Ban Ki-moon will visit the former Yugoslavia for a week, starting July 19, a Belgrade newspaper reported – noting the Serbian President’s concern of the nature of his visit to Kosovo.This will be the first visit to the region by a UN Secretary General since the dissolution of Yugoslavia. According …
Read More »Shakeup at Top of Kosovo Politics
The deputy prime minister and the deputy finance minister resigned on Monday, facing corruption charges, while the recently resigned ministry of justice returned to his post.Deputy Prime Minister Bujar Bukoshi and Deputy Finance Minister Astrit Haraqija resigned on Monday while they are investigated for corruption. In a further shake-up of …
Read More »Court Ruling on Vojvodina Divides Serbs
Constitutional Court ruling, that some provisions of the law on Serbia’s northern province are not in line with the constitution, reveals liberal-nationalist split.The court ruling has revealed sharp divides in Serbia between liberals who champion provincial autonomy and nationalists who see it as a threat to Serbian unity. Bojan Pajtic, …
Read More »Montenegro Commemorated Srebrenica Genocide
Montenegro and its Bosniak community marked the 17th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide by saying that the country has still not fully faced up to its past, and naming one of the streets in the capital after a Bosnian war hero.An NGO forum of Bosniaks and Muslims, the Parliament of …
Read More »Attack on Prominent Kosovo Journalist Condemned
Reporters Without Borders has condemned the assault on Halil Matoshi, a reporter and political analyst, who was attacked this week in Pristina.Matoshi was attacked on July 10 by three unidentified men, one of them armed with a knife, on a street of the capital, but escaped with relatively minor injuries.
Read More »Albania Parties Reach Deal on Election Reform
Albanian parties reached an agreement on Wednesday as the mandate of the parliamentary commission tasked with improving the electoral code was due to expire.The agreement covers a series of divisive issues, including the re-election of the members of the Central Electoral Commission, CEC, the use of technology in the electoral …
Read More »Bulgarian Men Most Likely to be Jobless in EU
The percentage of unemployment among men of working age in the EU is highest in Bulgaria, Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU, says.The share of unemployed men in Bulgaria is 25 per cent, followed by Romania at 13.5 per cent and Hungary at 11.7 per cent. Data of Bulgaria’s …
Read More »EU Representative in Bosnia Meets RECOM Advocates
Head of the EU delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina Peter Sorensen says that he hopes the RECOM initiative will help reconciliation in the Balkans.Following the meeting with the advocates of the Coalition for Reconciliation Commission, RECOM, Sorensen said that he commends all civil society organizations that pursue reconciliation in the …
Read More »Belgrade Women Honour Srebrenica Victims
Close to hundred people gathered on the central square of the Serbian capital in order to pay homage to those killed in Srebrenica in 1995.A performance called “We will never forget the genocide in Srebrenica” was organized on Tuesday evening by the Serbian NGO Women in Black. “We believe that …
Read More »Croatia Pays Tribute to Srebrenica Victims
Croatian parliament, the Sabor, paid tribute to the Srebrenica victims on Tuesday with a minute of silence and a speech by a representative of Bosniak community in Croatia.”The Srebrenica tragedy is a warning from history, and we have to cry: ‘Never again'”, said Josip Leko, the vice speaker of parliament, …
Read More »