Eurasia

The German Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle, has called for free and fair elections in Albania, warning against the rise of nationalist rhetoric in Tirana.“It’s very important for the elections to be held successfully and in accordance with European principles,” Westerwelle said in a joint press conference with his Albanian counterpart, …

Results of the census published on Thursday show around 94 per cent of the population are religious believers, far higher than the percentage in most European countries.The results of the 2011 census in Serbia confirm that half a century of official atheism under the Communist system failed to dent Serbs’ …

As Bulgaria’s parliament approved his resignation, Prime Minister Borisov recalled the numerous death threats made against him over the years.Citing a document from the intelligence service of a foreign country, Bulgaria’s outgoing Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, said on Thursday that Ahmed Dogan, honorary chair of the ethnic Turkish Movement for …

Former Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor could be expelled from the HDZ after criticising the new leader in an interview.Kosor risks expulsion from the party she once led after giving an interview with the Croatian weekly Globus, in which she criticized the party’s new president, Tomislav Karamarko. She spoke out after …

Government and opposition leaders have blamed each other for Macedonia’s political impasse in replies to the EU Enlargement Commissioner’s appeal for an end to the crisis.Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and the head of opposition Social Democrats, Branko Crvenkovski, confirmed having received letters from Stefan Fuele – but blamed each other …

Primary level and high schools in the mainly Bosniak [Muslim] southwest Sandzak region of Serbia have started teaching classes in the Bosniak language.Students in 12 schools in the Sandzak region had their first classes in the Bosniak language on International Mother Tongue Day, February 21. Esad Dzudzevic, president of the …

A tussle over who has the right to organise the 2013 Belgrade Marathon has led to speculation that the city might end up with two showpiece races.Belgrade Marathon Ltd., a company that has been organising endurances races for two decades, has stated that it will organise this year’s event, although …

After America’s FAA completed its initial inspection of Serbia’s aviation, Serbia hopes the US will allow Belgrade to launch direct flights by year’s end.After the US Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, carried out the first stage of its inspection of Serbian aviation on February 17th, it will decide whether Belgrade meets …

Brussels is likely to reward Serbia for normalising relations with Kosovo with a ‘conditional’ start date for accession talks.In its April report, the European Commission is likely to recommend that Serbia be granted a conditional start date for EU accession talks in June, Balkan Insight has learned from two independent …

Candidates have been named for the vacancies in the Federation entity’s Constitutional Court, which must be filled before it can rule on last week’s no-confidence vote in the government.Zivko Budimir, President of Bosnia’s Federation entity, and his two deputies, on February 20 agreed the names of three candidates to fill …