Balkans

Philip Reeker, US Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, who is on a visit to Macedonia, met with the country’s new Defence Minister Fatmir Besami. After the meeting Reeker said that the strong partnership between Macedonia and the US will continue. The diplomat, however, remarked that the US …

Montenegrin PM Igor Luksic has finally reached agreement with leaders of the country’s political opposition regarding the use of the Serbian language and facilitating Montenegrin citizenship for minorities. After months of wrangling and political pressure, PM Luksic successfully agreed to appease opposition leaders yesterday, thereby

Turkey has contacted the US administration on Greek Cypriot plans to begin drilling for gas in the eastern Mediterranean. Greek Cyprus recently announced that it would begin drilling for oil and gas off the island’s southern coast on Oct. 1.

Villagers in the Serb enclave of Prilužje in Kosovo today held a one-hour protest gathering blocking a road leading to the construction site of a local bridge. The new bridge over the Sitnica River would connect the enclave with a number of nearby villages populated by ethnic Albanians.

The leader of Macedonia’s largest ethnic Albanian party has recommended international diplomats step in to help the country resolve its long-standing name dispute with neighbouring Greece. The dispute, which is hampering Macedonia’s attempts to join NATO and the EU, has been going on for more than three years.

The United Nations has recommended that representatives from Serbia and Kosovo engage in more voluntary dialogue to improve relations, a leaked United Nations report has shown. Within the 24-page report, which charts the UN’s mission in Kosovo, secretary general Ban Ki Moon states that relations between Kosovo and Serbia will …

More than one hundred Bulgarian rangers have been sent to Bosnia and Herzegovina on a peacekeeping mission. The Bulgarian servicemen will be assigned tasks related to security and defence at the Butmir base, near Sarajevo.

Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel will visit Croatia on Monday in what will be the first stop on her tour of several Balkan states. Merkel is later expected to travel on to Belgrade and Podgorica, the capitals of Serbia and Montenegro respectively. Merkel’s message is likely to emphasize the fact that …

Serbs, who have been at barricades near the village of Rudare since July 25, are monitoring the roads leading toward the Brnjak and Jarinje crossings. It is peaceful, but uncertainty and tension are the words that best describe the situation in north Kosovo.

Ohrid Framework Agreement achieved its goal and brought back the peace, creating opportunities for everyone to take part in the establishment of the political and public life, while the Constitution does not allow any discrimination of the ethnic communities, says Musa Xhaferi, Deputy Prime Minister in the Macedonian government in …