Balkans

Around 1,000 employees of Romania’s state-run railway company, CFR, have started a protest in Bucharest’s main railway station following government plans to scrap around 12,000 jobs this year. “Until now, our negotiations with the government have failed, but we still hope a solution will be found in order to save …

Slovenia`s Constitutional court has rejected the request of the SSN party for temporary cease raising signatures for a referendum. Slovenia`s Constitutional court has rejected the request of the Slovene People`s Party (SSN) to temporarily cease raising signatures for a referendum on Croatian NATO membership until the court passes a decision …

Prime Minister Robert Fico called an extraordinary meeting of his Security Council to prepare measures to counter `export of extremism.` Slovakia accused a far-right Hungarian movement on Tuesday of recruiting ethnic Hungarians in southern Slovakia to stir up trouble and distract attention from Hungary’s own economic problems. Prime Minister Robert …

Krsto Savic, 49, the ex-police chief in the town of Gacko, was sentenced to 20 years for killing, detention, forcible transfer and torture. Bosnia’s war crimes court jailed two Bosnian Serb wartime policemen on Tuesday for 20 years and five years for persecution of non-Serbs in southeastern Bosnia early in …

NEW YORK, United States — The UN Security Council launched a debate on Monday (March 23rd) on Kosovo and the status of the Serbian minority there. No major progress was reported at the session, where UNMIK chief Lamberto Zannier and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon presented their quarterly report on the …

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) – The parliament’s constitutional commission approved the draft amendment regarding the status of the Brcko District on Monday (March 23rd). According to the bill, the district’s legal status, as defined by a binding arbitration process that took place from 1996 to 1999, will be protected …

SOFIA, Bulgaria — In an interview with Reuters on Monday (March 23rd), Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev said his Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) must win the parliamentary elections this summer to prevent the opposition Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria

BELGRADE, Serbia — The government on Monday (March 23rd) asked the European Commission (EC) to advance it 120m euros from the pre-accession funds already earmarked for Serbia. Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic met with EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn in an attempt to reach agreement on the issue.

TIRANA, Albania – Former Defence Minister Fatmir Mediu’s lawyers have sued General Prosecutor Ina Rama for allegedly disclosing information from the investigation of the deadly blasts last year in Gerdec, media reported on Monday (March 23rd). Mediu is among 28 officials charged in connection with the March 2008 ammunition depot …

MITROVICA – An Albanian group has filed a lawsuit against parallel structures set up to administer ethnic Serbs within Kosovo. Serbia had lost control over Kosovo, which it still claims as its southern district, after the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) bombing in 1999. That followed a period of repression …