Tag: Serbia

Protesters wielding hammers have torn down bilingual signs in Serbian Cyrillic that were installed on official buildings in the Croat city of Vukovar, in a spate of tension recalling the 1990s Yugoslav war.

As Washington weighs a military strike against Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, the human fallout of two and a half years of conflict that has sent millions into flight is no longer contained to the Middle East. Hundreds of refugees are trying to get into Europe from the Western Balkans.

A miracle has happened, as Serbia is no longer walking away from events attended by Kosovo representatives. The bloody Balkan wars of the 1990s and the centuries-long Serb-Albanian feud have ended in provisional cooperation and not just in armed truce, writes Elizabeth Pond.

European Union leaders are set to agree on opening accession negotiations with Serbia by January as well as to launch talks on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with Kosovo. EurActiv Serbia reports.

Serbia hopes that the next EU summit on 27-28 June will take a decision to start accession talks in October, Suzana Grubješić, Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration of Serbia, told EurActiv Germany in an exclusive interview.

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dačić said he would ask EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton today (22 April) to set a day for his country to open EU accession negotiations. The moves follows an agreement to improve relations with Kosovo, BETA, the EurActiv partner in Serbia, reports.

Serbia has rejected a European Union-brokered plan to tackle the ethnic partition of its former province Kosovo, a move that could hurt Belgrade's hopes of starting membership talks with the bloc.

Talks between Serbia and Kosovo must continue to bring stability to the region, writes Miroslav Lajčák.

Crunch talks aimed at ending the ethnic partition of Serbia's former Kosovo province broke up without result early this morning (3 April), in a major setback for Serbia's hopes of starting EU membership negotiations this year.

Ivica Dačić and Hashim Thaći, the prime ministers of Serbia and Kosovo, are due to meet today (19 February) under the auspices of EU’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, to continue discussions on their future relations and to exchange envoys. EurActiv Germany reports.

Serbian authorities said they had uncovered a plot by "criminal clans" to bring down a government plane carrying a national leader, in the latest twist to a murky row over the links between the mafia and politicians.

More countries are likely to join the EU, but the process will extend to the end of the decade. At present, the EU lacks real strategic interests in incorporating most of the current candidates. Furthermore, political fragmentation within the EU tempers any desire to grow further, writes Stratfor.

Belgrade has agreed on documents that form the basis for further talks with the Kosovo government, balancing between Serbia's obligations for European integration and its position of not recogniing Kosovo's independence, EurActiv Serbia reports.

EU ministers meeting in Brussels could decide today (11 December) whether to specify June 2013 as the tentative date for launching accession talks with Serbia, a day after Belgrade began implementing an agreement with its former province of Kosovo for the joint management of their common borders. 

The Serbian elections in May brought to power forces that are more ambivalent towards Europe, with a rising anti-EU sentiment in Serbia, write Ioannis Armakolas and Maja Maksimović.

MEPs and local NGOs worry that that the European Commission is bypassing civil society and environmental rules as it devises an energy strategy for the Western Balkan region.

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dačić yesterday slammed the European Commission for what he saw as a demand to recognise the territorial integrity of Kosovo in 'Enlargement strategy' published on the same day. But after a meeting in Belgrade with Enlargement Commissioner Štefan Füle held today (11 October), he appeared reassured. EurActiv Serbia reports.

Serbia's decision to ban this weekend's gay pride march because of security concerns has prompted criticism from EU officials who warn the the move undermines Serbia's potential accession to the European Union.

Enlargement Commissioner Štefan Füle says the date for launching accession talks between Serbia and the EU depends on whether and when Serbia would meet the criteria set by European Council. BETA, the EurActiv partner agency in Serbia reports.

Serbia’s three-week-old government is already entangled in the country’s difficult economic situation, with early moves such as diminishing the independence of the country's National Bank has raising concern in international circles, EurActiv Serbia reports.

The wartime spokesman of late strongman Slobodan Milošević is set to take power in Serbia today (27 July), telling the Balkans to forget the past and not fear the return of a political alliance that once led the country to war with NATO.

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić was inaugurated yesterday (11 June) at a ceremony in Belgrade marked by the absence of heads of state from neighbouring countries, following comments by Nikolić who denied that the 1995 Srebrenica massacre amounted to  "genocide". EurActiv Serbia contributed to this article.

At least five Kosovo Serbs and a NATO soldier were wounded in a gunfight today (1 June), as peacekeepers tried to dismantle Serb roadblocks blocking traffic, a Reuters witness said.