Eurasia

Moody’s on Friday downgraded Croatia’s credit rating from Baa3 to Ba1, citing poor economic growth prospects and the government’s lack of fiscal flexibility.The agency also changed the outlook on Croatia’s rating from negative to stable, citing only a limited risk of a significant deterioration in the government’s fiscal position and …

Towards the end of 2012, the Constitutional Court of Slovenia issued a decision in regard to a referendum meant to consult the population on the establishment of a so-called “bad bank”. The bad bank was to be a state-owned institution meant to take over bad loans made by private banks …

The US Embassy in Tirana has expressed shock at the acquittal of two Republican Guard officers accused of the murder of three protesters during the January 21, 2011 riots.“We are dismayed by the decision of the Tirana District Court to acquit the two defendants who stood trial on charges related …

Serbia’s war crimes prosecutor said there were new leads in the investigation into alleged organ trading by Kosovo fighters during the late 1990s conflict.War crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic told the Novi Magazin weekly that Serbian prosecutors had informed the EU’s rule of law mission in Kosovo that a new witness …

Bulgarian nationalist party takes government to task for blaming pro-Iranian militants for last year’s terror attack in Burgas.Bulgaria will pay a high price for maintaining that Hezbollah was involved in last year’s terror attack in the Black Sea resort of Burgas, the leader of the country’s nationalist Ataka party has …

A former UN peacekeeping forces official told the Hague Tribunal that Bosnian Serb forces under Mladic’s command targeted civilians with artillery and sniper fire.The Bosnian Serb Army “constantly shelled and conducted sniper attacks against civilians in Sarajevo” said Anthony Banbury, who served with the UN protection force UNPROFOR in the …

Anders Fogh Rasmussen of NATO urged Bosnia to implement last year’s agreement on registering state property as a condition of advancing its membership of the alliance.The chair of Bosnia’s tri-partite Presidency, Nebojsa Radmanovic, said Bosnia must move ahead with registering military property as a condition for joining NATO. After a …

A motion from a ruling party MP on limiting the time that legislators can spend on discussions in parliament has further angered the opposition.Opposition Social Democrats have attacked as provocative a bid to amend the parliamentary rulebook to limit the time spent on debates. “The government is showing its totalitarian …

EU accession talks with Serbia should start without delay, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament said on Thursday.Voting on the European Commission’s 2012 progress report on Serbia, the committee said starting talks with Serbia as soon as June was achievable. “We acknowledged Serbian progress and send a message …

Presidents Atifete Jahjaga and Tomislav Nikolic pledged their commitment to the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and their respective European agendas after their historic meeting on Wednesday.Catherine Ashton, the EU Foreign Policy Chief, said after a three-hour meeting on Wednesday with the presidents of Kosovo and Serbia that the two leaders had vowed …