Balkans

SARAJEVO The federal government of Bosnia-Herzegovina has declared July 11 a national day of mourning in commemoration of the Srebrenica Massacre. As part of the commemorative activities a mass funeral will be held on Saturday for 500 bodies that have been discovered at a mass grave recently, the government said …

SARAJEVO – Predstavnički dom parlamenta BiH odbio je jučer raspravljati o inicijativi za proglašenje 11. jula danom sjećanja na žrtve genocida u Srebrenici. Poslanik SDA Sadik Ahmetović inicirao je uvrštavanje ove tačke u dnevni red. Poslanici iz SNSD-a, SDS-a i PDP-a bili su suzdržani, zbog čega nije bilo entitetske većine …

PRISTINA, Kosovo Six Serb political parties have registered with the Central Election Commission (CEC) to run in the November 15th local elections. CEC officials said on Wednesday (July 8th) that in all, 36 political entities representing the various communities in Kosovo have submitted applications. 

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) High Representative Valentin Inzko urged officials in Mostar on Wednesday (July 8th) to speed up the mayoral election there. The Mostar City Council has met 13 times since the October 5th local elections, but has failed so far to fill the post, as no candidate …

SOFIA, Bulgaria Tsvetan Tsvetanov, chairman of the election-winning Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (GERB), will serve as interior minister, the party’s informal leader, Boyko Borisov, said on Wednesday (July 8th). Tsvetanov’s background is in law enforcement — he was an inspector for 17 years and an administrator for …

BELGRADE, Serbia Parliament on Wednesday (July 8th) approved a new law on regional development that will divide Serbia into seven statistical regions: Vojvodina, Belgrade, Western, Eastern, Central, Southern, and Kosovo and Metohija.

TIRANA, Albania The Socialist Party (SP) wants a full count of ballot boxes from the region of Fieri before it recognises the official results from Sunday’s general elections, local media reported on Thursday (July 9th). Despite the SP’s claims that they won nine mandates in Fieri, preliminary results suggest they …

Cyprus objects to non-EU citizens in envoy office; EU set to change powers of special representative. Cyprus is obstructing plans by the EU to reinforce its presence in Bosnia and Herzegovina because it objects to the possible presence of non-EU citizens in the office of the EU Special Representative (EUSR). …

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a 1.57 billion dollar loan to Bosnia and Herzegovina that was stalled over the country’s failure to implement a series of economic measures. The loan, which is intended to mitigate the effects of the global economic crisis on the small nation, was negotiated …

Albanian economic growth this year will be minimal, owing to the effects of the global economic downturn, the Central Bank governor, Ardian Fullani, has said. Fullani said confidence in the Albanian banking sector had revived after the first aftershocks of the crises in global financial markets. However, the government needs …