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The Balkans Today
The Balkans Today: 7th - 13th March 2016
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 first detailed biography in English of Albania's Enver Hoxha paints a fascinating portrait of the weirdest tyrant the Balkans ever saw. Read more here.
- Belgrade hosts one of the world’s most important guitar music festivals and features a wide range of international artists. Check the program here.
- Move to rename square in Montenegrin capital Podgorica - for the fourth time in 70 years - draws mixed response from locals who have seen it all before. Read more here.
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The Balkan route taken by hundreds of thousands of migrants to Europe is going to be closed, EU leaders will declare Monday at their summit with Turkey in Brussels, diplomats and officials said over the weekend.
Their statement — to be approved by leaders on Monday — was discussed by EU ambassadors on Sunday afternoon. “Irregular flows of migrants along the Western Balkans route are coming to an end; this route is now closed,” according to a copy of the document obtained by POLITICO.
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In a statement released today, Bosnia's State Prosecution condemned the accusations by Sarajevo-based newspaper Dnevni Avaz that it has "mounted a political process" against the leader of the Alliance for a Better Future, Fahrudin Radoncic, who is closely linked to the media outlet."These attacks are absolutely inappropriate," the Prosecution stated, noting that "all the accused will be judged as all other accused, regardless of the political position, material situation or any other circumstance, as all citizens are equals before the law."Radoncic is accused of having obstructed the work of the judiciary and is currently in detention, after having violated the restrictions of his house arrest.
Fahrudin Radoncic | Photo: Anadolu -
How many different ways is there to make a blueberry pie?
Find out at Kulturni centar GRAD tonight, where you can taste an array of versions of this Finnish dessert, made by the Finnish-Serbian society, SEURA. #Belgrade
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A parliamentary commission in Tirana has started working on Albania's electoral reform, which once completed will clear the path for general elections to take place in summer 2017.The commission aims to amend the country's electoral code, and will be evenly represented by the ruling Socialist Party of Albania and the opposition, with six MPs from each included in its lineup.
Ballot boxes of 2015 local elections | Photo: KQZ -
The 27-year-old Kosovo Albanian, who spent 10 months in Syria before returning home, says he saw goodwill turn to hostility among civilians caught up in the conflict zone as abuses mounted and noncombatants increasingly feared the ranks of foreign-born militants like him.
Speaking to RFE/RL's Balkan Service, the grandson of a Kosovar imam says videos from the conflict persuaded him to go to Syria in May 2013. -
Serbian and Bosnian tennis teams have won their first-round group matches against Kazakhstan and Tunisia respectively, beating them on home turf in thrilling encounters that were uncertain until the very end. The Serbian team came out 3:2 on top, while Bosnia finished with a score of 3:1 against its opponent.
You can see our gallery from this event here
Photo: Anadolu Agency -
Albania marks March 7 as Teacher's Day, commemorating the date the first Albanian-language school was built in 1887 in the southeastern city of Korca.Politicians used the occasion to promise better working conditions for educators across the nation and to fight corruption in the teaching system.
Teachers celebrating today in Tirana | Photo: Facebook -
Over 58 per cent of Bulgarians feel that despite the progress in some spheres of public life, corruption is growing in general and there is a lack of justice, polling agency Alpha Research’s latest survey shows.Every second Bulgarian believes that if the rule of law of was respected and corruption did not thrive, their quality of life would be higher, the results also highlight.Only 20 per cent of the poll's participants gave a positive assessment of the government's work, while the majority (62.2 per cent) believe the top judges are most responsible for the widespread corruption in the country. -
A quarter of Bosnian women have suffered some form of violence from their partner, "from the physical, psycological, economic or sexual point of view," Amela Basic Tomic, the coordinator of the United Women Banja Luka association said at a press conference in Republika Srpska's capital on Monday morning.Women most frequently decide to denounce violence only when they experience some kind of physical assault, she added.Zvijezdana Markovic, the foundation's legal assistant, said that statistics also showed that in 2014 only 23.8 per cent of state-level MPs were women, declaring this figure unsatisfactory.
Photo: Anadolu -
Skopje’s municipality of Butel has not given up on building the third giant metal cross overlooking the Macedonian capital, despite the project being annulled by the government, Butel's Mayor Petre Latinovski said at a rally in front of the Ministry of Interior in the capital today.
Several hundred people attended the rally, demanding police security at the site where the cross was intended to be built.
Last Thursday, Albanians occupied the location in Butel and held it for one day in protest of the construction of the cross, which they see as a provocation against the predominantly Muslim Albanian community.
Photo by: lokalno.mk
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European leaders say they've reached an agreement in principle for Turkey to take back irregular migrants who arrive in Greece.German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called it 'a breakthrough if implemented.' Read more here.
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Top stories from the Balkans this Tuesday:
- Former Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boskoski, a government critic, has become eligible for early release from prison.
- Serbia’s rulers have not got used to the idea of an Ombudsman who can hold government to account, Sasa Jankovic says in his interview for BIRN.
- An Albanian imam and his Syrian wife who left Damascus before the war said they fear for the lives of relatives left behind.
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The Service for Foreigners in Bosnia and Herzegovina is actively looking for a third country where Syrian citizen Imad al-Husin, better known as Abu Hamza, can be safely extradited to, but "until now, nobody has accepted," Slobodan Ujic, the director of the Service, told Sarajevo-based news website Klix.
Hamza was released on February 18 after almost eight years in a detention centre in the Sarajevo suburb of Lukavica, after having been arrested on accusations of representing a threat to Bosnian national security.
Abu Hamza | Photo: Facebook -
Starting today, strings will be plucking all over #Belgrade with the 17th annual Guitar Art Festival running until March 13.
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The persistent preoccupation with shipping people back to Turkey instead of making unconditional efforts on resettlement and offering other safe and legal ways to Europe shows an alarmingly short-sighted and inhumane attitude to handling this crisis, said Amnesty International after European Council talks with Turkey held on Monday.“EU and Turkish leaders have today sunk to a new low, effectively horse trading away the rights and dignity of some of the world’s most vulnerable people. The idea of bartering refugees for refugees is not only dangerously dehumanising, but also offers no sustainable long term solution to the ongoing humanitarian crisis,” said Iverna McGowan, Head of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office.
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Macedonian police have been in the village of Batinci, on the outskirts of Skopje, since this morning, in the home of an individual suspected of organising election fraud in previous polls, local media reported.
Unofficially, the action is being carried out at the request of the Special Prosecution, tasked to investigate high-level corruption, and it is still unknown whether the police are there to apprehend suspects or gather evidence. -
Kosovo's president-elect has pledged to "fully support" a new war crimes court prosecuting members of the guerrilla group he once led -- despite a question mark hanging over whether he himself will be indicted.
Thaci, whose nom de guerre was "the Snake", has consistently denied the explosive claims, telling AFP ahead of his election to the presidency that "under no circumstances did I violate international law".
"I know that the Kosovo struggle and the KLA struggle was a clean and just one. Nobody can rewrite history," the 47-year-old said, stressing Kosovo's full cooperation over the EU-funded court.
"We have met all the requests and demands, and because we have nothing to hide we fully support any attempts to do justice."
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Bulgaria wants financial aid from the European Commission for protecting the borders of the Schengen zone, which is it not part of, Bulgarian PM Boyko Borissov commented on Tuesday following the EU summit in Turkey.“There is a paradox – we are guarding the Schengen borders in line with the Schengen rules, but at the same time, we are not a part of Schengen,” he said.Bulgaria will also expect technical support from other EU member states, such as the UK, he added.
Borissov at the EU summit on March 7. |Photo: Facebook -
To mark International Women's Day, Albanian police have handed bouquets of flowers to randomly selected female drivers on Tuesday.
by fatjona.mejdini via YouTube 3/8/2016 12:52:15 PM -
Filippo Grandi, the head of the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR), told members of the European Parliament Tuesday he is “deeply concerned” about the tentative deal reached between the EU and Turkey on returning refugees.
“As a first reaction I’m deeply concerned about any arrangement that would involve the blanket return of anyone from one country to another without spelling out the refugee protection safeguards under international law,” Grandi said, in an address to a plenary session of the Parliament in Strasbourg.
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Members of the Bosnian Presidency have begun a two-day visit to Croatia aimed to improve relations between the two countries.
One of the main topics on the agenda during the visit is the realisation of the European Corridor 5C between the two countries.
Bosnian media have reported that the visit is of great importance since Croatia is working on a new political agenda which should define its priorities in relations with Bosnia. This is also expected to increase Zagreb's engagement in Bosnia's EU and NATO accession.
Members of Bosnian Presidency with President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic | Photo: Anadolu -
Romanian businessman Ilie Carabulea was sentenced on Tuesday to six-and-a-half years in prison, without parole, for corrupting state officials.
Carabulea, who is the owner of one of Romania's biggest local insurers, was accused of setting up an organised crime group aimed at protecting his company. However, the court's decision is not final. -
During the Bosnian Presidency's two-day visit to Zagreb, which started today, Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic said that Bosnia and Herzegovina has Croatia's support on their way to EU and NATO membership.
She added that Croatia is "interested for the destiny of the Croatian people as one of three constitutive peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina."
Croatian President and Bosnian Presidency in Zagreb. | Photo: Anadolu Agency/Mustafa Öztürk -
Bulgaria ranks seventh in the EU in terms of economic growth, with GDP rising by 3 per cent in 2015, higher than the 1.8 per cent average of the 28 EU member states, Eurostat data shows.
The EU countries which exceeded Bulgaria's economic growth are Sweden (4.5 per cent), Czech Republic (4 per cent), Slovakia (4 per cent), Romania (3.8 per cent), Poland (3.7 per cent) and Spain (3.5 per cent).
Greece was the only EU country to register an economic drop (0.8 per cent) in the last year.
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Croatia "will not interfere in the domestic affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina," Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic said today during a press conference after her meeting with members of the Bosnian Presidency.She stressed however that "Croatia is interested in the fate of the Croats," adding that Croatia will support Bosnia's EU and NATO integration."I hope that already at the next summit in Warsaw [in June] we will activate the Membership Action Plan for Bosnia," Grabar-Kitarovic said.
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic | Photo: Anadolu -
Following the EU-Turkish deal on refugees reached in Brussels, Slovenia is to start returning so-called irregular migrants from its borders from midnight onwards.The Serbian Ministry of Interior said Slovenia will not accept any more migrants who attempt to enter its territory without valid visas and passports.
The information, passed to Serbia by counterparts from Croatia on Tuesday, cements the
de-facto closure of the so-called Balkan refugee route.
The statement said that Serbia will now adopt the same measures towards its southern and eastern neighbours, Macedonia and Bulgaria.
The moves come after Turkey and the EU on Monday agreed to stem migration and refugee flows from Turkey to Greece, including the mass return to Turkey of all “irregular migrants” crossing to the Greek islands. -
Top stories from the Balkans this Wednesday:
- Following the EU-Turkish deal on refugees reached in Brussels, Slovenia and Serbia started returning so-called irregular migrants from its borders from midnight onwards. Read more.
- Croatian Prime Minister Tihomir Oreskovic faces a choice between two candidates with different controversies attached as he decides who to name as the new war veterans’ minister in the coming days after the ignominious resignation of the previous incumbent. Read more.
- Tirana’s offer of refuge to enemies of the Iranian regime, facing massacre in Iraq, should be recognized by the world as a brave humanitarian gesture, Struan Stevenson argues. Read more.
- A joint project between Croatia and Bosnia aims to revitalise the old railways built by the Austria-Hungarian Empire by creating a network of bicycle trails, which will also help unlock the tourist potential of the region. Read more.
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Refugees may start to cross over Albania econ.st/1QIPzZv via Getting @TheEconomist 25 yrs since the exodus and now a different storyby Tim Judah via twitter 3/9/2016 11:02:21 AM -
Following Slovenia's lead, Serbia effectively closed its borders to migrants without vaild EU visas as of midnight on Tuesday, said Serbia's labour minister Aleksandar Vulin, adding that the country is waiting to hear more concrete details relating to dealing with the refugee crisis when the European Council meets next week."When it comes to us, we will take care that on our territory domestic and international laws are respected, meaning that we will treat the people on our territory humanely. We will also take care there is not illegals entering our territory," Vulin said. -
Montenegro’s economy is expected to expand by a real 4.6 per cent in 2016, following a revised estimated growth of 4.1 per cent in 2015, as the country remains reliant on large infrastructure projects and vulnerable to fluctuations in external demand, the International Monetary Fund said.
Montenegro’s economy rebounded last year, and strong growth is set to continue after the medium-term outlook was boosted by the construction of the Bar-Boljare highway, the IMF said in a statement after it concluded an Article IV consultation with Montenegro. -
More than 2,000 complaints for inconsistencies in Macedonia's electoral roll have been filed to the State Electoral Commission since it launched an app last week allowing people to check the list.
The commission says it will have a preliminary estimate of how many problematic voters are on the electoral roll next week, when it will also decide whether they will be able to correct the list by the deadline of April 15.
Photo by: MIA
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Mostar's two main political parties, the Croatian Democratic Union and the Bosniak Party of Democratic Action, are planning to "transform Mostar in a 21st-century East and West Berlin," the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina stated in a press release on Wednesday.
"Judging from the recent declarations by the representatives of the two parties, Mostar will be soon divided into a Croat and Bosniak getto," the release reads.
Bosnian authorities urgently need to find a solution to the political crisis in the city if they want to organise local elections in October, which would be the first since 2008.
The President of SDPBiH Nermin Niksic | Photo: SDP -
During the Socialist Party of Albania's general assembly on Wednesday, Albania's PM Edi Rama apologised to his party's members for not being able to organise elections to decide on the renewal of his mandate as leader since 2009.The assembly was called to determine the rules for the party's upcoming electoral congress on March 19, and will also decide whether an open voting process will be used for the election of the party's chairman, as requested by MP Ben Blushi, a critic of Rama.
Prime Minister Edi Rama during a party meeting | Photo: Facebook -
Twenty one Serbian citizens are among the 25 people who have been arrested in an anti-drug sting by Europol, carried out by Serbian, Czech and Spanish police forces, announced Serbia police today.Ten laboratories in Spain and the Czech Republic used for artificially producing marijuana were raided, and among those arrested was the believed ringleader, a 41-year-old man from Novi Sad.
Photo: Europol -
Bulgarian citizens who participated in the anti-government protests in 2013 and 2014 announced the launch of a new political party on Wednesday.The party is named 'June 14' after the date in 2013 when thousands of Bulgarians took to the streets of Sofia to protest against the appointment of the controversial businessman and MP Delyan Peevski as head of the State Agency for National Security.“We did not know each other before the protests. What brought us together is our cause and ambition to change the status quo,” the founders of the new party said during the presentation of its aims and priorities.
Photo: Philippe Le Moine/Flickr -
Bosnia's Prosecution said on Wednesday it is concerned about the media attacks against Prosecutor Dubravko Campara by Dnevni Avaz, a Sarajevo-based newspaper close to the Bosnian businessman and politician Fahrudin Radoncic, N1 television network reported.
According to the Prosecution, "Dnevni List published [some material] which can be considered as a direct menace on the life and security of the Prosecutor," and they have submitted this as evidence to the Bosnian State Court.
Radoncic was arrested on January 25 accused of having obstructed the work of the Judiciary and is currently held in detention after having broken the rules of his house arrest.
Photo: Tuzilastvo BiH -
Bulgaria and Iran have decided to restart the work of the joint Bulgarian-Iranian commission for energy and natural gas, Bulgaria's energy minister announced on Wednesday.During Bulgaria's official visit to Iran, Bulgarian and Iranian officials have been discussing opportunities for Iranian gas deliveries to Bulgaria as part of the Balkan nation's strategy for energy diversification.As part of this, Bulgaria’s deputy minister of energy, Zhecho Stankov, presented the government’s project for building a gas delivery hub in Bulgaria, which will be named “Balkan”.
Photo: Bulgarian Ministry of Energy -
A delegation of the IMF arrived in Tirana on Wednesday to discuss the disbursement of the IMF's fifth and sixth loan installment to Albania, which totals 72.4 million euros.The IMF's board of directors approved the release of the installments last month and its delegation will discuss its disbursement during the next ten days.The total amount Albania has received from the IMF has now reached 226.8 million euros.
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Despite protests, on Wednesday Macedonia’s Constitutional Court decided to proceed with an initiative to deem changes in the law on pardon unconstitutional, that opens the way for pardoning former officials suspected of election fraud.
Although the Constitutional Court’s decision is not yet final, critics fear it is working in the interests of the main ruling VMRO DPMNE party, of which some officials were recently named as suspects in an election-rigging inquiry.
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Romanian deputies on Wednesday voted that MP Cristian Rizea can be investigated, but not arrested, in relation to a corruption case.
Prosecutors from the anti-graft department, DNA, say Rizea allegedly received 300,000 euros from a businessman to use his position to influence a case of property restitution.
Vote in Romanian Parliament | Photo: BIRN
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