Serbia

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.

EU Special Envoy to Kosovo Pieter Feith has called on Serbs to participate in the local elections in Kosovo scheduled for November 15. Feith expects higher turnout in this election, adding that the results will have to be honored. “According to polls, we expect higher turnout this time round. The …

Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić says that the countries of the Western Balkans have not a second to waste now that the Irish have adopted the Lisbon Treaty. After meeting with a number of foreign ministers in Budapest, Jeremić said that a summit of the European Union and Western Balkan countries …

SERBIA The Parliamentary Legislative Committee says that the draft law on the transfer of Vojvodina’s authorities is ready. The bill, which is necessary for the Vojvodina statute to be enacted, will come before the government for adoption very soon. The Vojvodina statute was enacted by the provincial assembly and passed …

Representatives of the police at EULEX will discuss the principles for applying of the technical agreement on cooperation with representatives of the Serbian Ministry of Interior today in Belgrade, Serbian media inform. The technical agreement will make the regional cooperation in the fight against crime more efficient and will contribute …

Russia will defiantly support Serbia at the International Court of Justice’s hearing on Kosovo’s declaration of independence, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says. Serbia filed a case against Kosovo after its unilateral declaration of independence in February 2008. The International Court of Justice hearing, which is to probe the legitimacy, or …

The governor of the National Bank of Serbia, Radovan Jelasic, says that the IMF is ready to help Serbia, but “only if there is serious reform”. Following the conclusion of the annual IMF-World Bank meetings in Istanbul, the Serbian government has less than three weeks to decide on how to …

Albania’s Foreign Minister Ilir Meta and his Serbian counterpart Vuk Jeremic, have agreed to strengthen cooperation between their two countries. The pair’s meeting came on the sidelines of a regional conference of the so-called Visegrad states in Budapest on Tuesday, and was followed by a joint press conference. While the …

Chief mufti of the Islamic Community in Serbia, Muamer Zukorlić, has told EP Rapporteur Jelko Kacin that the rights of Serbian Muslims are in danger. Zukorlić met with Kacin in Slovenia to gave him a detailed report on the state of religious rights in Serbia, especially the “unlawful behavior of …

Their countries’ strong bilateral ties will be further enhanced by the upcoming visit to Belgrade of Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, the Serbian and Russian foreign ministers say. Serbia’s Vuk Jeremic and Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov agreed in Moscow that mutual relations have never been better.