Balkans

Vidin. The meeting between Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev and European Commission President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso should be held because there is a discussion at the European Parliament on the economy restoration plan of the European Union, MEP from the Party of European Socialists (PES) Marusiya Lyubcheva said.

Bulgaria’s Energy and Economy Minister, Petar Dimitrov, assured Bulgarians Saturday that the country was fully prepared for an eventual gas crisis and would not end up in the January dire situation. Dimitrov, who spoke in a special interview for Darik radio, confirmed a new gas crisis was not to be …

At least eight police officers and several people have been hurt in clashes between Kosovo Police and ethnic Serbs in eastern Kosovo during a protest against electricity cuts. Regional spokesman for the Kosovo Police Ismet Hashani told Balkan Insight that police confronted some 350 protesters in the central Kosovo Serb …

Serbia’s government will in the next few days attempt to reach a consensus among different opinions on the controversial anti-discrimination law whose adoption is a requirement for the country to get onto the European Union’s so-called “Schengen white list”. The B92 website reports that if a consensus is not reached …

The Sofia Appellate Court postponed Friday the case against former Interior Minister Rumen Petkov for Aril 10. Petkov is charged with leaking a State secret. The magistrates requested that the State Agency for National Security (DANS) provided more evidence in order to clarify the case. They declared that the Court …

The Bulgarian medics and the Palestinian doctor, who were jailed in Libya for over eight years, insist on more active efforts on the part of Bulgarian institutions to help them clear their names. The medics organized Friday a conference in the capital Sofia under the motto “Human Rights – the …

Croatia and Hungary are likely to build a gas transit pipeline with an annual capacity of 6.5 billion cubic metres, stated Croatian gas transmission company Plinacro, according to media reports. The project’s cost is seen at EUR 395 million, while the pipeline is expected to completed by the end of …

GENEVA, March 6 – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday voiced their different positions over Kosovo. Speaking to a press conference after their first meeting in the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva, Clinton said she congratulated Kosovo leader over the “first year” of …

Sarajevo – Several thousand Bosnian nationals working abroad have returned to their homeland in the past few months, after losing a job due to the economic crisis and recession that hit the countries where they worked. According to the data of the B-H Unemployment Office, the total of 2,737 employees …

A special panel investigating Bulgaria’s communist-era police files said it will release the names of agents and collaborators who are running for a parliamentary seat in the upcoming general and European Parliament elections. “The commission will probe the past of some 4000 candidates for MPs and another 1000 MEP hopefuls,” …