Balkan News

TIRANA, Albania The government decided late on Wednesday (May 6th) to grant NATO permission to patrol its airspace until the Albanian air force starts patrolling it on its own. Parliament is expected to adopt the measure soon, without objections from the opposition. Albania joined NATO in early April.

PRISTINA, Kosovo A delegation of ambassadors from the EU’s 27 member states visited Kosovo on Wednesday (May 6th) to gather more information on efforts by EULEX personnel. The ambassadors, members of the Political and Security Committee (PSC) in Brussels, assist with the EU’s political activities by preparing opinions for European …

SKOPJE, Macedonia Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic arrived on Thursday (May 7th) for an official visit to Skopje, the first by a Serbian official since Macedonia recognised Kosovo’s independence and Belgrade recalled its ambassador to Skopje last October.

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) The chief prosecutor of The Hague war crimes tribunal, Serge Brammertz, confirmed on Wednesday (May 6th) that the tribunal has destroyed around 1,000 pieces of evidence from mass graves in the Srebrenica area.

Bulgaria is counting on loans from Russia, Germany and France to build a new four-billion-euro nuclear power plant on the Danube, Deputy Economy and Energy Minister Yavor Kuyumdjiev said Thursday. Funding for the plant, which was due to come from the Bulgarian state and German power giant RWE, was proving …

The size and cost of the Alexander the Great statue planned for Skopje’s central square, as well as the lack of transparency on the part of the authorities over its commissioning, has provoked a series of attacks on the proposal. Art critics, sculptors and architects alike argue that the grandiose …

Media has pointed to evidence of corruption in tender and administration procedures while Kosovo was under administration of the United Nations Mission to the country, UNMIK, between the years 1999 and 2008. The Daily Telegraph has reported that millions of euros of EU funds used to finance contracts and projects …

The President of Serbia Boris Tadic has called the decision of the International War Crimes Tribunal to triple Veselin Sljivancanin’s sentence ‘disappointing’. But at the same time, Tadic said the Tribunal’s decision should not be ‘brought into question’. In an interview with the daily Politika, Tadic said that questioning the …

Despite clear differences regarding Kosovo’s independence, Macedonia and Serbia must focus on their joint interests, the Foreign Ministers of the two countries said Thursday. Serbia’s Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic arrived today in a fist visit of a Serbian official to neighboring Macedonia after the country recognized the former Serbian province …

The Serbian government is debating a package of anti-crisis measures that aim to support industry and offer cheaper loans. Economy Minister Mladjan Dinkic, in a statement to the press, said that the package included restrictive, stimulative and active measures. He said that the key was to support industry, offering cheaper …