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Parliamentary Elections in Bulgaria: High Stakes, Uncertain Future

Radosveta Vassileva

31.03.21

Radosveta Vassileva Borissov’s obsession with preventing early elections at all costs and the media manipulations with the help of servile sociologists we are witnessing only evidence fear. However, fear is a bad advisor. The more GERB clings to power like a hungry...

Excess of vaccines in Serbia will go to waste. Literally.

Igor Todorovic

29.03.21

Igor Todorovic Serbia is the first country in Europe and the seventh in the world in terms of the full vaccination coverage rate! However, judging by the government’s latest moves, the rates are stagnating. Conflicting statements and actions since the beginning of...

Montenegro’s vaccination adventure: Lord, bless us with good health

Daniela Vukcevic

26.03.21

Daniela Vukcevic Back in the day, the mega-popular regional star Lepa Brena sang the lyrics “Bless us, Lord, with health and joy” (“Daj, Bože, zdravlja i radosti”) in one of her songs. Although this hit is now over three decades old, the refrain is...

Bulgaria’s experience with the EU can be instructive for Macedonia

19.03.21

Svetoslav Terziev It is no secret that the real enemies of Macedonia’s EU membership are nationalists on both sides of the border. The current tension brings them pleasure because it justifies their existence. Regardless of Macedonian politicians’ view of...

“Enlargement fatigue” in the EU, empty EU promises fatigue in Macedonia

Sveto Toevski

03.03.21

Sveto Toevski “Resistance to enlargement” is growing in the EU, while in Macedonia there is a growing number of citizens who feel that the EU – instead of creating fair conditions for new enlargement – is moving away from the candidates to join...

(Dis)Integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the European Union

Mahir Sijamija

17.02.21

Mahir Sijamija We cannot expect Bosnia and Herzegovina, or any other candidate country, to join the EU until we develop antibodies to the virus of corruption, crime and nationalist policies that still paralyze Western Balkans. History has shown that, over the...

Eight years later: Is Croatia finally truly ready for Europe?

Bojana Guberac

15.02.21

Bojana Guberac Croatia joined the European Union on the first day of July, 2013. Many feared joining the EU for various reasons. One of the reasons for such fears related to what the EU would bring us. Yet, nearly eight years later, I have the impression that it is no...

Greece’s EU journey: Solidarity hard to come by, but two-way approach also lacking

Alexandra Voudouri

12.02.21

Alexandra Voudouri This year Greece will celebrate its 40th anniversary as a member of one of the strongest clubs in the world, the European Union. Greece’s European journey has been quite bumpy and brought the country to the edge of an exit from the Union. Learning...

Some Sad Lessons the Western Balkans Can Learn from Bulgaria’s EU Journey

Radosveta Vassileva

10.02.21

Radosveta Vassileva In 2007, we were so happy and proud to be finally in that mythological space, this pretentious club for the chosen ones known as the EU. Thirteen years after accession, however, this European dream looks more like a nightmare. In the late 1990s and...

Running in the Wrong Direction: Rama’s Spat with the EU Over Vaccination Underlines Growing Frustration

Alfonc Rakaj

08.02.21

Alfonc Rakaj However tempting or justifiable it may be, Mr. Rama and his regional colleagues would do well not to bite on the hand that “feeds” their people, invest in their future and build their schools. The public spillover of criticism towards the EU marks a...