The following media round-up on international, legal and foreign policy issues from around the Balkans for the period from 19 September 2024 to 26 September 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 – 26 September 2024
President Aleksandar Vucic accuses the West of a selective and hypocritical approach to international law in his speech to the UN General Assembly; see here.
Bosnia – 25 September 2024
A small but growing number of Chinese people are travelling to the Balkans with the hope of getting into the EU; see here.
Bosnia – 25 September 2024
Companies in Bosnia are developing drones that could potentially be used by the country’s military, BIRN can reveal, even as Sarajevo buys six discounted Bayraktar drones from Turkey; see here.
Kosovo – 25 September 2024
Kosovo Gains Council of Europe Support on Tracing Crypto Crimes. Kosovo’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) announced that it would participate in the CYBERKOP Action, part of the Council of Europe’s Octopus Project; see here.
Kosovo – 25 September 2024
The first trial hearing for the 2023 deadly attack in Banjska was postponed to October, and Kosovo's Supreme Court was asked to rule on whether the trial of fugitive kingpin Milan Radoicic and 41 others can be held in absentia; see here.
Romania – 24 September 2024
A man who laundered more than £2m has been jailed after being extradited back to the UK from Romania after fleeing whilst on bail; see here.
Serbia – 24 September 2024
Mayor Aleksandar Sapic, who is suing the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in Serbia over a report alleging he did not properly declare his property assets in Italy, claimed at the first court hearing that BIRN's 2023 report was “a lie”; see here.
Montenegro – 24 September 2024
Amid a series of ongoing corruption cases against former judicial officials, Montenegro’s justice minister said the judiciary needs vetting because of the country’s obligations under the EU accession process and “the challenges we face”; see here.
Balkans – 24 September 2024
The four Western Balkan countries that have made the most progress in the EU accession process are clearly committed to implementing measures to strengthen the rule of law, European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders said after today’s discussions on the key findings from the EU annual Rule of Law Report, published in late July; see here.
Kosovo – 24 September 2024
Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti has demanded that Serbia hand over its indicted citizens who were allegedly involved in an attack that killed Kosovar police officer Afrim Bunjaku last year; see here.
North Macedonia – 20 September 2024
North Macedonia is tired of encountering obstacles on its path to EU membership and will no longer accept ultimatums, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski told media during a visit to Brussels; see here.
Croatia – 20 September 2024
Women’s rights groups held press conferences in 15 Croatian cities on the anniversary of a shooting of a young woman, calling for femicide and rape sentences to be increased; see here.
Bosnia – 20 September 2024
The Srebrenica Memorial Centre’s new report on genocide denial shows a significant increase in the number of incidents, returning to levels not seen since the adoption of legislation criminalising such rhetoric in 2021; see here.
Bulgaria – 19 September 2024
Bulgaria was looking into the possible involvement of a Sofia-based company in delivering pagers that exploded while being used by Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon; see here.