Balkans

The outgoing international peace envoy to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Miroslav Lajcak, said he is leaving his post and the troubled country because the international bodies there are a “dead horse”, doing nothing while rival local leaders held the country back. Speaking in the Telering talk-show program at OBN Television on …

Police from the European Union law and justice mission in Kosovo have set up two customs control points in north Kosovo, almost one year after a crowd of angry Serbs burnt down the border posts in reaction to the Albanian majority’s declaration of independence from Serbia. The two border points, …

Macedonia will not start European Union accession talks during the Czech presidency that runs until the end of June, Czech deputy Foreign Minister Tomas Pojar told local media. The Czechs would be happy to see this happening, Pojar told the “Evrozum” show on A2 TV late on Sunday, but “this …

The junior partner in the Bosnian Serb ruling coalition, the Party of Democratic Progress, PDP, said it was walking out of the government led by the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD, and going into the opposition. The walkout does not affect the stability of the government in the Serb-dominated …

A World Bank project meant to safeguard Albania’s coastal zones was used to selectively demolish parts of a village in southern Albania and leave many families homeless, according to an internal report , which additionally notes allegations of corruption and efforts by World Bank officials to cover up the events …

Every Sunday, the Illegal Cinema puts on a movie that has never been regularly distributed. But, although the screenings are free, there are strings attached. Six o’clock had already come and gone while people were still piling in and taking their seats in the small 25-square-metre room that no one …

The European Union is trying to convince Belgrade not to pursue its plan for parallel structures in Serb areas of Kosovo, said the head of Kosovo’s International Civilian Office, Pieter Feith. Belgrade has vowed to never recognise Kosovo’s secession in February last year and is keeping a firm hold on …

Serbia is worried that Kosovo’s Security Forces (KSF) will not only be the starting point for a bigger armed force, but could participate in peacekeeping missions abroad before Serbia itself does, said Serbia’s Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac. Last week Kosovo inaugurated a NATO-sponsored security force that is an army in …

Serbia’s Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic visits the United Nations on Thursday for meetings with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and other top diplomats to discuss the implementation of the six-point plan in Kosovo and the formation of the Kosovo Security Forces. Jeremic has also sent letters to 80 countries around …

Croatia said it had moved closer to resolving an 18-year-old border dispute with Slovenia which has been threatening to freeze its European Union membership bid. Diplomats say the dispute, which the two countries have not been able to settle since the dissolution of federal Yugoslavia in 1991, must be resolved …