Every Sunday, The Vostokian brings you the most important pieces of news from the Balkans and Eastern Europe!
Compiled by Hristo Voynov and Eva Jovanova
1. The never ending scandals of the Czechian government continue, as another fissure opens up between the ruling party and its coalition partner. The minority partners, the Social Democrats, request that the Culture Minister Antonín Staněk who is under fire for revealing corruption in the National Gallary, be removed and replaced with a candidate of their choice. While Prime Minister Andrej Babis has asked President Milos Zeman to remove Staněk, Zeman does not appear to be interested in doing so. If the minority coalition party does not get its way, it might not complying with the majority party’s operations and further destabilizing the government that took months to form. A meeting on the 15th may help bring an end to this new issue.
2. Bosnia commemorated the 24th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide last Thursday. Additional 33 victims’ bodies of the massacre were buried at the commemoration at the Potocari Memorial. Thousands of people mourned the victims. The Srebrenica massacre which is recognized as genocide by international law and the Hague tribunal. Around 8.000 Bosniaks were massacred by Bosnian Serb forces in a series of mass killings in July 1995. The UN had previously launched reports that the area was safe, making the genocide case even more controversial.
3. Political battles between Hungary’s ruling FIDESZ and various opposition parties pick up once again. The Hungarian Parliament has voted to lift the immunity of LMP lawmaker Márta Demeter who falsely claimed that the military illegally transported Viktor Orban’s daughter. Since her information was incorrect, she is now accused of revealing military secrets and without her parliamentary immunity, she faces years in prison. Another major issue is that Hungarian opposition MEPs are campaigning against FIDESZ candidates in the European Parliament from gaining powerful positions. The FIDESZ government has turned this into a way to target those parties, indicating that they are not working for Hungary, but instead against it and in support of Viktor Orban’s nemesis, George Soros. With these dynamics, it is no surprise that opposition parties continue their strategy of submitting joint candidates to try to unseat FIDESZ candidates in the upcoming October elections.
4. Albania faces international scrutiny due to a controversial media law the government is trying to pass. The EU ambassador to Albania announced this Thursday that the European Commission is paying closer attention to a newly proposed controversial bill by the government that might curb online media freedom. The bill foresees that online media could be fined if they publish content that damages people’s reputation or infringes their privacy. The bill is tabled for voting this September. According to Albania’s Prime Minister, Edi Rama, the bill is a part of the so-called “anti-defamation package” which was initially supported by the EU and the OSCE.
5. An RPG was shot into the Channel 112 news building in Kiev. Nobody has hurt in the attack and thus far nobody has claimed the attack, though the motivations are clear; last year it was purchased by Viktor Medvedchuk, a politician with believed pro-Russian sympathies. The ties between him and Putin are undeniable, such as his admission that Putin is his daughter’s godfather. What prompted the attack was likely a planned showing of controversial Oliver Stone film, Revealing Ukraine, which shows the two discussing the conflict. This may be one of the most dangerous moments for the peaceful part of the country outside of the East that has avoided conflict for years. New Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky held his first conversation with Putin over the conflict and how to approach it, and has recently caused controversy over proposals to purge members of the government associated with the previous president Petro Poroshenko.
6. North Macedonia’s Prime Minister, Zoran Zaev, was pranked by Russian comedians posing as the previous Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko, and as the General Secretary of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg. In the prank call, Zaev was taped agreeing to the fake Poroshenko’s idea to pay a bribe to the Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew and speed up the process of gaining independence for the Macedonian Orthodox Church. In a similar prank call with fake Stoltenberg, Zaev acccussed Russia of having spies in the Balkans. Regardless of the many calls for Zaev’s resignation by the opposition in North Macedonia, Zaev refused to resign.
0 comments