Balkans

Politicians are routinely misusing public resources and offering electoral sweeteners to voters ahead of the March 24 polls, leading NGOs say.In its preliminary report on the campaign for the March 24 local election, Civil, a Skopje-based NGO, highlighted numerous violations of the campaign rules. Alleged abuses range from promises of …

The annual report of the High State Audit office says poor management of state-owned companies cost Albania twice as much in 2012 as it did the previous year.The head of Albania’s State Audit Office, Bujar Leskaj, told parliament on Tuesday that audits in 2012 brought to light €97.3 million worth …

Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and Foreign Minister Ivan Mrkic are to attend the March 22 Security Council session on the latest report of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Kosovo.The Security Council session was scheduled for February 22 but was postponed by a month in order to allow the EU-mediated …

Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and Foreign Minister Ivan Mrkic are to attend the March 22 Security Council session on the latest report of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Kosovo.The Security Council session was scheduled for February 22 but was postponed by a month in order to allow the EU-mediated …

Workers in Croatia earn only a quarter of the average hourly wage in the European Union, according to the country’s statistics bureau.The gross hourly rate in Croatia is just 6 euro, four times less than the EU average, five times less than the rate in Germany and Austria and half …

The organisation Global Financial Integrity has ranked Serbia worst of all Balkan countries when it comes to illegal financial flows.About 5 billion dollars worth of money has “disappeared” every year in Serbia from 2001 to 2010 through illegal financial flows, the research and advocacy organisation Global Financial Integrity says. It …

Thousands of Romanians are to be affected by the controversial plan to tax savings held in Cypriot banks.Some 40,000 Romanians who live and work in Cyprus could be hit by the controversial plan to tax bank deposits in order to fund a bank bailout. “All Romanians here will be affected. …

Serbia did its best to reach a compromise in the dialogue with Kosovo, said Marko Djuric, adviser of Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic. According to Djuric, the success in the dialogue

European Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Fule paid a visit to Belgrade on Monday. He said that: “Setting the date for the start of the EU accession talks for Serbia depends on the realisation of the

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is to meet with the prime ministers of Kosovo and Serbia – Hashim Thaci and Ivica Dacic. The meeting will be held in New York in the frames of the debates on Kosovo during the UN Security Council meeting. The UN Security Council will debate …