Balkans

The spree in erecting giant monuments in Skopje continues as Macedonian authorities lay grounds for a new 30-metre-high statue dedicated to the Nobel Prize-winning nun.The statue of the late nun, who was born in Skopje to an ethnic Albanian family but spent most of her life in India, is to …

Serbs who suffered in the 1990s conflicts sent a letter to the Hague Tribunal saying recent verdicts acquitting Croatian and Kosovo officials of war crimes were politically biased.“The verdicts of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia [ICTY] in the cases against Gotovina, Markac and Haradinaj made the idea …

Kosovo’s plan to set up a fund for the Serb-run north financed out of customs duties collected on the border has run into strong opposition from Serbia.Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Hashim Thaci, has announced that the government will set up a special fund within the state budget for the Serb-run north, …

The Serbian government has set up a commission to investigate the unsolved murders of reporters.The Serbian government set up a commission on Thursday to assess the state of investigations into the killings of journalists in Serbia. The initiator of the move, Veran Matic, editor-in-chief of the broadcaster B92, believes that …

The Zagreb municipal court on Thursday released the well-known journalist Jasna Babic – who was taken into custody earlier this week for missing her own libel trial.Babic was released two days after being jailed on Tuesday, January 22nd, to ensure that she attended the libel trial against her initiated by …

If Bosnia fails to act fast on the 2009 ‘Sejdic and Finci’ rights ruling, Brussels may not recognise the next Bosnian elections, the EU Enlargement Commissioner has warned.Speaking to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the EU Enlargement Commissioner, Stefan Fule on January 24 said that Bosnia’s failure …

In a move whose legality is disputed, Montenegro’s ruling party has declared Filip Vujanovic, the current head of state, as its presidential candidate in the April election.The main board of the governing Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS, unanimously voted for Vujanovic’s candidacy on Thursday. The party decribed his previous incumbency …

As Albania’s Central Electoral Commission, CEC, remains in political deadlock, observers warn that standards for the 2013 general election are already in jeopardy.“An independent and well functioning CEC is one of the main poll standards sought by international observers,” Premto Gogo, head of KRIIK Albania, an NGO that is part …

The largest producer of the traditional beverage NAVIP in Serbia and in the Balkans has closed after 84 years, another victim of the economic crisis in the region.Miroljub Spasojevic, director of the NAVIP factory, said the remaining 20 workers stopped coming to work on Monday, as the company that produced …

Lulzim Peci may be the first Kosovo diplomat to represent the country in Serbia, although the nature of his appointment is likely to be interpreted differently by the Serbian government.Kosovo’s Foreign Minister, Enver Hoxhaj, has proposed Lulzim Peci as Kosovo’s ambassador to Serbia, Artan Behrami of the foreign ministry told …