Balkan press review

In the spotlight: Exiles, Bosnia and Herzegovina still at the center of the “Balkan route”

Refugees leave the Lipa camp in Bosnia and Herzegovina, near the border with Croatia, on December 26, 2020. © AP / Kemal Softic

Text by: Courrier des Balkans Follow |

Simon Rico Follow

3 mins

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After a short decline in early 2022, the number of exiles crossing Bosnia and Herzegovina has increased again.

Crossings are now faster, due to the “seven-day permit” issued by Croatia and the dismantling of barbed wire on the Slovenian border.

.

Greek justice on Friday January 13 canceled the procedure for “espionage” against 24 humanitarian workers on the island of Lesbos, ending a controversial trial criticized by the UN and NGOs which denounce the criminalization of volunteers helping migrants.

This

towards exiles had been 

.

Among the defendants, the Syrian refugee Sarah Mardini, who inspired with her sister Yusra, an Olympic athlete, the film

, broadcast on Netflix.

The last king of Greece died

.

Constantine II had been stripped of his royal title in 1974 by referendum, after the fall of the Colonels' dictatorship and the return of democracy.

The Conservative government denied him the honors of a head of state for his funeral.

His recruitment by Olympique Lyonnais caused a lot of ink to flow after the broadcast of a video in which we see him celebrating Croatia's 3rd place at the World Cup with a fascist salute.

Antivax, anti-LGBT, pro-Putin: in truth, the Croatian defender Dejan Lovren is not his first skid.

.

A decoration for Vladimir Putin which makes the European Union react

On Monday, January 9, the Serbian entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina celebrated its "national day", which has been illegal since 2016. On this occasion, the President of Republika Srpska awarded the highest decoration to Vladimir Putin.

A gesture that angered the European Union, a few weeks after Brussels validated the status of candidate for the integration of the country.

This gesture towards Moscow did not, however, bring down the price of gas in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the highest in all the Balkans.

However, the supplier is the same: Gazprom.

But why does Serbia pay twice as much?

.

On January 6, two young Serbs were

, a mixed town in southern Kosovo.

The Albanian suspect was immediately arrested and the authorities in Pristina condemned his gesture, but the Serbian politicians guided by Belgrade denounce “the terror of the Albin Kurti regime” for their community.

on December 25,

.

North Macedonia doctor charged over experimental Covid-19 treatment

He is one of the most renowned doctors in North Macedonia who was charged on January 10.

Žan Mitrev, owner of the clinic that bears his name, faces ten years in prison for having unknowingly administered an experimental treatment to 283 patients with Covid-19,

.

In Slovenia, the public health system is on the brink of agony.

On Tuesday,

to denounce the lack of means and the lack of doctors.

Even the government was on their side.

Serbs, Montenegrins and Macedonians celebrated Christmas on Saturday 7 January.

We 

these Orthodox countries do not celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25 like other Christians.

The hit of the year 2021 in Serbia is called

, an interjection used by all the peoples of the Balkans to say "Come on, let's go".

This song by Tea Tairović, the new Serbian turbofolk star, then became a hit across the region.

A title that takes up without hiding a Kosovar melody created in the early 2000s. We make you

that plays with borders and nationalisms.

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