Weekly Brief

Albania
Parliament approved a constitutional amendment to allow continued vetting of the judiciary, Prime Minister Rama would testify before Inquiry Committee on waste incinerators, and former Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri was sentenced to prison following a drugs trial. Members of Parliament voted 118-0 in favor of a two-year extension of the vetting institution’s mandate. The Government paid 81 million euros ($72 million) from 2015 to 2020, even when they had no waste to burn. Tahiri has been sentenced to three years and four months in prison for drug trafficking.

Bosnia-Herzegovina
The Republika Srpska Parliament adopted the draft law to create a separate judicial system, EU Foreign Policy Chief Borrell urged Bosniak, Croat, and Serb leaders to resume talks to overcome the ongoing crisis, and the country’s end-2021 foreign debt rose to 5 billion euros ($5.6 billion). Parliament Members stated that their decision aligns with the Dayton Peace Agreement. At the end of 2020, foreign debt totaled 4.3 billion euros ($4.9 billion).

Croatia
Prime Minister Plenkovic met French President Macron at the One Ocean Summit in France, the Government established a strategic interest commission for the diaspora, and National Bank has scrapped a design for a proposed 1 euro coin after plagiarism allegations. Plenkovic discussed Croatia’s aspirations to join the Schengen Area and the euro area with European Council President Charles Michel. The diaspora commission would secure efficient operation and transparency in supporting projects and establishing more robust bonds with citizens living abroad. The image was similar to one of the British photographers Iain H Leach.

Kosovo
Prime Minister Kurti commented on the ongoing issues with establishing the Serb Municipalities Association and the Orthodox Monastery Decani property rights, the Government signed a third agreement with Europol, and the US donated 500,000 vaccines. Kurti stated that he is merely careful with establishing the Association and that he expects the religious leaders to “do their part” and look “for solutions through dialogue and agreement with the locals.” Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla announced the agreement defines the exchange and protection of information procedures. This donation brings the total to one million doses donated.

Montenegro
Parliament Speaker Aleksa Becic dismissed, URA’s leader Abazovic on signing the Fundamental Agreement with the Serb Orthodox Church, and the country ranked as “flawed democracies” in this year’s Democracy Index 2021. Becic’s dismissal was supported by 43 Member of Parliament from Black on White and the opposition. Abazovic stated that the Agreement “has to be aligned with the Constitution, but I don’t see it being a problem.” The country registered improvements in the categories of functioning of Government and political participation, scoring 6.02 (+0.25) on a scale from 1 to 10.

North Macedonia
Bulgaria expects constitutional changes ahead of EU membership talks, Education Ministry confirmed it came under cyber attack by the “Powerful Greek Army” hacking group, and the minimum wage up by 18.5%. Bulgarian President Radev said that he expects constitutional guarantees for the observance of the rights of Macedonian Bulgarians. The hacker group stated, “we have access even in their camera systems, we watch you 24/7, we have eyes everywhere, Skopje.” Starting April, the minimum wage would be 293 euros.

Serbia
The Government would sign a free trade deal with China this year, a Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR Serbia) soon to become operational, and Speaker Dacic commented on EU diplomats’ decision to miss Serbia’s Statehood Day over Bosnia’s Serb Presidency Member Dodik’s participation. Bilateral trade is expected to expand from $5.3 billion (4.6 billion euros) a year to $8 billion and soon reach $10 billion. C4IR Serbia will be an autonomous non-profit organization focusing on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and bioengineering. Dacic stated that Government “don’t interfere in decisions on who will come to commemorations.”