In the news: in the Balkans, China invests and pollutes (a lot)
A view of Mount Avala which dominates Belgrade in Serbia, during an episode of massive air pollution with fine particles.
(Illustrative photo) Getty Images - Djordje Boskovic
Text by: Jean-Arnault Dérens Follow |
Courrier des Balkans Follow
4 min
A press review presented in partnership with
Le Courrier des Balkans.
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In a decade, billions of euros have arrived from China in the Balkans to finance transport infrastructure or energy projects.
Investments that never take into account the environment or the health of local populations.
With the complicity of local governments, attracted by new money, loaned without many conditions by Beijing ... An
assessment of this ecological impact
►
In the Balkans, China invests and pollutes (a lot)
.
In Greece, the company Cosco obtained, in 2016, the management of the port of Piraeus until 2052. Since then, the Chinese group has continued to expand its activities by building new terminals, but anger is growing in front of the very harsh working conditions imposed on workers and against repeated attacks on the environment.
A
report
and our dossier on
China conquering the Balkans.
In Serbia, the situation of the media and journalists continues to deteriorate,
as further demonstrated by the regime's attacks on the KRIK investigation site.
Six journalists' associations have slammed the door of the Working Group for the Protection of Journalists, created by the government last December.
Our
file on the authoritarian drift of the Aleksandar Vučić regime.
In Montenegro, it is the attack
on a journalist from Vijesti television that arouses outrage.
Greece celebrates 200 years of its revolution
Emmanuel Macron was
the guest of the Greek television ERT,
on the eve of the bicentenary of the uprising of 1821. The opportunity to get out of the clichés of Greek nationalism, to flatter the very authoritarian Kyriákos Mitsotákis, a major buyer of Rafale planes, and to point out the "danger" which would threaten Europe: the refugees ...
To understand this founding moment of modern Greece,
historian Christina Koulouri
explains how the March 25 uprising is the foundation of modern national identity.
However, we must not forget that the anti-Ottoman insurrection was also led by many people who did not speak Greek,
such as the Aromanians, whose role is often erased in “
official
”
stories .
Finally,
who are the Philhellènes?
?
What did they go looking for in Greece?
Why did they leave disappointed?
How did they help develop a “black image” of the Balkans?
The Balkans still hard hit by Covid-19
The health situation continues to deteriorate in the Balkans, where contamination rates and the number of deaths are breaking every day all the records recorded since the start of the epidemic, while vaccination is delayed everywhere, except in Serbia.
Update on the situation day by day
,
and the situation
of migrants and refugees on the Balkan route, also strongly affected by the epidemic.
In Bulgaria, however, it is theoretically possible to be vaccinated without conditions and without prior registration.
The experience of the correspondent of the Courrier des Balkans, a young fifty-something who does not fit into any risk group, who was vaccinated in his hometown of Plovdiv…
Story.
In Serbia, it is the health situation in schools that is outrageous.
Some do not even have access to running water, the toilets are in a terrible state and parents have to reach out to provide soap.
An unacceptable situation in times of epidemic.
The consequences of the epidemic are also economic.
In Croatia, the state granted a moratorium in spring 2020, suspending debt collection procedures for six months due to the crisis caused by Covid-19.
This measure has not been extended and no less than
410,000
foreclosures or evictions threaten Croatian households.
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