Balkans

After mini-wave of recognitions of Kosovo’s independence, Belgrade plans a last stand at the forthcoming Non-Aligned Movement summit. Serbia plans to use September’s meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in Belgrade to halt a new wave of recognitions of Kosovo, which Serbia insists is still a province of Serbia.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said that he has no plans to call early elections and vowed to press ahead with the government’s reform agenda. Papandreou acknowledged that the reforms had provoked public discontent and would continue to do so, while acknowledging that the government had made

German Chancellor Angela Merkel officially visits Croatia on Monday to convey her congratulations to the country for becoming the EU’s 28th member. Zagreb marks the first stop on Merkel’s Balkan tour and she arrives in the wake of Croatia’s successful conclusion of its EU accession

Serbian officials started talks Monday with a delegation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) about a possible new stand-by loan for the Balkans country, the government

Serbian Defense Minister Dragan Šutanovac said on Monday that there was “no indication of instability in south Serbia”. “That this does not mean that the situation is not being closely monitored,” the minister said in the southern town of Leskovac.

Angela Merkel will start an official visit to Belgrade on Tuesday, the first to Serbia by a German Chancellor in eight years. Serbian President Boris Tadic will welcome Merkel on August 23, following weeks of hightened tension between Belgrade and Pristina over the troubled north of Kosovo, a subject which …

Schoolchildren and students in Serbia’s Sandzak region could be taught in the Bosnian language during this academic year if the country’s education ministry permits the move. The Bosniak National Council, BNC, is waiting for the Serbian

Croatian Serb wartime leader Goran Hadzic is set to enter plea on August 24. Hadzic appeared before court on July 25, but refused to enter plea at the UN war crimes court at The Hague. He told the judges he had read the indictment against him, but declined to enter …

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has said that Skopje needs to look at the future from a different angle. Borisov wonders whether going back in history is the best way to go in time when the country needs an economic growth and good infrastructure. 

German Ambassador in Belgrade Wolfram Maas has said that recognition of Kosovo’s independence has never been a condition for Serbia’s EU integration. “But what we do expect is to solve problems that will allow normalization of relations. We know from experience that there is a large maneuvering space there,” he …