Compiled by Eva Jovanova and Hristo Voynov
1. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s election on October 7 is the new ground for international meddling. The Serb nationalist President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik accused the US ambassador to BiH of trying to influence the upcoming elections in late August is now preparing for a meeting with Russian President Putin. Their meeting is scheduled for October 1. Luckily, Dodik’s secessionist rhetoric has abated for now.
2. Ukraine may expel a Hungarian consul over the fact that he personally oversaw Hungarian citizenship ceremonies within the Hungarian consulate in the Ukrainian city of Berehove, known as Beregszász in Hungary. Ukraine has unclear laws over citizenship that complicate this issue, as the legal interpretation of a second citizenship for Ukrainian citizens can either be that it is not allowed or that it is allowed but unrecognized by the Ukrainian state. Either way, tensions between the two states over Hungarian minority rights in Ukraine have risen lately. Ukraine, hypersensitive to issues related to national sovereignty because of the conflict in its eastern region, is skeptical of Hungary’s attempt to reunite itself with the many ethnic Hungarians just outside its borders. Goodwill between the two nations may suffer because of it.
3. Macedonia votes for a name change with the promise of EU and NATO membership on a historic referendum this Sunday. Macedonia’s President George Ivanov who always had a tendency to side with the wrong people now urged the people to boycott the referendum. The President, the nationalistic party that was in power until December 2016, a marginal quasi-leftist party and a marginal pro- Russian party root for the deal between Macedonia and Greece to fail. The voters of the party in power SDSM and the Albanian parties are expected to show support. The main question is not if most people will vote YES or NO, but if the census (50%, or more than 900.000 votes) required for the referendum to pass will be met.
4. Investigative journalism website Bellingcat released a report that revealed information regarding the suspected Sergei Skripal poisoning suspects. Previously, they claimed to be Russian tourists who were in the wrong place at the wrong time and so were considered suspects because they were traveling around the area of the poisoning. Bellingcat claims that this was just a cover and that the main claiming to be “RuslanBoshirov” is actually “Colonel AnatoliyChepiga, a highly decorated GRU officer bestowed with Russia’s highest state award, Hero of the Russian Federation”. If Bellingcat, a respected open source investigative organization, was able to track this information down, it is certain that British intelligence has even more information about what happened.
5. Croatia had a busy week trying to improve relations with other countries. Croatia’s President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic during the UN General Assembly earlier this week got to meet with her Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko to discuss energy security. She also met with President Erdogan to discuss bilateral relations, as well as the upcoming elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where Croatia has lately been accused of election meddling by the Bosniaks.
6. Moldovan President Igor Dodon has had his powers suspended yet again because of his refusal to appoint a Minister of Health, Labor and Social Protection and the Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry. This is the fourth time that Dodon has had his powers suspended for the same reason. This decision was made in the Moldovan Constitutional Court, which has not stopped Dodon from accusing it of being a political tool used against him. This is a continuation of the gridlock that has plagued Moldovan politics for a while, pitting the pro-Russian president against the rest of the pro-EU wing of the government.
7. A Kosovo MP was imprisoned for allegedly intimidating the Prosecutor who was conducting an investigation on fraud in the verification of Kosovo Liberation Army war veterans. The special prosecutor Elez Blakaj was allegedly threatened by AAK MP Shkumbin Demaliaj and told to drop the case. The MP was arrested this Thursday, and he is the second MP in Kosovo arrested for intimidating a prosecutor. The Kosovo Special Prosecution indicted 12 members of the government’s verification commission under the suspicion that around 20.000 people who never fought in the war have been falsely registered as veterans and have been claiming benefits.
8. Preparations for the Commonwealth of Independent State summit are taking place, featuring the heads of state from the many former Soviet republics. The yearly summit is taking place in Tajikistan, one of the poorer countries in the organizations. The main topic on the agenda is likely to be cooperation regarding security measures as most countries involved are in some degree at risk of Islamic extremism, but economic and humanitarian are also likely to dominate the discussion. Russia’s trade relationship with the West is currently stifled because of sanctions, so it increasing trade within the CIS partnership is a good way to make up for lost revenue.
9. Serbia seems to have started in the wrong direction last week. Lately, the rhetoric of a significant number of ministers has taken an anti-EU turn, emphasizing the already deep division about a potential EU membership. President Vucic’s criticism of the EU last week doesn’t seem to placate the division much. Vucic is already cheering over his meeting with Putin scheduled for October 2 and aims at strengthening the friendship between Serbia and Russia. On another note, the EU doesn’t seem to bite into Serbia’s fight on corruption.
10. Hungarian opposition appears to be on the offense following the Sargentini report which accused the Viktor Orban government of corruption. Jobbik, the strongest opposition party, continued these accusations in stating that Orban lied about how he traveled via a personal jet to watch his favorite football team play. This may get Orban in legal trouble if he accepted the flights as a gift and didn’t properly report them. They also called on the removal of a muzzle order on state-run cultural institutions which prevents them from speaking publically without prior approval of the Ministry of Human Resources. Meanwhile, the Socialist party accused the Orban government of falsifying poverty data in order to hide growing inequality.
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