Balkans

ZAGREB – The Croatian government will on Wednesday unveil a set of spending cuts needed to fix this year’s strained budget and reassure foreign lenders ahead of a Eurobond issue planed in April or May. As part of its anti-recession efforts, the government is likely to cut salaries of around …

Sofia is in talks with Moscow for securing temporary financing for the planned EUR 4.0 B nuclear power plant at Belene, for which Bulgaria contracted Russia’s Atomstroyexport. The statement was made by Russian Energy Minister Sergey Shmatko in an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio and confirmed earlier reports. Speaking …

Bulgarian and the United States mark Tuesday the fiftieth anniversary of unbroken diplomatic relations. Diplomatic relations between Bulgaria and the US were established back in 1901 with an exchange of legacies. On September 19, 1903, the accreditation letters of the first American diplomat, John Jackson, were accepted. For the first …

The Bulgarian government has asked EU member states to send “experienced” diplomats to hold “key positions” in the administration in order to help boost reforms in the country. But the unusual proposal has been rebuffed by European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso, who said the Bulgarians should carry out the …

Representatives from the EU, US, Russia among others are meeting in Sarajevo where they are expected to debate the international community’s future role in Bosnia and confirm the country’s new top international envoy. “The main focus of my mandate will be aimed at fulfillment of conditions for the closure of …

Two police officers and five members of the public were injured in clashes last night between a group of some 150 youths and police, during a protest marking ten years since NATO’s bombing of Serbia. 28 people were arrested in the violence, Serbia’s B92 network has learnt from police sources. …

Macedonia’s voter register has to be revised, political experts argue after international monitors suggested that there seems to be a striking discrepancy between the number of voters and the overall population. “It is impossible for a country of two million to have 1.8 million voters. That has to be addressed,” …

Ruling Democratic Party and G17 Plus officials in Serbia have concluded that the number of government ministries should be cut in a bid to cut costs, Belgrade daily Blic reports. Citing a source from the Democratic Party, Blic reports that the number of government ministers should be cut in proportion …

Lithuania will reduce the number of troops it has in Kosovo because of the improved security situation, the country’s Defence Ministry Spokesman Danguole Bickauskiene said on Tuesday. Speaking to French news agency Agence France Presse, AFP, Bickauskiene noted that the withdrawal of troops from Kosovo is affected by the economic …

Some 1,000 hardline nationalists staged an anti-NATO rally in the main square of Belgrade, chanting “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia” and waving banners hailing Milosevic as the “hero of the Serbian nation.” Earlier, air-raid sirens wailed and church bells tolled on Tuesday as Serbia marked the 10th anniversary of …