As Orthodox Christians marked Epiphany on January 19, two Balkan cities celebrated with traditional swimming races. (RFE/RL's Balkan Service).
Ivan Brajovic, the speaker of Montenegro’s parliament, has set April 15 as the date for the country's next presidential election, with a possible second round two weeks later if no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the first round vote.
Montenegro and Serbia should be ready for EU membership in 2025 and Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Macedonia should be well-advanced on their path to EU accession by then, according to a draft of the European Commission's Western Balkans strategy seen by RFE/RL.
European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker says the European Union should offer a clear path to membership to Western Balkan nations to help prevent them from returning to the ethnic strife that afflicted the region in the 1990s.
The Bulgarian ambassador to the European Union says his country will work for reduced mobile-phone roaming charges between the EU and the countries of the Western Balkans that are not members of the bloc.
Russian President Vladimir Putin helped usher in the Orthodox Christmas at services at the Church of Saints Simeon and Anna in St. Petersburg.
The European Union is expected on December 11 to open new chapters in the accession negotiations with Montenegro and Serbia in a move that would bring the two countries closer to joining the bloc.
The World Bank has offered $200 million in loans to promote economic integration in the Western Balkans as leaders of the region vowed to deepen ties and work together toward joining the European Union.
The United States should establish a permanent military presence in the Southeastern Europe to help stabilize the Western Balkans and prevent further inroads by Russia, a Washington-based think tank says.
The European Union is gradually showing more inclination to bring Western Balkan states into the 28-member bloc, the EU's neighborhood policy and enlargement negotiations commissioner says.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, set up by the UN in 1993 to deal with war crimes committed during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s, is nearing its end. Whether it can claim "mission accomplished" when it formally closes its doors on December 31 remains a question, however. (The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL.)
In an interview with RFE/RL's Balkan Service, Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz talked about the lack of cooperation he sees among countries in the region as the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal hands over its work to national prosecutors after more than 20 years of operation in The Hague.
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