Eurasia

EU enlargement commissioner-designate vows to keep Turkish talks going

European Commissioner-designate for EU Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule promised on Tuesday (January 12th) that the bloc will continue talks on Turkey’s accession despite opposition from some members, including France and Germany. “I intend to go ahead with accession negotiations with Turkey. They are the best leverage we have …

Read More »

Slovenia, Croatia ready to clear way for Zagreb’s EU talks

Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor and his Croatian counterpart Jadranka Kosor said Wednesday they were ready to clear the way for Zagreb’s EU membership talks next month. “My wish is that, by the next EU-Croatia accession conference in February, we can solve at least two of the three open issues,” …

Read More »

Croatian Operation Storm War Crimes Probe

A Zagreb county court began hearing on Tuesday an investigation about war crimes committed in the village Grubori, near Knin, in August 1995 during the military operation code named Oluja (Storm). The court heard the first five of about 70 witnesses that will be called, according the media. Zeljko Sacic, …

Read More »

OSCE Attacks Interference in Bosnian Judiciary

In its latest report the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Bosnia and Herzegovina, OSCE, says that pressure on the work of judicial institutions goes beyond “acceptable criticism” and that accusations that war-crimes trials are motivated by ethnic affiliation are groundless. “These statements exceed the limits of acceptable …

Read More »

Karadzic Should Have Had Councel From Start

Antonio Cassese, the first president of the ICTY, in an interview for International Justice Tribune, said it would have been better from the outset to appoint a legal counsel for Karadzic. “In many European countries, in criminal cases any defendant must be assisted by a defence counsel. This is a …

Read More »

Romania Debates Austerity Budget

Romania’s Prime Minister Emil Boc says he expects parliament to adopt the budget for 2010 by 15 January. The budget is key to the continuation of an International Monetary Fund, IMF, led aid package, crucial for stabilising the country’s economy. Parliament began debating the budget, that has already been negotiated …

Read More »

Russian official on Serbia and NATO

Head of the Russian Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev said that Serbia has to decide on its own whether it wants to join NATO. He added however that he doubts that the Serb people, after the tragedy they endured during the Alliance bombing of 1999, would want to join …

Read More »

Tadić: Two resolutions on war victims

Serbian President Boris Tadić said that there will be a resolution on Serb victims adopted along with the resolution condemning the Srebrenica crimes. He said that he initiated the Srebrenica resolution, which has been finished, because he believes that “this question is not a partisan or a political one, but …

Read More »