Balkan News

The abrupt resignation of Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, continued to draw praise but also much condemnation, both from Croatia and abroad. “Despite Mr. Sanader’s upbeat comments, he leaves the country in its worst economic state since the devastating 1991 war,” reported the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.

Pristina’s Municipal Assembly is to hand five hectares of prime real estate to the US for a new embassy building, according to an agreement signed between the two parties on Wednesday. The city decided to give this land to the US government as a sign of gratitude for the country’s …

Nations in Transit for 2008, a report published by the US-based rights watchdog Freedom House, has criticised Albania for failing to uphold the separation of powers between politics and the law. The report says the separation of powers between the legislature, executive, and judiciary remains fragile and is intermittently damaged …

The European Commission urged Macedonia to appoint a new official in charge of EU affairs as soon as possible. The appeal came after Macedonia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Ivica Bocevski, who was in charge of EU integrations, resigned on Tuesday. “We are awaiting additional information to find out who will be …

The new Swedish Presidency of the European Union warned Albanian political leaders that it was carefully monitoring the aftermath of Sunday’s parliamentary elections. “The final assessment of the elections will depend, to a significant extent, on the conduct of the vote count, the aggregation of results, and the handling of …

Sweden’s Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said he respected the decision of Croatian prime Minister Ivo Sanader to resign from his position and recalled Sanader’s importance in Croatia entering European integrations. Sweden has taken over the presidency over the European Union on Wednesday. – There comes a time in life when …

Member of the European Parliament and foreign policy spokesman of the German Christian Social Union (CSU) at the European Parliament, Bernd Posselt, expressed regret over the resignation of Croatia’s Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, blaming the European Union and its policy towards Croatia’s accession for such a development of events. – …

An earthquake of at least 5.9 magnitude struck in the Mediterranean Sea off southern Greece on Wednesday and was felt as far away as Cairo in Egypt, but there were no immediate reports of injuries, officials said. The Athens Geodynamic Institute said the quake struck at 0930 GMT, 170 km …

Albania’s ruling Democratic Party led their main left-wing rivals by four seats on Wednesday but do not yet have enough seats to form a government with 98 percent of votes counted from Sunday’s parliamentary election.

SOFIA Bulgaria does not need a bailout aid agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), local press reported Wednesday, citing the Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski.