Balkans

Serbian Democrats to Choose New Leader in November

After a heated debate on the party’s future, Serbia’s former ruling Democrats agreed to vote on the new leadership on November 10.Members of the main board of the Democratic Party on Saturday agreed to a proposal of their leader, Boris Tadic, to elect a new party leadership on November 10. …

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Kosovo Extends EU Mission Mandate to 2014

Parliament on Friday voted overwhelmingly to extend the mandate of the EU’s rule of law mission for another two years.The Kosovo parliament on Friday extended the mandate of the EU’s rule of law mission to Kosovo, known as EULEX, until June 2014. With 97 votes for, and 11 against, MPs …

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Bosnia Entities Trim Budgets to Ease IMF Loan

The parliaments of Bosnia’s two entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska, have rebalanced their budgets as a condition for a new stand-by arrangement with the IMF.After the House of Representatives in the Federation entity supported the entity government’s rebalanced 2012 budget on Thursday, Bosnia is awaiting …

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Bulgarian PM Deems Job Creation Cabinet’s ‘Only Problem’

The creation of new jobs is “the only problem for the Bulgarian government”, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov believes, according to the record of the weekly Cabinet sitting released Friday. “The creation of new jobs is the most important thing. At the moment, we must focus on job creation because …

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Kosovo Deports Serb Official For Changing Agenda

The Kosovo government deported the head of Serbia’s Kosovo Office, Aleksandar Vulin, for deviating from his agreed agenda.Kosovo deported the head of Serbia’s Kosovo Office, Aleksandar Vulin, on Friday, police said. Vulin, who was on a two-day visit to Kosovo, for which he was given “green light” by the authorities …

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Serbs Invited to Report Illegal Arms Online

Serbia is trying to improve safety and security by launching an online platform, which enables people to anonymously report on weapons held in their areas.As of Friday, Serbians can anonymously and safely report any weapons they know are being stored in their areas via the new “Targeting Weapons” website. The …

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Serb Patriarch Heads to Bosnia Peace Conference

Patriarch Irinej, head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, will participate in the international peace conference in Sarajevo, seen as the most important recent religious summit in the region.The conference, entitled “Our future is living together – Religion and Culture in Dialogue”, is the first joint gathering of religious and state …

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Serbian Pledge To Uphold Free Media Welcomed

Serbia’s new government has promised to bring in fresh legislation guaranteeing freedom of the media as well as acting on the basis of the media strategy – the key stategy document adopted by the last government.Bratislav Petkovic, Serbia’s Culture and Information Minister, said that the government will adopt a package …

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Kosovo’s Limaj May be Indicted in October

The investigation into alleged corruption in the Ministry of Transport may result in an indictment of former minister Fatmir Limaj being issued in October.Limaj, now an MP in parliament from the ranks of the ruling Democratic Party of Kosovo, may be soon charged with corruption during his time as the …

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