Balkans

Romanian President Traian Basescu on Wednesday approved the nomination of Dan Nica for the post of Interior Minister, replacing Liviu Dragnea who unexpectedly resigned early this month. Dan Nica, the third Interior Minister this year, is also vice-prime minister in a center-left coalition government. Liviu Dragnea resigned saying the underfunding …

Pristina authorities have started procedures to set up the Kosovo Security Council, an advisory body working to preserve Kosovo’s national security and safeguard its sovereignty. The Council, foreseen in the Ahtisaari Plan that is meant to guide Kosovo’s path to full statehood after its secession from Serbia last February, will …

United Nations- sponsored talks between Macedonia and Greece on the 18-year dispute over Macedonia’s name resume in New York on Wednesday after a four-month break, against a backdrop of intransigent rhetoric and both sides locked in their long-held positions. Officials from both countries said they do not expect UN mediator …

Six Serbs, six Croats, 19 Bosniaks and 26 Ashkali are among the 101 non-Albanian soldiers to have been accepted into Kosovo’s new Security Force, deputy Minister Behxhet Brajshori said on Wednesday Last month Kosovo inaugurated a NATO-sponsored security force that is an army in all but name, taking a firm …

Kosovo’s parliament speaker said Pristina was under no obligation to negotiate with Serbia even on technical issues as long as Serbia had not recognized Kosovo. International officials have long said that Belgrade and Pristina must hold so-called ‘technical talks’ to deal with issues arising from Kosovo’s secession last February, especially …

acedonian presidential candidate Georgi Ivanov, who is backed by the conservative VMRO DPMNE, is leading with 27 percent support over opposition favorite Ljubomir Frckoski who has 13 percent, the latest opinion poll done by local agency “Rating” shows. Third on the list is Imer Selmani, the leader of the newly …

Bosnia’s outgoing top envoy, High Representative Miroslav Lajcak, called for the closure of his former office and for a new western approach to Bosnia in his first press conference as new Slovak Foreign Minister on Tuesday. Lajcak still officially holds dual post of the head of the Office of the …

A comment by Macedonia presidential frontrunner Georgi Ivanov that homosexuals were not discriminated against but just being paranoid has attracted harsh criticism from his opponents, political analysts and gay rights campaigners. “Our system discriminates against no one. The homosexuals stigmatize themselves and think they are being discriminated”, the candidate of …

Albania’s opposition Socialist party is ahead of the ruling Democrats of Prime Minister Sali Berisha in voter preference four months before a general election, according to a poll conducted by Zogby International for broadcaster Top Channel TV. In the poll released on Tuesday, 37 percent of respondents said they would …

Several thousand Kosovo Serbs protested in the divided town of Mitrovica on Tuesday against the recently formed Kosovo Security Force, asking the international community to disband the fledgling armed force for “presenting a threat to the stability in the region”. Kosovo Serbs leaders called on all Serbs and other non-Albanians …