Balkans

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 …

The U.S. will continue to support Serbia on its European path, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Reeker says. He added in Belgrade on Thursday that the Belgrade-Priština dialogue represented a means to overcome contradictory issues and find solutions that would contribute to people’s …

Montenegrin parliament will hold a session on September 2 which should see adoption of the bill amending the law on general education. In line with the agreement reached between opposition leaders and Prime Minister Igor Lukšić, the curriculum should provide teaching in Serbian, as well as compulsory courses in the …

Macedonia’s name dispute with Greece must not be used as an excuse for failing to fulfil EU reforms, the country’s minister in charge for EU affairs says. During her first adress before the Parliamentary Commission on the EU, Teuta Arifi announced a September 5 deadline for all ministries to complete …

Wartime Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic told the United Nations war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia Thursday he had no control over paramilitary groups which committed crimes in Bosnia’s bloody1992-1995 war. 

Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said that all countries in the West Balkans should join the EU after Croatia’s accession. “Until all Balkan countries are accessed, the EU will continue having a neighbouring timebomb,” Schwarzenberg remarked.

Head of the EU mission in Macedonia Peter Sorensen on Wednesday held farewell meetings with Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov and Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikola Poposki. Sorensen left for Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he will be an official representative of the EU. At the meeting with President Gjorge Ivanov the …

It does not seem realistic that Serbia will get a date for the beginning of the EU accession negotiations, says Serbian Ambassador to Germany Ognjen Pribićević. He has assessed that German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who will visit Belgrade on August 23, will not bring an ultimatum to Serbia.