Balkans

Some 23 charter flights from Israel have been cancelled since the recent suicide bombing in Burgas on the Black Sea, the Bulgarian Tourism Minister said, adding that every effort must be made to keep cancellations to a minimum.Delyan Dobrev, the Bulgarian Economy, Energy and Tourism Minister, said the cancellations had …

Serbia’s Public Procurement Office has found irregularities in procurements worth up to 70 million euro in the first half of 2012 – three times more than in the whole of 2011.Predrag Jovanovic, head of the Procurement Office, said uncovered irregularities in urgent public procurements for first six months of 2012 …

Jailed former police minister Ljube Boskoski is the prime suspect for the killing of Marjan Tusevski, who was shot dead by unidentified hitmen 11 years ago in Skopje.Macedonian police on Tuesday arrested nine other former police officials who are also suspected in relation to the unsolved murder of Tusevski, a …

Trying to convince increasingly sceptical international lenders that it is serious about slashing its debts, Greece named a new privatisation chief today and said it would sell a loss-making bank that has been draining state coffers.The latest visit to Athens by inspectors from the European Union, European Central Bank and …

EU official warns Bosnia that a significant amount of its exports to Croatia may be cut off next year, owing to its failure to impose EU hygiene standards.After Croatia joins the European Union in July 2013, Bosnia may face sharp reductions in its exports, as the country has not harmonized …

Supporters of Traian Basescu are being urged to abstain from the vote at end of July, in order to invalidate the result of the referendum on impeaching the President.Romania’s opposition Democratic Liberal Party, PDL, on Tuesday urged its followers not to vote in a July 29 referendum on whether to …

As Serbia’s new ministers are due to be sworn in on Friday, key parties have started the distribution of state-owned companies, breaking promises to end the party politicisation of public enterprises.Talks on the distribution of plum posts in public enterprises have started in Serbia, following the conclusion of a coalition …

An official from the Kosovo Missing Persons Commission says no evidence has been found at Zhilivoda to support Serbian claims of a mass grave.Digs at a suspected mass grave site in Zhilivoda, where Serbia suspects Kosovo Serbs are buried, have shown no results to date and the final results of …

Tirana. Albania’s new President Bujar Nishani, who is due to be sworn in later on Tuesday, wants to tackle stalled legal reforms and the ongoing political crisis which threatens the country’s EU integration, AFP reported. “The justice system will be my priority. I have decided to fully engage in favour …

BRUSSELS – European commission president Jose Manuel Barroso will visit Greece Thursday in his first trip to the country since the outbreak of the financial crisis. President Barroso will meet Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to “discuss the overall situation in Europe and obviously particularly focusing on Greece,” a commission spokesperson …