The following media round-up on international, legal and foreign policy issues from around the Balkans for the period from 29 August to 5 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.
Bulgaria – 6 September 2024
Documents obtained by BIRN show that EU Frontex officers deployed to Bulgaria’s border with Turkey are being intimidated into silence in the face of pushbacks and brutality against migrants and refugees, prompting warnings that the agency’s credibility is on the line; see here.
Bosnia – 5 September 2024
Former reservist policeman Zdravko Cvoric went on trial for raping a Bosniak woman in the village of Divic during the war in 1992; see here.
North Macedonia – 5 September 2024
Skopje’s Court of Appeal in North Macedonia rules in favour of the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) finding that children in the Tetovo Correctional Home have being denied their right to education; see here.
Kosovo/Serbia – 4 September 2024
The dialogue on the normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia appears to be moving towards a troubling scenario in which ‘no solution is a solution’ may become the default stance of the international community, particularly among EU capitals; see here.
Kosovo – 3 September 2024
The plans to open a bridge in the Kosovo city of Mitrovica for vehicle access have been met with controversy amid fears it would escalate ethnic tensions; see here.
Serbia – 2 September 2024
With 7.3 million euros worth of exports in July, the value of arms and ammunition sold by Serbia to Israel this year has topped 23.1 million euros - despite widespread concern that they may be used in war crimes against civilians in Gaza; see here.
Balkans – 31 August 2024
Sentiments towards the EU expressed by some civil society actors increasingly overlap with those of anti-EU forces; see here.
Kosovo – 30 August 2024
Kosovo authorities on Friday raided five municipal offices linked to the Belgrade government in ethnic Serb areas near its northern border with Serbia on Friday. The move is the latest in a series of operations and legal manoeuvres aimed at dismantling the so-called parallel system of social services and political offices backed by the Serbian government inside Kosovo; see here.