An ally of Kosovan President Hashim Thaci has been charged with leading a criminal network that allegedly masterminded a land scam. Sixty-five-year-old Azem Syla was charged along with 38 others.
http://www.dw.com/en/ex-kosovo-lawmaker-charged-over-land-scam/a-36152202
Hashim Thaci is ascending to Kosovo's highest office. National unity has unraveled since the country declared independence in 2008, and many doubt that Thaci can hold things together, Deutsche Welle's Vilma Filaj-Ballvora writes.
Kosovo's Constitutional Court has found parts of a deal between Serbia and its former province illegal. The deal has sparked a political crisis in Kosovo.
Kosovo's Constitutional Court has suspended an agreement with Serbia negotiated with the support of the EU. The move marks a significant new deterioration in the relations between the two countries.
http://www.dw.com/en/chill-returns-to-kosovo-and-serbia/a-18850857
Germany wants to add Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro to a list of "safe" countries. The move would make it easier to deport people whose asylum requests have been rejected. Refugee groups have criticized the plans.
http://www.dw.com/en/germany-mulls-asylum-reform/av-18749957
Kosovo's opposition lawmakers have thrown eggs at Prime Minister Isa Mustafa, protesting against the government's deal with former master Serbia to give the minority Serb population greater local powers.
http://www.dw.com/en/kosovos-premier-pelted-with-eggs-during-parliamentary-speech/a-18730845
War, hunger and torture are no longer commonplace in Kosovo, Albania, Serbia and Macedonia. For a decade and a half now, the states of the former Yugoslavia and their neighbors have been living in peace. Croatia and Slovenia have joined the European Union. The other Balkan countries have been working toward membership for years.
In order to cut down the number of asylum applications, three Balkan states are set to be labeled as safe countries of origin. Yet Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro struggle with enormous problems.
http://www.dw.com/en/the-hazy-notion-of-safe-countries-of-origin/a-18648450
German politicians have called for measures to deter people from the Balkans from seeking asylum in Germany. Only a tiny percentage are ever granted asylum, with many deemed to be economic migrants.
Volker Kauder, a senior member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), said Balkan citizens with little prospect of asylum should be sent home more quickly.
The leaders of Kosovo and Montenegro have said they believe Germany should designate their countries as "safe" countries of origin. This status should make it more difficult for people to be granted asylum in Germany.
According to a report published in Tuesday's edition of the German business daily "Handelsblatt," both Kosovo's Prime Minister Isa Mustafa and his Montenegrin counterpart, Milo Dukanovic made their wishes clear in letters to the German member of the European Parliament, David McAllister.