Balkan News

EU and NATO troops on Friday (June 29th) searched the home of Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic. Inside the premises, they found Karadzic’s wife Ljiljana Zelen Karadzic, his daughter Sonja and her two children.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Friday (June 29th) that Kosovo is the “biggest issue” currently affecting the Balkans.

US Ambassador to Belgrade Michael Polt said on Thursday (June 28th) there is no enmity between his country and Serbia despite their disagreements over the future status of Kosovo.

The government sailed through a no confidence vote Thursday (June 28th). The two main opposition parties, the Social Democratic Party and Croatia’s People’s Party, filed the motion citing what they described as a total failure of supervision at the Croatian Privatisation Fund (HFP).

Ramiz Delalic, a mob figure and former commander of the ninth motorised brigade of the Bosnian Muslim army, was shot to death Wednesday night (June 27th) in Sarajevo. Delalic was often referred to as the man who started the BiH conflict.

Looking back on his 18-months in office, High Representative to BiH Christian Schwarz-Schilling defended his record in an interview published on Thursday (June 28th), particularly his reluctance to use his far-reaching Bonn powers.

The security situation in the Balkans is positive and extremism has been marginalised in nearly all countries in the region, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Thursday evening (June 28th) at the opening of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council Security Forum in Ohrid. He urged authorities to remain on alert …

Seventeen journalists in Macedonia were awarded 100,000 euros in damages earlier this month as a landmark wiretapping case wound up at the Skopje Criminal Court. The plaintiffs had charged the state with conducting illegal wiretaps in 1999 and 2000.

Presa londoneză continuă criticile la adresa Raportului Comisiei Europene privind Bulgaria şi România. Ideea generală este că Raportul a fost prea blând cu ambele ţări.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn met with Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic on Wednesday (June 27th) and suggested that Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) talks with Serbia could be wrapped up and the accord initialled in September or October.