Balkans

BULGARIA Congratulations on his decisiveness to deal with corruption, encouragement for the key reforms, and a credit of trust – this is what the European Commission’s Chairman Jose Barroso gave Prime Minister Boyko Borisov during his first visit to Brussels on September 10. Barroso promised to submit Bulgaria’s request for …

BiH Underlining the severity of Bosnia’s political crisis, local leaders engaged in another virulent tit-for-tat over the weekend, accusing each other of working towards the country’s dissolution and of threatening a new war. The new low in relations between Bosnia’s political leaders was precipitated by an interview with the Bosnian …

MACEDONIA Offering solutions to the country’s painful economic problems and promoting social justice and equality are the key foci of the new platform of Macedonia’s largest opposition party, the Social Democrats. The platform, dubbed “Solutions for Macedonia”, is aimed at providing a counter to the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party’s own “Revival …

ALBANIA On Monday, Albania’s Supreme Court will reopen the case against environment minister designate Fatmir Mediu, indicted in connection with a deadly blast at a munitions depot in March 2008. The Supreme Court panel is reviewing charges against Mediu of abuse of power, relating to his tenure as defence minister …

SERBIA The head of the Democratic Party, Serbian President Boris Tadic, announced at a party board meeting on Saturday that the country is facing a difficult economic recovery and will be implementing serious reforms, broadcaster Mondo reported. Announcing a decrease in public spending, Tadic underlined that public sector layoffs are …

ALBANIA Over the weekend, ethnic Albanian political leaders from Presevo and Bujanovac spoke with Kosovo’s President Fatmir Sejdiu in Pristina about the problems they are facing in southern Serbia. They told Sejdiu that Serbia’s failure to recognise Kosovo university diplomas was one of the gravest challenges. The speaker of the …

BiH Komisija za administrativne poslove parlamenta BiH ukinula je jučer poslaničke i delegatske naknade za rad u stalnim komisijama, dnevnice za dolazak na sjednice komisija te naknadu za učenje stranih jezika. Komisija nije podržala inicijative za ukidanje paušala, te naknada za rad u privremenim komisijama. “Jednoglasno smo podržali ukidanje naknada …

SERBIA DS leader Boris Tadić told his party’s main board meeting in Belgrade on Saturday that the end of the economic crisis is at hand, but that it is “not over yet”. However, he warned against complacency. Serbia is looking at a long and hard economic recovery and serious reforms, …

KOSOVO The United States and the EU have welcomed the signing of a police cooperation protocol between MUP and EULEX. EU representative in Kosovo Pieter Feith was quoted as saying this morning that he is convinced the agreement does not violate “Kosovo’s sovereignty” and that the Ahtisaari package allows the …

SERBIA Interior Minister Ivica Dačić announced on Friday a declaration on joint fight against terrorism and organized crime in Southeast Europe. According to him, the declaration “will be signed in the coming months”.