power Company, KEK, on Friday.The Alliance of Independent Unions of Kosovo, BSPK, said it had gathered 50,000 signatures for its petition opposing the privatization of the Post-Telecom of Kosovo, PTK, …

Albania’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday played down the risks of trying to renegotiate a maritime border deal with Greece, which Albania’s Constitutional Court has deemed unlawful.“There are no reports or secret scripts regarding the issue of the maritime border between Greece and Albania,” the Secretary General of the Foreign Ministry, …

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso expressed EU concerns Friday over political developments in Romania, insisting there can be no compromise on respect for the rule of law. Barroso “made it clear” to Romanian President Traian Basescu that the EU “will not compromise on the need for all member states …

Bulgaria has “lost patience” with the Netherlands over its veto on the Bulgarian bid to join the Schengen Area, Bulgaria’s Deputy PM and Finance Minister, Simeon Djakov, has told the Dutch newspaper, De Telegraaf.”The Netherlands has been changing the rules of the game for election campaign reasons,” Djankov told the …