Serbia

Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic says that Serbia will consider applying for EU membership unless the EU unblocks the Interim Trade Agreement soon. “If in October and December there is no progress, and the trade deal isn’t applied, the agreement with the EC and our European partners is to review …

Serbia’s premier and foreign minister, Mirko Cvetkovic and Vuk Jeremic, have expressed their satisfaction with the annual European Commission, EC, report on their country’s reform progress. The report states that Serbia has maintained its European orientation and improved cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY, despite …

The Serbian Supreme Court (VSS) has rejected the Croatian Justice Ministry’s extradition request for Željko Milovanović, the court announced on Tuesday. Milanović is suspected of killing weekIy Nacional owner Ivo Pukanić.

Croatia will testify before the International Court of Justice on behalf of Kosovo in December, a move daily Novi List believes will sour relations with Serbia. Croatia’s appearance before ICJ will not be taken lightly by Belgrade, and that Zagreb is steeling itself for a negative reaction. 

Serbia’s security agencies say that the fact that Ratko Mladić and Goran Hadžić have still to be arrested is a “relative failure”. The security services (BIA) and military security services (VBA), which are in charge of locating the Hague indictees, say that it is a “relative failure” that Ratko Mladić …

Republic of Srpska (RS) PM Milorad Dodik said that Bosnia-Herzegovina could fall apart if the international community continues pressuring its institutions. Dodik said that the international community is “constantly working on violating the sovereignty of Bosnia and the two entities, as well as their institutions”.

President Boris Tadic will spend Monday and Tuesday on an official visit to Hungary. There, he will meet with the country’s top officials and ethnic Serb community representatives. Tadic will hold meetings in Budapest with his Hungarian counterpart Laszlo Solyom, Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai and Speaker of the Parliament Bela …

Serbia’s Justice Ministry has announced that the Constitutional Court will be relocated from Belgrade to the town of Sremski Karlovci in 2010. In an interview with Tanjug news agency, the ministry’s state secretary, Slobodan Homen, explained that the decision comes as part of a wider effort to decentralise the state …

Kosovo is an independent country and Serbia should accept that, said spokesperson of Kosovo government Memli Krasnici, referring to the question whether over the practical benefits, which the regional co-operation brings, the official representatives of Belgrade and Pristina should stop insisting on forms and symbols at international level.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner says that all the Balkan states should become EU member-states. “Hurdles remain, but our political position is very clear,“ Kouchner said, adding that French President Nicolas Sarkozy had said as much, “also unambiguously,“ to Serbian President Boris Tadić.