Balkans

The Hague, 6 Sept. (AKI) – A prosecution witness in the trial of wartime Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic told the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia on Thursday she witnessed how Serb paramilitaries raped Muslim women in Mladic’s hometown of Kalinovik in the summer of 1992.

Two days ahead of a key congress on the party’s future questions arise whether the party will get new leadership or split.Part of the membership is unhappy with the party leader, Serbia’s former President, Boris Tadic, who is widely blamed for having concentrated too much power in his hands and …

European human rights court says Serbia needs to pay the overdue wages of former fighters.Serbia need to pay around 2 billion dinar [17 million Euros] to veterans of the conflicts of the 1990s, the European Court for Human Rights has ruled.

Parliament on Friday is expected to ratify Kosovo’s first bilateral agreement with the EU, extending the mandate of the EU rule of law mission, EULEX, till June 2014.The European Union has accepted Kosovo’s invitation to continue the mandate of its rule of law mission, BIRN sources said. The EU High …

A debate in parliament over a controversial law on armed forces exposed predictable divisions between ethnic Macedonians who support it and Albanians who oppose it.The law, put forward by the main ruling VMRO DPMNE party, concerns the rights of members of the Macedonian armed forces who fought in the 2001 …

Enlargement Commissioner repeats that Belgrade and Pristina must normalise ties – but Serbia’s diplomatic recognition of Kosovo is not crucial to its EU integration.The EU Enlargement Commissioner, Stefan Fuele, has denied that the European Union will inist on Serbia’s recognition of Kosovo before it can join the organization.

Greece’s eurozone creditors are demanding that the government in Athens introduce a six-day working week as part of the stiff terms for the country’s second bailout. The demand is contained in a leaked letter from the “troika” of the country’s lenders, the European commission, European Central Bank, and International Monetary …

The main Bosnian Serb party, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD, has sounded a defiant note following its exclusion from the Socialist International.The Executive Secretary of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, Rajko Vasic, led by the Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, said the party will not go into …

The two presidents are meeting in Russia to discuss the future of the South Stream pipeline, which will run through Serbia.For the second time since he was elected Serbian President, Tomislav Nikolic is paying a visit to Russia, where he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on September …

The parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe, PACE, is to send an observers’ mission to Montenegro – thus being the second international body to announce that it is monitoring the elections along with the OSCE.A team of 11 PACE parliamentarians are to observe the general elections in Montenegro, scheduled …