Russian Diplomat Criticized For Speech At Serbian Opposition Rally

radio free europe
November 02, 2011

BELGRADE -- The Serbian ruling party has criticized a speech by the Russian ambassador to Belgrade at a nationalist party rally as meddling by Moscow in Serbia's internal affairs, RFE/RL's Balkan Service reports.
Six weeks after he blasted Serbian politicians and intellectuals at a Belgrade security forum for leaving it to Russia to defend Serbian interests abroad, Russian Ambassador to Serbia Aleksandr Konuzin praised the nationalist Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) at a rally in Belgrade on October 29....more...
read more: radio free europe
http://www.rferl.org/content/russian_diplomat_criticized_for_speech_at_serbian_opposition_rally/24379085.html

Serbia recommended for EU membership but needs to sort out Kosovo

telegraph
Serbia has been given the coveted status of becoming a candidate for EU membership as long as Belgrade makes progress on settling a border dispute with Kosovo, a breakaway former Serbian province.

By Bruno Waterfield, Brussels
4:59 PM BST 12 Oct 2011
The European Commission on Wednesday recommended Serbia for EU membership and if the Kosovo issue is settled by December then entry negotiations will begin next year....more...
read more: telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/serbia/8822558/Serbia-recommended-for-EU-membership-but-needs-to-sort-out-Kosovo.html

Serbian Military Call-Up Notices Spark Sharp Backlash

radio free europe
September 21, 2011

By Ljudmila Cvetkovic
BELGRADE -- Serbs are expressing alarm at reports that the Defense Ministry is distributing notices telling people to join the military reserves and report for basic training.
The reports come as tensions with neighboring Kosovo -- formerly a Serbian province, and whose independence Belgrade does not recognize -- have been running high amid a sometimes violent dispute over border crossings.
The Belgrade Helsinki Committee for Human Rights announced this week that an undetermined number of men had received the notices....more...
read more: radio free europe
http://www.rferl.org/content/serbia_military_callup_notices_spark_sharp_backlash/24335635.html

Serbian Premier Murder Convict Alleges High-Level Conspirators

radio free europe
September 21, 2011

BELGRADE -- The revelation that a Serb convicted of plotting the 2003 assassination of pro-Western Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic has named several high-ranking politicians as having knowledge of plans for the killing has caused a media storm, RFE/RL's Balkan Service reports.
Milos Simovic told prosecutors one year ago in a signed affidavit -- which was only recently released to the Serbian media -- that several high-ranking nationalist figures, including then Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, knew about the preparations for the assassination....more...
read more: radio free europe
http://www.rferl.org/content/djindjic_assassination_conspirators/24335476.html

Serbia wants special status for Kosovo north

blic online
BORIS TADIC AT UN SESSION IN NEW YORK

Tamara Spaić

22. 09. 2011. - 02:02h
Comments 0
Serbia President Boris Tadic shall try at meetings with world leaders in New York to get their support for the settlement of the current crisis at customs checkpoints with implementation of Ban-Ki-Moon’s plan from 2008, as sources close to Tadic confirmed to ‘Blic’. It is believed that would be just a beginning for the international community to recognize ‘the north as something special’ and an introduction to autonomy or even partition....more...
read more: blic online
http://english.blic.rs/News/8027/Serbia-wants-special-status-for-Kosovo-north

Serbia Takes Kosovo Border Row to New York

balkan insight
21 SEP 2011 / 09:51

As tensions fizz in the Serb-run sliver of North Kosovo, Belgrade has launched a diplomatic push aimed at forcing Kosovo to withdraw its customs officials from northern border crossings.

Bojana Barlovac Belgrade

Not even pouring rain has stopped local Serbs from manning barricades in the Serb-run north of Kosovo for the fifth day in a row, following last Friday's deployment of EU police and Kosovo customs officials on border crossings with Serbia....more...
read more: balkan insight
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/belgrade-launches-diplomatic-action-over-kosovo-north

A coffee with Serbian vice prime minister Bozidar Djelic -video-

waz.eu.observer.com
TODAY @ 08:17

The EU is examining Serbian-backed proposals to break the deadlock in Northern Kosovo. In this video Serbian deputy prime minister Bozidar Djelic talks about the solution that Serbia has proposed to EU foreign chief Catherine Ashton to solve the problem....more...
read more: waz.eu.observer.com
http://euobserver.com/1015/113683

Government knew everything about purchase of vaccines

blic online
SVETLANA VUKAJLOVIC’S DEFENSE

Vuk Z. Cvijić Tamara Marković-Subota

20. 09. 2011. - 23:50h
Foto: Beta
Comments 0
In investigation of abuse of office in purchase of vaccines against Mexican flu in 2009 no evidence against then health minister Tomica Milosavljevic has been found until so far except that ‘he had been inadequately informing Serbian Government about disputable purchase of the vaccines’....more...
read more: blic online
http://english.blic.rs/In-Focus/8026/Government-knew-everything-about-purchase-of-vaccines

Serbia Arrests Rogue Cops Behind 2001 Revolt

balkan insight
20 SEP 2011 / 18:46

Police have arrested five former members of the now disbanded Special Operations Unit, JSO, over their involvment in a rebellion in 2001, Belgrade's B92 has reported.

b92
Serbia's special police unit has launched an operation to arrest former JSO members involved in a revolt by the unit in 2001, B92 reported....more...
read more: balkan insight
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/police-arresting-jso-members

Former Health Official Arrested over Swine Flu Vaccines

balkan insight
20 SEP 2011 / 12:10

Police have arrested Svetlana Vukajlovic, former director general of the Republic Institute for Health Insurance (RZZO), and two other persons on suspicion of abusing their official positions.

Belgrade B92/Tanjug

According to Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic, Vukajlovic is suspected of abusing her position during the procurement of vaccines against the H1N1 virus. Dacic also told Tanjug that the directors of companies Jugohemija and Detap companies, Vladimir Gravar and Ljubomir Pavlicevic, had also been arrested....more...
read more: balkan insight
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/former-health-official-arrested-over-swine-flu-vaccines

Sandzak and the south are trouble spots for Serbia

se times
20/09/2011

Even as it confronts Pristina over northern Kosovo, Serbia is grappling with discontent elsewhere.
By Igor Jovanovic for Southeast European Times in Belgrade -- 20/09/11
After a week marked by tension in northern Kosovo, Belgrade saw the re-emergence of two other potential trouble spots. First, some Bosniak factions in the western Serbian region of Sandzak announced they would push for autonomy.

Next, Albanians in southern Serbia began organising protest rallies, dissatisfied with the conditions in local education....more...
read more: se times
http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2011/09/20/feature-04

Serbia's Markovic fights corruption, public scepticism

se times
19/09/2011

EU accession hinges in part on progress in fighting pervasive corruption, prompting Serbia to roll out a whole new strategy.
By Igor Jovanovic for Southeast European Times in Belgrade -- 19/09/11
Anti-Corruption Agency Director Zorana Markovic is at the helm of one of the institutions meant to fight corruption, which is considered the biggest obstacle facing Serbia on the road to the EU....more....
read more: se times
http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/articles/2011/09/19/reportage-01

We deserve both status and date

blic online
DJELIC AHEAD OF MEETING WITH FUEHLE

Ivana Mastilović Jasnić

19. 09. 2011. - 00:02h
Foto: FoNet
Comments 0
‘I shall tell Stefan Fuehle that debate over laws on restitution and public property stipulated by the Action Plan begins tomorrow, that it shall be finished until the end of the week and that the laws in question shall be passed within set deadline. I shall also present to the Enlargement commissioner and the whole EC team dealing with the West Balkans the amendments that the Government shall adopt. That signals that all suggestions by the EC have been accepted as well as a certain number of additional suggestions which are to secure majority support in the Parliament’, Bozidar Djelic, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister in charge of European integration says for ‘Blic’.....more...
read more: blic online
http://english.blic.rs/In-Focus/8016/We-deserve-both-status-and-date

Serbia's EU Progress Wins Brussels Praise

balkan insight
19 SEP 2011 / 19:22

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic said EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule had hailed Belgrade's progress towards gaining candidate status.

Belgrade B92, Balkan Insight

Bozidar Djelic started a two-day visit to Brussels on Monday to lobby for Serbia in the run-up to the expected publication of a European Commission "opinion", or "avis" on Serbia's possible candidate status. ...more...
read more balkan insight
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/eu-enlargement-commissioner-praises-serbia-s-eu-progress

Kosovo Set to Take 2 Key Border Posts

ny times
By MATTHEW BRUNWASSER

Published: September 15, 2011
BELGRADE — The Republic of Kosovo is preparing to take control Friday over the last two posts along its border with Serbia that are beyond its authority, an event that threatens to reignite tensions between the two adversaries....more...
read more: ny times
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/16/world/europe/16iht-kosovo16.html?_r=3&ref=europe

NATO's Rasmussen Urges Kosovo, Serbia For Calm

radio free europe
September 15, 2011

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says the military alliance will not allow the Balkan region to slip back into violence amid simmering tensions between Kosovo and Serbia over a border dispute.
Rasmussen made the comments during a brief visit to Pristina, a day before Kosovo authorities are to deploy police and customs officials at two disputed border crossings with Serbia....more...
read more: radio free europe
http://www.rferl.org/content/nato_rasmussen_urges_kosovo_serbia_calm/24329540.html

Serbian PM, senior Chinese military official discuss bilateral ties

xinhua.net
English.news.cn 2011-09-10 00:51:51 FeedbackPrintRSS

BELGRADE, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic on Friday discussed bilateral military ties with Xu Caihou, vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission.
During their talks, Cvetkovic said that Xu's visit would play an important role in promoting exchanges and cooperation in military and defense areas between the two nations....more...
read more: xinhua.net
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-09/10/c_131130850.htm

Despite progress, Serbia's EU candidacy linked to Kosovo

xinhua.net
English.news.cn 2011-09-10 06:05:44 FeedbackPrintRSS

BELGRADE, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- European Council President Herman van Rompuy told Serbian officials during the Serbia-EU Forum in Belgrade on Friday that Europe had not forgotten Serbia, but stressed the significance of a compromise over Kosovo....more...
read more: xinhua.net
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-09/10/c_131130905.htm

Europe Weekly: Gas, Greece and a Kosovo compromise

euronews
Economic crisis - European Union - Gas - Greece - Kosovo

09/09 19:57 CET

In this week’s Europe Weekly we take a look at the EU’s new energy strategy, a customs deal in Kosovo and the eurozone debt crisis. We also chat to the Vice President of the European Investment Bank to see how Greece can breath life into its economy. That is all this week in Europe Weekly....more....
read more: euronews
http://www.euronews.net/2011/09/09/europe-weekly-gas-greece-and-a-kosovo-compromise/

North Kosovo Meltdown

international crisis group
Marko Prelec, Crisis Group Balkans Project

6 Sep 2011
The long-simmering dispute over the Serb-held North of Kosovo has entered a dangerous phase. Serbia and Kosovo are raising tensions in the field despite making technical agreements at the negotiation table. On 2 September the EU brokered an agreement on customs stamps and cadastral records. Observers could conclude that the crisis started on 25 July at the border is now over. It is not. An important first step, the agreement says nothing about who will actually control the two disputed border posts and the customs revenue they generate. The real dispute is about the status of north Kosovo. Belgrade still believes it can partition Kosovo, keeping the Serb-inhabited north. Pristina is intent on asserting its practical sovereignty over its whole territory. Until the two work out a compromise the situation risks quick deterioration.....more...
read more: international crisis group
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/publication-type/blogs/the-balkan-regatta/north-kosovo-meltdown.aspx