Balkans

Macedonia Election Campaign Nears Finishing Line

The campaign for the joint presidential and local elections in Macedonia ends Friday at midnight. After 24 hours of pre-election silence about 1.8 million people will vote on Sunday, after several weeks of campaigning during which the main candidates have largely failed to inspire voters. The conduct of the elections …

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Sanader in Official Visit to Belgrade

Croatian prime minister Ivo Sanader will arrive in Belgrade on Friday, his first visit to Serbia after relations between the two countries took a drastic turn for the worse last year when Zagreb recognised Kosovo’s independence. According to the Croatian HINA agency, the visit is expected to lead to an …

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Albania PM Sued Over Deadly Munitions Blast

The families of the victims of a deadly ammunition blast in the village of Gerdec, ten kilometers outside Tirana, filed a civil law suit for compensatory damages on Thursday against Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha. The victims’ families say Berisha has breached the constitution by not ensuring that laws and …

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EULEX Chief Visits Belgrade

The head of Kosovo’s Rule of Law mission, EULEX, visited Belgrade on Friday in order to find a ”pragmatic solution” to many of the outstanding issues that have dogged his mission since its launch in December last year. It is the first time that Yves de Kermabon has visited the …

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Macedonian Ministers, Top Officials to Guard Ballots

Macedonia’s opposition and some analysts have rebuffed a proposal put forward by the ruling VMRO DPMNE party to dispatch party officials to monitor Sunday’s election, saying its a way to exert pressure on public administration employees to vote in favour of the government’s candidates. They argue that this move will …

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Serbian Radicals Protest ”Queer” Law

Radical party deputies – in protest at Serbia’s new anti discrimination bill – on Thursday brought to parliament and handed round posters with the photograph of Boban Stojanovic, a gay activist and journalist of the ”Borba” daily paper, pictured in his underwear. The words ”queer law” were scrawled over Stojanovic’s …

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If Croatia Drops Genocide Suit, Serbia Will Too

As a solution for the border problem with Serbia, at Danube River, Serbian PM sees drawing it in the middle of the river. Before meeting with Croatian Prime Minster Ivo Sanader, Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic said that Serbia will invite Croatia to drop its lawsuit against Serbia for genocide …

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Homemade Bomb Explodes Outside Greek MP`s Office

Deputy Kyriakos Mitsotakis was not at his office at the time of the attack, the latest violence to rock the conservative government. Unidentified assailants exploded a homemade bomb at the office of a Greek ruling party deputy on Wednesday, causing damage but no injuries, police said. Deputy Kyriakos Mitsotakis, 41, …

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Slovenian PM Without Comment on Joint Statement

After a meeting with President Danilo Turk, Pahor declined to comment Rehn’s suggestion on a joint statement between Croatia and Slovenia. Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor on Wednesday refused to comment the possibility of Croatia and Slovenia signing a joint statement that would confirm that no document signed after the …

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Opposition: Too Few IDs Endanger Albania Polls

Albania has never held an election deemed free and fair by international observers. Albania’s opposition urged the government on Wednesday to give identity cards to voters for free to avoid charges of fraud at the June 28 elections. Albania has never held an election deemed free and fair by international …

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