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The Balkans Today
The Balkans Today: 22th - 26th May 2017
Our team brings you live updates of the most important events and developments in the Balkans as they happen.
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Top stories from the Balkans this Monday:
- The last few weeks have seen a veritable rush of journalists, analysts and civil society activists joining political parties in Kosovo, a month before the snap elections are due to take place. Read more.
- Analysts in Albania seem split in their views over a landmark deal between Prime Minister Edi Rama and opposition leader Lulzim Basha, which – if implemented – could end years of political deadlock. Read more.
- Serbia's outgoing Prime Minister will be long remembered for his undiplomatic outbursts against journalists, ambassadors and Twitter users - a tradition he is likely to maintain as the country's next President. Read more.
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Congratulations to #Kosovo's foremost climber @fluturaibrahimi for becoming first #Kosovo woman to reach… https://t.co/gtHoOdeveM10:11 AM - 22 May 2017- Reply
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Montenegrin singer Slavko Kalezic won the Barbara Dex prize for the worst dressed artist on the recently held Eurovision Song Contest in Ukraine, local media reported on Monday.
This famous across Eurofans award goes every year to the worst dressed artist of the Eurosong, one week after the live shows. It took its name after the first winner, the Belgian 1993 participant, Barbara Dex, after wearing a dress designed by herself and received lots of bad critiques.
After the end of the voting, the website announced that the 2017 winner is Kalezic.
"Despite he didn’t qualify for the final, the eccentric performer surely didn’t go unnoticed during the first semi-final. His quite long tangle combined with his see-through T-shirt, his blue skirt-like cloth and his shiny trousers were strong factors to be the most voted participation for this prize," esctoday reported.
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The Prosecutor General in Supreme Court of Cassation, Mehmet Akarca, asked Albania’s General Prosecutor, Adriatik Llalla, on Sunday to open investigations against persons who allegedly participated in the failed coup in Turkey last year and are now suspected of residing in Albania.During their meeting on Sunday, Llalla and Akarca also spoke of the need for further collaboration when it comes to common threats such as terrorism.
Albanian-Turkish prosecutors meeting. Photo: Albanian General Prosecutor office -
New data from the World Health Organization shows Eastern European and Balkan countries suffer the highest rate of air contamination and air pollution-related deaths throughout Europe, Euronews reported on Monday.
According to the new WHO statistics, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Albania and the Ukraine have the highest European mortality rates attributed to home and air pollution.
Many of these same countries, including the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Poland and Hungary have the highest average annual levels of city air pollution.
On both spectrums, Bosnia and Herzegovina is listed as the worst European performer.
In 2014 the country had just more than 55 micrograms per cubic metre of fine particulate pollutants, smaller than the width of a human hair, capable of entering the lungs and causing health problems. -
Macedonia Special Prosecution launches 3 investigations, one about illegal financing of VMRO DPMNE with Gruevski as lead suspect12:20 PM - 22 May 2017
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As a result of its ongoing monitoring of Bulgaria’s economic imbalances, the European Commission recommended to the country’s authorities on Monday to improve tax collection and tax compliance, to boost banking and non-banking supervision, and to take measures against still high corporate non-performing loans in 2017-2018.The Commission also recommended that mainstream education be improved, in particular for the Roma community, health insurance cover to be increased, and a transparent mechanism for setting the minimum wage to be established.
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The seven technical ministers that have been chosen by opposition parties to have positions in Prime Minister Edi Rama’s cabinet under an agreement reached last week are expected to commence work on Tuesday.President Bujar Nishani decreed at noon on Monday the names of the ministers proposed by the opposition and accepted by Rama, ahead of this afternoon’s plenary session, during which the ministers will be voted in and the parliamentary commissions to vet Albanian judges and prosecutors will be formed.
The leader of the opposition, Lulzim Basha (left) and PM Edi Rama after the Thursday deal. Photo: LSA -
The Hague Tribunal revoked the temporary release of former Yugoslav secret service official, Franko Simatovic, and ordered his return into custody by May 30, ahead of his trial. Serbia’s Interior Ministry has been asked to deliver Simatovic to Dutch authorities.Simatovic is charged with war crimes committed in Croatia and Bosnia from 1991 to 1995 and participating in a joint criminal enterprise, together with his former boss, State Security chief Jovica Stanisic. The two men were acquitted in 2013, but two years later court overturned the verdict and ordered a retrial, which is set to begin on June 13. -
Flutura Ibrahimi-Uta has become the first Albanian woman to reach the top of the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest.Flutura Ibrahimi-Uta, who hails from Kosovo, made it to the summit of the 8,848-metre-high mountain at 5:05am on Monday.
Flutura Ibrahimi- Uta holding the flags of Kosovo and Albania on the way to Mount Everest | Photo: Facebook -
Serbian Patriarch Irinej awarded the head of Russian energy giant Gazprom, Alexander Dyukov, and deputy director of the Serbian Oil Industry, Kirill Kravchenko, with the Order of St. Sava, the highest honour that can be given by the Serbian Orthodox Church, on Monday for their contribution in building of the St. Sava temple in Belgrade.
Meanwhile, Patriarch Irinej and Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic also laid the first stones of the Saint Sava temple’s new mosaic today.
Kravchenko kissing the hand of the Patriarch. Photo: Beta/Milan Obradovic -
Serbia’s former Ombudsman and runner-up in the presidential election, Sasa Jankovic, formed a political movement called Free Citizens of Serbia on Sunday.
However, Jankovic tweeted that the movement had already suffered a problem, as its name was already registered by an NGO 18 days ago.
Sasa Jankovic. Photo: Beta/Emil Vas. -
#Argentina name a square after #Montenegro as an #Independence gift: https://t.co/2TldSRFqWT#Boka_Group #Chaco https://t.co/V3UY420M7Z
4:41 PM - 22 May 2017Delete- Reply
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Top stories from the Balkans this Tuesday:
- Ahead of early general elections, the opposition Vetevendosje party has raised questions about the electoral roll - and whether it matches the total size of the adult population in the country. Read more.
- Macedonia's Prime Minister-designate, Zoran Zaev, is about to launch the final round of talks with his ethnic Albanian coalition partner, which should result in a deal on the ministries in the next government. Read more.
- The anniversary of the death of the couple who became famous around the world as ‘Sarajevo’s Romeo and Juliet’ has put the spotlight back on the vexed issue of mixed marriages. Read the full story.
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#Montenegro is appalled by the heinous crime in #Manchester. PM D. Marković sent deep condolences to @theresa_may and the victims' families.9:34 AM - 23 May 2017
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Ante Ramljak, the state’s extraordinary manager of the troubled Croatian private company Agrokor, has a gross monthly wage of 6,600 euros (around 3,700 euros net a month) or almost twice that of the Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Croatian weekly Nacional reported on Tuesday.
Ante Ramljak. Photo: BETAPHOTO/HINA/Lana SLIVAR DOMINIC/MO -
Serbia’s departing President Tomislav Nikolic will head the National council for cooperation with Russia and China. The Government’s decision to form the council and place Nikolic at its helm was published on Tuesday.The council’s task will be to guide and coordinate the implementation of treaties on strategic partnership that Serbia has signed with Russia and China. It will also manage the implementation of Chinese economic Belt and Road Initiative in Serbia.
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Three Bulgarian cities will join on Tuesday evening a March for European Justice – a protest staged by a group of civil society organisations which will demand “a real judicial reform for independent, effective and accessible justice, for a country of the citizens, and not of the mafia”.The organisers say they have chosen the date May 23 in order to commemorate the murder of the Italian judge and prosecuting magistrate Giovanni Falcone, who was famous as one of the biggest fighters against the mafia.
The poster for the protest. Picture: Justice for Everyone initiative -
The situation facing the Western Balkans will be among Bulgaria’s priorities as the country presiding the European Council in the first half of 2018, the minister responsible for the EU Presidency, Lilyana Pavlova, said in an interview with the Bulgarian National Television on Tuesday.During the Estonian Presidency, which will be in the second half of 2017, Bulgaria will host a top-level meeting between the EU and the Western Balkan countries, Pavlova added, explaining that the three main priorities of the country’s Presidency will be security, employment and social integration, and the EU as a global player, where special focus will be put on the Balkans.
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Ante Ramljak, the state’s extraordinary manager of Croatia’s troubled private company Agrokor, demanded on Tuesday that the commercial court in Zagreb terminate the annex of the contract of Agrokor’s former executive board – made up of the company's owner Ivica Todoric, his son Ante Todoric and Ivan Crnjac.
Ramljak claims that the annex, signed just a week before Ivica Todoric handed Agrokor over to the state extraordinary management, could result in big financial obligations for the company since it stipulates that the company should cover any potential expenses for trials or arbitration procedures relating to the board’s management decisions.
Ivica Todoric. Photo: Beta -
The Serbian government has dismissed another two members of the team for negotiations on Serbia's accession to the European Union - Roksana Nincic and Ana Ilic, the Official Gazette published today, Beta news agency reported on Tuesday.
Ten days ago, the Government dismissed three members of the negotiating team - Zoran Stojiljkovic, Vladimir Krulj and Vladimir Medjak. -
Milorad Dodik, the president of the Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity, Republika Srpska, expressed his support for China’s initiative to introduce Chinese as a second foreign language in primary and secondary schools in the entity.
"The Chinese side is ready to assist in this regard through volunteers who would work as teachers here," said Dodik, adding that he believes investigating the possibility of introducing the initiative would be very useful for Srpska citizens, because the lack of personnel is the biggest problem.
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Top stories from the Balkans this Wednesday:
- A monarchist lobby group, the Kingdom of Serbia Association, says it has collected over 120,000 signature of support for the restoration of a king - and plans to submit its petition to parliament soon. Read more.
- The price of real estate on the shores of Albania are half the price of those in Montenegro or Croatia. However, lack of infrastructure keeps demand low. Read more.
- The European Court of Human Rights has sided with a Romanian woman who sued the state after courts turned a blind eye to the way her husband had repeatedly assaulted her. Read more.
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The Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina, NDNV, and the editorial of the informative portal Autonomija called for citizens in Serbia and abroad to donate money to help them pay a 3,000-euro court fine against Autonomija, which is facing closure.“It is more than obvious, this is the only way to survive,” the NDNV and Autonomija said in their appeal.
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As 28 #NATO Allies’ parliaments ratified #Montenegro’s accession, PM Markovic will join #NATOmeeting - @jensstoltenberg. @MeGovernment11:15 AM - 24 May 2017
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Ante Ramljak, the state’s extraordinary manager of the troubled Croatian private company Agrokor, announced that the company’s suppliers will not stop shipments of goods, following a meeting with them on Wednesday morning.
Agrokor's suppliers set an ultimatum on Monday that five of their demands must be met by May 29 or they would stop delivering products for Agrokor's subsidiary companies.
Ante Ramljak. Photo: BETAPHOTO/HINA/Lana SLIVAR DOMINIC/MO -
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday that 28 allies look forward to formally welcome Montenegro as the 29th member in early June.
"Prime Minister Markovic of Montenegro will join us tomorrow. The parliaments of all 28 Allies and Montenegro have now ratified the country’s accession to NATO. This is a step forward for Montenegro, for stability in the Western Balkans and for our vision of a Europe whole, free and at peace." Stoltenberg told a press conference in Brussels ahead of the NATO summit on Friday.
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Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic met with US State Department official Hoyt Brian Yee on Wednesday. “We don’t always agree on everything, but we talk openly and honestly,” Vucic said after meeting Yee.He told the US diplomat that he was worried about the possibility of Kosovo forming its own armed forces, but reaffirmed Serbia’s dedication to dialogue with Pristina. Yee, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, is currently touring the Balkans.
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The Assembly of the Serbian Orthodox Church, SPC, appointed the new Synod and bishops in the Episcopal vacant places in its session today.
According to Beta news agency, the SPC claim that this was the most peaceful of its sessions in the last ten years - and also the shortest, having finished after nine days. -
International police agency Interpol issued a red arrest warrant on Tuesday for Hamza Labidi, an 18-year-old Bosnian citizen who Bosnian daily Dnevni Avaz has reported is currently in Syria, for the “illegal creation and joining of a foreign paramilitary and parapolice formation”.The warrant against Labidi, who is believed to have been born in the central Bosnian town of Zavidovici, was issued at the request of Bosnian judicial authorities and is the 13th such one to be issued against a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the past year.
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The EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Federica Mogherini, told the press on Wednesday that the Balkans region is crucial for the EU in terms of security, prevention of radicalization and management of borders during the refugee crisis.
Mogherini said that she and the prime ministers of six Balkan countries will talk at tonight’s meeting about intensifying cooperation and the situation in the region. The meeting will be attended by the heads of governments of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.
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Kosovo citizen Dush Smajli, from Mitrovica, was reportedly killed in Syria while fighting alongside the ISIS forces.
The Kosovo Police spokesperson, Baki Kelani, told online media Gazetametro.net on Wednesday that the police got hold of information that Smajli has been killed, but the cannot confirm those claims.
"The Kosovo Police is informed that a man from Mitrovica has been killed in Syria. But referring to situation in Syria, we cannot get an official confirmation," he said. -
Top stories from the Balkans this Thursday:
- Many Kosovo Albanians living abroad complain that glitches in the Central Election Commission's IT department deprived them of the chance to take part in the June elections. Read more.
- When Aleksandar Vucic takes over the Serbian presidency, he will be able to wield much more power than the job provides, just like his predecessors Slobodan Milosevic and Boris Tadic. Read more.
- Croatian and Serbian right-wingers are taking part in a global gathering in Hungary of groups opposed to abortion, same-sex marriage and gender ideology. Read more.
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Serbia’s N1 television station has strongly condemned the response former Ombudsman Sasa Jankovic gave when journalist Minja Miletic asked him on Wednesday about the name of his new political movement, to which he replied: “I can tell you but then I would have to…kiss you.”
Jankovic gave an apology on Twitter afterwards saying he regrets his “clumsy joke”, but N1 expressed their condemnation in a press release on Thursday.
Sasa Jankovic. Photo: Media Center Belgrade. -
Bulgarian Deputy PM Valeri Simeonov, famous for his radical rhetoric against Bulgarian Roma and Turkish minorities - and who recently got involved in a Nazi row involving him and other members of his United Patriots coalition - has been appointed as President of the National Council for Cooperation in Ethnic and Integration Issues, Bulgaria’s government announced on Thursday.The Council, which is a consultative body, supports the government in developing and implementing state policies concerning ethnic minorities, integration and human rights protection.
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Serbian Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government will spend 2.5 million dinars (close to 22,900 US dollars) on a campaign to fix the broken image of Municipal police, an outfit known for numerous incidents, reports the Serbian portal Insajder.
Since it was established under the previous, Democratic Party led government in 2010, the Municipal police was involved in physical altercations with street salesmen and citizens on public transport. On occasions they had prevented journalists from reporting and taken NGO activists into custody, Insajder reports.
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Leaders of 28 #NATO members + Montenegro are about to arrive at #NATOmeeting. Here’s the full programme… https://t.co/3HPEuSZzaW12:25 PM - 25 May 2017
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State Commission for Preventing Conflicts of Interest opened a case against the Croatian Prime Minister, Andrej Plenkovic, on Thursday for using the government's plane to fly for a campaign visit to the coastal city of Split last week, as part of activities of his centre-right Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, for the local elections.
The government previously stated that there is nothing wrong with Plenkovic’s visit to Split, since he was invited by the government's commissioner for Split and the local archbishop. -
Marko Pavic, the leader of the Democratic National Union, DNS - the kingmaker party in the ruling coalition in Bosnia's Serb-dominated entity of Republika Srpska, RS - on Thursday demanded resignation of Petar Djokic, RS Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining - which is the leader of the Socialist Party, another member of the alliance - underlining growing divisions among the ruling parties in that Bosnian entity.
Pavic said his demand was sparked by Djokic's recent public criticism aimed at the RS National Assembly after it failed to vote for the sale of Ljubija ore mine, which Djokic supported and Pavic and his party repeatedly blocked. Djokic also indirectly criticised DNS and the ruling coalition for caving into personal interests.
The heated debate between Pavic and Djokic highlighted growing tensions on the RS political scene caused by the beginning of the preparations of all key political parties for the 2018 general elections. -
Managing Director of Kosovo Telecom, Agron Mustafa, signed an agreement with Z-mobile executives enabling his firm to only pay court expenses and not the 32-million-euro fine imposed by the London Court of International Arbitration.Kosovo Telecom was notified of the lawsuit in 2015, after the company did not give Z-mobile hundreds of thousands of SIM card numbers and access to its 3G and 4G services.
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Croatia's troubled private company Agrokor is planning to put Slovenian retailer Mercator in charge of its retail operations in Bosnia, instead of peer Konzum, it was decided on Thursday in Sarajevo - but the transfer is yet to be approved by both retailers.
Due to Agrokor's financial problems, Konzum stores will be rebranded into Mercator with the aim of increasing the efficiency of Agrokor's retail business in this country, as Mercator is seen as a more recognisable brand. -
Ahead of his speech in Brussels on Thursday, US President Donald Trump he was filmed apparently pushing aside the Montenegrin PM Dusko Markovic.
by dusica.tomovic via YouTube 5/25/2017 8:19:14 PM -
Top stories from the Balkans this Friday:
- Macedonia's new government faces a daunting task of rebuilding institutions, financial consolidation and curbing widespread corruption, if it is to live upto its reformist promises. Read more.
- Migrants may be unpopular in many parts of Europe, but in the southern Serbian border town of Bosilegrad, the mayor says they want the authorities to send them more. Read more.
- The House of Leaves, the Tirana headquarters of the Communist-era secret service, has opened its doors to the public, reminding Albanians of a grim time that they would mostly like to forget. Read more.
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During the NATO summit in Brussels on Thursday, Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic was caught on camera as she tried to get as close to US President Donald Trump as possible.After being farther from him during the protocol of the joint walk, she took an opportunity to position herself next to him when the German Chancellor Angela Merkel was holding a speech.
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The Zagreb branch of the Croatian opposition centre-left Social Democratic Party, SDP, has denied media reports that it may enter into a coalition with the party of Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic – who is vying for his sixth term in office – in a few of the Zagreb neighbourhoods for the second round of voting on June 4.
SDP stated that coalitions on all levels are possible with anyone other than Bandic's party and the governing centre-right Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ.
Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic. Photo: Beta -
Bulgaria’s state security agency and specialised prosecution arrested six people on Thursday night suspected of running an illegal channel for trafficking of migrants with irregular documents through the Sofia airport, the prosecution announced on Friday.According to Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov, two of the arrested men are border policemen, who were paid 4000 leva (around 2,000 euros) to let migrants with fake documents through, while each migrant paid 5,000 euros to the smugglers.
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Romanian flight controllers announced a general strike starting on May 30 that could completely paralyse air traffic over Romania.The workers are unhappy that the government has been ignoring their pleas for months to renegotiate the collective labour contract, while the management has refused to hire more people to share the workload. -
Pro-European Mayor of the Moldovan capital Chisinau, Dorin Chirtoaca, the liberal who defeated Igor Dodon in the 2011 local elections, was detained on Thursday night by anti-graft prosecutors for 72 hours.He is accused of requesting bribes from private parking owners in Chisinau.
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The Higher Court in Montenegro’s capital, Podgorica, acquitted two opposition leaders on Friday from the pro-Russian Democratic Front alliance, charged in 2016 with the crime of "incitement to violent change of the constitutional order" during the anti-government protests.
"There is no evidence that Mandic and Radunovic in any way were calling for violence to change the constitutional order," judge Vladimir Novovic said.
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Serbia’s departing President Tomislav Nikolic said on Friday that he hopes for Serbia to unite with Republika Srpska, the Serb-dominated entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina. “Fortunately they still don’t arrest Serbs for the wishes they express,” Nikolic said after visiting the construction site of a bridge between Serbia and Bosnia.He said he felt pride because the leaders of Serbia and Republika Srpska are “thinking about both parts of the Serbian nation”.
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Romanian tycoon and former MP Sebastian Ghita has reportedly been released from the custody of the Belgrade District Prison with bail set at 200,000 euros.The tycoon, who is wanted in six different corruption cases and is awaiting extradition to Romania, is not allowed to leave Belgrade and must report to the police periodically.
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Serbian Army started the training of its reserve corps in accordance with the training plan for 2017. The military plans to organize such training once every five years. Ministry of Defense spokesman Jovan Krivokapic had denied media speculations that the training is connected with the refugee crisis.
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The Serbian ambassador in Macedonia, Dusanka Divjak-Tomic, attended a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Macedonia on Friday, where she was invited to explain the presence of the counselor at the Embassy of Serbia and the member of the Serbian Secret Service Goran Zivaljevic in the Macedonian Parliament when protesters stormed the building last month, Beta news agency reported on Friday.After the meetings, which lasted slightly more than an hour, Divjak-Tomic made no statement to journalists, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Macedonia announced that it will be releasing a statement.
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Citizens of Voderady in western Slovakia filed a petition against the adaptation of a former boarding school in the town to accommodation for foreign workers, primarily Serbs and Romanians, Beta news agency reported on Friday.
According to the petition, residents of Voderady were first protesting under the slogan "We do not want workers here from Serbia" and have collected the signatures of nearly all adults in the town.
Voderady. Photo: Wikimedia/Luboš Holič -
International humanitarian organisations Medecins du Monde and Doctors Without Borders have accused the Croatian police of beating migrants who were trying to enter the country from Serbia.
Croatia police spokesperson demanded the organisations' official documentation on the incident before he can comment on the case. -
State extraordinary management in the troubled Croatian private company Agrokor announced on the firm’s website that the company-owned helicopter and 24-metre-long yacht are on sale - previously used in both business and private purposes by Agrokor's owner Ivica Todoric.
The sale is happening as part of the process of the company’s financial restructuring and the management will take offers for both items.
Ivica Todoric. Photo: Beta
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