Balkan press review
In the spotlight: North Macedonia in turmoil against the “French proposal”
Demonstration against the “French proposal” in Skopje, July 2, 2022. © AP / Boris Grdanoski
Text by: Jean-Arnault Dérens Follow |
Balkan Mail Track
3 mins
A press review presented in partnership with
Le Courrier des Balkans
.
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How to lift Sofia's
veto
and allow the opening of European accession negotiations with North Macedonia?
The government of North Macedonia
has accepted the latest version of the "French proposal
", that is to say the framework proposed by Emmanuel Macron, but the opposition denounces a "
Bulgarian diktat
".
For the past week, thousands of people have been demonstrating every evening in Skopje, gatherings often
marked by violent incidents and clashes with the police
.
Between Bulgaria and Macedonia, two neighboring countries and culturally close, it is precisely the common history that poses a problem,
the Macedonians suspecting the Bulgarians of wanting to deny their specific identity
.
The war in Ukraine seen from the Balkans
In Bulgaria,
the war in Ukraine
continues to make waves.
In a gesture of unprecedented magnitude, Sofia expelled no less than 70 Russian diplomats on Sunday July 3, but the very controversial ambassador of the Russian Federation,
Eleonora Mitrofanova, nicknamed "Eleonora non grata"
by the liberal press in Sofia, remains in office.
Follower of shock phrases, this one also has its fan club.
Seen from Kosovo, this war also arouses lively debates.
The small country rejects the parallels drawn by Moscow between its own independence and that of the pro-Russian secessionist entities of Ukraine, but its pro-Ukrainian and pro-Western display receives little return.
The explanations of Visar Ymeri
, director of the Institute for Social Policies Musine Kokalari in Pristina.
Yet another point of view, that of Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian exiles who have found refuge in Belgrade.
Thus, Svetlana, Belarusian, had to leave her country when the repression of the Lukashenko regime fell.
She first lived in Russia and then, when the war started, her company advised her to leave for Serbia,
which she recounts in her exile notebooks
.
Demonstrations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a social dynamic that is gaining momentum
On Wednesday,
thousands of citizens from all over Bosnia and Herzegovina
took to the streets in more than a dozen cities to denounce galloping inflation and politicians' contempt for the plight of the population.
Launched at the end of June on social networks, the movement is gaining momentum by uniting all the communities, in the two “entities” of this still divided country.
It is a still unprecedented social dynamic that could worry the political parties
in the run-up to the general elections on October 2
.
At the same time, the country continues to be emptied of its population, which emigrates massively, in particular towards Germany, to the point that many sectors of activity lack manpower.
The Republika Srpska, the Serbian entity, has found a solution,
by facilitating the granting of work permits to foreign workers
, a model that makes people dream in the Federation, the other entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Montenegro: a former concentration camp converted into a luxury hotel
In Montenegro,
the scandal of this early summer is called Mamula
.
This former Austro-Hungarian fortress built on an islet that closes the Mouth of Kotor, in the Adriatic Sea, was used as a concentration camp by the Italian fascist occupants during the Second World War.
Bought by an Egyptian-Swiss holding company, the block has been transformed into a luxury hotel and welcomes its first occupants.
All-inclusive
tourism
in a former place of suffering, and without any concern for respecting and transmitting this memory.
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