Balkans

Kosovo’s Central Election Commission, CEC, failed on Monday to approve the final results of the hotly contested mayoral elections in Gjilan. The results of the second-round mayoral vote were recounted last week after fears that widespread fraud had taken place in the municipality during the 13 December election.

The EU’s newly appointed foreign minister Catherine Ashton expressed her support behind international efforts to stabilise Bosnia, noting that there is no other choice but for the differing communities to live together. At her parliamentary hearing in front of MEPs Ashton noted that: “They can have as many referendums as …

A group of 200 academics, writers and journalists in Serbia has asked the country’s parliament to call a referendum on whether Serbia should join NATO. Speaking at a press conference, Serbian Academy member Matija Beckovic called for the referendum stressing that Serbia is now a neutral country which suffered “criminal …

Social Democratic Party candidate Ivo Josipović had a convincing win in the second round of presidential elections in Croatia. According to the first official results from the state election commission, Josipović won 60.29 percent of the vote, and independent candidate Milan Bandić received 39.71 percent.

Serbian Parliamentary Speaker Slavica Đukić-Dejanović says that parliament has not received any official initiative for adopting a Srebrenica resolution. “I would personally support every resolution that condemns war crimes, including those in Srebrenica. In my opinion it is not enough for only Srebrenica to be included in it,” Đukić-Dejanović said.

Skopje will continue seeking a solution to its name dispute that does not violate the state and the national interests of Macedonia’s nationals, Macedonian PM Nikola Gruevski said. In cooperation with the UN name mediator Matthew Nimetz and through direct contacts in the upcoming period, Macedonia will try to reach …

Newly elected Croatian President, Ivo Josipovic, has repeated an earlier statement that his country might consider withdrawing its genocide suit against Serbia if Belgrade accepts certain conditions. Josipovic said that he doesn’t see a reason to continue with the genocide suit if Belgrade accepts talks on missing persons, war crimes …

Bulgaria’s ruling party the Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria, GERB, unanimously elected Prime Minister Boiko Borisov as its leader at a conference on Sunday, as expected.

Državne institucije u ovoj godini potrošit će oko 10,5 miliona KM za telefonske i poštanske usluge, a gotovo nijedna institucija na javnom natječaju nije izabrala najpovoljnijeg mobilnog operatera iako značajan dio ovih troškova otpada na račune za službene mobitele. “Dva su problema u vezi s telefonskom uslugama. Na ovoj stavci …

Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos said on Friday (January 8th) that Spain will continue talks on the EU accession of Balkan countries. Moratinos, who will preside over the European Foreign Policy Council over the next six months said that talks with Croatia will continue. Four more chapters in Turkey’s EU accession …