Balkans

Ungarns Ministerpräsident Viktor Orbán hat sein Land zu einem bevorzugten Partner autoritärer Regime in der EU gemacht. Das hat sich für beide Seiten ausgezahlt: für Orbán in Form von Investitionen in sein Land, für die Herrscher in Moskau und Peking dadurch, dass der Ungar die Einigkeit des Westens ihnen gegenüber …

While Bulgaria will not just benefit from other’s security, Sofia de facto refused an additional presence of NATO forces on the country’s territory in connection with the Ukraine crisis and committed to resolving it diplomatically. The position of the Bulgarian government is clear – Bulgaria will be a constructive ally …

The political crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina is not a consequence of the decision[2] by the then High Representative in BiH (OHR) Valentin Inzko on amendments to the BiH Criminal Law criminalizing and sanctioning negation of genocide but a result of carefully and long planned activities primarily by the Serb …

A ceremony at the Tanagra Air Force Base marked the arrival, in which a Greek priest blessed the jets and their pilots. “La bas!” – “Over there” – a French journalist broke the silence pointing at a formation of specks in the overcast sky. Greece’s newly-acquired fourth generation Rafale aircraft …

Az orosz–ukrán konfliktus egyre riasztóbb fejleményeit és az Egyesült Államokkal kötendő védelmi megállapodásunkat övező hisztériát figyelve időnként meg kell csípnem magam, hogy nem álmodom-e. Úgy tűnik, Szlovákia lakosságának egy része még mindig képtelen elfogadni az 1989-es rendszerváltást. E sorok írója ahhoz a generációhoz tartozik, amely megtapasztalhatta az előző rendszer, az …

The Hungarian government has allegedly hired a Washington DC lobbyist who is linked to Israeli company NSO Group, the creators of Pegasus spyware, to prepare for potential US sanctions, Telex reported via Direkt36. A multinational investigation in which Direkt36 participated revealed last summer that the software was reportedly used to …

After a heavy snowstorm paralysed Athens, the Greek army was asked to intervene and help citizens who were trapped in their cars for hours. Despite initial guarantees that the state was prepared, the government has lost control of the situation. Many parts of Athens are still facing electricity cut off, …

Some years ago, in the aftermath of Russia’s 2014 seizure of Crimea, I noted in this space the precedent set by the West’s support of Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence in February 2008. Kosovo had been part of Serbia and recognized as such in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244. …

Serbia will hold a referendum on constitutional changes in the area of judiciary on 16 January 2022. The consitutional changes, as a prerequisite for reforms within the framework of the EU integration process, are related to the selection of judges and prosecutors. The changes should provide for independence of the …

Far-right European politicians such as Hungary’s Viktor Orbán have been making common cause with Serb nationalists who seek to tear Bosnia and Herzegovina apart. In February 2018, Giorgia Meloni, a seasoned Italian right-wing politician, tweeted a photo of Hungary’s far-right prime minister Viktor Orbán attending a roundtable meeting in his …