Balkans

The main ethnic Albanian parties in Macedonia have expressly rejected the idea of forming an all-Albanian coalition to stand in opposition to the ruling party of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.

Kosovo’s prime minister, Hashim Thaci, has sent a letter of resignation to Kosovo parliament speaker Jakup Krasniqi to inform the assembly that he is resigning from his position as member of parliament, the premier’s office has announced.

NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe U.S. Adm. James Stavridis has met in Belgrade with Serbian Army (VS) Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Miloje Miletić. Stavridis was today quoted as saying during the talks that NATO’s force in Kosovo, KFOR, would consider all security aspects in Kosovo.

Serbian President Boris Tadić met with NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe Admiral James Stavridis on Thursday. They discussed Serbia’s activities within the Partnership for Peace program and cooperation with KFOR in preserving peace and security in Kosovo.

Kosovo government will officially announce the plan for population census, Kosovo media said. The population census will be conducted in April 2011, Kosovo’s State Statistical Office said. “The census is very important instrument for opening new job positions, building infrastructure and providing proper service, where needed”, the Office said in …

Bulgaria will take a decision on whether to depose anti-missile defense at its territory after a discussion with the EU member states and the Bulgarian Parliament. This is what Bulgarian Prime Minister (PM) Boyko Borisov said as a reply of the question about disposing anti-missile defense in Bulgaria. “I cannot …

The prime minister of debt-stricken Greece will visit Russia next week for talks with his counterpart Vladimir Putin, the Russian government announced on Friday. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou will visit Russia on February 15-16 for a trip focusing on “economy, energy and military-technical cooperation,” the government said in a …

The US will not compel Bulgarians to be choosing between Moscow and Washington, said in his first public lecture HE James Warlick, US Ambassador to Bulgaria.

The OSCE mission in Albania and the US Embassy in Tirana welcomed President Bamir Topi’s initiative to organise negotiations between the government and the opposition in order to end an ongoing political stalemate. The opposition has been boycotting parliament since September, insisting on a thorough investigation into the June 2009 …

The real reason behind a recent large-scale operation to shut down a radical Wahhabi village in Bosnia has more to do with an ongoing terrorism investigation than official statements about ethnic intolerance and territorial integrity, Anes Alic writes for ISN Security Watch. In massive raid conducted by Bosnian police and …