The Balkans
World Jewish Congress: Denying Srebrenica genocide resembles Nazi propaganda
Bosnian Serb propaganda that downlplays the extent of the crimes committed during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in the 1990s, including the genocide against Bosniaks in Srebrenica, is reminiscent of Nazi antisemitism, Menachem Rosensaft of the World Jewish...
Romania’s recovery plan drama continues
As Brussels goes into summer recess, the topic of Romania’s recovery and resilience plan is far from being settled as the Commission is still seeking clarification on a series of important issues, media reported. Romania requested a one-month delay for...
Bulgaria risks third parliamentary elections in a year
Bulgaria’s anti-establishment party “There is such a people” (ITN), which is currently leading negotiations with other parties to form a government, has accused partner parties of having tried to influence the future government without having the right to do so,...
No border controls between Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania from 2023
An arrangement has been reached to cancel border controls between Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania as of 1 January, 2023, President Aleksandar Vučić said in Skopje on Thursday. At an Economic Forum for Regional Cooperation, Vučić said that genuine trust...
Outgoing BiH international minister: successor should focus on rule of law
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)‘s outgoing international administrator, Valentin Inzko, told N1 that he advised his successor to focus on the rule of law. “BiH achieved its greatest successes when the international community was more engaged in the country,” Inzko said. ...
Serbia, EU Commission discuss climate matters
Talks between Serbia and the European Commission are focused on the importance of the environment and climate preservation, EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi said on Wednesday. “It includes solutions to trans-boundary river pollution and environmental concerns caused by investments,” he...
Croatia meets its Euro commitments as planned
Croatian Finance Minister Zdravko Marić has said his country is on track to meet its commitments under the mechanism for the country’s adoption of the Euro currency. “We are not running late. Quite the contrary, we are a bit faster,”...
EU funds Romania’s brown bear search
Romania, which is home to an estimated 6,000 brown bears, the largest population in the EU, has launched a project to find the real population of these bears, using EU cohesion funds. The environment ministry and several forest management institutions...
Protesting Bulgarians wiretapped under ‘coup’ accusation
More than 100 Bulgarian citizens and opposition politicians who took part in 2020 mass protests against the government of Boyko Borissov and the Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev were wiretapped after being accused of planning a “coup,” acting Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov...
Serb MPs boycott national parliament’s session
The parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Tuesday had to cancel its session because MPs from Serb political parties failed to show up, thus confirming an earlier announcement that they would boycott the work of state institutions due to the...
President: Serbia can’t leave Republika Srpska without support
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said on Tuesday he did not wish to comment on the measures and counter-measures that Bosnia and Herzegovina introduced following High Representative Valentin Inzko’s decision to outlaw denial of genocide, explaining that it was a matter...
Slovenia’s rejected candidates make renewed bid for delegated prosecutors
Matej Oštir and Tanja Frank Eler, the candidates picked for Slovenia’s two European delegated prosecutors before the nomination process was annulled by the government, have submitted applications in a repeat call for the posts, apparently the only candidates to do...
Bulgaria’s chief prosecutor under renewed fire
Attempts by the outgoing caretaker government to oust Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev, who served under the previous government of Boyko Borissov, are continuing. On Tuesday acting Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov approached the Deputy Chief Prosecutor and Director of the National...
Bulgaria has miscounted the number of its vaccinated citizens
For two months, the Bulgarian authorities have been miscalculating the number of vaccinated people in the country. The information system, which reports data on vaccinated and infected, reported a sharp increase in fully vaccinated Bulgarians by 73,000 per day with...
UNESCO saves Romanian gold mine site from cyanide developers
The ancient gold mining complex in Rosia Montana, a remote locality in the Apuseni Mountains in Western Romania, has been added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List and the List of World Heritage in Danger. The decision has put an end...
Skopje court sentences those involved in ‘April 27’ case
Parliament’s former speaker, Trajko Veljanoski, two former ministers Mile Janakieski i Spiro Ristovski and the former head of the intelligence service Vladimir Atanasovski, all from right centre opposition VMRO-DPMNE Party, were sentenced on Monday to prison terms of up to...
Poll: Serbian citizens recognise EU as biggest donor
The majority of Serbian citizens are in favour of joining the EU and see it as the leading donor and trade and investment partner, an opinion poll unveiled Monday and conducted by Ninamedia for the EU Delegation in Serbia shows....
Bulgaria: discrimination against minority in North Macedonia must end
Bulgaria is pushing for an end to “discrimination” against the Bulgarian minority in North Macedonia, with Bulgarian Rumen Radev discussing the topic with his Austrian counterpart Alexander Van der Belen on Monday in Vienna. Until now, Sofia has insisted on...
Serbian FM: Preserving stability in Bosnia is unclear
In a comment on High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina Valentin Inzko’s decision to impose a law prohibiting the denial of genocide, Serbian Foreign Minister Nikola Selaković said he thought Bosnia’s future was unclear. At a meeting with Republika Srpska’s...
Indian-made Astrazeneca vaccine not recognised in EU
Several EU member states have refused to recognise the India made AstraZeneca vaccine administered in Serbia earlier this year, meaning that everyone who received it will also have to present a negative COVID-19 test or stay in quarantine upon entry...
Almost 60% of the Bulgarians approve the caretaker cabinet
A poll of Bulgarians shows that 58.9% of approve of the caretaker government that has been in charge since May, while 28.8% expressed their disapproval, according to the latest findings of Gallup International Balkan’s monthly research programme, announced on Sunday. President...
Serbian interior minister in Madrid to discuss police cooperation, Kosovo
The interior ministers of Serbia and Spain, Aleksandar Vulin and Fernando Grande-Marlaska Gomes, met in Madrid on Thursday to discuss the development of cooperation, especially in training, the exchange of information and suppression of cyber-crime, while Vulin also spoke about...
Croatian finance minister says budget situation satisfactory
Croatian Finance Minister Zdravko Marić has said that: “Regarding the budget, I think we can be relatively satisfied at the moment. Naturally, with great caution. We should do everything to prevent the situation from becoming complex in some way.” Marić...