Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Energy supply diversification out of Russia’s orbit is a top priority for Bulgaria
Bulgaria intends to diversify its energy resources, including supplying the country’s main refinery in Burgas - the largest in the Balkans - with non-Russian...
Bulgaria
Bulgaria again heads towards elections
Bulgaria is now moving towards its fifth parliamentary election in two years as a result of the failure of the latest group of elected...
Bulgaria
Schengen Zone tremblors center on Bulgaria and Romania
The Netherlands announced on December 2 that it will accept Romania and Croatia's joining the EU’s special passport-free Schengen Zone but intended to block...
Bulgaria
US discusses energy security, diversification in Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria
The United States discussed joint efforts on European energy security and advanced the clean energy transition in Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria during the visit...
Albania
After Macron victory, Enlargement diplomacy back on the radar
With the war in Ukraine and the noise surrounding the French presidential elections, the subject of EU Enlargement into the Western Balkans had almost...
Albania
TAP pipeline transports first 10 bcm of Azeri natural gas to Europe
The Trans Adriatic Pipeline AG has announced that a total of 10 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas from Azerbaijan has now entered...
Bulgaria
Bulgaria to accelerate green energy transition
Akuo has announced that it has successfully secured the refinancing of a portfolio of five operational hydroelectric power plants in Bulgaria with a capacity...
Bulgaria
EU takes action to protect European biodiversity
The European Commission said on February 9 it is taking legal steps against 15 Member States in order to step up the prevention and...
Bulgaria
Sofia and Skopje begin joint effort to resolve conflict
Hoping to generate enough material to prevent Sofia’s cadre of Balkan reporters from decamping to nearby ski resorts, the governments of North Macedonia and...
Bulgaria
Petkov’s underwhelming Skopje visit opens a door
Bulgaria’s new Prime Minister Kiril Petkov visited Skopje January 18, after completing a bit more than a month in his new job. The only...
Archive
Bulgaria’s new government maintains Enlargement veto
While Bulgaria’s November 14 elections managed to break the political logjam that had paralyzed the country for most of 2021, which required three consecutive...
Archive
Tales of mystery and imagination in Skopje – Part 2
North Macedonia’s conservative opposition failed in its November 11 bid to topple Prime Minister Zoran Zaev’s government. This happened only because ruling coalition lawmakers...
Archive
Commission approves EU funding for nature, environment and climate action projects
The European Commission approved on November 25 an investment package of more than €290 million for 132 new projects under the LIFE programme for...
Archive
Third Bulgarian election in 2021 appears to break the logjam
In Bulgaria’s November 14 elections, the tough anti-corruption oriented “We Continue the Change” party (PP), won 25.7% of the vote, based on a nearly-complete...
Archive
Tales of mystery and imagination in Skopje
The November 11 no-confidence vote in Zoran Zaev's government was stopped after an extremely difficult day for lack of a quorum. Extraordinary events during...
Archive
Following election flop, Zaev announces resignation plans
North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev announced his planned resignation on November 1 after his social-democratic party massively lost the second round of municipal...
Albania
Enlargement: EU’s turgid Brdo Declaration seen as a “fail”
The two EU candidate countries hoping for a major jump-start to their long-delayed EU accession procedures suffered a major setback on October 6 at...
Afghanistan
Enough of the Durban depravity
This month marks the 20th anniversary of the so-called “World Conference Against Racism”, otherwise known as Durban I. The 2001 conference was to be...
Archive
Romania’s renewable energy market on the rise
Romania is about to scale up the deployment of renewable projects to achieve its 30.7 % target for 2030, about 6 GW of new...
Albania
Bulgaria begins slide toward new elections
The Bulgarian political world was shocked into action on August 10 when the party that won the country’s July 11 elections, There is Such...
Afghanistan
Making sense of the Italy-UAE rift
Earlier this month the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ordered the withdrawal of all Italian aircraft and personnel from its Al Minhad Air Force Base...
Albania
Balkan rumblings: Setbacks on enlargement and new Prespes violations
Against the backdrop of another EU presidency (Portugal) failing to move ahead this month on the Enlargement issue as well as a generally slow...
Archive
EU antitrust chief approves Greek public support for Alexandroupolis LNG terminal
A €166.7 million Greek support measure for the construction of a new liquid natural gas (LNG) terminal in Alexandroupolis, Greece complies with EU state...
Albania
EU enlargement: Cui bono?
EU enlargement: cui bono? Several Foreign Ministers from EU countries visited Tirana and the North Macedonian capital Skopje in the last weeks to meet local...
Albania
Washington gets tough on “destabilizers” in the Western Balkans
On June 8, President Joe Biden issued an Executive Order (EO) intended to update US sanctions policy regarding Balkan corruption and political destabilization activities,...
Albania
Washington zeroes in on corrupt Bulgarian officials
On June 2, the US Department of State announced the designation of four former Bulgarian public officials as well as one current official for involvement...
Albania
Is EU Enlargement on hold yet again?
As Portugal’s EU presidency is reaching its final month, additional pressure is expected on Bulgaria to press it to resolve its ongoing dispute with...
Albania
Ukraine’s chances to join NATO are slim to none, despite Zelensky’s claims
The Russian-Ukrainian conflict was once again back in the headlines in April when people across the world followed massive troop build-ups in and around...
Albania
Mid-East turmoil eclipses Greece’s latest Balkan initiatives
Greek officials found time to engage in several rounds of Balkan diplomacy this week, once again taking advantage of the presence in Greece of...
Albania
COVID-19 vaccine supplies trickle into Southeast Europe
In line with global trends, deliveries of COVID-19 vaccine supplies to Southeast Europe increased in April, but the record to-date shows it was anything...
Analysis
The soft power of big business in a former Soviet republic
The increasing isolation of Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko’s regime on the international stage raises important questions about the future of the country’s economy. As...
Archive
Check the Czechs
With the Czech Republic having the dubious honor of hosting the latest chapter in the ongoing saga of the West versus Vladimir Putin's Russia...
Albania
Southeast Europe begins to tackle COVID-19 immunization delays
In terms of Covid-19 vaccinations, the gap between Europe’s haves and have nots finally appears to be narrowing, after many months where much of...
Archive
Gorbachev at 90: The man who awkwardly pushed humanity forward
As a Soviet teenager growing in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv in the mid-1980s, I was a happy camper. I was going to a...
Archive
‘Laura, for EU funds crimes, please don’t call Bulgaria’
The EU's Chief Prosecutor, Laura Kovesi, rejected almost all of the Bulgarian candidates that were nominated by Bulgaria's Chief Prosecutor, Ivan Geshev, to serve...
Albania
Serbia leading Southeast Europe in COVID-19 immunizations
According to the most recent data, Serbia’s COVID-19 vaccination program, initially using a Chinese vaccine and symbolic quantities from third country suppliers, now leads...
Archive
Gazprom’s TurkStream draws less heat than Nord Stream 2
Gazprom’s TurkStream natural gas pipeline to Turkey and Southeast Europe has drawn less opposition, certainly compared with the controversial Nord Stream 2 from Russia...
Archive
Greece, Bulgaria team for hat trick on Russian gas
Greece and Bulgaria advanced the development of three natural gas projects this week that will lessen the two countries’ dependence on Russian gas.Greece’s parliament...
Albania
Could Albania begin EU Enlargement talks soon?
While no decisions on EU Enlargement emerged from the European Council and Euro Summit meetings of December 10-11, the issue blocking further progress pertains...
Albania
Has Enlargement slipped off the radar?
The European Council and Euro Summit meetings of December 10-11 concluded without reference to the subject of EU Enlargement since the earlier General Affairs...
Archive
Europe turns the tables on Russian gas
As we move into 2021, Southeast Europe’s concern about security and diversity of energy supply and over-reliance on Russia gas is now history, a...
Albania
The Bulgarian hammer comes down
Firmly refusing to approve the negotiating framework for the “Intergovernmental Conference” required to launch North Macedonia’s EU accession process, Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva...
Analysis
Bulgaria and North Macedonia continue tussle over language
While EU Enlargement was supposed to be the primary focus in the region for the final months of 2020, a long-simmering controversy with Bulgaria...
Albania
Varhelyi refocuses on enlargement for Southeast Europe
EU Commissioner for Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi visited North Macedonia and Albania on October 6-7, meeting leaders in both countries as well as addressing parliaments....
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...
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
Europe's masked corona ball
Response from the Cabinet of Commissioner Lenarčič:
At the end of January, as the outbreak intensified in Wuhan coronavirus epicentre, President von der Leyen triggered...
Archive
Russia’s Rosatom wins contract for Bulgarian NPP modernisation
Rusatom Service, the electric power division of State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom, and Bulgaria’s Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant signed a contract on neutron-flux monitoring...
Archive
EU invests in efficient and sustainable waste management in Bulgaria
The European Commission has approved an investment of over €77 million from the European Regional Development Fund to upgrade the integrated waste management system...
Archive
Bulgarian investigative journalist assaulted in Sofia
Slavi Angelov, a Bulgarian investigative journalist was assaulted by masked men late Tuesday outside his home in the country’s capital, Sofia.
Angelov works for the...
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