Balkans

The World Bank Board has approved a Programmatic Private and Financial Development Policy Loan for Serbia worth €34.9 million in order to help the country achieve its economic growth related goals consistent with its European Union aspirations. The loan will support the Government’s reforms by enhancing the business environment, encouraging …

A home-made bomb exploded outside a Citibank branch in the Greek capital causing minor damage and no injuries, police said on Monday. There has been an outbreak of violence since the fatal police shooting of a teenager in December, which sparked Greece’s worst riots in decades and rocked the fragile …

TIRANA -Albania plans to file its candidacy to the European Union in late June before it holds legislative elections, Prime Minister Sali Berisha told AFP on Sunday. Berisha said an agreement had been reached “in principle” with the EU’s Czech presidency for the former communist bloc country to apply for …

MADRID, – Serbian President Boris Tadic arrived in Spain on Sunday for a two-day visit and was welcomed by representatives from the Spanish government at Barajas airport of Madrid. Tadic will meet with Spain’s Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Madrid’s mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, also he will hold meetings …

Sofia. Most probably the next EC report will be released after the elections for national and European parliaments in Bulgaria, but this supposition should not make us calm because whatever the election results, this will be a report on Bulgaria, Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev said at the opening of a …

Athens. Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis will try to regain his popularity rating and put an end to the claims about early elections by paying a series of visits abroad over the next two months. On March 18-19 he is to visit Belgian capital to attend the regular session of …

Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev will hold a working meeting Monday to discuss a supplementary plan for judiciary reforms, combat against corruption and organized crime. The meeting will focus on the measures and policies to be taken by the government to supplement its action plan and will be attended by …

Months ahead of Bulgaria’s elections, the predominantly ethnic Turkish partner in the ruling coalition is drumming support among Bulgaria-born migrants to Turkey, who are currently working in EU member states, a local report says. The Movement for Rights and Freedoms is sending envoys to Spain, the Netherlands, France and Germany …

Bosnia’s Minister of Security, Tarik Sadovic, has warned the Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic, that “good neighborly relations” between the two countries could “be jeopardized” if Serbia insists on prosecuting 19 Bosnian officials charged for war crimes against the Yugoslav Army in 1992. “I have asked that Dacic, in his …

The recent idea by one of the front runners for the position of Skopje’s Mayor to restart the clock adorning the old city train station, which has stood still since the morning of July 27 1963 when a devastating earthquake struck the Macedonian capital, has stirred public controversy and debate. …