Bulgaria’s economy grew by six per cent in 2008 to 66.1 billion leva, the country’s National Statistics Institute, NSI, said in a flash estimate, but the growth rate shrank drastically in the last quarter of the year. Fourth-quarter gross domestic product, GDP, growth was 3.6 per cent, according to the …

As Kosovo’s Albanian majority prepares to celebrate one year from its declaration of independence from Serbia on February 17, Serbia’s President Boris Tadic said Kosovo was not a state, and Serbia would never see it as anything but its southern province. “Serbia will never recognize Kosovo’s independence and, respecting international …

Kosovo has good reason to be proud of its achievements in its first year of independence, President Fatmir Sejdiu said ahead of the Feb 17 anniversary of Kosovo’s secession from Serbia, noting that rather than destabilise the Balkans, the declaration of independence had opened doors for progress. “During its first …