Eurasia

A lack of funds, and the failure to resolve both war crimes and missing persons cases, remain obstacles to the return to Kosovo of some 235,000 people displaced by the 1998-1999 war, says OSCE.Despite the fact that the safe return of internally displaced persons, IDPs, to their homes is recognized …

The coalition that came first in the recent general election has signed an agreement with the ethnic minority parties, ensuring it a majority in parliament.Milo Djukanovic, head of the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS, and the DPS-led “European Montenegro” coalition, which won 39 of 81 seats in the October …

Ahead of a second meeting of Kosovo and Serbian prime ministers in Brussels, Croatian leader Zoran Milanovic has offered to help ease the dialogue.Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic has expressed support for the continuation of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and has offered his help, saying that Croatia has good relations with …

Macedonia and Bulgaria may jointly celebrate Europe Day, Bulgarian recognition of Macedonian independence and the establishment of diplomatic ties, Macedonia’s President has suggested to his Bulgarian counterpart.Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov’s suggestion came in the form of a reply to a letter from Bulgaria’s head of state, Rosen Plevneliev, sent on …

Prosecutors have asked a Tirana court to allow an investigation into possible money laundering by Egypt’s deposed strongman, Hosni Mubarak, his family and associates in Albania.The request follows receipt of a request for legal help from the Egyptian authorities, as they seek to trace and recover billions of dollars that …

The main ruling VMRO DPMNE party of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski is holding on to public support, a poll by the Skopje-based Institute for Political Research, IPIS, suggests.Asked which party they would vote for, were an election held next week, 22.5 per cent of the respondents said they would vote …

Romania’s Foreign Minister opens his country’s consulate in ErbilThe Romanian Foreign Minister, Titus Corlăţean has opened his country’s consulate in Erbil, the capital city of Kurdistan region, in the presence of Erbil’s Governor, Nawzad Hadi and the President of the Presidium of the Kurdistan region, Fouad Hussein.

Bosnia’s constitution allows only members of its three main ethnic communities, Muslims, Croats and Serbs, to run for parliament or the tripartite presidency.

The small right wing TMRO party, part of the Macedonian government, has retreated from its idea of taxing unmarried people as a way of boosting birth rate.In a written statement issued on Monday the head of TMRO, Vanco Sehtanski, withdrew the proposal and apologised to “all concerned”. “The idea for …

Kosovo’s PM Hashim Thaci has ruled out any possibility of autonomy for the Serb-run northern Kosovo.The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, said that the autonomy for Northern Kosovo was “just an old dream of Serbia’s that will never come true”. “The idea that has been presented in the Serbian …