Balkans

Serbian Minister of Labor Rasim Ljajić said in Strasbourg in Monday that the EU mission in Kosovo, EULEX, should assume responsibility for the Kosovo organ trade. The chairman of the National Council for Cooperation with the Hague Tribunal said that EULEX should also process as soon as possible the

Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic on Saturday (December 18th) assured Albanian Deputy Prime Minister Ilir Meta during a meeting in Belgrade that Serbia remains open to dialogue and

Interior Minister Lulzim Basha insisted on Sunday (December 19th) that he played no part in investigations led by UNMIK into the so-called “Yellow House” in northern Albania. Basha’s name was mentioned by the former UNMIK official in charge of missing persons, Jose Pablo Baraybar, who said Basha served as a …

Serbian President Boris Tadić believes that the international community will see the Kosovo problem with different eyes after a report on crimes committed against Serbs. “Serbia has been waiting for years in front of international institutions for a report like this” Tadić said. 

The trial for nine former members of a paramilitary unit accused for war crimes against civilians in the village of Ćuška near Peć in Kosovo starts today. The trial will be held before the War Crimes Chamber of the Belgrade High Court.

Albanian authorities denied allegations of the country’s involvement in organ trafficking presented in a report by CoE’s Dick Marty. Albania’s Deputy Prime Minister Ilir Meta said

European Parliament rapporteur for Serbia Jelko Kacin is visiting Serbia, where he is meeting with government and parliament officials and NGO representatives. Kacin said in Belgrade on Monday that Dick Marty’s report on KLA organ trafficking is not substantiated enough to justify

Council of Europe (CoE) rapporteur Dick Marty, the author of a report that accuses incumbent Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci of involvement in organ trafficking, said on Friday (December 17th) that many countries were aware of facts related to the case.

Cyprus is ready to start direct talks with Turkey to find a solution to the Mediterranean island’s longstanding division, Cypriot Foreign Minister Markos Kyprianou declared on Friday (December 17th). “We should start the direct exchange of opinions. We should directly share our demands and our complaints,” Kyprianou said. Ankara has …

The EU leaders have approved the proposal to grant Montenegro a status of a candidate country. In November the EC recommended granting the status to Montenegro. The Balkan country applied for EU membership in December 2008. On May 1 it received a status of an associated country.