Energy
Pompeo's Greece visit underlines Turkey’s isolation
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Greece on September 28-30 with the objective of making it clear to Turkey that the Trump Administration...
Afghanistan
Final Trump UN General Assembly address hits multilateralism
In the final address to the UN General Assembly of his current term in office, US President Donald J Trump sent a short video...
Albania
Short Greece vacation for two Balkan leaders
Taking the opportunity to visit Athens in conference speaker mode, the leaders of Albania and North Macedonia paid stealthy visits to Athens September 15-16...
Analysis
Trump Administration’s Kosovo announcement fails to impress
The Trump Administration’s second attempt to gather Kosovar and Serbian leaders at the White House succeeded on September 4 just as Washington and most...
Albania
North Macedonia’s coalition government forms up, as directed
Once again, to the delight of North Macedonia’s Western supporters, Skopje has a new coalition government that looks very much like last year’s pre-election...
Archive
Athens pivots to Washington for help with Turkish provocations
In the latest sub-chapter of the seemingly never-ending dispute over energy exploration rights in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean, Athens has again called for...
Albania
North Macedonia’s elections unfold, marginally, as directed
To the delight of North Macedonia’s western supporters, the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) landed a razor-thin electoral majority on July 15 in...
Analysis
Croatia and Bulgaria eyeing Eurozone entry
Seemingly ready to ignore the lessons of the last decade’s Eurozone crisis which ravaged many of their neighbours, aspiring Eurozone members Croatia and Bulgaria...
Analysis
Kosovo: EU visa liberalisation issue resurfaces
Increased travel access to the EU for Kosovar citizens remains an interesting sidebar to the now-postponed Washington meeting between recently re-elected Serbian President Aleksandar...
Albania
Trump Administration’s controversial Kosovo gambit accelerates
While not unexpected, the Trump Administration has moved faster than many observers anticipated to restart its ongoing diplomatic initiative to resolve a significant piece...
Analysis
North Macedonia’s (unaffordable) NATO dream takes shape
North Macedonia’s flag is flying over NATO Headquarters today in Brussels as the alliance’s 30th member after the final accession formalities were completed on...
Albania
In desperate times, EU approves new Balkan Enlargement steps
Moving on a trajectory that senior EU leaders publicly outlined at the Munich Security Conference in mid-February, the EU’s General Affairs Council (GAC) agreed...
Analysis
US Democrats overseas vote again for Bernie Sanders
Democrats Abroad, the official international arm of the US’ Democratic Party, announced on March 23 the verified results of the Global Presidential Primary, which...
Archive
With Covid-19 travel restrictions, US takes a further step towards isolation
While having not completely terminated international travel, the US took a major step in that direction on March 19 with the issuance of a...
Analysis
Kosovo action moves to Washington
With global attention increasingly focused on the Covid-19 pandemic, US diplomats amazingly found time in early March to continue pressing Kosovo and Serbia to...
Archive
Delphi Forum postponed but American VIPs arrive in Greece
On February 29 the Delphi Forum announced a postponement until late spring due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak that had just hit several major...
Albania
Amidst crises, Greece finds time for renewed Balkan diplomacy
Despite the multiple crises Greece is currently facing – a continuing refugee deluge and massive public reaction on some islands, the spreading coronavirus threat,...
Archive
US envoy to Serbia-Kosovo talks to become Acting Director of National Intelligence
President Donald Trump has named Richard Grenell, the US Ambassador to Germany and concurrently Special Envoy to Serbia and Kosovo, to become the acting...
Analysis
Munich Bacchanalian surprises
At the Munich Security Conference 2020, two reality-altering messages were sent back to Southeastern Europe, which incidentally was not the core focus of this...
Analysis
North Macedonia takes a small step forward and one backwards this week
Since being installed in early January in preparation for the country’s April 6 elections, Caretaker Government Labour Minister Rashela Mizrahi, from the ultranationalist VMRO-DPMNE...
Albania
France scores victory on Enlargement rules
The EU Commission released new proposed rules on February 5 which substantially modify the current Enlargement process but also allow EU member states to...
Analysis
Greece ratifies new defence deal with Washington
Late on January 30, the Greek parliament voted to ratify Greece’s new defence agreement signed with the US last October during the visit of...
Archive
US diplomatic engagement helps reopen Kosovo-Serbia flights
Representatives of Serbia, Kosovo, the US, and Lufthansa Group signed a milestone agreement on January 20 to establish an air link between Serbia and...
Analysis
Greek Prime Minister meets President Trump amid Mid-East turmoil
The January 7 White House meeting between US President Donald J Trump and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis did not yield any new US...
Albania
Greece’s Balkan diplomacy currently a sideshow
While keeping up the appearances of an active diplomatic campaign in Southeast Europe, the net impact of Athens’ recent initiatives will yield next to...
Archive
White House finally schedules Washington meeting with Greek prime minister
The White House announced on December 2 that President Donald J. Trump would be meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on January 7...
Albania
Greece champions EU Enlargement in the Western Balkans
As a consequence of French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision in October to call for a temporary hold on EU accession discussions for Albania and...
Albania
Zaev-Mitsotakis Thessaloniki meeting explores EU Enlargement delays
The prime ministers of Greece and North Macedonia met on the sidelines of the Thessaloniki 2019 Summit on November 14. This was their second...
Albania
Brussels casts Zaev a thin lifeline
Brussels cast a thin Italian-flavoured political lifeline to North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev over the last ten days, something sorely needed after Zaev...
Archive
Zaev fumbles after EU Enlargement let-down
North Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev fumbled badly this week when discussing the relationship between his country’s now-frozen EU accession bid and the standing...
Albania
Enlargement is not Eurovision, Zoran
Enlargement boosters across Europe were stunned by the third failure of the European Council to announce a decision on 18 October on a date...
Albania
France unyielding on EU Enlargement, elections triggered in North Macedonia
The scenario that emerged late last week with multiple reports that France would oppose immediate decisions on EU Enlargement has come to pass.
EU European...
Archive
US Democrats conclave in Athens
Arriving in Athens a week after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited, the US Democratic Party’s overseas arm (Democrats Abroad) is holding its 2019...
Analysis
Greece and US ink new defence deal and extend strategic dialogue
Taking a welcome break from his involvement in the Trump-Ukraine issue, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo completed his short Balkan swing on 6...
Archive
Secretary of State Pompeo begins short Balkan swing
Despite the turmoil in Washington which has practically everything except his current European trip in focus, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo departed Italy on 4...
Archive
Washington and Athens agree on new defence agreement
The US and Greece have agreed on the text of a new document which will modify the existing bilateral Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement (MDCA)...
Archive
Zaev-Mitsotakis New York meeting – breaking the ice
The prime ministers of Greece and North Macedonia held their first face-to-face meeting on the sidelines of the 74th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)...
Albania
Tusk makes final push in support of Western Balkans enlargement
Outgoing European Council President Donald Tusk devoted his time on 16 September to make a final push in support of the EU accession aspirations...
Analysis
The mother of all hearings
As soon as the new European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, revealed on 10 September that Hungary’s former Minister of Justice Laszlo Trocsanyi...
Archive
Mitsotakis government’s foreign policy inevitably points to Washington
In view of ongoing tension between Turkey, the EU and Washington, it was completely reasonable for the new Greek government of Prime Minister Kyriakos...
Analysis
The Name Dispute after the July 7 Greek elections
The June 2018 Prespes Agreement, which settled the so-called Name Dispute with newly-renamed North Macedonia, Greece’s northern neighbor, was an important but not the...
Albania
As enlargement discussions freeze, aspirants twist in the wind
Discussions in Luxembourg regarding EU enlargement in the Western Balkans made little headway this past week, despite the threat from North Macedonian Prime Minister...
Analysis
Could Kazakhstan’s recent election be a model for the rest of Central Asia?
NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan - As the dust settles following Kazakhstan’s elections, some outside observers are concluding that the approach taken by the Kazakh government in support...
Archive
Zaev hints at early elections
Prime Minister Zoran Zaev of North Macedonia hinted on 5 June, and again the next day, that he would consider calling early elections if...
Archive
Kosovo-Serbia relations again disrupted
Raids by Kosovo police on 28 May in a large anti-corruption operation triggered a serious deterioration of already-strained Kosovo-Serbia relations in the following days,...
Archive
North Macedonia’s presidential election results calm West’s worries
North Macedonia’s presidential runoff election on 5 May produced results guaranteed to calm fraying nerves in Athens, Washington, Brussels, Paris, and Berlin as the...
Analysis
Name Dispute chills North Macedonia’s presidential election
What would normally be an inconsequential election for the largely ceremonial post of president in North Macedonia has crystallised into an unofficial referendum on...
Analysis
New legislation energizes US policy in the Eastern Mediterranean
Important new bipartisan legislation has been introduced by two ranking US Senators to reshape and energize US strategy in the Eastern Mediterranean, taking into...
Albania
Tsipras visits Skopje hoping to cement his Prespes accomplishments
Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras visited North Macedonia’s capital Skopje on 2 April, his second visit to the country since signing the Prespes Agreement. ...
Analysis
Tsipras heads to Skopje to salvage his Prespes gambit
Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is set to deliver on his promised trip to North Macedonia’s capital, Skopje, on 2 April, which was announced...
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