Serbia

Serbia’s new government has not lived up to its election rhetoric on the economy, corruption, education and health, experts said on Friday at the release of a joint BIRN-NALED report.The National Alliance for Local Economy Development, NALED, and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, presented a mixed picture of the …

Hashim Thaci and Ivica Dacic are expected to meet for a second time in Brussels following their talks with US and EU diplomacy chiefs.The Kosovo and Serbian leaders are expected to hold a joint meeting with the EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on November 7 in Brussels, an EU …

One of the main reasons why the role of the Yugoslav People’s Army, JNA, in the breakup of Yugoslavia remains unclear after nearly 20 years since the wars is that archives of the army are still kept secret, experts say.Following the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the federal army, the JNA, was …

As the government drafts a new law, changing the way electronic communications operators are funded, journalists’ union warns it may jeopardize their independence.Serbian media unions have criticised a new proposed law on “Fees for the Use of Public Goods” that places the sources of funding for regulatory bodies in electronic …

Journalists’ association says that by backing away from pledge to decriminalize slander and defamation, the government is encouraging pressure on the media.The Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia, NUNS, protested on Tuesday against a Justice Ministry work group’s decision to scrap moves to decriminalize slander and defamation. “The fact that …

The former Croatian Serb leader, Goran Hadzic, was very close to the late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic, who guided him through the war in Croatia, says a former member of Hadzic’s political party.Testifying at Hadzic’s trial at the Hague Tribunal, Borivoje Savic, his former friend and party colleague, recalled their …

Momcilo Perisic, the most senior officer of the former Yugoslav Army to be convicted of war crimes, has appealed against his conviction by the Hague Tribunal, ICTY.General Perisic, who commanded the Yugoslav Army during the wars in Bosnia and Croatia, was jailed for 27 years by the Hague Tribunal, ICTY, …

Serbia’s ruling Progressives have exerted pressure on Avala co-owner to halt the sale of the troubled broadcaster, which as a result faces bankruptcy and closure.Serbia’s ruling Progressive Party has exerted pressure on Zeljko Mitrovic, TV Avala co-owner, to cancel the contract for the sale of the station, Balkan Insight has …

Opposition parties in Serbia say the government has not consulted them while drafting the platform for Kosovo talks and is wrongfully keeping the document secret.Borislav Stefanovic, Serbia’s former chief negotiator in EU-led Kosovo talks and member of the opposition Democrats, said it was absurd that the government’s draft platform on …

The dispute between the Serbian and Macedonian Orthodox churches will be on the agenda during Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic’s two-day visit to Macedonia.President Nikolic and his Macedonian counterpart, Gjorge Ivanov, at their meeting on Friday will among other issues “tackle the row between the Serbian and Macedonian Orthodox churches”, a …