The Balkan Press Review

Front page: “No to a Republika Srpska of Kosovo”

Albin Kurti, the Prime Minister of Kosovo said on Wednesday February 1, 2023 that the creation of an association of the five Serb-majority municipalities was not a priority for his cabinet, even though the United States maintained that the issue was important for the eventual normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia.

(Photo: Albin Kurti during a press conference in the Czech Republic on 15/12/2022) AP - Bundas Engler

Text by: Courrier des Balkans Follow |

Florentine Cassonnet |

Marion Roussey

3 mins

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International pressure is intensifying

 for the conclusion of an agreement between Kosovo and Serbia as early as March, but Prime Minister Albin Kurti confirms his opposition to the creation of an Association of Serb-majority municipalities, despite the risk international sanctions against Kosovo. 

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Thursday, 

, President Aleksandar Vučić recalled the need to " 

" with Kosovo, without recognizing its independence for all that and without giving the floor to the opposition.

On the same day, Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti set Kosovo's conditions for the creation of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities.

For 15 years, 27 countries have withdrawn their recognition of Kosovo's independence, according to Serbia, at the initiative of this diplomatic offensive against its neighbor.

The process of “de-recognition” is poorly regulated by international law and leaves a lot of room for manipulation. 

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For Croatia, the missed meeting with transitional justice

As a member of the EU, Croatia could have been an example of transitional justice, but it is not, although it is always quick to lecture others.

Nataša Kandić warns of the vulnerability of appeasement processes caught in the grip of the nationalists' "politics of memory". 

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In North Macedonia, the beating of a Bulgarian has raised 

 ahead of celebrations for the birth of revolutionary Goce Delčev, a symbol disputed with Bulgaria.

Faced with this "high-risk event" scheduled for February 4 in Skopje, the Bulgarian and Macedonian authorities are trying to restore calm to avoid violence.

Facebook, vector of Russian influence in Bulgaria?

In a Bulgaria in the midst of a political crisis for two years and governed 

 by a pro-Russian president, the question of Moscow's influence arises before the snap elections in April.

According to a 

, the dissemination of Russian propaganda is a lucrative market, which the Bulgarian company that moderates Facebook promotes on the No. 1 social network in Bulgaria.

After Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina is becoming a 

, who face many obstacles and wish to expand their market.

The Republika Srpska, close to Serbia, is of particular interest to them.

Slovenia has arrested two foreign nationals 

, according to the revelations of the daily 

.

Due to its position, Slovenia is a popular playground for foreign intelligence services.

The ports of the Balkans, "magnets" of drug trafficking

Transnational criminal groups are increasingly using Balkan ports for their trafficking.

This is the finding of a 

 which shows that the traditional land route of the “Balkan route” is increasingly supplemented by maritime routes from the Black Sea to the Adriatic, via the Aegean Sea.

The political crisis which has blocked Montenegro for months is beginning to worry the European Union.

Milo Đukanović's DPS plays the politics of the worst. 

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Typography that wants to bring Croats and Serbs closer together

Croatian specialist in typography, 

, a typography combining the Cyrillic and Croatian alphabets.

Rejected by politicians and nationalists, its font has been taken over by a whole generation who see it as a way of bringing together two languages ​​within the same alphabet.

The 

series  boosts tourism in Romania.

From the first weeks following the release on Netflix of this series directed by Tim Burton and filmed almost entirely in Romania, the impact on local tourism is felt.

With the backdrop of the rise of 

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