Balkans

The trial against former Defence Minister Berislav Roncevic and his assistant, Ivo Bacic, began in a Zagreb court Friday (January 29th). The anti-corruption office, USKOK, charged them in late October with abuse of power over a 2004 procurement deal involving military trucks. Prosecutors say the contract cost the state millions …

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said on Saturday (January 30th) that Western Balkan countries have made significant progress and are moving fast along their road to EU integration.Bildt acknowledged some open issues in the region, but said the situation is nevertheless much better than in the last six months of …

Persons who are convicted in Bosnia and Herzegovina will no longer be able to escape to neighbouring countries, and criminals who flee to Bosnia will not be able to dodge justice, according to an agreement adopted on Thursday. The agreement was adopted by the Bosnian tripartite Presidency on January 28 …

Ustavom BiH je precizirano da se odluka o ulasku BiH u NATO donosi na državnom, a ne na entitetskom nivou, istakao je Džozef Mekmilan, pomoćnik zamjenika ministra odbrane SAD, komentarišući mogućnost da se građani BiH na referendumu izjasne o ulasku zemlje u NATO. “Koliko mi je poznato, važeći ustav BiH …

The trail of former Republic of Srpska president Radovan Karadžić will restart on March 1, according to presiding Judge O-Gon Kwon. The decision for continuing the process was also an answer to the verbal demand of Karadžić, who is defending himself, to postpone the trial again, claiming that he has …

The EU mission in Kosovo, EULEX, today said that it “firmly believes that progress in the north of Kosovo can be made only by dialogue”. A statement from the mission’s press service further said that this could be achieved by involving all communities concerned, “and step by step”. The statement …

Chief of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Balkan Sector, Aleksandr Alexeyev, met with Serb Radical Party (SRS) senior officials. They discussed bilateral relations between Serbia and Russia.

Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor made an unannounced visit to Serbia to meet with President Boris Tadić. One of the topics of the informal, working meeting between the two is expected to be the ratification of the social agreement between Slovenia and Serbia.

70.5% of Kosovo citizens think the declaration of the independence is a good decision while 63.8% of Serbs think they will never recognize Kosovo’s independence.  9.7% of the Serbs think Serbia will recognize Kosovo but it will not happen in the next five years.

Serbia’s demand to become EU candidate member state could be discussed by the Council of the European Union in the spring, Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt said. In his words the European Commission could work out a position before the unblocking of the ratified Agreement for Stabilization and Association. “During …