- A new government composition with an AI Minister was presented in Albania
Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama, who won for the fourth time as a result of the parliamentary elections in May, presented his new cabinet on 11 September.
Seven ministers from the previous cabinet left their posts, while seven new persons were appointed to head some of the country’s key ministries.
In particular, Pirro Vengu will remain Minister of Defence. Elisa Spiropali, who held the position of Speaker of the Albanian Parliament, was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs.
One of the most important changes is the appointment of Albana Koçiu, the first woman to head the Ministry of Interior.
A sensation was the “appointment” to a ministerial post a product of artificial intelligence. Diella will work in the field of public procurement. Her role will be to ensure that Albania, in Rama’s words, becomes “a country where public tenders are 100% corruption-free”.
“We are working with a brilliant team made up not only of Albanians but also of (representatives of – ed.) other countries to create the first fully capable artificial intelligence model in public procurement,” the Albanian prime minister said in an interview with the BBC. “We will not only eliminate any potential influence on public tenders, but we will also make the process much faster, more efficient and fully accountable,” he emphasized.
Diella worked even before the government “appointment,” performing the role of a virtual assistant who accompanied applicants in the process of obtaining official documents. According to Rama, Diella “helped more than a million applications” on the e-Albania platform.
Opinions regarding the appointment of a “Minister of AI” were divided.
Anti-corruption experts noted the potential of using artificial intelligence to minimize bribery.
At the same time, other experts point out that this step is rather symbolic than official, since the Constitution of Albania insists that members of the government must be capable citizens aged 18 or older.
The opposition Democratic Party called the initiative “absurd” and “unconstitutional”.
- Albania opened another chapter in EU accession negotiations
At the EU–Albania Intergovernmental Conference in Brussels on 16 September, Cluster 4 in accession negotiations with the European Union was opened, the fifth in less than a year.
The country opened four clusters from October 2024 to May this year — 1 (fundamentals), 2 (internal market), 3 (competitiveness and inclusive growth) and 6 (external relations). The Cluster opened on 16 September, Cluster 4, includes chapters 14 (transport policy), 15 (energy), 21 (trans-European networks) and 27 (environment and climate change).
“We want to open the last cluster by the end of the year, I know it is ambitious, but I hope we will succeed,” Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama said at a press conference.
European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos said that Albania has done “impressive work” and that she is confident that if it continues at this pace, it will open the last cluster by the end of the year. Kos noted that the Albanian government’s goal is to complete the technical part of negotiations by the end of 2027 and that the European Union supports this vision. “There is no doubt that Albania’s future is in the EU, and today we are one step closer to that goal,” Kos said.
Albania applied for EU membership in 2009, obtained candidate status in 2014, and the first intergovernmental conference between the European Union and Albania took place in 2022. So far in the accession process Albania has managed to open a total of 28 chapters out of 33, making this Balkan country, together with Montenegro, a leader in the euro-integration process.
- An updated indictment was filed against officials in the case of the canopy collapse at the Novi Sad station
On 16 September the Higher Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad filed a revised indictment against former Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure of Serbia Goran Vesić and 12 other persons in the case of the catastrophe at the Novi Sad station. The Prosecutor’s Office revised the indictment after the court rejected the first version and returned the case for additional investigation.
All defendants, including former minister Vesić, were charged with creating a threat to public safety in connection with the partial collapse of the external canopy of the railway station in November 2024, which resulted in the death of 16 people.
The defendants are accused of allowing public use of the Novi Sad railway station despite ongoing construction works and the lack of an operating permit, of failing to observe requirements for the preservation of the building’s structure, as well as of offences committed during the design and execution of the station’s reconstruction works.
The indictment proposes pretrial detention for all defendants due to the risk of “significant disruption of public order that could jeopardize the uninterrupted and fair conduct of criminal proceedings”.
The media note that former minister Vesić has been undergoing medical treatment in a hospital for more than a month.
Among the other accused are heads of the state body responsible for railway infrastructure, employees of the Ministry of Construction, representatives of design companies and construction contractors.
“Being aware of the importance of this proceeding, the Higher Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad used all available human and material resources to establish the full factual situation,” the court said in a statement regarding the new indictment.
The accident that occurred on 1 November 2024 at the Novi Sad station was the cause of mass anti-government protests that are still ongoing across the country. It is expected that the start of the trial will reduce social tension and decrease support for the protest movement.
- The statement of Russian intelligence about the “preparation of a Serbian Maidan” in Serbia was met with skepticism
The Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation announced on 15 September that “the current unrest in Serbia with active participation of young people is in many respects a product of subversive activity by the European Union and the countries that belong to it”. “The goal of the European liberal mainstream is to bring to power in this largest Balkan country a leadership obedient and loyal to Brussels,” the agency says.
As the Russian intelligence officers claim, according to Brussels’ plan, “financial pumping of the media and NGOs will allow mobilization of the protest electorate, bring people to the streets and complete the ‘Serbian Maidan’ according to a repeatedly practiced scenario.”
Commenting on the Foreign Intelligence Service’s statement, President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić thanked “Russian partners for the information”. “Our service will contact them further,” Vučić told journalists.
At the same time, Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Defence Milovan Drecun emphasized in a television interview that he is aware of warnings from the Russian service, but noted that “the state has sufficient information about who is preparing what”. “There will be neither Maidan nor civil war in Serbia,” he said, stressing that “the state has sufficient means to resist this”.
Students, commenting on the Russians’ statement about the preparation of a “Serbian Maidan” on 1 November, noted in media comments that on that day, on the anniversary of the tragedy, the largest peaceful memorial rally is planned. All details will be announced during October. The students emphasize that none of them would think of staging any unrest, incidents or provocations on that day. “People will be filled with sorrow, and this is a day of remembrance of the victims, not an attack on the state and conflicts,” one of the students told journalists.
In the students’ view, perhaps the Russian intelligence statement should be understood as if the authorities themselves plan disturbances and incidents. They are confident that conflict will arise only if the “Vučić regime” attempts to provoke something.
At the 1 November gathering the students expect a large number of people and appeal to citizens not to fall for any provocations.
Thus, both the authorities and the protesters assessed the Russian intelligence statement somewhat skeptically. Politicians from Vučić’s team made it clear that they themselves possess all the necessary information and can independently ensure protection and security for citizens and the state.
At the same time the students, by announcing a peaceful rally, stressed that they are the organizers of the actions, that the protests are a free expression of the citizens of Serbia’s position, and not a “special operation” of foreign states.
- Another round of the Belgrade–Pristina dialogue ended without results
A tripartite meeting within the framework of the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia between the chief negotiators of Pristina, Besnik Bislimi, and of Belgrade, Petar Petković, mediated by EU envoy Peter Sørensen, as well as bilateral meetings of delegations with the EU representative, took place in Brussels on 11 September.
Negotiations that lasted more than seven hours ended without any progress.
The Serbian side insisted that the part of the Basic (Ohrid) Agreement concerning the establishment of the Association of Serb Majority Municipalities (Association of Serbian Municipalities, ZSO) be implemented first, while Kosovo insisted on full implementation of the Agreement, in particular on issues related to the organization of searches for persons who went missing.
“The idea today was to first make progress on the establishment of a joint commission on missing persons,” said Kosovo’s chief negotiator, Acting First Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi. But, he said, the item on the establishment of a commission on missing persons was not achieved.
Serbia’s chief negotiator, Director of the Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija Petar Petković, said in Brussels that the Belgrade delegation insisted at all meetings during the latest round of dialogue with the Pristina delegation that the Association of Serbian Municipalities (ZSO) must be formed immediately and urgently.
“The Association of Serbian Municipalities is the basis for the survival of our people, and we will insist on it. We said that the precondition for any further steps is the existence of the Association that we have been waiting for 12 years for,” Petković emphasized.
“I can be boring, I can repeat myself a hundred times — either we will have the ZSO, or we cannot move forward, there is no other way,” Petković stressed.
The Association of Serbian Municipalities (ZSO) is apparently the main condition of the Serbian side for any further progress in the Belgrade–Pristina dialogue. Kosovo’s current government led by Albin Kurti’s refusal to make concessions on this point, and consequently the absence of progress in the EU-mediated dialogue, has already provoked dissatisfaction among Western partners, and without a change of this position dissatisfaction with Pristina from Brussels and Washington will only grow.
- The United States suspended the Strategic Dialogue with Kosovo
The United States Embassy in Kosovo announced on 12 September that the country has suspended the planned Strategic Dialogue with Kosovo for an indefinite period “due to concerns about the actions of the interim government that have increased tensions and instability”.
This step, announced by the US Embassy on 12 September, came after months of political instability in Kosovo caused by the absence of a formed government, and several weeks after the announcement of the start of a Strategic Dialogue between the United States and Serbia.
The Embassy statement of 12 September mentioned Kurti by name and his “recent actions and statements” as those that threaten years of cooperation between Washington and Pristina.
Kosovo has been in a political deadlock since the Self-Determination Movement (Lëvizja Vetëvendosje, LVV) of Albin Kurti won the parliamentary elections in February. Although the party won 48 seats, it lacked a majority and had to reach agreements with other factions to elect a new Speaker of Parliament and form a government. It took more than 50 unsuccessful votes before the Speaker was elected along with four deputies. But the fifth deputy, who was to represent the ethnic Serb community, has still not been elected. In response, the Constitutional Court introduced a temporary measure blocking further steps in the formation of a government.
The failure to elect a deputy speaker from the Serb community also highlighted Kurti’s strained relations with the Serb minority, as did the failed attempt to ban the Serbian List party from participating in local elections.
“We need a partner who understands the necessity of avoiding destabilizing actions and who seeks to contribute to regional stability and to protect the rights of all citizens of Kosovo,” the US Embassy spokesman said in an interview with Radio Free Europe, commenting on recent events.
“The United States wants to send a clear signal” to Kosovo, Charles Kupchan of the Council on Foreign Relations said. “Form a government, act in accordance with the rule of law and return to constructive dialogue with Serbia,” he told Radio Free Europe’s Kosovo service.
Toby Vogel of the Berlin-based rights group the Democratization Policy Council said Washington is sending a signal that it wants to distance itself from Kurti. “Previously the US president or the German chancellor, when it was still Angela Merkel, would pick up the phone and call people like (former Kosovo president) Hashim Thaçi and tell him what to do, and he would do it… Kurti is not like that. And that is why he is hated in Washington, and he is hated in Brussels,” he said.
Gezim Visoka, Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at Dublin City University, told Radio Free Europe that the US step is “another warning sign to the Kosovo government that international support for the country is waning”.
- Slovenia introduced sanctions against Milorad Dodik
As Vice-Prime Minister Matej Arčon reported at a press conference after the government session, the ministers unanimously approved a decision to ban Milorad Dodik from entering Slovenia.
The motives for the imposition of sanctions are classified information. According to Arčon, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs assessed certain information as confidential and decided not to disclose it at present. The deputy head of government also noted that the entry ban to Slovenia, which is already in effect, applies only to Dodik and not to his family.
The former President of the Republika Srpska was convicted by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina to one year of imprisonment (later the sentence was converted into a fine) and six years of disqualification from political activity for contempt of the decisions of the High Representative of the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina Christian Schmidt. The Central Election Commission deprived Dodik of his presidential mandate, and he was also forced to return a diplomatic passport.
According to information on the N1 portal, in addition to the court’s verdict, reasons for the ban on entry to Slovenia include his separatist statements and the undermining of state institutions and the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. An important reason is also a significant flow of capital of suspicious origin from the Republika Srpska and the Western Balkans in general to Slovenia. There is a reasonable suspicion that Dodik and his family have substantial questionable assets in Slovenia, purchased through various natural and legal persons.
Last week Dodik accused Slovenia of wanting to interfere in other countries’ relations “instead of taking care of itself”. He said this after the Slovenian Ministry of Defence signed an agreement on military cooperation with its Croatian colleagues, noting that in this way the countries would contribute to security and stability in the region, primarily in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.
After Ljubljana’s decision the Government of the Republika Srpska “expressed protest over the unilateral and politically motivated decision to ban the entry of the President of the Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik into the Republic of Slovenia”. According to the resolution adopted at the RS government session, “the ban on entry for the President of the Republika Srpska was issued without clear legal grounds and reasons, is a direct interference in internal affairs and a violation of international conventions, as well as a step back in relations and the European path of the region”.
As countermeasures it was decided to impose a ban on entry into the Republika Srpska for Nataša Pirc Musar, President of Slovenia, and Tanja Fajon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovenia. The Ministry of Internal Affairs was ordered to prohibit the aforementioned persons from entering the territory of the Republika Srpska and to escort them out of the Republika Srpska if they are already in the Republika Srpska.
In Ljubljana the decision of Banja Luka was assessed as having no legal force, because foreign-policy decisions are within the competence of the central authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and not of separate parts of BiH, including the Republika Srpska.
