Balkans

Victor Ponta has recruited a 25-year-old geek to revolutionise the business of public sector job advertising.Prime Minister Victor Ponta on Monday announced that he had hired Cristian Botan, a 25-year-old PhD candidate, to bring more transparency into the work of government job adverts. Ponta said he had taken on the …

President Rosen Plevneliev has suggested that political parties in Bulgaria should seal a national pact for EU funds absorption. Speaking Monday during the 7th annual meeting of the government with the business sector, he explained that the idea behind the national pact was to prevent next governments from interfering in …

Tirana and Pristina say role and acts of former chief prosecutor at the Hague Tribunal need probing following the acquittal of Ramush Haradinaj last week.The Kosovo and Albania governments have urged international authorities to start an independent inquiry into the former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for former …

Albania’s President, Bujar Nishani, has appointed on Monday the head of the High Inspectorate for the Declaration and Audit of Assets, HIDAA, Adriatik Llalla, as Albania’s new general prosecutor.Nishani said in a memo attached to the decree that the decisive factor was Llalla’s experience and his bipartisan election as the …

Serbia will reiterate its request that the Hague Tribunal allows its citizens, who are convicted before this court, to serve their sentences in the country.According to the Head of Serbian National Council for Cooperation with the ICTY, Rasim Ljajic, Serbia is already negotiating this issue with the ICTY. “The final …

Bosnia’s Finance Minister, Nikola Spiric, has sustained serious injuries on Friday night in a car accident near the town of Drvar, north-west Bosnia.The State Finance Minister, Nikola Spiric, had a hip operation on Saturday in a Banja Luka hospital following the car crash the night before. Following the operation, the …

Nelu Iordache, a businessman, has been detained for 29 days in a case involving an alleged EU fund embezzlement.Nelu Iordache, the owner of a low cost airline and of a construction company, has detained under suspicion of embezzling some 5.5 million euros from the EU funds supposed to be used …

Following a RECOM round table in Skopje, the Macedonian President, Gjorge Ivanov, met the team of regional REKOM advocates.REKOM advocates from Macedonia, Biljana Vankovska, from Bosnia, Zdravko Grebo, and from Serbia, Natasa Kandic met with Ivanov on Sunday.

Berlin think tank launches upgraded initiative to solve the dispute between Macedonia and Greece so that the former can advance its EU integration.The lead analyst of the European Stability Initiative, Gerald Knaus, said the solution would foresee a change to Macedonia’s name that would come into force permanently on the …

The international reaction to the Hague Tribunal acquittal of the former Kosovo PM, Ramush Haradinaj, mirrors the mixed reactions in the region.The EU Commissioner for Enlargement, Stefan Fule, has said that the EU would not comment on Haradinaj’s acquittal, as the EU did not want to interfere in the work …