The following media round-up on international, legal and foreign policy issues from around the Balkans for the period from 6 June to 13 June 2024.
Guernica 37 will provide weekly media updates with a focus on Bosnia and Hercegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. Should you wish to contribute or submit a media summary, opinion piece or blog, please send to Ned Vucijak at nenadv@guernica37.com for consideration.
Serbia - 12 June 2024
Belgrade University politics faculty’s handling of sexual harassment claims against a professor nominated to lead the faculty has underscored the lack of trust the academic institution enjoys among its students, who feel safer airing their allegations online; see here.
North Macedonia- 11 June 2024
A Chinese contractor has taken 10 years and counting to build a 57 km stretch of highway in North Macedonia. The road is still not finished, yet despite the delays and allegations of kickbacks, the company keeps winning contracts; see here.
Balkans - 11 June 2024
Human rights organisations say the European Union’s new Migration and Asylum Pact, to be implemented from 2026, will have major consequences for migrants’ and asylum seekers’ rights; see here.
Albania - 11 June 2024
Tuesday’s court ruling effectively ends a two-year battle for control of Albania’s once-mighty Democratic Party; see here.
Serbia - 10 June 2024
A joint investigation by BIRN and Haaretz has identified six Israeli military flights from Belgrade to Beersheba this year that coincided with Serbian arms exports to Israel worth 15.7 million euros, arms that risk being used in violating international humanitarian law in Gaza; see here.
Albania - 10 June 2024
Albanian and Spanish Police, in a two-year investigation, have uncovered a crime group that forged documents to enable Albanians to illegally enter the UK and Ireland; see here.
Kosovo - 10 June 2024
Pristina Basic Court sentenced Caslav Jolic to eight years imprisonment for involvement in war crimes - but his lawyer said he would appeal, adding that the evidence against his client was not convincing; see here.
Bulgaria - 9 June 2024
Bulgarians have started casting their ballots for their sixth parliamentary election in three years in a vote unlikely to yield a stable government that can end prolonged political instability and unblock economic reforms; see here.
Romania - 9 June 2024
IKEA has been accused of contributing to the rapid deterioration of Romania’s biologically rich forests. Two recent investigations reveal the impact of the flatpack furniture giant on the country’s Carpathian mountains, one of Europe’s largest remaining areas of primary and old growth forests; see here.
Kosovo - 6 June 2024
Judge Nicolas Guillou resigns as Judge on the Roster of International Judges of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC) following his election to the International Criminal Court. Judge Marjorie Masselot, a French Judge at the Colmar First Instance Criminal Court, has been appointed to the Roster of the KSC; see here.