Balkans

Annual celebrations of Bosnian independence day have again proved ethnically divisive and will only be marked in the Bosniak-Croat Federation entity, not by the country’s Serbs.On Friday, March 1, Bosnia and Herzegovina will mark 21 years from the 1992 referendum in which mainly Bosniak and Croat citizens declared their wish …

Brussels wants to know why new local authority HQs in Gracanica and Klokot are months behind schedule.The European Commission is looking at why construction of municipal buildings it funded in two Serbian communities is months overdue amid a legal dispute between the contractor and sub-contractor. “The case does not involve …

International representatives are stepping up pressure for a last-minute compromise to end Macedonia’s political crisis and re-start the stalled EU accession process.In a final attempt to end Macedonia’s politicial crisis, the European Parliament rapporteur on Macedonia, Richard Howitt, is due to arrive in Skopje on Thursday. He already visited the …

A group of NGOs on Wednesday warned that Albania’s institutions are failing to notify voters of their presence on preliminary electoral rolls ahead of the June parliamentary elections.“The government is blatantly omitting its legal obligation to inform voters of their presence of the electoral lists and the voting booth where …

The latest briefing from the International Crisis Group, a think tank, entitled “Bosnia’s Dangerous Tango: Islam and Nationalism”, warns of the danger of a fusion between Bosniak nationalism and Islam. “Political Islam is a novelty in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), and its rise is seen as threatening to secular parties …

The EU Enlargement Commissioner said Bosnia needs to meet its obligations under the EU road map, especially in connection with the Sejdic-Finci ruling. Stefano Sannino, European Commissioner for Enlargement, told Nermin Niksic, the Prime Minister of Bosnia’s Federation entity, that Brussels supports Bosnia’s further EU progress. The two officials discussed Bosnia’s …

Bulgaria’s parliament on Wednesday confirmed a decision to abandon the Belene nuclear power plant project.The vote in parliament was prompted by a recent referendum on the construction of a new nuclear power plant, which put the Belene project back on parliament’s agenda, as the voter turnout exceeded 20 per cent. …

A man has died in the floods that have swept eastern and central Macedonia, cutting off villages and damaging farms and infrastructure.A 51-year-old man from the northeastern town of Kumanovo drowned on Tuesday, trying to cross a river that had overspilled, the authorities reported. Torrential rain for three days has …

Serbs in the Croatian city are growing fearful amid threats of force to stop the official introduction of Cyrillic script and the Serbian language, a Belgrade official said.Serbs in Vukovar are feeling “growing insecurity”, the director of Serbia’s office for the diaspora, Slavka Draskovic, said during a visit to Zagreb …

The Bosnian prime minister said there was only one disputed piece of territory to be demarcated before the ex-Yugoslav states sign a crucial border agreement. Vjekoslav Bevanda and Milo Djukanovic, the prime ministers of Bosnia and Montenegro , said a deal was close after they met on Tuesday in Podgorica. “There …