Compiled by: Hristo Voynov and Kristijan Fidanovski
1. In a development that made headlines all over the world, Macedonian prime minister Zoran Zaev and Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras announced a historic deal on the 27-year-long name dispute. The agreed name is Republic of North Macedonia for comprehensive usage, including within Macedonia. The ratification of the agreement now depends on a parliamentary vote in Greece and a popular referendum in September in Macedonia. The main opposition parties in both countries, as well as Macedonia’s president have already positioned themselves against the agreement.
2. The 2018 World Cup has started today, with the host Russia facing Saudi Arabia. The sporting event will be plagued by geopolitics and tension between Russia and the West. While no massive level boycott occurred, not due to a lack of effort by some human rights organizations, some countries will not be sending representatives though this is nowhere near the level of ‘boycott’ that was seen during other events, such as the 1980 Olympics also held in Moscow. One important feature to watch will be the Russian football hooligans. If their actions during the 2016 Euro Cup indicate anything, it is that foreign fans must be careful as it is their home turf, though some say that the risk (of this and other kinds of crimes against foreigners) is minimal but exaggerated by the West to negatively portray Russia. If there is violence, it risks damaging the reputation Russia wanted to build up through hosting the games.
3. Czechian Prime Minister Andrej Babis had his initial court case rejected by the Slovakian Supreme Court over being Slovak National Memory Institute over his alleged role as an informant to the then Czechoslovakian Police. He now plans to take this case to the European Court of Human Rights and sue Slovakia itself to rectify what he claims are political lies. This occurs at the same time as police summoned him for questioning regarding a scheme that sees him accused of fraud to gain access to 50 million Euro meant to be used as a subsidy from the EU. The bright side for Babis this week, however, is that his partnership with the Social Democratic party appears closer and closer to a political reality.
4. Serbia’s health minister and environment minister have launched an investigation into the possible health effects of the 1999 NATO bombing. The investigation, if conducted fairly, will finally put an end to decades of speculation about an alleged spike in cancer rates in Serbia in the aftermath of the bombing. However, the investigation is more likely to prove to be a waste of money (130,000 euros), as experts are largely unanimous in their skepticism about the link between the depleted uranium used in the bombing and cancer. Moreover, the biggest amounts of depleted uranium were used in Kosovo, not in Belgrade.
5. The European Parliament has approved a 1 billion Euro assistance package for Ukraine, which would be a major boost for the country’s reform efforts. This money is tied to anti-corruption efforts, which is a major problem for Ukraine. It is a problem because of how widespread it is, but implementation of anticorruption laws and efforts to combat it might be the bigger issue. While there has been some success so far, accusations of corruption have been behind many major political spats in the country over the last few years. A major law to prevent corruption was passed recently, though it had a major loophole which, seemingly intentionally, reduced the ability of the National Anti-corruption Bureau to prosecute corruption.
6. Germany has extradited Bosnian Serb former soldier Milorad Obradovic to Bosnia and Herzegovina to stand trial. Obradovic is suspected of taking part in the detention and murder of 120 Bosniaks in 1992. He was only recently identified in Munich.
7. Poland’s president has opened up the possibility of changing the country’s constitution with a proposed referendum of 15 questions that might drastically change the basis of the country’s legal system. The first questions deal with whether there is a need for a new constitution, as well as proposing the need for a referendum to create any such changes. Others deal with social issues and rights, such as ensuring the right to retirement. There are also multiple questions that deal with key issues in Poland, most notably issue over jurisdiction and whether the EU can hold its laws above Poland’s constitution, but also whether the constitution guarantees Poland’s membership in EU and NATO.
8. Every summer, the end of the school year in Montenegro provides a reason for political squabbles. The reason lies in the script of the school transcripts, which are since last year provided in the Latin script, much to the dismay of Serbian opposition parties. These parties argue that this provision deprives citizens of their constitutional right to receive their transcripts in the Cyrillic script, an option which is now available only upon request.
9. Hungary’s main opposition party, Jobbik, is undergoing major changes. Last month, moderate Tamás Sneider beat party hardliner and former party vice-chairman László Toroczkai in an election for the party leadership. Now, Toroczkai has been expelled from the party because of what the Jobbik disciplinary committee see as breaking party unity through his media tours in which he called for Jobbik to return to its far right roots. This was followed by multiple other party members leaving or threatening to leave in protest. Jobbik spokesperson claims that this ‘exodus’ of hardliners is an inaccurate depiction of reality, as there are more people joining the party than leaving. The result that this ‘moderation’ of Jobbik’s politics will have in the following elections is something to pay closer attention to, as the party is seeking to be more inclusive but might have trouble moving its image and ideology from its far right past.
10. Conflicting attitudes between Serbs and Albanians on the legacy of the Clinton family seem to have moved to the funniest arena yet, as the Serbian government has clashed with the Albanian minority on the adoption of Hillary Clinton’s recent autobiography as a compulsory reading for high school students. Representatives of the Albanian minority deny having requested this in the first place.
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