Eurasia

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 …

Zoran Ivanov said he was returning his journalistic prizes and quitting journalism after 40 years in protest against the growing politicisation and subversion of the media.Ivanov’s move comes after he was sacked from Alfa TV on Wednesday, and after the new Serbian owners of the former critically inclined outlet changed …

Following a lawsuit by two NGOs, the Administrative Court has annulled a decision allocating over 2 million euro to civil society ogranizations in 2011, as a result of which the process will have to start again.Two organizations, a hiking club and an environmental NGO, sued the Commission For Allocation of …

The constitutional court in Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity Republika Srpska ruled that Serb symbols used by the towns of Banja Luka and Nevesinje discriminated against Bosniaks and Croats.Republika Srpska’s constitutional court ruled on Wednesday that the coats of arms and flags of Banja Luka and Nevesinje contain “symbols of the religious …

The defence lawyer for Johan Tarculovski, the only Macedonian convicted of war crimes by the Hague Tribunal, said he could be given an early release as soon as next month.Tarculovski’s lawyer, Antonio Apostolski, said he had been informed by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY, that the …

As the EU ponders Romania’s desire to join the passport-free Schengen area, Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta voices concern that instability in Bulgaria may affect its chances.“The European Commission’s decision next month on Romania and Bulgaria joining the Schengen area will surely be negatively influenced by the current instability in …

Vlado Buckovski has announced the formation of a new party that will seek to supplant the main opposition Social Democrats – if the latter do not change their style and leadership.Buckovski, who has been an outspoken member of the SDSM, says his new party will be formed in May, at …

A new wave of protest rallies is looming in Bulgaria following the collective resignation of the prime minister and the centre-right GERB government.Hundreds of pro- and anti-government protesters gathered in front of the parliament building in downtown Sofia on Wednesday evening. The anti-government protestors said that the collective resignation of …