Atlantic Sentinel

Tag: Balkans

  • Setback for Montenegro’s Strongman

    Milo Đukanović
    Montenegrin president Milo Đukanović meets with NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels, June 9 (NATO)

    The Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) has lost power in Montenegro after thirty years to an alliance of left- and right-wing parties, finally giving the Balkan country a chance at a free and more equal future.

    Pro-Serbian opposition leader Zdravko Krivokapić announced, “The regime has fallen.”

    Although DPS leader Milo Đukanović remains president until 2023, his party will be in opposition for the first time since the introduction of multiparty democracy in 1990.

    It fell to 35 percent support in the election on Sunday, giving it thirty out of 81 seats in parliament. Krivokapić’s For the Future of Montenegro, Peace Is Our Nation and United Reform Action won a combined 51 percent and 41 seats. (more…)

  • Why Kosovo Is Lifting, But Will Likely Reinstate, Tariffs on Serbia

    Kosovo’s new prime minister, Albin Kurti, is partially lifting his predecessor’s 100 percent import tariff on Serbian goods. He has offered to lift the tariff completely if Serbia suspends its derecognition campaign. If it fails to reciprocate, the tariffs will be restored in June.

    Since reciprocation would imply Serbian recognition of Kosovo’s independence, it seems inevitable the trade sanctions will be back soon. (more…)

  • Balkans Propose Mini-Schengen

    Their EU accession blocked by France, Albania and North Macedonia are opting for a regional, if temporary, solution. Together with Serbia, the Balkan states are looking to create their own version of the EU’s passport-free Schengen Area.

    • Citizens of the three countries would no longer need a passport to cross the border, but only have to show an ID card.
    • Labor movement would be liberalized through the mutual recognition of diplomas and qualifications.
    • Students could go on exchange.
    • Capital flows would be smoothened.

    The other non-EU countries in the region — Bosnia, Montenegro and Kosovo — have been given the green light to join. (more…)

  • EU Breaks Promise to Balkan States

    Angela Merkel Emmanuel Macron
    German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Emmanuel Macron meet on the sidelines of a European Council summit in Brussels, June 20 (Elysée/Soazig de la Moissonniere)

    Last week, French president Emmanuel Macron blocked the start of EU accession talks for Albania and North Macedonia, arguing that the Balkan states haven’t made enough progress to qualify and that the EU must reform internally before admitting new members.

    His concerns were shared by the leaders of Denmark and the Netherlands.

    They are not without merit. It would be naive to assume that decades of institutionalized corruption and crime, particularly in Albania, have been washed away over the course of a few years.

    That said, progress has been made. North Macedonia’s name change is far from trivial. It represents a willingness to move on from the past. Albania has reformed its judicial system, encouraged by the prospect of membership.

    If the French were so adamant about halting enlargement, they should never have made promises to Albania and North Macedonia in the first place.

    Poland’s Andrzej Duda said it best: “Western Balkans states are taking part in a race that does not have a finishing line.” (more…)

  • Serbia Should Break with Russia

    Belgrade Serbia
    Skyline of Belgrade, Serbia, August 22, 2011 (Serzhile)

    Russia and Serbia share a rich history of religious tradition and support. Russia has stood by what it considers its little brother for centuries and it continues to do so today. Just last week, Serbia received ten armored patrol vehicles from Russia. Thirty T-72B3 tanks are underway.

    Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić has thanked Vladimir Putin for beefing up the Serbian military, but he should be wary of the implications. If Serbia wants to join the EU, it must avoid playing with fire. (more…)

  • Kosovo Must Come to Terms with Reality

    Hashim Thaçi
    President Hashim Thaçi of Kosovo visits Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, September 29, 2017 (US Army/Elizabeth Fraser)

    Last month, the president of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, dropped a bombshell, calling for unification with Albania.

    Kosovo is majority ethnic Albanian, but unification would actually hinder the progress of both countries. Here’s why. (more…)

  • How Close Are Western Balkan States to Joining the EU?

    European flags Brussels
    Flags of the European Union outside the Berlaymont building in Brussels, July 22, 2016 (European Commission)

    Leaders of the six Western Balkan countries that remain outside the EU are meeting in Poland this week to discuss their possible accession to the bloc. Four — Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia — are candidates to become member states.

    Last year, a similar summit was held where the existing member states expressed their concerns about corruption, weak governance and unfree markets in the region. What has changed since then? (more…)

  • The European Protests You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

    Large demonstrations have been taking place in Serbia’s capital, Belgrade, every week since the end of November against the government of Aleksandar Vučić.

    Vučić has been in power since 2014, first as prime minister and for the last two years as president. He leads the Serbian Progressive Party, which, despite its name, is right-wing. He started his career in the far-right Serbian Radical Party, which was founded by the convicted war criminal Vojislav Šešelj in 1991. (more…)

  • Bush’s Ambivalent Yugoslavia Policy Shaped Transatlantic Relations for Decade

    George Bush François Mitterrand Helmut Kohl
    American president George H.W. Bush, Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney, French president François Mitterand and German chancellor Helmut Kohl attend the G7 summit in Munich, July 6, 1992 (Institut François Mitterand)

    Reflections on George H.W. Bush’s legacy have generally emphasized his commitment to the transatlantic alliance and its benign consequences for Europe’s post-Cold War transition. Lost in the narrative is the former president’s ambivalence toward the restive movements on the outer edges the Soviet empire.

    The result was a full-blown civil conflict in Yugoslavia that undermined America’s confidence in its European allies and fueled a unilateralist streak that would animate a decade of American-led interventions. (more…)

  • EU Reluctant to Add Six Balkan States

    Emmanuel Macron Alexis Tsipras Angela Merkel
    French president Emmanuel Macron, Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras and German chancellor Angela Merkel speak during a NATO summit in Brussels, May 25, 2017 (NATO)

    EU leaders met with their counterparts from the six non-EU Balkan states today to discuss their possible accession to the bloc.

    Central and Eastern European members are eager to include Albania and the former Yugoslav republics. Other countries are less sure:

    • Voters in France, Germany and the Netherlands are wary of EU expansion.
    • Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Spain and Slovakia have yet to recognize Kosovo’s independence from Serbia.

    Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy, who faces a separatist rebellion in Catalonia, even boycotted the summit. (more…)

  • Merkel Praises Macedonia, EU Struggles to Influence Romania

    German chancellor Angela Merkel has praised judicial reforms in Macedonia as well as steps to improve transparency and resolve the former Yugoslav republic’s name dispute with Greece.

    “In the last ten years, the solution has not been as close as now and it would be wonderful if the remaining difficulties can be bridged,” she said during a news conference with her Macedonian counterpart, Zoran Zaev.

    It would, but the dispute with Greece is only one of the many obstacles to the Balkan nation’s EU accession.

    The EU has nevertheless set a target date of 2025 for the remaining states of the Western Balkans to join, fearing that otherwise Russia might take advantage. (more…)

  • EU Balkan Enlargement Is Hardly Too Slow. It May Be Too Fast

    Central and Eastern European countries want to speed up the EU accession of Western Balkans.

    Bulgarian prime minister Boyko Borisov warned this week, “If there’s no enlargement now, there’ll be no other time for enlargement… Otherwise what China, Russia, Turkey are planning for the region, they will start today.”

    Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó agreed, calling the 2025 target date set by the European Commission for the accession of Montenegro and Serbia “very late”.

    In fact, it is extremely ambitious, as an analysis by former Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt for the European Council on Foreign Relations makes clear. (more…)

  • Macron Opens Door in Corsica, Rutte Pours Cold War in Sofia

    Bonifacio Corsica France
    Citadel of Bonifacio in Corsica, France (Unsplash/Hendrik Cornelissen)

    French president Emmanuel Macron has told Corsicans he will try to meet their demands for more autonomy while keeping the island in the “republican fold”.

    Ainslie Noble has argued that will be difficult, though:

    1. The French Constitution seems to rule out equal status for the Corsican language.
    2. Barring foreigners from buying Corsican estates is impossible under EU law.
    3. Amnesty for violent separatists may be a bridge too far.

    Nationalists won a majority of the seats in Corsica’s regional council in December. Given the island’s economic dependence on metropolitan France, a Catalonia-style rebellion is nevertheless unlikely. (more…)

  • There Are Reason to Be Cautious About Breaking Up Bosnia

    Daniel Berman, who occasionally writes for the Atlantic Sentinel, poses an interesting question at his blog, The Restless Realist: Why not break up Bosnia?

    The current situation seems untenable. Bosnia is divided in two: an autonomous Republika Srpska for the (mostly Orthodox Christian) ethnic Serbs and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the (Muslim) Bosniaks and (Catholic) Bosnian Croats.

    The federation is itself divided into ten autonomous cantons, five of which are Bosniak-ruled, three Croat and two mixed.

    This division, which emerged from the 1995 Dayton Agreement that ended the Bosnian War, has kept the peace but entrenched ethnic divisions. Parties are organized along ethnic lines. Every political appointment must be considered within the context of ethnic politics. Serb nationalists perennially demand more autonomy from a central government that is already one of the weakest in the world. Some dream of one day joining neighboring Serbia, where their nationalist counterparts would be glad to annex the Bosnian enclaves as compensation for giving up ethnic-Albanian Kosovo.

    These political obsessions have left Bosnia’s economy in a sorry state. Nearly half the population is officially unemployed. 40 percent lives below the poverty line.

    So why not give everybody what they want: states of their own? (more…)

  • Balkans Could Fall Victim to Putin-Trump Deal

    Belgrade Serbia
    Skyline of Belgrade, Serbia, August 22, 2011 (Serzhile)

    Rumors of war abound. The simmering conflict of the Balkans may well grow to war again.

    So go the whispers from Bosnia, Kosovo and Serbia. From Reuters to the The Globe and Mail, reports of war-like rhetoric between Kosovo and Serbia have emerged. (more…)