Compiled by Eva Jovanova and Hristo Voynov
1. Albanian mass protests escalated this week. After the opposition rally last week that numbered thousands of protestors, this week 57 opposition MPs from the Socialist Movement and the Democratic Party announced their resignations. The protestors, together with the MPs, loudly opposed the “vote-buying scheme” by Edi Rama’s government before the 2017 elections and called for Rama’s resignation and early elections. The protests became violent last Saturday. Another rally is scheduled for Tuesday.
2. Moldova held very important parliamentary elections, which featured many accusations of voter fraud from many different parties. The Socialist party, led by President Igor Dodon who advocates for closer ties to Russia, won with just over 31% of the vote, while the pro-EU ACUM coalition, which stated its candidates were poisoned ahead of the elections, won 26.5%. Third place went to the Democratic Party of Moldova, with roughly 23%, leaving many parties with single-digit percentages. Many claim that the elections were tainted and the leading parties are considering further actions. Outside observers were split on exactly how much corrupt influence was placed on the elections, but all agree there was some degree of voting manipulation. Now the main question is if enough parties will be able to form a coalition, or if snap elections will be called in the coming months.
3. Protests in Montenegro shook Podgorica’s streets last Saturday. With a banner “Resist” and calling for the resignations of the chief prosecutor for organized crime and the Supreme State Prosecutor over accusations of overseeing corruption in the President Milo Djukanovic’s inner circle. The main trigger for the protests was a revelation that Djukanovic’s party, DPS, was financed by undocumented donations from a person who is accused of money laundering. The handling of funds was taped on a video that was then broadcasted and that provoked the protests. Two opposition parties have been boycotting the Parliament since 2016, and the number of MP boycotters might rise soon.
4. Former Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico allegedly threatened current Slovakian President Andrej Kiska over a seat on the country’s constitutional court. Kiska claims that Fico threatened war if he was not given the position. Fico denied the allegations and said that Kiska is a fraud trying to blame Fico for investigations against him. The National Criminal Agency (NAKA) is now investigating Fico over the threat, as well as Kiska over using his private company to help in his presidential campaign. This comes at a time noted by citizen’s low faith in Slovakian politicians.
5. On top of the Albanian and Montenegrin protests and boycotts, the Serbian protests and MP boycotts are giving the European Union a headache. The Serbian “one of five million” protests that began in late November 2018 continued in even larger numbers, and opposition MPs remain out of Parliament. The European Commission spokesperson, Maja Kocijancic, called for the MPs from the three countries to return to Parliament and try to work with the government parties there. The statement has caused much controversy, as the Parliaments of these countries have not proven to be fruitful places for discussions and reaching compromises.
6. With the March 31st elections fast approaching Ukraine, incumbent President Petro Poroshenko is taking heat from the top two candidates running. This is because a report has accused some politicians close to Poroshenko, mainly the son of Oleh Hladkovsky, of buying and then smuggling spare military parts out of Russia, then selling them to state-owned defense-industry factories who were aware of their origins. Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has accused the Rada, or Ukrainian Parliament of impeding impeachment charges over this affair, while three different members of Poroshenko’s party have resigned their memberships. The Rada has decided to hold an urgent investigation into the allegations. This comes at a time when a major anti-corruption law was struck down by the nation’s supreme court, while Poroshenko proposed a new alternative law. Tymoshenko herself is now accused of campaign finance violations.
7. North Macedonia slowly prepares for its presidential election that is scheduled for the end of April. The governing SDSM officially announced their candidate, university professor Stevo Pendarovski. Pendarovski is a consensual candidate whom the Albanian coalition partner of SDSM promised to support. Pendarovski is not officially an SDSM member, and he had faced the current president, George Ivanov, in the 2014 election. He was not too far from a victory then, which came as a surprise as Ivanov was a candidate endorsed by the former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski who had shifted the country into an authoritarian system. Pendarovski will face the independent candidate who gained the main opposition VMRO-DPMNE’s support, the university professor Gordana Siljanovska. North Macedonia can hope to see another “academic duel” soon.
8. Belarusian President, Alexander Lukashenko, held a major press conference where he discussed various issues, but most notably giving his opinions on the Union State between Belarus and Russia. While saying that the two countries “speak with one voice” in the international community, but also claiming that Belarus does not live off of Russia, nor does further integration mean Belarus being swallowed by Russia. Perhaps the most important statement he made was that Belarus needs a new constitution, which can signal an attempt to ensure the status quo of the country.
9. A Croatian party takes a step further from criticizing Viktor Orban and decides to leave the European People’s Party. The Croatian Peasants Party (HSS) announced this Sunday that they would no longer be a part of the EPP, as they do not want to be associated with “anti-European” and “anti-civilized” parties of the EPP such as Orban’s Fidesz. However, they have not announced with what European party they wish to be affiliated with if they get elected into the European Parliament this May. They currently have only one MEP out of the eleven seats reserved for Croatia in the European Parliament.
10. Further allegations of Russian espionage in Europe came out this week, most notably an employee arrested in a Swedish high-tech company charged with accusations of working for Russian intelligence. It was also revealed that a Russian accused of being part of the Sergei Skripal poisoning was also present in Bulgaria when a local businessman connected to the defense industry was poisoned in a similar way. However, the most significant revelation was an increase in attempts to hack into the emails of many European institutes, which Microsoft claims are originating from Russia. It is believed that this is an attempt to influence the upcoming European Parliament elections.
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