Balkans

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 …

Bosnia’s EU peacekeeping force, supported by NATO and local police, carried out two raids on Tuesday morning on homes belonging to relatives of Bosnian Serb wartime commander Ratko Mladic, the most high-profile war crimes suspect from the 1992-95 war still on the run. The operation was carried out in the …

Both Serbia and Kosovo ignored an invitation by the United Nations mission in Kosovo to hold talks on the ‘technical issue’ of cultural heritage, with negotiations supposed to be held today in Pristina. Rasel Giki, UNMIK spokesperson confirmed that the UN mission invited both Belgrade and Pristina to the round …

Slovenia’s parliament ratified the NATO accession of Albania and Croatia on Monday, paving the way for the alliance’s enlargement in the Balkans. NATO issued invitations to Albania and Croatia last year in its Bucharest summit. All member states have to ratify the protocol before those two countries can be considered …

The European Commission would not like to see Serbia apply for EU candidate status before the key Stabilisation and Association Agreement is unblocked and put forward for ratification. Several Serbian politicians have said Belgrade might put forward the application for EU candidate status during the first half of this year. …

By blocking Macedonia’s Euro Atlantic integration Greece has broken its own promise, made at the Thessaloniki summit in 2003, to help neighbors on their EU path, Macedonia’s PM Nikola Gruevski said Sunday. Speaking at the 45th Munich Security Conference, Gruevski said that Athens’ good will to settle the dispute was …

Albania Supreme Court Judge Ardian Nuni was shot on Sunday night outside his home, in what his colleagues said was an attack against the justice system as a whole. Nuni had been operated in Tirana’s Military Hospital, and was out of danger and in stable condition. According to police sources …

Macedonia’s parliament speaker Trajko Veljanovski on Monday presented the assembly’s new software system, simply called E-Parliament, aimed at speeding up legislative work and ensuring more transparency. The system enables legislators to stay in touch and participate in the work of the assembly by submitting amendments even when they are travelling, …

Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said Monday in Tirana that her country, which hold the presidency of the OSCE, will monitor Albania’s newly enacted “clean hands” lustration law targeting former officials of the communist regime, which critics say could be used for political revenge attacks by the government. “We have …