Eurasia Press & News
Czech power company CEZ said it will pull out from a joint venture project with the power company of the Serb-dominated Bosnian entity of Republika Srpska, Elektroprivreda Republike Srpske, effectively putting the kiss of death on a 1.4 billion euro project to overhaul the existing power plant and build a …
Read More »Croatia High In Globalization Index, Serbia Last
Croatia is the most globalised country in the Balkans, and Serbia the least, according to the Index of Globalization 2009, that each year measures the economic, social and political scope of globalization in 208 countries and territories. The report is compiled by the Zurich-based KOF Economic Institute. The economic dimension …
Read More »Romania Hosts Sudanese Refugees
A group of 42 Sudanese refugees has arrived in Timisoara, western Romania, after being evacuated from a makeshift camp in the desert in Iraq, according to UNHCR sources. The refugees, who have been provided with winter clothing, are staying in the new Emergency Transit Centre set up by the Romanian …
Read More »Kosovo Decentralization A Challenge – Thaci
Kosovo is pushing ahead with decentralisation as envisaged by the Ahtisaari plan, but without the support of citizens across the ethnic spectrum the integration of all communities will remain a challenge, said Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci. Decentralization, a byword for allowing Kosovo’s minority Serbs to run their affairs separately …
Read More »Albania Fires High Official On Murder Trial
Albania’s Prime Minister Sali Berisha on Tuesday fired the country’s highest tax official who is currently on trial on charges of torture and murder. Arben Sefgjini, head of the General Directorate of Taxes, previously served as the head of Tirana’s Secret Service Office, SHIK. Three of his former colleagues, Budion …
Read More »Macedonia Albanians Name President Pick
Macedonia’s two ethnic Albanian parties, the ruling Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, and the opposition Democratic Party of Albanians, DPA, picked their own presidential candidates for the March 22 elections, pushing the total number of presidential hopefulls to ten. DUI picked its vice president Agron Buxhaku as the party’s sole …
Read More »Experts Differ on Albania’s EU Bid Timing
Albanian think-tanks that monitor the EU accession process disagree on whether the country’s application for EU candidate status should come during the Czech presidency or later. Greece’s ratification of Albania’s Stabilization and Association Agreement, SAA, with the European Union last week was the final step in the formal approval process …
Read More »Leaders’ Agreement Throws Bosnia Into Disarray
A surprising agreement by the leaders of Bosnia’s three strongest Serb, Croat and Bosniak parties over a new territorial and constitutional setup has brought more confusion and confrontation to the country’s political landscape. A joint statement by the three leaders – Milorad Dodik from the Bosnian Serb Union of Independent …
Read More »Jeremic Invites EU Officials To Serbia
Serbia’s foreign minister Vuk Jeremic invited European Union officials to come on a fact-finding mission and see first-hand Belgrade’s efforts on cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Belgrade signed the key Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU last year, but the Netherlands is blocking its …
Read More »German ‘Abducted by CIA’ Sues Macedonia
Khaled El Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese origin who claims he was kidnapped by the CIA during his stay in Skopje in 2003, filed a second lawsuit against Macedonia on Monday. El Masri says that Macedonian police assisted the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency in kidnapping and transferring him …
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