Balkans

MACEDONIA Greece has toughened its stance in the dispute over Macedonia’s official name, making it more likely to block its neighbour’s EU membership bid, Macedonia’s Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki said. Milososki’s comments came in an interview with Reuters on Monday, held on the sidelines of a regional security conference in …

MACEDONIA Lustration procedures, focusing on past security service ties, begin for all public officials in Macedonia on Tuesday, with prominent public office holders the first under the spotlight. Public office holders have until the end of September to submit a statement to the parliamentary Commission for the Verification of Facts, …

ALBANIA The CEO of Miami-based company AEY, who is suspected of conducting a shady munitions deal with Albanian authorities to ship Chinese-made ammunition to the Afghan army, pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy in Florida. The dealer, 24-year-old Efraim E. Diveroli, who is often described as a weapons “genius”, admitted that …

BiH Bosnia’s top western envoy has urged Croatia, Slovenia and Turkey to provide further support to Bosnia’s bid for full NATO and EU membership. On Monday, Bosnia’s High Representative Valentin Inzko met Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Jandrokovic, Slovenian Foreign Minister Samuel Zbogar and Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, oin the …

BiH Vlada Federacije BiH, odnosno njena resorna ministarstva, u protekloj godini nisu naplatili više od 165 miliona KM koncesionih naknada, potvrđeno je u Komisiji za koncesije FBiH. Predsjednik Komisije Šefik Koričić tvrdi da se situacija u ovoj godini nije promijenila u odnosu na prošlu. Kaže da ne zna zašto nadležna …

BiH Hrvatska stranka prava (HSP) Đapić-dr Jurišić mogla bi, umjesto HDZ BiH i HDZ 1990, postati novi partner SDA u formiranju vlasti u Federaciji BiH. Ova najava uslijedila je nakon što su u četvrtak ministri iz dva HDZ-a napustili sjednicu Vlade FBiH nezadovoljni promjenom trase koridora 5c na području Hercegovine. …

BiH Vijeće ministara BiH u prvih šest mjeseci ove godine usvojilo je manje od deset odsto planiranih zakona dok je državni parlament uspio realizirati tek 23 odsto svog plana. Podaci su ovo o radu Vijeća ministara i parlamenta BiH koje su juče predstavili Centri civilnih inicijativa (CCI), nevladina organizacija koja …

BULGARIA Bulgaria’s Economy and Energy Minister Traicho Traikov has rejected as untrue media reports that talks were to be held with Arab investors interested in the country’s Belene nuclear power station project. On August 30 2009, quoting a report by a Kuwaiti news agency that interviewed Traikov, Bulgarian newspaper Standart …

SERBIA The EU is currently not disposed to further enlargement, says Erhard Busek, the special coordinator for the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe. “It’s very thankless to predict the speed of Serbia’s European integration, or that of the other countries in the region,” the Austrian politician told daily Večernje …

BiH Parties from the Bosnian Federation have condemned Serbian President Boris Tadić’s meeting with Milorad Dodik and Dragan Čović. Amir Zurkić from the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) said that Tadić’s meeting with the leaders of the Union of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) and the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia-Herzegovina …