Balkan News

Zagreb Mayor and candidate in Croatia’s presidential race Milan Bandić says open issues between Croatia and Serbia should be resolved. Croatia and Serbia have potential for a bright European future and cooperation if they resolve their open issues, he said.

Outgoing Croatian President Stjepan Mesić said that there will be negative effects if Bosnia-Herzegovina falls apart. He stated that should the Serb entity, RS, break away, Bosnia’s Croats – who currently form the second entity, the Muslim-Croat Federation – “would do the same”, with all this turning what would remain …

Slovakia is planning on return 139 of its KFOR mission soldiers from Kosovo and leaving only 20 soldiers to work in the intelligence services. “By the end of 2010, the motorized unit which is serving in Kosovo under the NATO flag could return home. There is no longer a need …

Ministry for Kosovo State Secretary Oliver Ivanović said that Montenegro should think hard before establishing diplomatic relations with Kosovo. “They have at least 30 percent of their population considering themselves to be Serbs and are adamantly against the decision. It is not good to have that many dissatisfied people on …

Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Greece Georgios Papandreou is to visit Belgrade today. Papandreou will take part in the annual conference of ambassadors to Serbia. During the visit in Belgrade he will meet with his counterpart Mirko Cvetkovic and the president of the state Boris Tadic.

Serbia will on Monday file a countersuit before the International Court of Justice, ICJ, against Croatia for genocide allegedly committed against Serbs during the war in 90s and World War II. “There is a lot of material which will turn on the lights on the international stage and show what …

Montenegrin top officials disagree on the timing of when the country should establish diplomatic links with Kosovo, with some arguing that a swift exchange of ambassadros may hinder Podgorica’s relations with Serbia Montenegro recognised Kosovo’s independence on 9 October, 2008, one day after the UN General Assembly accepted Serbia’s draft …

Former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader stunned Croatia on Sunday by announcing his return to politics, a move which some officials warned could bring down the coalition government led by his conservative party, the Croatian Democratic Union. “The decision to retire from politics was completely wrong,” Sanader told a hastily organised …

Bulgaria will continue to support Serbia’s bid to join the European Union, but was unlikely to withdraw its recognition of the independence of Kosovo, Sofia’s top diplomat in Belgrade said on January 2. “Membership in the EU means that the country is stable, progressive and predictable and such a Serbia …

British Shadow Foreign Minister William Hague and former High Representative in Bosnia Paddy Ashdown say the break-up of Bosnia would cause a “disaster”. In an article the pair published in the Financial Times, dubbed, “Broken Bosnia needs western attention”, Hague and Ashdown described tensions between Sarajevo and Banja Luka and …