EU finally moves to start membership talks with Albania and North Macedonia
In a sign that the European Union is continuing to conduct political business despite much of its staff and resources having been shifted to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, EU foreign ministers have agreed to begin accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia.The agreement – reached during a video conference – will also come as…
EU and Western Balkans leaders meet for enlargement talks
EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council president Charles Michel are on Monday (21 August) attending an informal dinner on EU enlargement in the Greek capital Athens.In October, the commission will report, as it regularly does, on the progress of negotiations with the Balkan countries, before European leaders decide whether to open…
Is NATO more important than the EU? North Macedonia’s president believes so
North Macedonia officially became a member of NATO on March 27, with the country’s flag raised at NATO Headquarters alongside those of the military alliance’s 29 other members.“NATO needs North Macedonia and vice versa,” Mircea Geoană, NATO’s deputy secretary general tells Emerging Europe. “Like every member, North Macedonia is now under the protection of Article V.…
Poland is an economic success story, but it can do better
Over the last three decades Poland has become the most successful economy in Europe. Since 1989, the country has increased its GDP per capita by almost 150 per cent, while the Czech Republic grew its income by only three-quarters; Hungary by barely a half; and the eurozone by less than 40 per cent. In PPP…
Never let a good crisis go to waste (or why Bulgaria is speeding its way to the euro)
On April 10, the euro group agreed on a 500 billion euros rescue package that made the Bulgarian government regret that it had decided to delay its plans to join the euro area.Bulgaria’s relationship with the euro started long before the country became a member of the European Union. In 1996 the policies of the…
Why ‘autonomy’ is Romania’s dirtiest word
Whereas the UK’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, has been able to use his own illness and the birth of his sixth or seventh child (nobody appears to know the exact number) as distractions from his government’s appalling handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, Romania – lacking a critically-ill president or prime minister with a pregnant young…
Another day in Hungary, another bout of secrecy and a renewed attack on minority rights
Details of a Chinese-backed railway link between Budapest and Belgrade, one of the biggest international infrastructure projects in the emerging Europe region for many years, have been classified by Hungary’s parliament.Hungary and China signed a 20-year loan deal for the project worth 1.9 billion US dollars late last month, at a 2.5 per cent interest…
Positive noises from Belgrade and Prishtina may not result in new talks just yet
Serbia and Kosovo appear to be edging slowly towards a resumption of talks that it is hoped will normalise the relationship between Belgrade and Prishtina.Both the Serb president, Aleksandar Vučić, and his Kosovar counterpart Hashim Thaçi suggested this weekend that a deal could be reached by the end of this year.The renewed optimism comes after…
You wouldn’t give away your ethnic identity. So why should Macedonians?
No politician, diplomat, bureaucrat or journalist I’ve ever asked this question has answered it. Yet they’re quick to tell me to give away my ethnic identity. They try to convince me that the forced renaming of Macedonia, the redefining of what it has ever meant to be Macedonian, and the literal rewriting of Macedonian history…
North Macedonia finally sets date for long-postponed parliamentary election
Political parties in North Macedonia have agreed to hold a parliamentary election on July 15, despite the country having yet to fully overcome the coronavirus epidemic.The election, originally scheduled to take place on April 12, is seen as a crucial step for the country’s European Union membership bid, and will be seen as a test…