Balkans

EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele has said that he expects Croatia to successfully complete the bloc’s accession requirements ahead of its July 2013 admission date.Speaking in Zagreb on Monday, Fuele said he was also confident that Croatia would create a positive atmosphere for the EU aspirations of its neighbours. Zagreb …

The trial of the former Croatian Serb leader, Goran Hadzic, has continued on Monday with a testimony of a survivor of war crimes committed in the Croatian village of Lovas in 1991.Ivan Mujovic, a villager from Lovas, recalled the occupation of his village by the Serb forces in October and …

Report names politicians running in next month’s parliamentary elections who once worked for the secret police, held senior positions in the former ruling Communist Party or have convictions for corruption.The Alliance for a Clean Romania, ARC, on Monday released a list of politicians that it says are either corrupt, or …

Kosovo has marked the International Day for Elimination of Violence against Women with a call for all perpetrators of sexual violence that took place during the Kosovo war to be punished.Kosovo’s president, Atifete Jahjaga, has urged institutions to strengthen existing mechanisms in order to “help victims of the war – …

Under the auspices of the government, a protest march was held in Belgrade on Sunday against the acquittal of two Croatian generals by the Hague Tribunal.The protesters submitted a petition demanding a special parliamentary session to discuss the acquittal of the Croatian generals, Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac. On November …

Following months of political bickering within the Democratic Party, Dragan Djilas, has been elected the party’s new leader.Dragan Djilas was elected as the new leader of the opposition Democratic Party, DS, at an early party electoral assembly in Belgrade’s Sava Center on Sunday. He received 2,386 votes, while his rival, …

The former Agriculture Minister, Sasa Dragin, and eight more people have been detained on suspicion of abuse of office, as a part of Serbia’s drive to root out corruption.Dragin and other eight suspects were arrested on Saturday on suspicion of abuse of office involving illegal sale of mineral fertilizers which …

A mixed panel of two EULEX judges and one Kosovo judge at the District Court of Pristina acquitted Aleksandar Bulatovic of war crimes.Bulatovic was accused of having taken part in a group that allegedly abused a Kosovo Albanian, Xheladin Idrizi, who was found dead in Fushe Kosove/Kosovo Polje, in 1999.

Natasa Kandic, head of the Humanitarian law center, paid homage to the victims of the 1991 Vukovar massacre on Saturday – while expressing surprise at the recent acquittals of the two Croatian generals in The Hague.Kandic has represented the families of the victims of the 1991 Vukovar massacre at the …

Bosnian leaders are to meet Europe’s Enlargement Commissioner, Stefan Fule, on Tuesday, after five months in which few promised reforms were undertaken.The European Commissioner for Enlargement, Stefan Fule, will meet Bosnian authorities on Tuesday in Sarajevo for another high-level meeting on Bosnia’s EU integration process. But, as key long-awaited reforms …