Balkans

The opposition Socialists are expected to hold a memorial rally on Monday for four supporters, killed when police opened fire on protesters on January 21, 2011.The protest held two years ago in Tirana turned into a riot when several hundred opposition marchers attacked a police barricade set up to protect …

Montenegrin reservists are seeking to prove they were mobilised during Yugoslavia’s NATO conflict but hopes of getting unpaid wages from Belgrade may be misplaced.Montenegro’s defence ministry has received around 1,100 requests from reservists for confirmation that they took part in combat activities during NATO’s bombing of the former Yugoslavia which …

In the fourth round of the EU-mediated dialogue, Serbia’s prime minister and his Kosovo counterpart agreed on customs duties and VAT for Serb-run north Kosovo.Following a five-hour meeting, which ended late on Thursday, the two prime ministers reached “a provisional understanding on the collection of customs duties, levies and VAT,” …

The census planned for April looks likely to be postponed to October on the advice of the international advisory body.Bosnia’s state government told the Statistics Agency on January 17 to prepare changes to the census law in line with the recommendations of the International Monitoring Operation, IMO, the body tasked …

Albanian Foreign Minister Edmond Panariti on Thursday urged Greece to scrap a World War Two-era law that has left Greece technically in a state of war with Albania.“The abolition of the war law, an old and absurd law, would push the relationship between the two countries to a new level,” …

Romania’s Foreign Minister says British speculation about large numbers of Romanians heading to work in the UK next year has no basis in fact and is all about politics.Romania’s Foreign Minister, Titus Corlatean, on Thursday said that British talk of a possible mass influx of workers in 2014, after remaining …

Facing a Sunday deadline, Ranko Krivokapic, speaker of Montenegro’s parliament, is expected to call elections for a new head of state on Friday.The mandate of President Filip Vujanovic expires in May and by law elections need to be called at least 120 days before the expiration of Vujanovic’s mandate, which …

Croatia’s leader Ivo Josipovic and Bosnia’s refugees minister Damir Ljubic both called for displaced Bosnians to go back to their pre-war homes.”I want everybody to go back to his home and integrate again into the society in which he lived before the war,” Josipovic said after meeting Ljubic in Zagreb …

Belgrade says the Hague Tribunal will examine whether it can re-open the case against two Croatian generals acquitted of war crimes.Serbia’s justice minister Nikola Selakovic said during a visit to The Hague on Thursday that Serge Brammertz, the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY, …

At least one Romanian is among the hostages kidnapped and feared killed by Islamic militants in southern Algeria.Romania’s Foreign Minister confirmed on Thursday that at least one Romanian citizen was among the 41 foreigners taken hostage at a British-Norwegian gas plant in Algeria in retaliation to French military intervention in …