Balkan News

The UN envoy in the Macedonia-Greece ‘name’ dispute, Matthew Nimetz, is sounding confident of a compromise ahead of fresh talks, which follow his recent visit to the region.UN mediator Nimetz will meet Macedonia’s negotiator, Zoran Jolevski and Greece’s Adamantios Vassilakis separately and then at a joint discussion on Tuesday and …

As time run shorts for Slovenia to ratify Croatia’s EU accession – if Croatia is to join the European club on July 1, as planned – leaders from both countries are to meet this week.”If Slovenia doesn’t ratify Croatia’s accession agreement soon, Croatia won’t join the EU on July 1, …

Some 2,000 locals living near the famous Serbian Orthodox monastery in western Kosovo protested against a court decision which they said unfairly favoured the monastery.Some 2,000 locals living near the famous Serbian Orthodox monastery in western Kosovo protested against a court decision which they said unfairly favoured the monastery.Thousands of …

Yugoslav Army general Dragoljub Ojdanic confessed that he committed war crimes against Kosovo Albanians in the late 1990s and withdrew his appeal against his Hague conviction.“I fully accept all of the findings made in the judgment [against me]. All that remains is for me to serve out my sentence,” said …

The two governments will hold their first-ever joint meeting in Belgrade in May in an attempt to boost cooperation and economic ties.Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and his Serbian counterpart Ivica Dacic told a press conference in Skopje on Monday that the planned joint government session would help push forward …

Albania’s Socialists accused the ruling Democrats of planning to rig the June 23 polls while the governing party claimed the opposition was trying to spark another crisis.As the political environment heated up ahead of the parliamentary elections, Socialist Party leader Edi Rama said the government was planning to rig the …

The World Bosniak Forum has asked the UN secretary general to commemorate the wartime massacres by declaring July 11 International Srebrenica Genocide Remembrance Day.The United Nations should officially mark the worst killings of the Bosnian conflict, said Mustafa Ceric, president of the World Bosniak Forum, in a letter sent to …

Bulgarians voted in favour of building a new nuclear power station but the referendum failed to achieve a high enough turnout to make it valid.The country’s first referendum of the post-communist era is expected to be declared invalid after a mere 21 per cent of eligible voters turned out on …

Union members rallied in front of the Montenegrin parliament on Monday against government plans to raise income tax to tackle a growing budget deficit.The unions said the plan to bring in higher taxes in order to help plug the hole in Montenegro’s budget was unfair to the poor and called …

Police have detained six men for causing a minor explosion in the main square of the Croatian capital, but said their motive was not political.The capital’s police commander Goran Burusic told a press conference on Sunday that the accused “agreed in December last year that they would detonate an explosive …