Balkans

Bosnia’s new High Representative and EU Special Representative, Austrian diplomat Valentin Inzko, said he is coming to the troubled country with “mixed feelings”, encouraged by strong international support but also aware of the “heavy burden” of the difficult task that lies ahead. Over the weekend, local and international officials greeted …

Kosovo’s border police have turned back eight Serbian parliament members trying to enter Kosovo on Monday because they did not notify Kosovo’s ministry of external affairs of their official visit. The eight delegates are members of the Parliamentary Committee for Kosovo and Metohija, and were on their way to visit …

One miner was killed and 14 others were injured over the weekend in an explosion of methane in a coal mine at Stranjani near central Bosnian town of Zenica. Two out of the 14 injured miners are in a critical condition with severe burns and Bosnian officials have been trying …

Serbia hopes to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund, IMF, on a new stand by loan arrangement worth up to 3 billion euros by the end of this week. Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic on Monday stated that he expects talks with the IMF to end by late …

Rating agency Standard & Poor’s has downgraded Croatia’s currency by one notch to BBB from BBB+, as financing from outside the country becomes increasingly difficult or expensive to come by. The rating agency also cited on Monday the country’s lack of fiscal policy flexibility due to its large public sector. …

The intergovernmental conference on Croatian EU accession needs to be postponed for the same reason, Zbogar believes. Slovene Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Zbogar said on Monday in Brussels that he does not expect an agreement to be achieved soon on mediation models for solving the outstanding Slovene-Croatian border dispute and …

ZAGREB – Croatia’s Prime Minister Ivo Sanader will visit Serbia on March 20 for the first time since his country’s recognition of Kosovo angered its Balkan neighbor. Relations between the two ex-Yugoslav republics improved in the past decade after the ethnic wars of the 1990s. But Serbia recalled its ambassador …

BELGRADE, Serbia – A Serbian court on Monday suspended the proceedings against a former university student wanted in the U.S. for allegedly beating an American classmate into a coma. A municipal court in Belgrade postponed the case against Miladin Kovacevic, 22, after it failed to persuade witnesses in the U.S. …

Traditional churches and religions communities, headed by the Serbian Orthodox Church [SPC], demand substantial changes to the bill on discrimination that would de facto have the act crucial in defining civic freedoms of marginalized social groups annulled. The Serbian Government has a commitment to its citizens, its legality and legitimacy …

The Republic of Kosovo chief diplomat, Skender Hyseni, met with the President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering, on Tuesday in Strasbourg whom he informed about the development and achievements in Kosovo since the declaration of independence last year. The Kosovar Foreign Minister Hyseni discussed with the President of the …