Balkans

Opposition supporters on Friday protested against plans to rename hundreds of streets in the capital, accusing the authorities of re-writing history – but the ruling party insists that most of the criticism is misplaced.Opposition Social Democrats say the move by the ruling VMRO DPMNE party is part of a bid …

Seven associations of families of missing persons formed a coalition to more efficiently address Serbian citizens who went missing during the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia.Members of the coalition urged the Serbian authorities to establish a unique electronic database of people who have Serbian citizenship and who went missing during …

Albania’s Prime Minister Sali Berisha inaugurated Ashta 1 on Friday, the country’s first major hydro-power plant since the early 1980s.“The Ashta power plant is a novelty because it is the largest one in the world to use advanced tubular turbines technology,” said Berisha during the inauguration ceremony. “This power plant …

Opponents of changes to Bulgaria’s Forestry Act, which make life easier for developers, are gearing up for a third mass rally on Friday.Bulgaria’s Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, has asked the protesters to refrain from blocking a key road junction in Sofia and to choose another place for their rallies.

Albania’s President-elect, Bujar Nishani, has tried to reassure the public that he is up to the job in spite of concerns about his health.In a statement for the Tirana daily Shqiptarja, Nishani’s personal physician revealed that the President has been previously treated for brain cavernoma, or malformations.

After the Social Democrats terminated their coalition with the Party of Democratic Action, SDA, the SDA has sought a new partnership in opposition with the Party for Bosnia, SBiH, though only over the issue of returnees to the Bosnian Serb entity.The Party of Democratic Action, SDA, and the Party for …

The European Broadcasting Union has sided with Kosovo journalists in their dispute with the authorities over a new criminal code that they say undermines freedom of the media.The European Broadcasting Union, EBU, has urged Kosovo to make changes to its new criminal code that allegely undermine media freedom and have …

The trial of Mevlid Jasarevic, the 23-year-old who shot at the US embassy in Sarajevo last year, and two of his helpers, begins on Friday.Mevlid Jasarevic, who opened fire on the United States embassy in Sarajevo on October 28 last year, and two of his helpers, Emrah Fojnica and Munib …

The International Commission on Missing Persons, ICMP, have met the Bosnian authorities to discuss ways of bringing its mission to an end, now that 70 per cent of those missing have successfully been identified.

Both government delegations on missing persons have met on Thursday and paid a visit to a suspected mass grave site in the village of Zhilivoda, where exhumation works have restarted. The Chairman of Kosovo’s Government Missing Persons Commission, Prenk Gjetaj, told BIRN that the joint inspection of the site was …