Serbia

Aleksandar Vulin, head of new office coordinating all 17 ministries on Kosovo, says he will never shake hands with Kosovo leaders and issues ringing defence of Serbian-funded bodies in Kosovo.”No one will ever shake hands with [Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim] Thaci.” So said Aleksandar Vulin, the hardline new head of …

Serbia’s Public Procurement Office has found irregularities in procurements worth up to 70 million euro in the first half of 2012 – three times more than in the whole of 2011.Predrag Jovanovic, head of the Procurement Office, said uncovered irregularities in urgent public procurements for first six months of 2012 …

As Serbia’s new ministers are due to be sworn in on Friday, key parties have started the distribution of state-owned companies, breaking promises to end the party politicisation of public enterprises.Talks on the distribution of plum posts in public enterprises have started in Serbia, following the conclusion of a coalition …

The Progressives, the biggest party in the new Serbian government, have announced the names of 19 future members of the government.The Serbian Progressive Party has announced, after the main board meeting on Sunday, that the future government will have 17 ministries and 19 officials to run them. The government, which …

Serbia’s President Tomislav Nikolić has stated he is ready to assume responsibility and lead the fight for Kosovo. “I will gladly take the historic responsibility. I will gather everybody who means something in Serbia, politicians, intellectuals, businessmen, religious dignitaries, in order to finally

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will start a six-day tour of the Western Balkans on Friday. He will visit all countries created after the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, with July 23 reserved for Serbia.

A remembrance service for those killed when the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, occupied the town of Orahovac in Kosovo in 1998 was held in Belgrade on Wednesday. The families of the victims and human rights activists laid flowers on the graves and at the monument called “Unknown”, dedicated to the …

Nationalist-led coalition is trying to lure ethnic minorities into the new government, but after Hungarians said no, Bosniaks are still weighing their options.Aleksandar Vucic, acting head of the ruling Progressives, has met with the main leader of Bosniak [Muslim] community in Serbia and offered them a role in the new …

The Constitutional Court of Serbia has decided to overturn a decision by the High Judicial Council and reappoint 126 judges sacked as part of controversial judicial reforms.The Constitutional Court of Serbia accepted the complaints of 126 judges who were dismissed from the courts after the judicial reforms of 2009. The …

Constitutional Court ruling, that some provisions of the law on Serbia’s northern province are not in line with the constitution, reveals liberal-nationalist split.The court ruling has revealed sharp divides in Serbia between liberals who champion provincial autonomy and nationalists who see it as a threat to Serbian unity. Bojan Pajtic, …