Tag: Serbia

A meeting of the presidents of Serbian and Kosovo produced little concrete progress between the two states beyond the symbolic importance of the first such gathering between the leaders. EurActiv Serbia reports.

The prime ministers of Serbia and Croatia expressed their readiness to resolve tensions at a meeting in Belgrade yesterday (16 January). EurActiv Serbia reports.

The fight against corruption is one of the key conditions for Serbia's EU integration and one of the current government's priorities. Serbian authorities on 12 December arrested one of the richest people the country in a crackdown on graft, writes EurActiv Serbia.

EU ministers will not grant Albania the EU candidate status at next week's meeting, diplomatic sources told EurActiv. However, they will likely give the green light to opening accession negotiations with Serbia, if a number of conditions are respected, such as improving relations with  Kosovo.

Serbians reacted angrily at the acquittal of a former Kosovo guerrilla leader by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), less than two weeks after the court freed two Croatian military commanders who were accused of war crimes. EurActiv Serbia reports.

In an attempt to avoid the re-introduction of visas for Serbian nationals travelling to the Schengen area, Belgrade said it was ready to pay Western countries for the extra cost incurred by "fake asylum seekers" on their territory.

In its yearly status report on the progress EU hopefuls are making towards membership, the European Commission has good news for Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo. The report - published today (10 October) - also calls for a resumption of negotiations with EU candidate Turkey that are stalled because of the long-running territorial dispute with Cyprus.

Western powers prepared today (10 September) to grant Kosovo full sovereignty, ending formal international supervision of the former Serbian province that unilaterally declared independence in 2008.

The International Monetary Fund today (24 August) rebuffed a call by Serbia for quick talks on a new loan deal, saying a visit by officials next month would focus on concerns the government is eating into the independence of the country’s National Bank.

Even in times of crisis, nine European countries strive to join the EU. It would be an “enormous mistake” if the Union would lose interest in expansion, Štefan Füle told EurActiv Czech Republic in an exclusive interview.

A former protégé of Serbian strongman Slobodan Milošević, Socialist party leader Ivica Dačić, was tapped yesterday (28 June) to become prime minister 50 days after the election. EurActiv Serbia reports.

The European Commission has strongly rejected comments denying that the 1995 Srebrenica massacre amounted to a 'genocide' made by the newly-elected Serbian president Tomislav Nikolić, who is due to make his first visit to Brussels on 14 June.

The transcript of a discussion between new Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin appears to suggest that Moscow is preparing to work with a government led by Nikolić's rival, former President Boris Tadić, as Prime Minister.

The EU's unwillingness to provide the region's countries with an unambiguous path to membership encourages the risk of ethnic nationalism and violence, says the Prime Minister of Kosovo Hashim Thaçi.

On Sunday (6 May), Serbia will hold joint parliamentary, presidential and local elections. Two days ahead of the poll, the outcome appears uncertain except for the Socialists who are likely to enter the government with either of the main contenders. EurActiv Serbia reports.

Serbian President Boris Tadić made a surprise resignation announcement yesterday (4 April), ten months before the end of his term. The event comes before upcoming joint parliamentary, presidential and local elections on 6 May, which the president hopes will keep his Democratic Party in power and edge the country closer to the European Union.

Regular parliamentary and local elections were called in Serbia yesterday (13 March) and will be held on 6 May. This fourth election after the collapse of Slobodan Milošević's authoritarian regime in 2000 is facing an uncertain outcome.

The Serbian public has received mostly approvingly, but without much euphoria, the long-anticipated news of the country achieving EU candidate status. Beta, EurActiv's partner agency in Serbia, reports.

A "no thrill" EU summit starting today (1 March) will avoid several contentious issues against the background of the French election campaign. Instead, leaders are poised to give speeches about "growth",  congratulate themselves for the re-election of Herman Van Rompuy as Council president and sign the 'fiscal compact' treaty.

EU-mediated negotiations between Belgrade and Priština are to resume this morning (24 February) in Brussels, with high stakes: the granting of EU candidate status to Serbia at the 1-2 March summit or a return to nationalism on the eve of elections in Serbia at the end of April. BETA, the EurActiv partner agency in Serbia, contributed to this article. 

A violent standoff in northern Kosovo risks halting its fragile dialogue with Serbia, and the latter's EU candidacy process, says the International Crisis Group.

Serbia is looking at Northern Ireland's "double sovereignty" model as a solution to the Kosovo issue, Serbian President Boris Tadić has said. Beta, EurActiv's partner agency in Serbia, reports.

The European Commission reached agreement with the Russian government yesterday (14 December) on ensuring passage of a humanitarian convoy from Russia to Kosovo's Serbs, defusing what could have become a major irritant at the ongoing EU-Russia summit.

Croatia signed its accession treaty today (9 December) in a surrealistic atmosphere of uncertainty over the fate of the European Union. But as German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, the event showed that even under the difficult circumstances, the EU had lost "none of its attractiveness".