PRISTINA (AP) – The top European Union official in Kosovo approved the new country’s constitution yesterday. Pieter Feith, who heads the EU-led civilian mission overseeing Kosovo authorities, said the document guaranteed minority rights, including those of the restive Serb minority. “Kosovo will have a modern constitution, guaranteeing full respect of individual and community rights, including those of Kosovo Serbs,” Feith said in a statement. The constitution needs to be formally approved by the 120-seat assembly. It is expected to come into effect June 15, when the local government is scheduled to take over authority from the UN mission. The document had to be approved by the EU-led mission to make sure it was in line with the international deal that allowed Kosovo’s secession from Serbia.

LJUBLJANA (AP) – The Slovenian and French foreign ministers proposed that European Union countries grant Serbs visas free of charge as a measure to boost Serbia’s pro-Western forces before May 11 elections there. Slovenia’s Dimitrij Rupel and France’s Bernard Kouchner – whose countries hold the current and future EU presidencies, respectively – said in a statement that Serbia was “uncertain about its future and lukewarm about Europe” following recognition of Kosovo by most EU nations. The EU should find “innovative ways” to encourage Serbia’s pro-EU forces, such as trying to establish a free visa regime for Serbs, they said in the statement, posted yesterday on the Slovenian Foreign Ministry’s website. At the same time, Serbia should “refrain from any inflammatory rhetoric or activities” that could endanger security in the region.

European and NATO forces in Bosnia yesterday raided the home of a suspected supporter of top war crimes fugitive Radovan Karadzic, a military spokesman said. “EUFOR conducted a search operation in premises belonging to Dragan Draskovic in Krupac” near Sarajevo, Ian Pratt, a spokesman for the European Union’s EUFOR troops in Bosnia, told AFP. “He is possibly linked to Radovan Karadzic’s support network,” he added. The operation, requested by the UN war crimes tribunal and supported by NATO, was aimed at finding material or information that could help to locate Karadzic and put pressure on his supporters. Draskovic is a former employee at a radio station once owned by Karadzic’s daughter Sonja, local media sources told AFP. (AFP)

The Bulgarian Interior Ministry declined to comment yesterday on press reports that its chief of staff, Valentin Petrov, had been placed on leave in the snow-balling corruption scandal within the ministry. The ministry’s press office was tight-lipped when asked to confirm or deny newspaper reports that Petrov had been suspended. “We’re not commenting,” a spokeswoman said following reports in the left-wing dailies Duma and Standart. Petrov has come under fire following the arrest of two top crime-busters last week and there have even been calls for Interior Minister Rumen Petkov to resign. Premier Sergei Stanishev has so far stood by the minister, but on Tuesday he gave Petkov 10 days to sort out the matter. (AFP)