Balkans

ALBANIA Albania’s opposition Socialist Party boycotted the first session of parliament on Monday, and says its will maintain its absence unless its demands are met. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, the head of the party, Tirana mayor Edi Rama, warned that the Socialists would have a conditional relationship with the …

SERBIA For the first time in 25 years, a Chinese defense minister has arrived here on an official visit this Monday. Liang Guanglie was welcomed with military and state honors before he met with his Serbian counterpart Dragan Šutanovac. In a joint news conference held afterwards, Šutanovac reminded reporters that …

SERBIA The revised agreement on continuation of the strategic partnership was signed in by Interior Minister Ivica Dačić and head of OSCE in Serbia Hans Ola Urstad. The altered memorandum of understanding envisages the provision of expert help and advice in the area of responsibility of police work, fight against …

KOSOVO Fatmir Sejdiu says all political parties in Kosovo should urge voters to refrain from any kind of action that could jeopardize the electoral process. The Kosovo Albanian spoke about the local elections scheduled to be held in November after his meeting with Ramus Haradinaj, the leader of the opposition …

SERBIA Interior Minister Ivica Dačić stated that Serbia will in September meet all the remaining criteria for abolishing visas. This will be necessary for Serbian citizens to travel to all the Schengen area countries.

SERBIA Rasim Ljajić reacted today to reports in some Belgrade media that the Serbian police (MUP) recently carried out an operation in Novi Sad to arrest Ratko Mladić. The head of the Council for Cooperation with the Hague Tribinal said that “there is no use reporting on fruitless operations”.

BiH The Bosnian Interior Ministry and the country’s Prosecution office have no knowledge of an alleged plan to assassinate RS PM Milorad Dodik. Dodik is heading the government of Bosnia’s Serb entity, and his life was reportedly threaded by the recently arrested criminal group led by Darko Elez.

ALBANIA Albanian parliament is set to hold a constitutive session Monday following the June 28 parliamentary elections. The election-winning Democrats secured 70 seats in the 140-seat parliament, the Republican Party and one of the exiled Albanians from Greece secured one seat each. The opposition Socialists won 66 seats, with 4 …

BULGARIA Newly appointed Serbian ambassador to Bulgaria Alexander Crkvenjakov declared Monday that the priorities of his new post will be focused on strengthening the political and economic relations with Bulgaria. “Relations between the two countries are perfect but the fact that Sofia recognized the one-sided declaration of independence of Kosovo …

BULGARIA “The allegations that we have been spending some BGN 200 million a day are complete nonsense”, former prime minister and chairperson of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) Sergey Stanishev said at a news conference in the town of Dobrich. “What have we spent the money for? Do you really …