Balkans

For the twelve consecutive months, Macedonia’s industrial output has been in decline, largely due to the world financial crisis.Macedonia’s industrial output in August was down 8.1 per cent compared to August 2011, shows the latest data from the State Statistical Office.

At a session on Friday, the Macedonian government led by Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski faces a no-confidence vote put forward by the opposition.The outcome of the vote is uncertain, as the junior ruling Albanian party, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, refused to say clearly before the session whether it …

Milorad Dodik, the President of Republika Srpska, said that the Bosnian Serb entity is the only self-sustaining part of Bosnia and Herzegovina and will eventually emerge as an independent country.Dodik believes that Republika Srpska is capable of becoming an independent country.

War crimes trials and improving the judiciary are among the important issues that Croatia must continue to work on, says a draft a forthcoming report by the European Commission, the Croatian media reported.The European Commission, EC, is due to adopt and publish an overall monitoring report on Croatia’s accession preparations, …

Serbia’s Constitutional Court has ruled that a ban on the sale of alcohol after 10pm in Belgrade is unconstitutional.After a year and a half, Belgraders will again be able to buy alcohol after 10 pm after the court deemed the ban unconstitutional. The city authorities in the Serbian capital introduced …

The Speaker of Kosovo’s Assembly, Jakup Krasniqi, has asked the judiciary to hunt down the “privatization-don” whom he suspects is a politician, and called for the freeze of privatization processes.During Wednesday’s parliamentary session, Krasniqi questioned the privatization of the state owned companies, mentioning the case of the “Grand Hotel” for …

Half a million voters will be eligible to vote in Montenegro’s upcoming parliamentary election, which is scheduled for October 14.Most of the voters are in the capital Podgorica, where more than 160,000 people can cast their ballot. The government announced the figures on Thursday. Voters next week will choose from …

Macedonia says it will carefully consider the proposed bilateral memorandum of understanding that the Greek Foreign Minister sent on Thursday to his Macedonian counterpart.The spokesperson for the Macedonian government, Aleksander Gjorgiev, confirmed that the letter from the Greek Foreign Minister, Dimitris Avramopoulos, has been received, together with the draft memorandum, …

Journalist-turned businessman Dan Diaconescu is to be investigated for allegedly falsifying documents to win a public tender.The privatisation department within the Ministry of Economy, OPSPI, has asked on Wednesday prosecutors to investigate whether the businessman and media owner Dan Diaconescu broke any laws in his bid for chemical company Oltchim …

The Greek foreign minister has apologised to his Albanian counterpart after the country’s flag was hung upside down during a joint press conference on Wednesday in Athens.