Enlargement & Neighbours

Macedonia: democracy in crisis or “democracy in bloom”?!

Whoever tried to follow Macedonia’s socio-political scene lately, probably felt confused and disoriented. Turbulent times, serious accusations and scandals, ridiculous responses and media blackout. Further on: a retrospective recap of the last few months in a nutshell.

Tuesday 9 June 2015

Can Europe counter Putin’s propaganda machine?

On March 19, EU leaders reached an agreement to start a communications campaign aimed at battling Russia’s steady flow of propaganda, which is seen as a destabilising force in the Ukraine crisis and as hampering European unity as a whole. The initiative, to be finalised by the end of June by the EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, will seek to counter Russia’s “disinformation campaigns” and may include efforts to produce and support Russian language broadcasting programs for ethnic Russians in ex-Soviet states.

Saturday 16 May 2015

Bosnia and Herzegovina - a small country between the two worlds, indeed!

European Commission’s new structure and the elections that took place in October in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) have pointed to the new relations between the European Union (EU) and the Western Balkans, and more precisely with BiH. Yet the events of recent months have changed those relations. (…)

Tuesday 21 April 2015

The island that came back from the cold

Greenland withdrew from the European Economic Community in February 1985. Now, almost thirty years later, the challenges of the 21st Europe’s arms. Greenland withdrew from the European Economic Community in February 1985. Now, almost thirty years later, the challenges of the 21st centuries (…)

Thursday 22 January 2015

Serbia vs. Albania football game displays identity and political struggles

On October 14th, the game between Albania & Serbia in Belgrade had to be stopped shortly before half-time. A drone was flown over the stadium. It carried a flag which has been widely reported as representing ‘Greater Albania’. We are told this is a nationalist theory claiming some lands (…)

Saturday 25 October 2014

Stop the Dismemberment of Ukraine

The fair and free presidential election held on 25 May 2014 has not averted the ghost of civil war in Ukraine. The triumph of the people’s uprising in bringing down the corrupt and bloody government of Yanukovich marked the resumption of the democratic process in Ukraine. But it is only the (…)

Saturday 18 October 2014

Erdogan won, what’s next?

In the first ever public elections of the president in Turkey, prime minister Erdogan was elected in the first round with almost 52%. The question now is who will become prime minister and what does this mean for the upcoming parliamentary elections. It is a clear result, no question. Prime (…)

Tuesday 12 August 2014

Turkey’s message to the EU: We don’t care

The municipal elections in Turkey on 30 March manifested the political power relations of the past years. The governing Justice and Development Party AKP remains by far the strongest party in the municipal councils with 43 percent, followed by the main opposition party, the Kemalist CHP (26 (…)

Wednesday 18 June 2014

The three challenges of the Ukranian transition

The multitude that took the center of Kiev months ago has returned to their daily lives, and the political phase that now begins will show if their fight has really transformed the country. This brief transition that Ukraine is in makes for a good time to think about the major fronts it must (…)

Saturday 3 May 2014

EU membership for Turkey: One step forward, two backwards

Next year, the EU and Turkey are celebrating a rare jubilee – in 2015 the accession negotiations last a whole decade. The unsuccessful blocking of Twitter, the corruption scandal and the harsh approach towards the protesters of Gezi allow legitimate doubt that the negotiations will ever be (…)

Sunday 20 April 2014

Russia annexes Crimea: a new world order?

If there is an event which will go down in the history books as the most important one in the first half of 2014 the Ukrainian crisis and the annexation of Crimea by Russia is definitely the top candidate. For the chain of events that started from the refusal of the Yanukovich government to sign (…)

Sunday 6 April 2014

The return of Central Europe

Often wrongly called Eastern countries, or ex- Soviet Union countries or the post-communist countries, the countries of Central Europe, namely Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and additionally Poland and Austria, struggle to reposition themselves where they really are: at the heart of (…)

Thursday 20 March 2014
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