According USAID’s 2011 civil society sustainability index, Albanian NGOs are increasingly shut out of the corridors of power and have little means of influencing public policy.The report by USAID makes grim reading for Albanian NGOs and civil society pressure groups. Despite efforts by NGO’s in 2011 to open up dialogue …
Read More »Montenegro’s Foreign Minister To Quit Post
Milan Rocen has confirmed that he is bowing out, following the country’s recent achievements in advancing its EU and NATO membership prospects.One day after he announcing his intended withdrawal to the daily newspaper, Pobjeda, Rocen officially confirmed his decision on Monday at the opening of the fifth diplomatic “Gavro Vukovic” …
Read More »Croatia: Twenty Eight War Victims Exhumed
Twenty eight victims of Operation Flash, a Croatian military campaign conducted in May 1995, were exhumed last week in western Slavonia, Croatia.According to the Croatian government’s Administration for Imprisoned and Missing Persons, the remains were exhumed between June 26 and 29 in the village of Donji Rajic in western Slavonia. …
Read More »Kosovo Given Green Light for Full Independence
Kosovo will become fully independent in September, the International Steering Group, ISG, which oversees the newborn country, announced on Monday.The group of 25 states, which have been overseeing Kosovo since it declared independence from Serbia in 2008, said that the country had successfully implemented the provisions of the UN Comprehensive …
Read More »Srebrenica Victims Angry At Dutch Appeal
Families of the victims say they will fight the plans by the Dutch Defence Ministry to appeal a verdict under which it was found responsible for the deaths of three Bosniaks in the Srebrenica genocide.Klaas Meijer, a spokesperson for the Dutch Ministry of Defence, told journalists last week that the …
Read More »Marty Might Not Testify in the Medicus Case
Dick Marty, Council of Europe rapporteur, might not testify in the Medicus case, since the Parliamentary Assembly of the CoE has not lifted his immunity.According to the reports from the Serbian state news agency Tanjug, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has unanimously declined to discuss lifting of …
Read More »Serbia’s New Leaders Agree on Cabinet of 15
Leaders of the Progressives and the Socialists have agreed that new government will have 15 ministries and said its final composition and agenda would be made clear within a fortnight.Ivica Dacic, Serbia’s Socialist Prime Minister elect and Aleksandar Vucic, leader of the Serbian Progressive Party, have agreed that the future …
Read More »Montenegro Starts EU Talks With Stamps and Cocktails
The EU opened accession negotiations with Montenegron on Friday – the start of which are being marked in the country with the issue of commemorative stamps and a celebratory cocktail party.At its summit on Friday, the European Council confirmed Tuesday’s decision of the EU General Affairs Council to open membership …
Read More »Stoning of Serb Buses in Kosovo Roundly Condemned
Attack on convoy of Serb buses that left 16 children injured while returning home from a commemoration ceremony has been condemned by the UN, NATO, Serbia and Kosovo itself.Kosovo and Serbian leaders along with the UN and NATO have condemned an attack on buses carrying Serbs home from Battle of …
Read More »Macedonian Ex-Premiers Unite to Topple Gruevski
Ljubco Georgievski and Branko Crvenkovski, whose bitter political rivalry dominated the 1990s, agreed on Thursday to cooperate in unseating the VMRO-DPMNE-led government of Nikola Gruevski.Two former prime ministers, from opposing ends of the political spectrum, after a meeting on Thursday in Skopje said they were ready to put aside old …
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