Balkans

Borislav Mikelic will be retried at the request of his lawyer after being sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in 1993 in absentia. A pretrial hearing will be held on April 23

Kosovo Police said it investigates rumors regarding armed Kosovo Albanian groups in the northern Serb-run part of Kosovo. On Friday, Mitrovica’s Chief Prosecutor Shyqri Syla pledged to act if any evidence is found. Syla said the prosecution office is working closely with the Kosovo Police, who are working on the …

Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister Bujar Bukoshi is to deliver a public lecture titled ‘Euro-Atlantic Orientation of Republic of Kosovo’ in Sofia on Friday at 4:00 p.m. local time. The meeting is to be attended also by Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister Musa Xhaferi.

Eight Bosnian Muslim wartime officials went on trial on Thursday accused of the torture and abuse of Serbs in detention camps near the Serb-besieged capital Sarajevo, 20 years after the start of the 1992-95 war.

Albanian President Topi on Thursday started a visit for two days to Skopje after tensions raised towards country’s Albanian minority. “Each nationalistic or ultra-nationalistic reflex or a climate of prejudice harms relations between Macedonians and ethnic Albanians in Macedonia as well as regional relations,” Topi said. Topi urged people to …

Boyko Borisov, the Bulgarian Prime Minister, stressed the importance of gas interconnection projects for energy security after a Thursday meeting with Moldovan Prime Minister Vladimir Filat. “I hope that we shall be able to achieve the much desired diversification in the region

Romanian Foreign Minister Christian Diaconescu said in Brussels on Thursday that Romania has the same position on Kosovo and will not recognize it’s independence. He further noted that Kosovo did not meet the requirements of the international law to be a state. “For our part, we clearly expressed our position, …

Bosnia’s central government approved the budget for 2012 on Wednesday as the country seeks talks next month with IMF on a new loan deal. The adoption of the budget was delayed so far because misunderstandings of Serb, Croat and Muslim leaders.

Moldova’s Prime Minister Vlad Filat will pay an official visit to Sofia on Thursday. He is set to meet with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and President Rosen Plevneliev. The visit is just a week after Moldova restored centralized funding for the Bulgarian community in Taraclia, a move that was praised …

NATO should send a message to Western Balkans that the door is still open. This would be a strong motivation for countries to reform, said Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolai Mladenov in Brussels, where he met alliance’s foreign and defence ministers. Mladenov gave Bosnia as an example, saying that it achieved …