Compiled by Eva Jovanova and Hristo Voynov
1. Kosovo Prime Minister, Ramush Haradinaj, rejected the idea of border correction between Serbia and Kosovo. He claimed that Serbia would have to recognize Kosovo without taking a part of its territory, and reiterated his fears that Kosovo might turn into a new Republika Srpska. Serbs who support the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) protested in Belgrade this Monday, but this time not only against Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic but against recognition of Kosovo, flaunting the parole “Kosovo is Serbia.”
2. A Visegrad Group (V4) summit set to take place in Israel has been canceled following remarks by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and acting Foreign Minister Israel Katz that blamed Poland for its complicity during the Holocaust. A spat between the two occurred months ago but has since mended, so the resurgence of this sentiment will likely be harder to put aside the second time. Israel has been supportive of the more conservative EU countries that the V4 represents, hence Israel’s interest in hosting the summit, but the dispute between Poland and Israeli is sure to divide that friendship. While various groups, such as Polish Jews and the US, a valuable ally of both countries, are calling for dialogue, Poland’s sensitivity to its era under Nazi occupation is likely to ensure that this debate persists between the two countries.
3. Bosnia and Herzegovina might have a government soon. This Monday, the Bosniak leader of SDA – Bakir Izetbegovic, the Croatian leader of HDZ BiH – Dragan Covic, and the Serb SNSD leader – Milorad Dodik met in Sarajevo at the presidency building and agreed they needed to form a government as soon as possible. After the October elections, there has been a stalemate in forming a government in BiH. The main challenge is who will be appointed a Chairman of the Council of Ministers.
4. Slovakia’s constitutional court is in limbo right now, as each justices’ terms are officially over, but they are still sitting on the court as an alternative to leaving it empty after there were no new justices elected last week. Former PM Robert Fico announced that he would not be running for a seat on the court, which was the source of the issue that led to the current state of uncertainty. The court is now running with unusual rules to make up for its unusual situation. This comes around the first anniversary of the murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée, which Fico himself may be caught up. Having a functioning constitutional court during this complicated investigation involving multiple government officials is a necessity.
5. Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and the leader of his coalition party the Albanian DUI, Ali Ahmeti, agreed that they might stand behind a joint candidate for the presidential elections this May. However, they still have not decided who the consensual candidate should be. The Prime Minister refuted the speculations that he might run. The opposition VMRO-DPMNE announced its candidate, university professor Gordana Siljanovska, last week. She will be the most serious contestant to whoever SDSM and DUI decide to nominate.
6. Two major Moldovan opposition figures claim to have been poisoned by the government. Maia Sandu, leader of the two-year-old Action and Solidarity party which is yet to hold any major office, and Andrei Nastase, Dignity and Truth Platform Party who was the winner of the nullified 2018 Chișinău mayoral, both claim to have tested positive for heavy metals in their bloodstream. The two parties have formed the ACUM coalition and are expected to receive roughly a fifth of the total vote in the upcoming election scheduled for February 24.
7. Slovenian opposition party SDS, and the ruling Marjan Sarec List (LMS) are projected to dominate the European Parliament elections this May. They are expected to win three seats each and are estimated to win a bit more than 25% of the vote each. The forecasts say that the Social Democrats and the Left will win one seat each and are expected to score between 14% and 12%.
8. Russian President Vladimir Putin held his annual state of the nation address, in which he optimistically projected 3% growth, promised to tackle demographic changes in Russia’s aging population, bragged about Russia’s new unmanned atomic submarine, and more. He also blamed the US for violating the recently abandoned INF treaty first by deploying missiles to Russia. One interesting claim is an expected 7% growth in investment by 2020, which is unlikely because of the arrest of major US investor Michael Calvey over financial crimes. The Kremlin says that this is not going to impact the investment climate and that he will receive a fair trial, but as this reminds many of the yet unfinished Bill Browder saga, it is unlikely to be as insignificant as the Kremlin hopes.
9. Serbian ruling party hints at scheduling snap elections this spring. Data published by the Balkan Investigative Research Group show that between 2012 and 2018 almost 70 million Euros were spent on early elections, other various elections, and polls. Despite the fact that Vucic’s Progressive Party enjoys a majority each time, which is currently the case, snap elections do not necessarily help him much. This Tuesday, Vucic announced that if Kosovo does not revoke the 100% tariffs imposed on Serbian imports, he would call elections that would determine the future of Serbian Kosovo negotiations.
10. The EU has decided to extend the Belarus arms embargo which was put in place in 2011 for a “deteriorating human rights, democracy, and rule-of-law situation.” While the extension was being discussed, Hungary once again emerged as an ally to the Belarusian cause, looking to tie the Belarus Partnership Priorities with the extension, but the failure to complete the Priorities document over Lithuanian concerns of a Belarusian power plant ensured that this would at least be delayed until next year’s extension round. In an attempt to downplay the need for such sanctions, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko emphasized his country’s stability and peaceful foreign policy, important features for a geopolitical neighbor – but not related to the issues behind the embargo.
0 comments