Balkans

Tomislav Tomasevic’s imminent victory in Zagreb matches a pattern emerging across Europe – where big cities choose radical mayors – but not ones drawn from the traditional parties of the left. The Croatian state’s founding father, the warrior-politician and nationalist Franjo Tudjman, must be spinning in his grave, which lies …

Law and Justice unveiled new economic measures designed to benefit the poorest, in what can be seen as a major offensive by the governing party ahead of the 2023 general election. Back in 2015, when it first came to power, Law and Justice (PiS) presented voters with a catchy proposal: …

A UN probe into the conflict in Libya led investigators to a small airstrip south of Belgrade, where an ‘agricultural’ plane – modified to carry rockets and traced to US security contractor Erik Prince – was serviced in 2018. Gas Aviation’s hangar is located at the small Rudine grass strip …

Since the fall of the VMRO-DPMNE regime and the Nikola Gruevski – Saso Mijalkov duo, the Republic of North Macedonia has made historical steps forward in its national and social-political development. Upon their arrival to power, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and the Social-Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) had to face …

As a European Union and NATO member that borders Turkey, hugs the Black Sea coast and maintains cordial relations with Russia, Bulgaria is a strategically significant country. Yet in recent years, it has rarely made international news—except for the occasional domestic clash over Russian influence and periodic mass protests over …

Albania’s socialist party under the leadership of Edi Rama has installed a one – party state regime that is harming, violating the national constitution and taking the country into an abysmal state of denial; that is guided by western diplomatic channels that are boosting Rama’s internal power politics, while his …

Cyprus has been divided between Greek and Turkish Cypriots since 1974, Turkish Cypriots in the north, Greek Cypriots in the south with a U.N. monitored buffer zone separating the two. There are still some 40,000 Turkish troops in the Turkish Cypriot area. The U.N. peacekeeping mission (UNFICYP) has been in …

The Socialists’ streamlined political machine and controversial patronage system won them a third election victory – but have worrying implications for democracy, experts say. As Albanian election officials were busy counting ballots cast in Albania’s April 25 parliamentary elections last week, one name popped up in the media as a …

With a parliamentary majority proving elusive, Bulgaria appears destined for another election. That’s about all anyone can predict with any degree of certainty. Uncertainty is the only certainty in Bulgarian politics these days. Since an inconclusive election on April 4, both the winner – long-time ruling party GERB – and …

The fact that territorial changes in the Balkan region are becoming a reoccurring debate suggest that these dangerous ideas are gaining traction, even within the EU. Much has already been said about the now infamous “non-paper” apparently composed by Slovenia’s Prime Minister, Janez Jansa, which mulls the possible partition of …