Balkan News

BULGARIA The Bulgarian Government will vote on September 16 on a long-term set of measures to lift the economy out of the doldrums, said prime minister Boyko Borissov. The proposal will be debated by employers’ groups and trade unions within the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation on September 15. The …

BULGARIA Mayor of Sofia is much more than a Prime Minister and I am a proof for this, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said after inauguration ceremony of the new school year at the 78th Hristo Smirmenski secondary school in Banka living district in the capital. Borisov was asked weather he …

BELGIUM The General Affairs Council, where Bulgarian Foreign Minister Rumyana Zheleva also took part, discussed the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism for Bulgaria, the Council’s press service informs. “Reaffirming its earlier conclusions the Council welcomes the Commission’s reports on progress in Romania and Bulgaria under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. The …

BiH Families of the victims, representatives of opposition parties and a number of civil sociiety groups have called for Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik to be declared persona non grata after he claimed a war-time massacre in Tuzla was orchestrated by Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims). More than 70 people were killed …

The Hague Tribunal has found former prosecution spokeswoman Florence Hartmann guilty of contempt of court and fined her EUR 7,000. Hartmann was accused of revealing details of the Slobodan Milošević case in her recently published book. The court ruled that she had deliberately perverted the course of justice by publishing …

MACEDONIA, SERBIA, MONTENEGRO The newly-elected European Parliament meets Tuesday for its first plenary session. The agenda of the plenary session in Strasbourg includes the visa liberalization for Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro. The newly-elected European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek and the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who runs for a …

SLOVENIA In the talks with Croatia, Slovenia got something it haven’t had before, binding Zagreb to see the border issue as part of negotiation process, Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor said. “I believe that we can all be happy. The border issue will be solved trough arbitrage or with a …

BULGARIA An amendment in the regulations concerning the terms of issuing, denying, and annulling work permits for foreign workers in Bulgaria will restrict the possibilities for foreign workers to be employed in the cases when there are Bulgarian workers for the jobs, Minister of Labour and Social Policy Totio Mladenov …

BULGARIA Congratulations on his decisiveness to deal with corruption, encouragement for the key reforms, and a credit of trust – this is what the European Commission’s Chairman Jose Barroso gave Prime Minister Boyko Borisov during his first visit to Brussels on September 10. Barroso promised to submit Bulgaria’s request for …

BiH Underlining the severity of Bosnia’s political crisis, local leaders engaged in another virulent tit-for-tat over the weekend, accusing each other of working towards the country’s dissolution and of threatening a new war. The new low in relations between Bosnia’s political leaders was precipitated by an interview with the Bosnian …