Balkan Press Review

In the News: Trial of former KLA leaders, commanders who did not command?

Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi seen in The Hague on April 3, 2023. He is on trial for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the 1998-1999 war, which led to the country's independence. © AP/Koen van Weel

Text by: Courrier des Balkans Follow | Simon Rico Follow

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Since 3 April, the former President of Kosovo has been on trial in The Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Like his three co-accused, he pleaded not guilty, denying any command responsibility when he was head of the KLA. But then, who commanded the Albanian guerrillas?

Serbian weapons in Ukraine?

Does Serbia supply arms to Ukraine? This is in any case what reveals a CIA document that has leaked in recent weeks on social networks. Belgrade denies this, while the country has refused to align itself with the policy of Western sanctions against Russia.

This is also due to Serbia, like Bosnia and Herzegovina, being excluded from the new Balkan regional initiative called Western Balkans Quad. The objective of this umpteenth platform: to promote "full respect for the EU's foreign and security policy". To better convince the 27 to open their doors?

China to the rescue of Bosnian Serbs

The Serb entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina is turning the bar ever further east. Already heavily in debt, the Republika Srpska can no longer find anyone in the West to give it credit. Its president, Milorad Dodik, ended up turning to China. At the risk of finding yourself bound hand and foot in case of non-payment. Decryption.

Beijing has become the privileged partner of the petty Balkan autocrats to compete with the European Union in the event of a dispute. For example, it is China that is being asked to revive the coal sector, while Brussels insists on decarbonising local electricity production. While the energy crisis rages on, it is difficult to extol the merits of the green transition.

In Greece, does the right want the voices of neo-Nazis?

In Montenegro, the beginning of the post-Đukanović era has begun. After more than three decades of rule by the "gospodar" (lord), the small country must now break with a system whose roots lie in the crimes and looting of the 1990s. Will Jakov Milatović really be the president of a "Montenegro for all"? Pending the early parliamentary elections on 11th June next, the technical government has decided to attack the citizen Đukanović. But many question the timing.

Greece will vote on 21st May next to elect its new Parliament. An election that promises to be very complicated for the current conservative majority after the terrible train disaster at the end of February. The government, already criticized for its right-wing drift, is now trying to ban a new neo-Nazi party. To better recover his votes?

Easter among Albanian Catholics in Sicily

About twenty kilometers from Athens, Eleusis is one of the three European Capitals of Culture 2023. Far from the paradisiacal landscapes of postcards, this small industrial town of 25,000 souls is filled with disused factories, its bay is littered with the carcasses of abandoned boats. But Eleusis is also the homeland of the ancient playwright Aeschylus and has a rich archaeological heritage. Guided tour on site.

Last Monday, Balkan Catholics celebrated Easter. Piana degli Albanesi, in Sicily, is a high place of the Arbëresh presence, this Christian Albanian minority who arrived in the fifteenth century to flee the Ottoman invasion of their lands. For more than five hundred years, their descendants have preserved the Eastern Catholic language, traditions and rite. Report.

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• Kosovo
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