Weekly Brief

Albania
German chancellor Scholz pushes for the country’s EU accession, 4,000 businesses close in nine months, and the country is highly dependent on electricity import. Scholz reiterated that Albania should swiftly join the EU to avoid Russian influence. The National Centre of Business reported that the negative trend commenced during the COVID-19 pandemic and continued during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Eurostat ranked the country eight in Europe for energy imports, 14% of total consumption in the country.

Bosnia-Herzegovina
Bosniak Presidency member Dzaferovic discussed the security situation with European Commission President von der Leyen, IMF broadcast inflation to accelerate to 6.5% in 2022, and public service broadcaster BHRT threatened with closure. Dzaferovic urged von der Leyen to grant candidate status to the country amid ongoing Russian influence. BHRT has an outstanding debt of 32 million euros ($35 million) owed to the public broadcaster in the Republika Srpska, RTRS.

Croatia
The capacity of Krk LNG is about to increase, Russia protested over Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic’s statement calling Putin a war criminal, and gross external debt rose 11% in 2021. Prime Minister Plenkovic stated that the LNG terminal could deliver from 2.6 to 2.9 billion cubic meters of gas annually. Kremlin stated that such irresponsible behavior is destroying the 30-year old relationship between the two countries. The Central Bank said that gross external debt totaled 44.6 billion euros ($49 billion) in 2021.

Kosovo
President Osmani attended the Doha Forum, USAID granted $31.9 million to support development, and the EU urged Prime Minister Kurti to comply with a Brussels agreement on justice and disciplinary procedures after Judge Ljiljana Stefanovic’s suspension. Osmani met Qatar Chamber Chairman Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim Al Thani, who expressed a willingness to invest in economic and commercial spheres. Kurti said that he is “neither chairman nor a member of the Kosovo Judicial Council… maybe in Serbia the president suspends and removes judges and prosecutors… that’s not the case in Kosovo or with Judge Stevanovic.”

Montenegro
Bulgaria and Rumania are willing to deliver essential food supplies, Prime Minister Krivokapic proposed the port of Bar for LNG transportation, and EBRD cuts the 2022 economic growth forecast to 3.7%. Agriculture Minister Aleksandar Stijovic said that Bulgaria already provided several trucks of basic food supplies and is ready to “sell Montenegro abundant quantities of very high-quality foodstuffs, including flour, cereals and animal feed under better conditions even than Serbia.” Krivokapic stated that “the port of Bar can be defined for the transportation of liquefied natural gas, which can become a potential for further strengthening of links in the region.” The previous economic growth forecast for 2022 was 5.7%.

North Macedonia
Prime Minister Kovacevski mentioned internal enemies working against the agreement with Bulgaria, the Government ordered the expulsion of five Russian diplomats, and the population shrank by 10% since 2002. Kovacevski stated that “there are individuals and marginalized groups, there are even political parties in the country that are funded by third countries that do not want to see North Macedonia in the EU.” Foreign Minister Osmani stated that the diplomats “were executing activities which are contrary to the Vienna Convention for diplomatic relations.” The country now has a total population of 1,836,731, 185,713 fewer than ten years ago.

Serbia
SNS’s Aleksandar Vucic is likely to win a new president’s term, Ukraine Embassy criticized the Government for being anti-Ukrainian, and eight were killed and eighteen injured in a coal mine incident. Incumbent president Aleksandar Vucic is expected to win 51.7% of the votes. The Embassy’s press release stated that Ukraine was counting on Serbia to impose sanctions and condemned the large-scale aggression by Putin’s regime against a sovereign European state. The Soko coal mine pit collapsed, releasing methane gas and trapping the miners.