Balkans

The people of Kosovo have voted in local elections – the first poll since the territory declared independence from Serbia last year. Prime Minister Hashim Thaci’s ruling PDK coalition has claimed a “convincing” victory, but official results are due in the next few hours. Voting passed off calmly, with turnout …

Montenegrin Foreign Minister Milan Roćen said that Serbia has not submitted any demands to open up Serbian cultural centers in Montenegro. Roćen said that Montenegro has agreed to let Serbia open one consulate in Podgorica, along with the embassy. 

Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said that the Serbian government has made significant efforts over the last year in its European integration. “We are now waiting for the new report from (Hague Chief Prosecutor) Serge Brammertz to the UN Security Council in early December, to check if the Serbian government …

President Boris Tadić will continue his three-day visit to Italy on Saturday, meeting with Roman Catholic Church leader Pope Benedict XVI. Tadić will also be talking to the Vatican secretary of state and foreign minister before meeting with the Pope. He will discuss questions related to the joint goal of …

Croatia has sent a report to the Hague Tribunal stating that measures have been taken for sending all documentation request by the court to The Hague. “The report states everything that has been done, and I think that a lot has been done,” Croatian Justice Minister Ivan Šimonović said.

Serbian President Boris Tadic signed a decree for accreditation of Tomislav Curkin as Ambassador of the state to Macedonia. With another decree Tadic recalled the former Serbian Ambassador to Macedonia Zoran Popovic.

After one month campaign for local elections, the first after the declaration of independence of Kosovo, the election silence begins on Saturday at 00:00 a.m. In local elections to be held on Sunday, over 1.5 million voters, citizens of the Republic of Kosovo, will be eligible to vote in 750 …

Following a ceremony of signing Azerbaijan-Bulgaria documents on Friday in Sophia, Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Georgi Parvanov of Bulgaria held a joint press conference. Bulgaria President Parvanov noted the documents signed today elevated bilateral relations to a qualitatively new level. According to him, an active political dialogue exists …

Bulgaria’s parliament is scheduled to debate on Friday a a declaration demanding that President Georgi Parvanov recall the Bulgarian ambassadors to Turkey and the United States. The center-right ruling GERB party, far-right ‘Ataka’, the rightist Blue Coalition and the conservative ‘Law, Order, Justice’ party (RZS) submitted on Wednesday the declaration, …

On Nov. 13, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s one-day working visit to the Republic of Bulgaria ended. An honor guard was built at the international airport of Sofia in honor of the President of Azerbaijan. Ilham Aliyev was accompanied by high-ranking officials and government representatives of Bulgaria.