Balkans

MACEDONIA Although political parties deny it, the atmosphere in the country indicates that Macedonians could be heading to the polls soon, political analysts say. The ruling centre-right VMRO-DPMNE, which instigated and won the 2008 snap election, could again catch the opposition Social Democrats, who are is in the midst of …

BiH NATO has successfully completed its Joint Endeavour 2009 exercise, conducted in north-western Bosnia and Herzegovina over the past fortnight. “Joint Endeavour brings Bosnia and Herzegovina closer to NATO,” Sarajevo daily Dnevni Avaz reported on Friday. Speaking at the closing ceremony in the town of Banja Luka on Thursday afternoon, …

MACEDONIA Macedonia’s position in the ongoing Athens-Skopje name talks allows a positive step to be taken towards a solution, Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki said Thursday. Milososki was answering a journalist’s question on whether a statement made by President Gjorge Ivanov in Berlin, two days earlier, that Macedonia remains committed to …

MACEDONIA The five-pointed red star on Macedonia’s official coat of arms, could soon be consigned to history. The government has already decided to remove the star, which dates back to the period when the country was part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, local Dnevnik daily reveals on Friday.

SERBIA Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić says that Serbia could submit its EU membership application before the end of the year, during the Swedish EU presidency. Jeremić said that, for Serbia, submitting the application was “strategically important, vital and crucial, and that it would draw a line under the international debate …

KOSOVO EULEX wants to reach an agreement with the Kosovo Police Service (KPS) giving the mission access to all police information, writes Priština daily Koha Ditore. “EULEX wants to establish a permanent system that would allow it to make non-stop, ad hoc requests for access to the Kosovo police’s information,” …

Biljana Plavšić is well and is delighted with the Hague’s decision to release her on October 27, says Republic of Srpska PM Milorad Dodik after visiting her. Stating that they had discussed a number of issues, Dodik said yesterday that Plavšić needed rest and rehabilitation after all the years that …

SERBIA, ALBANIA The War Crimes Prosecution has lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court over the verdicts in the 1999 Suva Reka war crimes case. The Supreme Court has been called on to quash the War Crimes Chamber’s decision to acquit Radoslav Mitrović, Nenad Jovanović and Zoran Petković, and to …

ALBANIA Albanian parliament voted Wednesday to approve the Prime Minister Sali Berisha’s new government. Berisha’s chosen ministers were confirmed by parliament late Wednesday in a 74-1 vote. The deputies of the opposition Socialist Party boycotted the session, demanding a probe into the results of parliamentary elections, which they say were …

BULGARIA Bulgarian Minister of Agriculture and Food Dr. Miroslav Naydenov met Thursday with John Ordway, interim Chargé d’Affaires at the US Embassy in Sofia, ministry’s press office announced. In the frames of the meeting Minister Naydenov presented his plans to establish new type of dialog and cooperation with all partners …