Serbia

BELGRADE, BRUSSELS The European Commission has proposed the abolition of visas for Serbian citizens traveling to the EU starting from January 1, the EC announced today. Justice and Enlargement Commissioners Jaques Barrot and Olli Rehn told a press conference in Brussels that the same recommendations had been made for Macedonia …

BELGRADE Serbia’s legal team has sent its comments on the statements filed by other countries in the Kosovo case considered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).Last fall, the UN General Assembly ordered the world organization’s top tribunal to provide an advisory opinion on whether the ethnic Albanians’ unilateral proclamation …

BELGRADE, Serbia Interior Minister Ivica Dacic announced on Wednesday (July 15th) plans for Serbia and EULEX to sign an accord on Kosovo border control soon. He said a draft agreement was reached during EU security chief Javier Solana’s visit to Belgrade earlier this week.

A plan to end EU visa requirements for Serbians but not for Bosnian Muslims who suffered at Serb hands in the bloody break-up of Yugoslavia will deepen ethnic divisions in the Balkans, critics said on Tuesday. The Green group in the European Parliament termed the planned announcement, days after the …

Belgrade is considering recognising Kosovo’s independence, Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaci claimed today. Kosovo’s government spokesman, Memli Krasniqi, confirmed to Balkan Insight that Thaci told Belgrade journalists today that Serbia was considering recognising Kosovo as a country.

BELGRADE, Serbia EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana visited Belgrade on Monday (July 13th) and insisted there will be no new conditions on Serbia’s path towards the EU. Sceptics have long believed that at some point, Serbia will be forced to acknowledge Kosovo’s independence to become an EU member.

PRISTINA, Kosovo Serbia’s special war crimes prosecutor for the first time published a list of former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) accused of committing war crimes, local media report on Tuesday (July 14th). The spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, Bruno Vekaric, says Serbia has issued 160 warrants against …

BELGRADE Ahead of EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana’s meetings with Serbia’s senior officials, guests on a B92 TV program debated the issues of Kosovo and visas. “He is surely coming to announce to us what will happen on Wednesday, July 15, and as Mr. [EC Vice President Jacques] Barrot …

BELGRADE EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will arrive here on Monday for meetings with Serbia’s top officials. In Belgrade, he will talk to President Boris Tadić, PM Mirko Cvetković, his first deputy and Interior Minister Ivica Dačić and Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić.

PRIŠTINA Representatives of the Kosovo Albanian government in Priština will on July 17 send additional arguments to the International Court of Justice, reports said.The move, according to Albanian language daily Koha Ditore, will seek to “defend the legitimacy of the independence declaration”.The ethnic Albanians’ unilateral proclamation in February 2008 was …