Balkans

Bulgaria has not done as much as it should to eliminate human trafficking, but is heading in the right direction, a US State Department report says.Bulgaria is a source and, to a lesser extent, a transit and destination country for women and children who are subjected to sex trafficking, as …

The last head of the disbanded Kosovo Secret Services Agency, Kadri Veseli, is to testify on Wednesday in the trial of Nazim Bllaca on SHIK’s role.The former director of Kosovo’s Secret Agency, SHIK, Kadri Veseli, is due to appear on Wednesday at a trial to testify about the workings of …

Tarrif disputes between the two Albanian countries are hampering the goal of creating a single market – with a row over cement being the latest example.Ever since NATO helped mainly Albanian Kosovo break away from Serbia more than a decade ago, talk of creating a single market with neighbouring Albania …

While a Brussels diplomat says the EU will insist on Serbia to allow Kosovo to open an ‘office’ in Belgrade, Serbia says this is the first it has ever heard of the idea.The EU is adding the opening of a Kosovo representative office in Belgrade as a precondition for Serbia’s …

The Supreme Prosecutor’s Office in Podgorica filed charges against 26 persons with involvement in an international drug-smuggling ring.The Prosecutor’s Office stated that the indictments were issued on the basis of evidence collected in collaboration with the prosecutorial offices from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia.

The head of the Party of Democratic Action, SDA, says there is no need to reconstruct the government of the Federation entity following the collapse of the party’s coalition with the Social Democrats.Sulejman Tihic, leader of Party of Democratic Action, SDA, met Zivko Budimir, President of the Bosniak-Croat Federation entity, …

Two years after starting their work, members of the expert group presented a draft of the Transitional Justice Strategy, whose goal is to “help reconcile the Bosnian society“.Niko Grubesic, assistant to the Bosnian minister of Justice, who presided over the round table at which the strategy was presented, said the …

As Serbia begins investigating a blast of unexploded ordnance that killed two cadets, some experts call for top military officials to step down.Serbia has formed a commission to investigate the explosion of a “a leftover 33mm grenade” that killed two students in the fourth year of the Military Academy and …

Croatia’s 2012 National Happiness Index shows most Croats feel no optimism about their prospects and have no faith in the government or political parties.As many as 60 per cent of the Croatians cannot see any future for themselves and for their families, while 75 per cent of respondents do not …

Prime Minister Victor Ponta has denied accusations that he copied parts of his PhD thesis, claiming it is all part of a political plot against him.“I never copied large parts of my doctoral thesis without clear attribution and I am ready to undergo any kind of checks to prove this …