Compiled by Eva Jovanova and Hristo Voynov
1. Macedonia’s Parliament ratified the name agreement for the second time yesterday. Despite the boycott of the biggest opposition party, VMRO-DPMNE, despite the President’s approval to sign the bill, and despite numerous street protests in the country’s capital, the number of MPs who supported the ratification in the plenary session remained the same as the first time they voted – 69 out of the 120 MPs voted in favor. The deal will now be subject to a referendum which will be held in September or October, and for which Macedonia’s government had already begun an unofficial campaign. The deal paves the way for Macedonia’s integration into the EU and NATO.
2. Czechians might finally have a government come July 11th when there will be a vote of confidence for PM Babis and his ANO party and their coalition partners, the Social Democrats. This comes 8 months after the elections and many meetings to try and find a compromise between the two, as well as the observing partners, the communist party. This is the second vote of confidence that Babis is having, and while the coalition does have the necessary number of votes, it is unclear if all of the Social Democrats will vote yes, considering their issues with the PM’s legal problems and some less then satisfied requirements for their support. It is unclear what will happen if this second vote of confidence fails.
3. Serbia’s capital Belgrade was decorated for the first time this Tuesday with Serbian and Ukrainian flags as the presidents of the two countries had their meeting. They both pledges to strengthen cooperation, however, Crimea and Russia remained difficult topics. Ukraine claims Serbian mercenaries had fought on the Russian side in Eastern Ukraine and thus had criticized Serbia numerous times before the Tuesday meeting. Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko also urged Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic not to recognize Crimea as Russian, as Ukraine has not recognized Kosovo’s independence.
4. Controversial judicial reforms took place in Poland after much criticism from the EU which accused the ruling Law and Justice Party of changing the system to give itself an edge in future elections. These reforms include a highly controversial forced retirement at 65 for supreme court judges (unless the president waives it in particular cases), and Supreme Court First President MałgorzataGersdorf is the first to be affected by this law. She refuses to step down, citing the constitution which states judges will not be removable. The ruling party ran their previous campaign with calls for judicial reforms, and so claim that it is by the will of the people that these reforms are happening. The EU is now working on legal action against Poland’s current government for attacking the independence of its courts.
5. “The European path for Macedonia and Albania is open” stated the German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Heiko Maas, in an interview for Deutsche Welle. He reiterated that certain reforms must be implemented urgently and that the governments in Tirana and Skopje will have to take their success from the previous year and positive recommendation by the Commission as an incentive and not delay the reforms the EU necessitates. He also promised that Germany will continue to strongly support the two countries before and during the negotiation process if the two governments are ready to use the time until June 2019 to dedicate themselves on implementing these reforms.
6. EU sanctions against Russia have been extended for another 6 months until the end of January 2019. They were originally put in place during July 2014 in response to developments in Ukraine and have had a significant negative impact on both economies. Russia’s Permanent Representative to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, stated that this would have negative impacts on the Minsk Agreement, a peacekeeping deal regarding Ukraine. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova elaborated on this, stating that a conditional end to sanctions tied to full implementation of the agreement is a failed endeavor because Ukraine’s government is working to prevent a full implementation from happening in order to perpetuate the sanctions.
7. Even though supportive comments came by Germany’s Foreign Minister, diplomats in Albania strongly doubt that the country is dedicated to curbing crime. During yesterday’s conference in Tirana on curbing crime, the ambassadors from the US, the UK and Germany showed their doubt, stressing the failure to arrest the crime leader Klement Balili. Albanian President Edi Rama spoke at the conference and claimed that the era of impunity in the country is over, but that the courts in the country sometimes free criminals who were arrested by the police.
8. The Central Election Commission of Moldova agreed with the Supreme Court to null the election results of the mayoral elections in Chisinau. The many protesters did not turn the tide, as there appears to be little that can be done in opposition to this move. The main thing to pay attention to now is who will be appointed mayor, as an acting mayor will be put in place until the next elections in 2019. It is unclear who will be put in office, but Andrei Nastase, a pro-West reformer was originally elected, and if his constituents are unhappy with who he is replaced with, the protests are not likely to end.
9. The government of Republika Srpska, a Serbian entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ruled this Wednesday that Bosnian and Herzegovinian state symbols will be banned from the uniforms of its Civil Protection Corps. Eleven Bosnian Serbs will participate in a disaster-emergency drill called “Serbia 2018” in neighboring Serbia this fall. They will be obliged to wear the symbols of the civil protection of Republika Srpska on their uniforms during the operational activities and only the flag of the entity will be put in the camps where the civil protection corps from RS will be located.
10. Belarus celebrated its independence day on July 3rd which marks the day that Soviet troops liberated the city from Nazi rule. President Alyaksandr Lukashenka celebrated at a military parade in which he praised the country for simultaneously building ties to Russia, China, and the West. A small protest was planned but disrupted quickly by police who arrested 20 protesters, including opposition figure MikalayStatkevich, who received just over 1% of the vote in the country’s 2010 presidential elections.
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