Anders Fogh Rasmussen of NATO urged Bosnia to implement last year’s agreement on registering state property as a condition of advancing its membership of the alliance.The chair of Bosnia’s tri-partite Presidency, Nebojsa Radmanovic, said Bosnia must move ahead with registering military property as a condition for joining NATO. After a …
Read More »Macedonia Opposition Slates Curbs to MPs’ Speeches
A motion from a ruling party MP on limiting the time that legislators can spend on discussions in parliament has further angered the opposition.Opposition Social Democrats have attacked as provocative a bid to amend the parliamentary rulebook to limit the time spent on debates. “The government is showing its totalitarian …
Read More »EU Parliamentarians Urge Serbia Membership Talks
EU accession talks with Serbia should start without delay, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament said on Thursday.Voting on the European Commission’s 2012 progress report on Serbia, the committee said starting talks with Serbia as soon as June was achievable. “We acknowledged Serbian progress and send a message …
Read More »Kosovo, Serbia Presidents Hail Outcome of Talks
Presidents Atifete Jahjaga and Tomislav Nikolic pledged their commitment to the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and their respective European agendas after their historic meeting on Wednesday.Catherine Ashton, the EU Foreign Policy Chief, said after a three-hour meeting on Wednesday with the presidents of Kosovo and Serbia that the two leaders had vowed …
Read More »Four Montenegrins Start Smuggling Trial in Italy
The trial started in Bari on Thursday of four Montenegrins accused of involvement in smuggling cigarettes in the 1990s.Three Montenegrin businessmen, Vesko Barovic, Branko Vujosevic, and Branislav Micunovic, and the former chief of Montenegro’s trade mission in Italy, Dusanka Jeknic, are standing trial in Bari, a Podgorica-based radio, Antena M, …
Read More »Albania Guardsmen Acquitted of Killing Protesters
Tirana District Court ruled on Thursday that two former officers of the Republican Guard were not guilty for the deaths of three protestors in the January 21, 2011 riots.The court rejected murder charges against General Nrea Prendi, former head of the Republican Guard, and Agim Llupo, former chief of staff …
Read More »Macedonian Hague Convict Seeks Early Release
Former police commander Johan Tarculovski, the only Macedonian national convicted for war crimes by the Hague Tribunal, is appealing for early release after completing eight of his 12-year sentence.Tarculovski’s lawyer, Antonio Apostolski, said the German prison where Tarculovksi is serving a 12 year sentence had proceeded his appeal for early …
Read More »Bosnia Federation Minister Denies Guilt for Car Accident
Federation entity Interior Minister Predrag Kurtes has denied responsibility for a car accident last week, though two witnesses claim he crashed his vehicle and ran away.Interior Minister Predrag Kurtes on February 6 said he was not to blame for a January 28 car accident in the Marijin Dvor area of …
Read More »Bosnia Rejects New York Plea to Host Haggadah
A heritage commission has declined to loan the famous Sarajevo Haggadah to the New York Metropolitan Museum, although it currently lies locked up and unseen in a closed museum.Bosnia’s Commission on National Monuments on February 6 said that it had turned down a request from the Metropolitan Museum in New …
Read More »Albania Urged to Toughen Anti-Corruption Fight
The OSCE head in Albania on Wednesday urged Albania’s Chief Prosecutor, Adriatik Llala, to redouble the fight against organized crime and corruption.“The fight against organized crime, including trans-border crime and corruption, is the key to ensuring stability in the country, the region and at the global level,” Ambassador Eugen Wollfarth …
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