Montenegro

The Higher Court in Podgorica on Saturday (May 15th) sentenced six former members of the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) for war crimes. They were found guilty of ordering and committing torture against prisoners of war and civilians between October 1991 and August 1992 during an attack on Dubrovnik, and got …

Speaker of the Montenegrin parliament Ranko Krivokapić stated that Serbia was “not capable of organizing a good state meeting”. “As far as I’m concerned, my visit to Serbia was finished on May 8 and 9 and I will invite my counterpart to come to Montenegro because I reckon that Serbia …

The European Commission’s (EC) assessment of Montenegro’s EU membership application will be completed by autumn, the EC Head of Delegation in Podgorica, Leopold Maurer, said on Monday (May 10th). He pointed out that based on this opinion, EU leaders will decide by year end whether to offer candidate status. Podgorica …

An International conference on local self-government is to take place in Pristina. This conference aims to present the local self-government reform and Kosovo’s decentralization process as well as share experiences and good practices from the countries in the region. Ministers from Macedonia, Croatia, Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Montenegro, Slovenia and Turkey …

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini is chairing the 12th Council of Ministers of the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative, AII, which began in Ancona, Italy on Wednesday. The Council, which brings together the foreign ministers of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Greece, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and Italy, is aimed at preparing an EU …

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolai Mladenov, who has underlined the Western Balkans’ place in his country’s foreign policy priorities, has started a tour of the region that from May 5 to 14 2010 will take him to Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania. Mladenov, Foreign Minister in the …

Montenegro officially became an associate member of the EU on Saturday (May 1st), when the country’s Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the bloc took effect. Podgorica submitted its EU membership application in December and hopes for candidate status in the beginning of 2011, which would enable it to begin …

The Montenegrin community will be added to the list of minority communities in Kosovo and will be legally recognised and equal to other minorities there, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci confirmed on Wednesday, during a regular cabinet meeting. President Fatmir Sejdiu has requested the government start the necessary amendment to the …

The European Union on Tuesday proposed Georgia be included in its visa facilitation and readmission mechanism, increasing the number of such beneficiary countries to nine. The proposal was made by the European Commission, the executive arm of the 27-nation bloc.

Montenegrin PM Milo Djukanovic has rejected the possibility his country to establish special ties with Serbia, which was hinted by Milorad Dodik – PM of Republika Srpska recently. “I would say that the relations between Serbia and Republika Srpska have nothing to do with