Balkans

Ivica Dacic and Zoran Milanovic are expected to meet soon, ‘on neutral ground’, with a view to bridging the widening divide between Zagreb and Belgrade.Serbia’s Prime Minister, Ivica Dacic, says he expects to meet his Croatian counterpart, Zoran Milanovic, in the first half of 2013. “I believe it is important …

An IMF audit mission, which is coming to eveluate to Romania’s economic performance, is seen as posing a major credibility test for Prime Minister Victor Ponta.A team of auditors from the European Union and International Monetary Fund, IMF, is to come to Bucharest on January 15 to discuss the country’s …

Belgrade wants to revise ‘absurd’ deals with its neighbours to share out property once owned by Yugoslavia.“The previous government made some absurd concessions,” said Oliver Antic, a presidential adviser who heads the current Belgrade administration’s body dealing with property issues arising from the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. He cited …

Following announcements that Russian President Vladimir Putin has granted Russian citizenship to French actor Gerard Depardieu, Bozhidar Dimitrov, former Diaspora Minister and a famous nationalist historian, has urged Bulgaria’s Cabinet to move quickly with citizenship legislation. “The amendments to the Bulgarian Citizenship Act and the Foreign Investment Act connected with …

Croatia is to introduce official use of the Serbian language and script into about 20 areas of where Serbs make up more than a third of the population.Official use of the Serbian language and Cyrillic script will be introduced into about 20 Croatian municipalities where Serbs make up more than …

Political crisis continues in Macedonia as Social Democrat-led opposition says it will boycott local elections in March.Opposition parties led by the Social Democratic Party, SDSM, said they will not take part in the March local elections on the grounds that the Prime Minister, Nikola Gruevski, plans to rig the polls. …

Pristina says new regime will improve internal security and ease the path leading to eventual EU membership.Kosovo has established a visa regime for citizens of 87 countries, starting from July, which it says will have a positive impact on internal security and on the path toward EU accession. The system …

Zagreb has sent back Serbian indictments for war crimes against three top Croatian military officials, saying they aren’t valid.The Serbian war crimes prosecutor’s office issued the indictments against former Croatian interior minister Ivan Vekic, his top adviser Tomislav Mercep, and Vladimir Seks, the head of the war crisis headquarters in …

Spanish courts have approved the extradition to Serbia of Vladimir Milisavljevic, convicted in Serbia of involvement in the assassination of the late Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.Spanish authorities have approved the handover of Vladimir Milisavljevic, aka Vlada “Budala” (“Fool”), to Serbia, 11 months since his arrest. Courts in Serbia have …

Customs in the port of Durres on Wednesday sequestered a container with contraband cigarettes coming from Singapore with an estimated value of €500,000.Media reports said customs agents became suspicious about the cargo after the company that had ordered the shipment failed to carry out customs procedures for several days. Inside …