Balkans

Efforts to strike a deal in the parliamentary commission tasked with improving the electoral code have run again into the sand without a comprehensive agreement on reforms.Speaking to fellow Democratic Party MPs, Prime Minister Sali Berisha said on Tuesday that the ruling centre-right coalition had made efforts to accommodate opposition …

Three ministries have received poor ratings from Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Audit Agency for failing to control or document out-of-control expenses.On telephone conversations alone, Bosnia’s Foreign Ministry spent 1.5 million Bosnian convertible marks, BAM, or roughly €750,000, the audit agency said. Of the 71 institutions financed from the state budget, the …

Former Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor testified on Tuesday at the corruption trial of her own party, the Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, and of its previous leader, Ivo Sanader, denying all knowledge of so-called party slush funds.Kosor was among dozens of witnessess to testify in the biggest case in Croatian legal …

Albanian courts continue to issue lenient verdicts in cases involving corruption in the judiciary, hobbling Albania’s fight against the phenomenon.A court in the city of Fier earlier this week freed three suspects found guilty of a an attempt to bribe Albania’s Supreme Court. Although prosecutors proved that the three defendants …

The new so-called Democratic Front, which hopes to coordinate opposition to the government in Montenegro, will be headed by former foreign minister Miodrag Lekic, it was confirmed.Miodrag Lekic, Montenegro’s former foreign minister, is to coordinate a new opposition coalition, the Democratic Front, Andrija Mandic, chairman of the opposition New Serbian …

Macedonia has now joined the Russian-led South Stream gas pipeline project, the Vice Prime Minister Zoran Stavreski said in Russia, confirming that Russia and Gazprom, the company in charge of the project, have now given the green light.”There’s no more dilemma – Macedonia is joining the international gas pipeline corridor …

State Department official is heading to Belgrade to try to break the deal on a nationalist-led government between the Progressives and the Socialists.Philip Reeker, Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, is coming for a three-day visit to Belgrade on Tuesday to persuade leaders of the two biggest parties, …

Civic group slaps lawsuits on half the members of the Macedonian parliament for having supported a recently adopted Lustration Law that they describe as unconstitutional.A group of intellectuals, part of the civil initiative Citizens for European Macedonia, GEM, has submitted law suits against MPs from the ruling parties, including the …

According USAID’s 2011 civil society sustainability index, Albanian NGOs are increasingly shut out of the corridors of power and have little means of influencing public policy.The report by USAID makes grim reading for Albanian NGOs and civil society pressure groups. Despite efforts by NGO’s in 2011 to open up dialogue …

Milan Rocen has confirmed that he is bowing out, following the country’s recent achievements in advancing its EU and NATO membership prospects.One day after he announcing his intended withdrawal to the daily newspaper, Pobjeda, Rocen officially confirmed his decision on Monday at the opening of the fifth diplomatic “Gavro Vukovic” …