Eurasia

Moldova’s acting president, at the risk of touching off a damaging row, is pressing for the national language to be renamed Romanian rather than Moldovan. The ex-Soviet republic, independent since 1991, speaks a language virtually identical to that in Romania and much of its territory belonged to its larger neighbour …

European Commissioner-designate for EU Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule promised on Tuesday (January 12th) that the bloc will continue talks on Turkey’s accession despite opposition from some members, including France and Germany. “I intend to go ahead with accession negotiations with Turkey. They are the best leverage we have …

Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor and his Croatian counterpart Jadranka Kosor said Wednesday they were ready to clear the way for Zagreb’s EU membership talks next month. “My wish is that, by the next EU-Croatia accession conference in February, we can solve at least two of the three open issues,” …

A Zagreb county court began hearing on Tuesday an investigation about war crimes committed in the village Grubori, near Knin, in August 1995 during the military operation code named Oluja (Storm). The court heard the first five of about 70 witnesses that will be called, according the media. Zeljko Sacic, …

A Swedish citizen of Bosnian origin was arrested Tuesday in relation to war crimes charges, according to local media. The identity of the person who was arrested in northern Sweden is still not known to the public, except that he is 43 years old and served as a guard at …

In its latest report the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Bosnia and Herzegovina, OSCE, says that pressure on the work of judicial institutions goes beyond “acceptable criticism” and that accusations that war-crimes trials are motivated by ethnic affiliation are groundless. “These statements exceed the limits of acceptable …

Antonio Cassese, the first president of the ICTY, in an interview for International Justice Tribune, said it would have been better from the outset to appoint a legal counsel for Karadzic. “In many European countries, in criminal cases any defendant must be assisted by a defence counsel. This is a …

Romania’s Prime Minister Emil Boc says he expects parliament to adopt the budget for 2010 by 15 January. The budget is key to the continuation of an International Monetary Fund, IMF, led aid package, crucial for stabilising the country’s economy. Parliament began debating the budget, that has already been negotiated …

Head of the Russian Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev said that Serbia has to decide on its own whether it wants to join NATO. He added however that he doubts that the Serb people, after the tragedy they endured during the Alliance bombing of 1999, would want to join …

Serbian and Croatian Presidents Boris Tadić and Ivo Josipović could meet on January 18, the inauguration day of the new Croatian leader. Josipović announced that we will be meeting with his Serbian counterpart soon.