Compiled by Eva Jovanova and Hristo Voynov
1. Macedonia’s former Prime Minister, Nikola Gruevski, fled the country and filed for asylum in Hungary. Gruevski was facing two years of prison as he was convicted in a corruption scandal involving the purchase of a state vehicle. He is still under investigation for four more corruption cases. Gruevski led Macedonia since 2006 and was forced to step down at the beginning of 2016 as a wiretapping scandal in 2015 implicated him, together with many high ranking officials from his administration, in various corruption cases, election rigging, and even an attempt to cover a murder. The Macedonian police have now issued an international warrant for his arrest. It remains to be seen if Hungary will extradite him.
2. An earlier scandal which affected Czechain PM during his candidacy for the office returns with a twist. The “Stork’s Nest” scandal regarding alleged EU subsidy misuse by Andrej Babis almost took him down and marked the headlines for months after the election. This week, his son made a statement to journalists claiming he was unlawfully detained while in Crimea to keep him from testifying about the incident. Babis’ excuse for this accusation is that he is mentally ill and that reporters are trying to take advantage of him, which does have some truth to it due to his personal history, but whether or not it is the actual reasoning behind his statement remains to be seen. Babis’ government has been plagued with inefficiency and scandals, and this has the potential to finish his term if his coalition partners lose faith and support a vote of no confidence.
3. Bosnian pupils received an OSCE award for staging protests and managing to stop the proposed ethnic segregation of a school in Jajce, a city in the Bosniak- and Croat-dominated Federation entity. The government of the Central Bosnian canton had proposed educational segregation of Bosniak and Croat children at a school in Jajce in 2016. The pupils with protests managed to force the authorities to drop the proposal to segregate the school curriculum according to the pupils’ ethnicities. Even though the Bosnian and Croatian languages are practically the same, according to the Bosnian law, everyone has the right to be educated in their mother tongue and to learn the literature, history, geography, music and even art that is relevant to their ethnic belonging. There are only around 30 schools on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina that are inclusive and do not segregate children according to their ethnicity.
4. Poland signed a major deal with the US regarding natural gas deliveries which are part of its effort to pull away from Russian reliance. The contract binds the two countries for the next 24 years and includes a declaration of ‘enhanced energy security cooperation.’ It comes at a time when Russia and Germany are working on Nord Stream 2, a direct pipeline under the Baltic Sea, passing Poland, Ukraine, and the Baltic states which could deprive those countries of a major source of income. Despite pressure on Germany regarding the pipeline, Germany shows no signs of relenting, which may be the cause of this Poland-US deal. Ukraine, as one of the bypassed countries, is considering legal action to make up for lost revenue should the pipeline be finished.
5. Albanian village made it to the Booking 2019 top ten “hot spots” for adventurous travelers. Southern Albania’s Ksamil (see our this week’s photo) is ranked number nine, among very exotic destinations, such as ‘a hidden gem’ island in Indonesia and ‘unspoiled paradise’ in Mexico. In the top ten list were also Mestia in Georgia and Samarkand in Uzbekistan.
6. Slovakia held local elections in the face of various scandals hitting the current government. The President is under scrutiny for campaign funding violations regarding funds from his company, while the Parliament Speaker is under fire for plagiarizing his thesis and trying to cover up the scandal. A current protest movement, ‘For a Decent Slovakia’ was formed to addressed these issues but soon became the target of a police investigation because of its alleged ties to George Soros. These, along with other issues facing the country, led to a significant increase in support for independent candidates in the elections, including the newly elected mayor of the capital city of Bratislava.
7. Kosovo President Hashim Thaci claimed that the Russian President would support an agreement between Serbia and Kosovo. Thaci met Putin in Paris at the Armistice commemoration this Monday. According to him, during their brief meeting, Putin showed strong support for any peaceful solution between Serbia and Kosovo. Thaci also met with other heads of states including Trump, Macron, and Merkel, who, allegedly, all gave their support for a peaceful solution and a final agreement between the two countries. He, however, did not mention if such a peaceful solution would foresee the proposed land swap.
8. The EU passed a very critical statement in response to the scandal revolving recent mayoral elections in Moldova that were nullified because of illegal campaigning on both sides, among other issues concerning the rule of law. Overall, the report stated that Moldova is a “state captured by oligarchic interests.” The resolution included a freeze on $40 million worth of financial assistance and hinted a possible change in the visa-free travel to the EU that applies to Moldovan citizens.
9. Romania was chastised in a report issued by the European Commission earlier this week. The report states that the country has shown no progress in its fight against corruption and has fallen back on judicial reforms. The EU urged Bucharest to address the challenges immediately. Together with neighboring Bulgaria, Romania entered the EU in 2007. After their admission, the EU installed the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) to monitor the rule of law situation in the two countries. Since then, the CVM has issued annual reports on the rule of law which are considered to be the core criterion for the two countries to join EU’s Schengen-zone.
10. The pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine, the Donetsk People’s Republic, and the Luhansk People’s Republic held elections that resulted largely in the reelection of officials already ruling the people’s republics. Ukraine accused the election of being a sham in which turnout was high because of threats and bribes. At the same time, the EU plans to sanction individuals involved in the election effort and refused to recognize the results. Meanwhile, Russia, satisfied with the results, congratulated the winners who promised to improve ties between the people’s republics and Russia.
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