Balkans

Politicians representing ethnic Albanians in south Serbia will join the work of the government’s Coordination Body for South Serbia in the next few days, Sima Gazikalovic, one of the vice-presidents of the institution, told Balkan Insight. Gazikalovic said that according to the negotiations, Albanians would get the position of deputy …

Several Orthodox Christian believers from Macedonia’s central town of Negotino, worried they would be committing a sin if they vote for Muslim candidate Imer Selmani in this Sunday’s presidential elections, have asked, and got the blessing to do so from their local priest. This unusual request came as the presidential …

Macedonia’s presidential election may fail due to the large number of citizens who are uninspired by any of the candidates and say that they are not inclined to vote, some analysts say. Days before the first round of voting on March 22 opinion polls show that there is a high …

The EU’s Rule of Law Mission to Kosovo, EULEX, has urged the country’s ministry of interior not to react to what the Prisitina’s authorities consider as provocation from Serb police until he has had the opportunity to try and resolve the issue. For the past year, Serb policemen working in …

Agim Ceku, Kosovo’s former prime minister and a former commander of Kosovo’s Liberation Army, KLA, told a Montenegrin TV that he did not know of any organised trade in human organs harvested from kidnapped Kosovo Serbs, referring to such claims as ”biased”. “These are such monstrous accusations that they deserve …

Macedonia’s Parliament Speaker TrajkoVeljanoski visited Belgrade on Tuesday, the first official visit by a Macedonian official to Serbia since Skopje’s decision in October 2008 to recognise Kosovo’s independence cast a shadow over bilateral relations between the two countries. After meeting Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic, Veljanovsko said the visit as …

Kosovo’s popularist Vetevendosje movement has filed criminal charges against 93 leaders of Serb so called parallel institutions to Pristina’s District Court, including a charge against Goran Bogdnaovic, Serbia’s Minister for Kosovo. Vetevendosje’s leader, Albin Kurti, said his movement filed the charges so that Kosovo’s government can no longer pretend that …

The Romanian Liberal Party on Tuesday submitted a motion against the two party ruling coalition demanding the annulment of a series of measures introduced by the country’s education ministry. Liberals say that measures such as cutting the number of sports classes being held at primary schools will affect the health …

Five years since it was burned and devastated in demonstrations inspired by Albanian violence against Kosovo Serbs on March 17, 2004, the 16th century Bayrakli Mosque in Belgrade still is not fully repaired. The mosque was heavily damaged by angry youths who broke all its windows and furniture and then …

Over 1,000 war veterans and policemen from various parts of Serbia protested Tuesday in Leskovac demanding the release of four policemen arrested over suspicion that they committed war crimes in Kosovo in 1999. Protesters gathered near police headquarters in Leskovac under a banner saying: ”Who’s Next”.