Balkan press review

Headline: Serbia, why a majority of the population is against EU integration

A majority of Serbs say they are against the country's entry into the EU.

© AP/Darko Vojinovic

Text by: Simon Rico Follow |

Marion Roussey

5 mins

A press review presented in partnership with

.

Advertisement

Read more

This is a first since the fall of Milošević: according to an Ipsos poll published at the end of April, in Serbia a majority of the population say they are

.

How do we explain such disaffection?

attempts at explanation.

Disinformation and propaganda undermine press freedom in the Balkans

The world ranking

 on Tuesday 3 May reveals a contrasting landscape in the Balkans, a region where press freedom is everywhere under threat.

The countries of the post-Yugoslavian space are stagnating while Albania and Greece are in free fall.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Turkey brings up the rear in 149th place out of 180 countries.

Everywhere, the NGO denounces pressure on journalists and notes the influence of pro-regime media in disinformation campaigns. 

This ranking aroused the strong anger of the Albanian Prime Minister, who called the report a “ 

”.

His country, now 103rd, has tumbled 20 places in one year.

Usually always concerned with giving the best image of himself internationally, Edi Rama went wild on Twitter.

By

.

Could the Russian invasion of Ukraine drag neighboring Moldova into the conflict?

After the mysterious " 

 " in several towns in the breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria at the end of April, the authorities

.

If the conflict were to escalate in the face of Russia wishing to include Transnistria in its war effort, Tiraspol will not follow the orders of the Kremlin willingly, as the separatist region maintains strong intimate and economic ties with Ukraine.

Reactions against homophobia

Montenegro has made a bold choice: to be represented at the Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art by a young, gay and Muslim artist.

Dante Buu was born in 1987 into a Bosnian Muslim family from Rožaje, in the poor mountains of northern Montenegro.

With her daring performances, reminiscent of those of the star Marina Abramović, the thirty-year-old artist has carved out a

in the world of contemporary art.

In Kosovo and Romania, the LGBTQI+ community is not supported by lawmakers.

In Pristina, the deputies rejected on March 16 the draft of a new civil code put forward by the government of Albin Kurti.

At issue: the article paving the way for the legalization of civil unions between people of the same sex.

The debates sparked an

.

Same observation in Romania.

At the end of April, the Romanian Senate adopted a bill against so-called “LGBT propaganda”, modeled on Hungarian legislation, itself inspired by Russia.

Under the guise of “protecting children against the risks of a disintegration of family values”, the text above all plans

.

It aroused a lively mobilization of Romanian civil society.

On April 25, a court in Turkey sentenced businessman and philanthropist Osman Kavala and his seven co-defendants to very heavy sentences in the “Gezi trial” for their role in major protests in 2013. A parody of justice, symbol of the authoritarian drift of the Erdoğan regime, which hardens as the 2023 presidential election approaches. Despite the repression, opponents continue the movement.

, the resistance is organized.

Balkan Muslims celebrate the end of Ramadan

Muslims in the Balkans also celebrated the end of Ramadan on May 2.

Every afternoon for a month, long queues formed outside the Qollaku bakery in Prizren, the big city in southern Kosovo.

Here, somuns are still cooked over a wood fire, these

, essential to accompany the evening iftar.

In the town of Cazin, located in the north-west of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an Orthodox Serb

for a hundred Bosnian Muslims.

One more example of inter-community friendship, which contradicts nationalist discourse aimed at exacerbating the divisions that plague the country.

But thirty years after the start of the war, the road to reconciliation still seems long.

In Sarajevo, two separate delegations

the “events” of May 3, 1992 in the old Dobrovoljačka street.

That day, several members of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) had been killed or wounded as their convoy evacuated the town, whose siege had just begun.

An investigation has been reopened to try to identify and judge the culprits.

General elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina for October 2?

The general elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina will indeed take place on 2nd October next.

After months of suspense, the Central Electoral Commission has finally called general elections for 2nd October next.

But the holding of the ballot is not fully guaranteed:

, which finances them, has not yet been found.

The announcement sparked strong reactions as far away as Croatia.

So much so that the president is

if the electoral reform demanded by the Croats of Bosnia-Herzegovina is not validated.

Robert Golomb, a new liberal messiah to “normalize” Slovenia?

In Slovenia the first hearings of the members of the future government began after the general elections on 24th April.

Robert Golob's liberal party 

, benefiting from the useful anti-Janez Janša vote, the outgoing pro-Orban Prime Minister.

Will he be able to appease Slovenia and govern after two years of right-wing and authoritarian drift while giving pledges to his left-wing partners?

On May 1, it was also one of the

who passed away.

Ivica Osim died in Graz, aged 81.

A look back at the career of this attacking midfielder known for having been the last coach of socialist Yugoslavia (1986-92).

A man of integrity and respect, who has always fought against nationalism.

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_EN

• Serbia

• European Union

• Newspaper