Northern Macedonia

Europe and the Western Balkans: Great expectations, dull reality

For leaders in the region, EU membership risks losing control over power and patronage. For EU leaders, it is a political headache that they would rather avoid. Writer and diplomat Zlatko Dizdarević analyses how and why the process seems to be going nowhere, as both parties turn in upon themselves.

16 January 2020 – Green European Journal (Brussels)

Albania and Northern Macedonia EU accession: So close, so far away

After many delays, it looks like the EU member states may finally give the green light to enlargement negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia during the upcoming European Council meeting.

16 October 2019 – Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa (Trento)

The Western Balkans after the European elections: Still in limbo

Meanwhile, timing is everything in the Western Balkans. Just days after the vote, the European Commission published its annual report on the prospects for EU enlargement in the region. This may well focus minds on the delicate issues that the region’s countries face, though the EU’s own lack of consensus about the way forward may prove a major obstacle to their resolution.

26 September 2019 – Eurozine (Vienna)

Tourism in the Balkans: An increasingly popular destination

Where new developments in European tourism are concerned, the substantial and steady growth of the Balkans as a destination for vacations and travel is one of the most significant trends in recent years.

25 August 2017 – Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa (Trento)

Protests in former Yugoslavia republics: Balkan indignados

The last few months have seen massive citizen movements in the Balkans against the political elite. A report from the ground.

17 July 2016 – Ahora Semanal (Madrid)

Macedonia: Government accused of industrial-scale eavesdropping

Journalist Danica Radisc reports how "leaked tapes revealed by Macedonia’s opposition seem to suggest that the country’s intelligence services have been illegally wiretapping more than […]

17 March 2015 – VoxEurop Global Voices Online

Balkans: Brussels gives green light to Albania and Macedonia

“Albania is attempting the big step of EU accession”, headlines Il Sole 24 Ore following the European Commission's decision to recommend granting candidate status to […]

16 October 2013 – Presseurop Il Sole-24 Ore, Gazeta Wyborcza

Balkans: ‘Prince Gotse stolen’

A new UNESCO exhibition in Belgrade has drawn Bulgarian ire by featuring revolutionary Gotse Delchev – a leading figure in the uprising against the Ottoman […]

11 September 2013 – Presseurop Standart

Macedonia: Tweaking history in Skopje

From Alexander the Great to Mother Teresa, the small republic wedged between the Bulgaria and the Greece is loading itself down with debts and statues to confirm its identity.

28 August 2013 – Libération (Paris)

Balkans: A fresh spat between Bulgaria and Macedonia

After Athens, it’s Sofia’s turn to put the brakes on the opening of EU accession negotiations with Macedonia. It’s a stance that’s stirring up nationalist tensions between the two countries and breathing new life into the clichés of its European partners about the bickering Balkans, regrets a Bulgarian journalist.

19 December 2012 – Dnevnik (Sofia)

Immigration: For or against visas for the Balkans?

Will the EU be bringing back the visa requirement for nationals of the western Balkans? On France and Germany’s initiative, six member states of the […]

26 October 2012 – Presseurop Dagens Nyheter, Aftonbladet

Turkey-Balkans: EU candidates still don’t make the grade

Turkey was singled out as needing improvement in the areas of individual and press freedom during the presentation of the European Commission's Final 2012 Report […]

11 October 2012 – Presseurop Zaman, Hürriyet, EUobserver.com

Article: Today's front pages

The trial of serial killer Andres Breivik opened this morning in Oslo. The accused entered court with a raised arm and clenched fist, before pleading […]

16 April 2012 – Presseurop

Central Europe: Democracy in decline

“A setback for democracy in Eastern Europe,” leads Die Presse, using terms like “dramatic” and “explosive” to describe the results of the latest Transformation Index […]

26 March 2012 – Presseurop Die Presse

Balkans: Beware European humble-pie

Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia... As candidates for accession to the EU, all of these states have had to bow to pressure for sacrifices and compromises from Brussels. A Macedonian columnist notes that the more they have waited, the more the concessions demanded have proved to be exacting.

14 March 2012 – Utrinski Vesnik (Skopje)

Immigration: Bulgarian passport opens doors to West

Macedonians, Moldavians and Ukrainians are jostling to obtain a Bulgarian passport. Many plan to leave for other countries in the European Union, but first they must confront the Bulgarian administration.

7 December 2011 – Trud (Sofia)

European Union: An enlargement of illusions

In opening up the prospect of accession to several candidate countries, the European Commissioner for Enlargement means to put on a show of optimism. But it only reinforces the impression that Europe doesn’t know where it’s going, writes the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter.

13 October 2011 – Dagens Nyheter (Stockholm)

Former Yugoslavia: Balkan delusions of grandeur

In a phenomenon that has emerged in cities as diverse as Skopje, Niš and Split, the states of the former Yugoslavia are been swept by a craze for megalomaniac monuments. Croatian writer Jurica Pavicic examines the vogue for these nationalist monstrosities, and concludes their goal is to rewrite history.

3 October 2011 – Jutarnji List (Zagreb)

Belgium: Refugees prompt "humanitarian crisis"

“Asylum applications up by 30% per month,”headlines Le Soir, which reports that the Belgian Secretary of State for Social Integration, Philippe Courard, has voiced concern […]

25 March 2011 – Presseurop Le Soir

EU accession: The Balkan family photo is blurred

The population census demanded by Brussels has become a political challenge in most of the countries of the western Balkans. Twenty years after the start of the wars in former Yugoslavia, the venture brings ethnic and social tensions back into the spotlight.

21 January 2011 – Politika (Belgrade)

Balkans: And how about “Northern Macedonia”?

After nearly two decades of absurd and counter-productive quarreling, it's high time that Greece and its former Yugoslavian neighbour find a solution to the Macedonian name issue, argues Bulgarian weekly Kapital.

4 May 2010 – Capital (Sofia)

Greece/Macedonia: Athens offers Skopje a name tweak

"Greece has announced that it will accept the use of "Northern Macedonia" as the name for the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM)," reports Bucharest […]

6 April 2010 – Presseurop Adevărul

History: Can't take the Ottoman out of the Balkans

Five centuries of Turkish domination left their mark on culture, cuisine, language and even gestures in Balkan countries. It is an influence that is still apparent in attitudes that have affected the pace of integration in the European Union for a number of Balkan states.

8 February 2010 – Globus-Skopje (Skopje)

Balkans: Hail Albania!

On 16 November the EU Council formally approved Albania’s application for accession to the Union. Guardian columnist Peter Preston argues in favour of an emerging country whose enthusiasm for the European project is a welcome antidote to eurosceptic cynicism.

25 November 2009 – The Guardian (London)

Accession: Zagreb and Ankara "must do better"

On 14 October the European Commission submitted its annual EU enlargement report on progress in the accession process for each candidate country. If “it wants […]

15 October 2009 – Presseurop Zaman

EU enlargement: Auditors find "black hole" of the Balkans

Commenting on a report presented to the European Commission on 13 October, Trouw notes that the European Court of Auditors claims that a large number […]

14 October 2009 – Presseurop Trouw

China: Look who's coming to Europe

Pressing ahead with its worldwide expansion agenda, China is now snatching up contracts in highly-indebted Eastern Europe. Beijing is hell bent on out-leveraging the Western competition there by offering dumping prices and cheap loans. But this is not just about fat contracts, writes the Handelsblatt: the Middle Kingdom is also buying political sway.

23 September 2009 – Handelsblatt (Düsseldorf)

EU enlargement: Never mind the Balkans, here's Iceland

The enthusiasm with which member states have welcomed Reykjavik's request for accession to the EU is in marked contrast to the prudence — and in some cases hostility — which has greeted similar requests from the countries of ex-Yugoslavia and Turkey. But the EU cannot afford to give the impression that certain candidates enjoy special privileges.

31 July 2009 – El País (Madrid)

Balkans: Frustrated expectations

Croatia's prime minister resigned July 1 because his country's future accession to the EU had been called into question. In Macedonia too, the EU aspirant government is fragile. As the European dream recedes, the more Western Balkan states are destabilised, writes British researcher Ian Bancroft in the Guardian.

15 July 2009 – The Guardian (London)

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