The following media round-up on international, legal and foreign policy issues from around the Balkans for the period from 14 March 2024 to 22 March 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.
Bosnia - 22 March 2024
Bosnia and Herzegovina begin EU membership negotiations, eight years after it formally applied to join the bloc. EU leaders have now given the plan by the European Commission to begin talks their approval; see here.
Turkey - 21 March 2024
The Turkish Constitutional Court’s new president, Kadir Ozkaya, is seen as a balanced figure who might achieve a new ‘equilibrium’ with Erdogan’s government; see here.
Montenegro - 21 March 2024
After protests by locals, the government gives Swiss operator two months to fix environmental concerns about the Brskovo zinc and lead mine, adding that it would be best to terminate the contract altogether; see here.
Romania - 21 March 2024
Work has begun on expanding the Mihail Kogalniceanu base in Romania, transforming it into the largest NATO military base in Europe; see here.
Serbia - 21 March 2024
Justice Ministry removes head of Belgrade prison and orders probe after 74-year-old prisoner serving 30-day sentence died following repeated sexual and physical abuse at the hands of three cellmates; see here.
Albania/Serbia - 20 March 2024
Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of former President Donald Trump and a prominent figure in American politics has set his sights on the Balkans with plans for three transformative property developments across Albania and Serbia; see here.
Serbia - 19 March 2024
Serbia’s government is not investigating cases of alleged trafficking of foreign workers, which is worrying, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery tells BIRN; see here.
Albania - 19 March 2024
Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama declined to answer questions from journalist Ambrozia Meta and instead touched her face - a gesture condemned as intimidating by media rights organisations; see here.
North Macedonia - 18 March 2024
The US State Department on Monday blacklisted the former chief of North Macedonia’s now defunct Special Prosecution, Katica Janeva, on account of her involvement in 'significant corruption'; see here.
Croatia - 15 March 2024
Croatia’s President Zoran Milanovic on Friday said that, instead of the head of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, Pedja Grbina, he will be the SDP candidate for Prime Minister in parliamentary elections scheduled for April 17; see here.