Balkans

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana opposes the holding of referendum on any putative agreement to end the Skopje-Athens name row. “I don’t think [in] parliamentary democracies the referendum is the best solution,” Solana said. “Look at our experience,” he added, referring to the complications the Irish referenda caused for …

Odgovornost za napredak BiH je na domaćim političkim liderima koji moraju imati mnogo ozbiljniji politički angažman, upozorio je Karl Bilt, ministar vanjskih poslova Švedske i predsjedavajući Vijeća EU, po okončanju dvodnevnog zasjedanja ovog vijeća. “Naša glavna poruka bosanskohercegovačkim liderima je – sjedite, razgovarajte, dogovorite se. Imamo veliku podršku za razgovore …

The system for administering the “borders between Kosovo and Serbia” must be implemented “in order to enable freedom of movement,” Sweden’s ambassador says. “The EC report on Serbia’s progress towards the ‘white Schengen’ stated that for freedom of movement, there must be a system of administering the border between Kosovo …

The retrial of the former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj is scheduled to begin Wednesday at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). After the original trial that ended in Aril 2008, Haradinaj was found not guilty on all 37 counts

EU foreign ministers urged today the political leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina to “take greater responsibility” for further development of the country. They reiterated that an agreement is needed in order to guarantee the future of BiH in the European Union and NATO. The foreign ministers of the 27 member-states …

In an interview broadcast yesterday by Qatari TV channel Al Jazeera Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected the accusations that by signing agreements with Syria, Iraq and Russia he is actually seeking an alternative to the EU. 

Radovan Karadzic’s successor as Bosnian Serb president left Swedish prison on Tuesday and arrived in Belgrade after winning early release from her sentence for committing war crimes. The International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague convicted Biljana Plavsic in February 2003 but last month granted an early …

On the first day of the presentation of introductory arguments, which took place in the absence of the indictee, the Hague Prosecution said it would show that Radovan Karadzic had full control over the Republika Srpska Army and was the architect of the shelling and sniper campaign in Sarajevo. Speaking …

Official negotiations between Serbia and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) began today in Belgrade. The talks concern the EUR 2.9bn loan and the country’s budget for 2010. These are the first meetings concerning the second and third revision of the loan arrangement, and see participation from IMF delegation members and …

FM Vuk Jeremić says that after the visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev Serbia is “stronger economically, politically and regionally”. “The unconditional support from Russia makes Serbia stronger than other countries in the region,” the foreign minister said on Sunday.