Balkans

Filip Vujanovic, Montenegro’s President, said he expected NATO to invite his country to become a full member at the alliance’s next summit due to take place in 2014.The President of Montenegro expressed his country’s expectations in a speech given on Monday at the plenary session of NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly in …

Hate crimes are hampering reconciliation process in Bosnia and Herzegovina, warns an OSCE report.The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE, in the report titled “Tackling Hate Crimes”, warns that the Bosnian society, which is still recovering from the early 90’s conflict, faces a challenge to rebuild trust amongst …

Former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader on Monday denied having received funds from Hypo bank in 1994, starting his defence speech in first of two trials for bribery.”I didn’t receive or ask for any provision from Hypo bank. I always honourably served my country and I’m proud of that,” Sanader told …

Albania’s Union of Journalists says media owners routinely fail to pay reporters on time and so further erode the media’s independence.“Many newspapers and TV stations are failing to pay reporters for months at a time and the situation has got worse over the past year,” Aleksander Cipa, head of the …

At their recent talks, the Kosovo leader asked his Serbian counterpart to resolve the issue of missing persons from the 1999 war.Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Hashim Thaci, says he has asked Serbia to cooperate on resolving the fate of the 1,700 missing persons from the 1999 war.

Serbia’s trade minister has said it is important for Serbia to strike a new deal with the IMF, ahead of a visit from bank officials on Tuesday.Trade Minister Rasim Ljajic said it is “very important for Serbia to enter into a new arrangement with the International Monetary Fund.” This should …

Macedonia has removed defamation and libel from the penal code – but some media unions and other critics say big fines will still intimidate reporters.The 53 MPs of the ruling VMRO DPMNE-led coalition voted in favour of the Law on Defamation and Libel on Monday. Twenty of the 123 deputies …

All the main parties competing in the December election are issuing impressive-sounding promises about jobs and taxes – which experts say will be hard to deliver.New jobs, an increase in the minimum monthly wage and cutting corporate and personal income taxes are among the electoral promises that the main parties …

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY, will deliver its verdict in the case against the former leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, Ramush Haradinaj on November 29.Haradinaj, Lahi Brahimaj and Idriz Balaj are accused of being a part of a joint criminal enterprise and crimes against …

The foreign ministers of Greece, Romania and Bulgaria are meeting in Sofia to discuss European Union enlargement in the Western Balkans and border security.Dimitris Avramopoulos from Greece, Romania’s Titus Corlatean and Nikolay Mladenov from Bulgaria will focus on aligning their positions on the EU integration of the other Balkan countries.