Albania
Prime Minister Rama met Turkish President Erdogan in Tirana, the Criminal Police dismantled a sizeable organized crime group involved in migrant smuggling, and grocery prices grew by 3.8% in December 2021. Erdogan expects the Government “to take immediate action against the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ).” The Joint Investigation Team of Albanian, Italian, and Greek Police Forces arrested 29 suspects in smuggling more than 1100 migrants in yachts along the Eastern Mediterranean Route. According to the Eurostat methodology, the December inflation of 3.7% was below the European average of 5.3%.
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Serb Presidency member Dodik said the county’s faith depends on Turkish, Serbian, and Croatian leaders’ support, the US Agency for International Development’s Administrator Samantha Power met with the Presidency members in Sarajevo, and Serbian President Vucic asked Dodik to return to the state institutions. While Croatian President Milanovic called Dodik a “partner in this turmoil, “Erdogan stated that he and Serbian President Vucic “agreed to bring together Serb, Croat and Bosnian leaders and solve the crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina.” Power said that if there is “the question whether the US is considering more sanctions, the answer is yes.” Dodik stated that he would soon hold talks with all partners on the potential return to the state institutions.
Croatia
Prime Minister Plenkovic invited Russian President Putin to visit the country, European Commission requires 660 million euros ($748 million) that the Government has not spent from the Solidarity Fund, and President Milanovic commented on the recent civic census results. Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov stated that Russia sees Croatia as “a respected European partner.” Croatia has spent only 2% of the provided funds to finance urgent reconstruction after the March 2020 earthquake. Milanovic stated that population reduction “happened to most of the new EU members” and “this is not the end of Croatia.”
Kosovo
Electricity prices are about to double, over 2,000 Covid cases daily reported as Omicron surges, and France is skeptical about the county’s visa liberalization progress. The Government allocated 75 million euros ($85 million) to power price subsidies as Kosovo’s Energy Regulatory Office prepares to increase electricity tariffs by 9% for households and businesses consuming up to 600 KWh per month. The Government introduced curfew, reduced restaurants work hours, and hardened entrance into the country. Even as the European Commission’s 2018 Assessment confirmed that Kosovo had met the visa liberalization criteria, official Paris declares that the county has not yet met conditions set by Brussels.
Montenegro
URA’s leader Abazovic proposed a no-confidence motion in Prime Minister Krivokapic’s Government, Krivokapic required the Parliament to discharge Abazovic from his position of Vice Prime Minister, and the European Union reacted to the ongoing crisis. The ruling majority bloc rejected the minority government proposal to include all parties except the Democratic Front and Democratic Party of Socialists. Krivokapic stated that he proposed the Minister of Finance Milojko Spajic as the new Vice Prime Minister. The EU Rapporteur for Montenegro Picula noted that any proposal based on European values and legislative standards would receive clear support.
North Macedonia
The Parliament elected SDSM’s leader Kovacevski as a new Prime Minister, Bulgarian Prime Minister Petkov met Kovacevski in Skopje, and the European Commission welcomed the Dialogue between the two Prime Ministers. The Kovacevski’s Government received support from sixty-two Members of Parliament, with forty-six against in the 120-seat Parliament. Petkov expressed a desire to improve relations between the two countries. EC President von der Leyen said that Brussels strongly supports this process and is ready to help speed up the first intergovernmental conference.
Serbia
Citizens accepted the judicial reform, President Vucic criticized Australia over Novak Djokovic’s deportation, and Prime Minister Brnabic stated that Rio Tinto’s lithium extraction project has stopped. Around 30% of voters went to the polls, with 60.48% supporting voters and 39.52% voting against the proposal. Vucic stated that he thinks “Australian authorities humiliated themselves with these kinds of procedures against Novak Djokovic.” Brnabic said the project was halted because it had been missing an exploitation field permit.