Balkans

A meeting between new Greek Premier George Papandreou and Macedonia’s Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki may signal a thaw in relations. The two officials met briefly on Friday afternoon on the sidelines of an informal meeting of the Southeast European Cooperation Process in Istanbul. “I [hope] we have better cooperation in …

Kosovo’s judicial watchdog has suspended a judge after he revealed details of private deliberations in the trial of three former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA. The Kovovo Judicial Council’s, KJC, disciplinary committee has suspended Rrahman Retkoceri without pay after reviewing his public statements regarding the controversial Llapi Group …

The new head of the European Commission, EC, delegation in Serbia, Vincent Degert, says the EU-Serbia Interim Trade Agreement may be unblocked this year. The deal is part of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, SAA, signed last spring and immediately suspended due to the Netherlands’ strong opposition. The Dutch are …

Albania’s opposition Socialist Party staged a rally in Tirana on Saturday, calling for a recount of the ballots from the June 28 parliamentary elections. The rally was attended by several thousand party supporters and was also backed by several minor opposition parties and various civil society groups. Socialist leader Edi …

Serbia’s Justice Ministry has announced that the Constitutional Court will be relocated from Belgrade to the town of Sremski Karlovci in 2010. In an interview with Tanjug news agency, the ministry’s state secretary, Slobodan Homen, explained that the decision comes as part of a wider effort to decentralise the state …

A Kosovo Albanian judge who voted against a decision to send three former so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) members to jail has been suspended. Rahman Ratkoceri stated that he was against the decision to find the three suspects guilty of committing war crimes.

Bulgaria is going to open a consulate in the city of Timisoara in the first half of 2010 in order to strengthen its economic relations with Western Romania. This has been announced by Bulgaria’s Consul in Bucharest, Yavor Stoyanov.

Bulgaria voiced it support on Friday to the ongoing efforts aimed at reunifying divided Cyprus in a joint declaration signed here during Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov’s visit. “The Republic of Bulgaria expresses its support to the efforts to solve the Cyprus problem on the basis of a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation …

Bosnia’s rival ethnic leaders have been warned to settle their differences or risk political isolation. It follows a meeting between Western diplomats and heads of Bosnia’s main parties to discuss ways of ending a stalement that’s kept the nation behind others seeking to join NATO and the EU.

We hope EC report on Macedonia progress will be a real assessment of the progress and achievements of the country, said Macedonian foreign minister in Istanbul on Friday. Milosovski expressed in his statement during the informal meeting of the foreign ministers of the South-East European Cooperation Process his hope the …