Balkan News

PRISTINA, Kosovo The government will soon present an EU partnership plan to guarantee smoother integration, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci told a cabinet meeting Friday (May 15th). He added that the government, local institutions and the public must share a commitment to EU integration and treat it as a high priority. …

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Security Minister Tarik Sadovic has asked the local Interpol office to contact the international police organisation’s headquarters in Lyon and ask it to withdraw arrest warrants issued for several people from BiH, local media reported on Sunday (May 17th). Serbia had confirmed on Saturday that …

The leader of the ruling ethnic Albanian party in Macedonia has called on the government to focus on efforts to find a solution to the ongoing name row with Greece. Ali Ahmeti, leader of the Democratic Union for Integration, on Sunday also warned the government against stirring up tensions between …

The President of Montenegro, Filip Vujanovic, is visiting Serbia in what is seen as a move by both sides to improve relations between the two countries. Vujanovic will meet his Serbian counterpart Boris Tadic. It is their first meeting after Serbia expelled Podgorica’s ambassador last year in objection to Montenegro’s …

France supports the lifting of EU visas for Macedonian citizens, French President Nicolas Sarkozy told Macedonian Premier Nikola Gruevski Friday in Paris. Macedonian media media cited Sarkozy as saying that France would unambiguously support any European Commission’s recommendation for lifting the visa regime for Macedonian citizens.

A gathering of Muslim worshipers planned to welcome Bosnia’s Grand Mufti, Mustafa Ceric, to Serbia, has been banned by Serbian Police, citing safety concerns. The meeting was supposed to take place in Tutin, southwest Serbia, on Monday.

A Serb bank operating in Kosovo, Komercialna Banka, that was granted a license in 2006 by Kosovo’s Administration, is not reporting its activities to the country’s Central Bank. Komercialna Banka is located in Mitrovica, Gracanica, Zubin Potok, Leposavic, Zvecan, Slivova, Shterpce and Dragash, areas populated by Serbian minority in Kosovo. 

Algeria is the latest country to express its opinion on Kosovo’s status, and says it will not recognise the newly independent state. “The Algerian government’s position on the issue of Kosovo is clear. We consider this to be a problem of partition, secession, not of self-determination.m,” said the Algerian ambassador …

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) The state court released Branimir Glavas on Friday (May 15th). He was detained on Wednesday on an international arrest warrant issued by Croatia, after fleeing to BiH to avoid serving a ten-year sentence in Croatia for war crimes. Earlier, a lower BiH court decided to …

BRUSSELS. Belgium EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn warned that Bosnia and Herzegovina’s (BiH) has to speed up EU-related reforms in order not to hurt its EU accession prospects in a meeting with Foreign Minister Sven Alkalaj in Brussels on Friday (May 15th) the country.