Would the Balkan countries be better of if their leaders stepped down amidst all these corruption and criminal allegations?
The prime minister of Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic, has announced his resignation. He's the longest serving political leader in the Balkans, having held the office of prime minister on three occasions, and that of state president once.
Even if Dick Marty is able to prove the worst of his allegations against Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and UCK members, it would not erase the crimes committed by Milosevic’s forces. And, crucially, it does not undermine the reasons for NATO intervention in 1999.
Just days after his party emerged the front-runner in a general election, Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Taci stands accused of heading a criminal group in the late 1990s that was involved in drug and organ trafficking. The accusation -- in a draft report from the Council of Europe -- has been dismissed by Kosovo's government as "slanderous."
Central Bank Governor Dejan Soskic said the government had planned for inflation of 6 percent in 2010.
Kosovo's incumbent Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has been named the preliminary winner of the December 12 parliamentary vote -- the country's first since declaring independence from Serbia nearly three years ago. But there are signs of voting irregularities, and Thaci's main rival has yet to concede defeat.
Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has claimed victory for his Democratic Party of Kosovo in the first general election in Kosovo since the territory declared independence from Serbia nearly three years ago.
Belgrade is urging Kosovar Serbs to boycott Sunday's general election. But in contrast to previous votes, fewer are inclined to listen this time.
Serbia's decision to boycott the ceremony to award this year's Nobel Peace Prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo has drawn sharp criticism from the liberal opposition and some public figures at home.
The European Union is calling for better cooperation among states that border the Danube, in hopes that the Danube basin could be as productive as Germany's Rhineland.
Local leaders have warned that the establishment of polling stations in four Serb-majority municipalities in the north of Kosovo would constitute a provocation.
The European Union has sharply criticized EU-hopeful Serbia's decision to join 18 other countries in boycotting the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony.
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