Corruption and Covid-19 dominate Bulgaria’s election campaign
Support for Bulgaria’s ruling party has been hit by months of anti-government protests, but it is likely to win a parliamentary election on April 4. Forming a functional coalition could be tough, however.The often massive anti-corruption and anti-government protests that have defined Bulgaria throughout the past nine months have so far failed to produce a…
Is the EU asking too much of Bosnia and Herzegovina?
The complicated, unique and – some would say – dysfunctional – structure of the Bosnia and Herzegovina state makes fulfilling the EU’s pre-accession requirements impossible. Is the EU asking for too much? Most of the countries of the Western Balkan are inching, slowly, toward EU membership.For both Serbia and Montenegro accession talks are well underway,…
The wider implications of Joe Biden’s recognition of the Armenian genocide
Joe Biden’s recent decision to recognise the Armenian genocide has been welcomed by Armenian communities around the world. But what does it imply for the future of US relations with the Caucasus region?US President Joe Biden broke from convention on April 24 to become the first sitting United States president to recognise the genocide of…
Albania’s future depends on giving a voice to those who have lost hope
Three decades after its birth, Albania’s Democratic party must become able again to win over the minds and hearts of the voters, reform itself and offer a new kind of democratic model, for Albania and for the future of all the Albanian people.Albania’s recent parliamentary elections, held on April 25, represented a critical juncture in…
The new ‘digital normal’ is a task for both governments and the private sector
Covid-19 has brought home the necessity of speeding up the process of digitalisation of government and public services. But the transformation must be carried out with the active participation of all stakeholders.Ever since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in late 2019, optimists looking for silver linings have pointed to the opportunity that it has…
Don’t mix politics with aviation safety, says IATA after Belarus flight ban
The International Air Transport Association is unhappy with the European Aviation Safety Agency’s ban on flights over Belarus, calling “the politicisation of aviation safety”.The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has called on the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to maintain what it says is a “critical separation” between politics and aviation safety issues.The call follows a move…
On the Balkans, Biden is stuck in the 2000s
Joe Biden needs to remember that the process of EU accession is matter for EU members alone.Half a year ago in an op-ed for Emerging Europe, I warned the administration of Joe Biden that in US foreign policy towards the Balkans, the US has to remember that it’s no longer the 2000s. I knew what…
CEE vaccine leader Hungary steps back from mass inoculation
With more than half of its population now vaccinated with at least one dose of a Covid-19 jab, Hungary says the time has come to switch responsibility from the state to the individual.Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has said that Hungary would be winding down its mass inoculation campaign, switching instead to what he called…
Together Again: Bulgaria looks to schoolchildren to relaunch tourism
Bulgaria is hoping that an initiative offering free holidays to schoolchildren will relaunch its tourism industry. But for the sector to fully recover, foreign tourists need to return in large numbers.Bulgarian tourism – such a key sector of the country’s economy – had a poor 2020.As a direct consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic and the…
EU Ombudsman opens probe into Frontex role in Greece boat tragedy
The EU Ombudsman on Wednesday (26 July) launched an investigation into the role of the bloc’s border agency Frontex in the 14 June sinking of the Adriana trawler that led to more than 500 people drowning — one of the single death-tolls in the Mediterranean Sea.”A tragedy of this magnitude requires all those involved to reflect on their…