Balkans

Later this week, Bosnia’s ethnonationalist Bosniak Democratic Party of Action (SDA) will have to decide whether it will take part in a meeting to discuss the formation of a new central government following 3 October general elections. The meeting, which is scheduled to take place on 10 January, was called …

Milorad Dodik, president of Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity Republika Srpska, has announced that he will begin legal proceedings against former High Representative to Bosnia, British diplomat Paddy Ashdown. According to the outspoken Dodik, who enjoys the spotlight, Ashdown will be sued before the UK court by early February for his “arrogant …

Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has likened the recently leaked Council of Europe report – which accuses Thaci of leading an organized crime network smuggling everything from weapons and drugs to human organs harvested from kidnapped Serbs – to Nazi-style propaganda, and its author, Swiss Senator Dick Marty to Joseph …

The Netherlands has a positive attitude towards Bulgaria’s efforts to cover the Schengen accession criteria. “We recognize and welcome the efforts put bu Bulgaria into carrying out the reforms necessary

The Greek government is contemplating the construction of a 206-km-long wall that will stretch along the entire land-border with Turkey, in an attempt to stop illegal immigration.

Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has likened the recently leaked Council of Europe report – which accuses Thaci of leading an organized crime network smuggling everything from weapons and drugs to human organs harvested from kidnapped Serbs – to Nazi-style propaganda, and its author, Swiss Senator Dick Marty to Joseph …

Outgoing Kosovo Albanian Interior Minister Bajram Redzepi says that northern Kosovo will not be on the agenda of the Belgrade-Priština talks. He told local newspapers that “the problem of the north cannot be solved in one year and that it requires a long-term approach”. “I will insist that the north …

Serbia expects to receive EU candidate status by the end of 2011, according to the country’s Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic. Serbian PM is also positive that his country will obtain a date for starting accession negotiations by the end of this year. “If we use this year in the properly …

Greece and Macedonia’s representatives, with the mediation of UN envoy Matthew Nimetz, are to meet on January 27 in New York to negotiate over the name of the Former Yugoslavian republic, Macedonian media and the foreign ministry informed.The talks will be renewed after a seven-week break.

What is the condition of al-Qaida, and what are its prospects in 2011 and beyond? The movement commissions the well-regarded SWISH management agency to deliver a further independent evaluation, to which openDemocracy has exclusive access. By Paul Rogers A report from the South Waziristan Institute of Strategic Hermeneutics to the …