Balkans

The head of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, Lamberto Zannier, is negotiating with both Belgrade and Pristina to start talks on ‘technical issues’, but it is still unclear whether top state officials or experts will take part, UNMIK spokesman Alexander Ivanko told Serbia’s B92 radio. “Ambassador Zannier met Serbian …

Serbia is ready to talk about practical issues regarding life in Kosovo as long as discussions do not touch on Kosovo’s declaration of independence, Serbian President Boris Tadic said on Tuesday, indicating Belgrade would only accept the United Nations mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, not the ethnic Albanian government in Pristina, …

Six hopefuls have so far confirmed they have raised enough support for formalizing their candidacy in Macedonia’s presidential election next month, local media said. The deadline for rising the required ten thousand signatures expires on Tuesday at midnight, the State Election Commission said. The candidates who already qualified are the …

Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu will give a speech at the opening dinner of the 45th Munich Security Conference this Friday, a diplomatic coup for the country as it prepares to celebrate the first anniversary of its declaration of independence. Conference organisers bill the gathering of top leaders on the first …

Six hopefuls have so far confirmed they have raised enough support for formalizing their candidacy in Macedonia’s presidential election next month, local media said. The deadline for rising the required ten thousand signatures expires on Tuesday at midnight, the State Election Commission said. The candidates who already qualified are the …

Albania’s Muslim community has started a petition drive to appeal to all 57 members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, OIC, to recognize Kosovo’s independence. Only 9 out off 57 IOC member states have recognized Kosovo as a sovereign state. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia on February 17 last …

Macedonian health authorities kicked off an emergency mass vaccination campaign on Tuesday to deal with an outbreak of mumps, a disease that affects mainly children. Mumps is a viral infectious disease that is spread from person to person through contact with respiratory secretions such as saliva, but can also be …

Relations between Serbia and Montenegro, that used to make up a joint state just three years ago, are on “an impermissibly low level”, Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic said. Montenegro’s ambassador had to leave Belgrade last October as a persona non grata after Podgorica recognised the independence of Kosovo, Serbia’s …

Athens is committed to finding a win-win way out in the row with Skopje over the name ‘Macedonia’, but Skopje’s provocative attitude is dimming chances of a UN-sponsored solution, Greece’s Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said on Monday in Belgrade. Greece and Macedonia are due to attend a fresh round of …

The rapporteur of the European Parliament for Croatia Hannes Swoboda said that the next two weeks would be critical in the resolution of the Slovenia-Croatia border dispute that threatens to derail Zagreb’s EU bid. The border dispute between Croatia and Slovenia is a legal issue for which there are international …