- Growth Plan for Western Balkans stumbling over BiH
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, held a working lunch in Brussels with the leaders of the Western Balkans. One of the main topics of discussion was the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans.
“Today I received the leaders of the six Western Balkan partners. All six countries belong in Europe. This is what we are working on. In parallel, we are bringing their economies and markets closer to ours with our €6 billion Growth Plan for the region,” von der Leyen wrote on X.
The meeting was attended by EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi, President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic, Prime Ministers of Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo and North Macedonia – Edi Rama, Milojko Spajic, Albin Kurti, and Hristijan Mickoski, as well as the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Borjana Kristo.
The Growth Plan for the Western Balkans aims to double economic growth in these countries over the next decade. It covers the period from 2024 to 2027. All countries of the Western Balkans had to submit to the European Commission their Reform Programs as a precondition for funding.
However, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the only country in the region, failed to prepare the document on time due to internal political differences. The reform program submitted by BiH to the EC was incomplete and failed to take into account all EC recommendations.
The lack of a reform program for Bosnia and Herzegovina that would be agreed with Brussels caused a delay in the launch of the Recovery Plan (first transfers) for all the Western Balkans.
- North Macedonia mulls changing conditions for launching EU accession talks
North Macedonia is weary of obstacles emerging on its way to EU membership and will no longer accept ultimatums, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski told reporters during a visit to Brussels.
“Two and a half decades since we started this integration process, since we signed the Association and Stabilization Agreement, we have been victims of bilateral problems, a bilateral accession process,” Mickoski told reporters after meeting with European Council President Charles Michel and visiting a working lunch with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. “We were being humbled along the way. Let me remind you that in the name of European values, we changed the flag, bills, constitution and name (of the country) several times. I emphasized once again that we can no longer accept ultimatums,” he added.
As is known, the so-called “French proposal” put forward by France and adopted by the North Macedonian parliament in 2022 envisages the country being able to lift the existing Bulgarian veto on the start of EU accession talks after the preamble of the North Macedonian Constitution is amended and Bulgarians are defined as a nation-building people. However, the government of North Macedonia wants to change these conditions. Skopje’s proposal is for the country to vote on the constitutional changes now, given that they shall only come into force after the country completes EU accession talks.
However, many observers are skeptical that Skopje’s efforts to change the agreements already reached can bear fruit.
- Serbia, U.S. sign agreement on strategic cooperation in energy
On September 18, in Washington, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and Environment Jose W. Fernandez and Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric signed a bilateral agreement on strategic cooperation in the field of energy.
According to the statements issued by the parties, the deal opens up new opportunities for investments by American companies in Serbia’s energy sector, will contribute to the green transition, and strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries.
Marko Djuric, who recently served as Serbia’s Ambassador to Washington, further emphasized that the Strategic Energy Cooperation Agreement also “sends a strong signal of Serbia’s commitment to improving overall relations with the US.”
According to experts, the document primarily demonstrates Belgrade’s efforts to reduce dependence on Russian energy. The topic has gained critical relevance as in a few months, the Serbian-Russian contract, under which Gazprom supplied gas to Serbia at reduced prices, will expire.
- BiH Constitutional Court recognizes Law on Elections in Republic of Srpska as unconstitutional.
The court’s judgment states that the law does not comply with the Constitution of BiH and the Law on BiH Elections, as the Law on Elections in the RS “takes over the powers of BiH institutions”.
The People’s Assembly of Republika Srpska adopted the Law on Elections of Republika Srpska on April 19. Legislation stipulates that elections to all bodies in Republika Srpska shall be conducted not by the state institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina but by the Republican Election Commission, city and municipal election commissions, and election commissions appointed by the relevant authorities of the RS. The powers of the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina have been revoked. It has been announced that after this law enters into force, the provisions of the Law on BiH Elections, regulating elections at all levels, will no longer apply.
Meanwhile, Republika Srpska intends to ignore the BiH Constitutional Court ruling.
RS President Milorad Dodik maintains that that the Election Law is constitutional and shall be enforced.
- Constitutional Court of North Macedonia “freezes” ethnic quotas for public sector
On September 18, the Constitutional Court of North Macedonia accepted a submission filed by the State Anti-Corruption Commission (SACC) and will review the provisions that introduced ethnic quotas for employment in the public sector. The claims put forward by the SACC relate, in particular, to the “Balancer” tool, according to which ethnic quotas are calculated. The watchdog considers the tool as discriminatory and unjust.
Pending the consideration of the appeal, the Constitutional Court “froze” the use of the “Balancer”.
The majority of the judges of the Constitutional Court advocated accepting the submission for consideration, but three judges – ethnic Albanians – stood against this.
A tool for calculating quotas for ethnic minorities for each state body, Balancer was created based on the provisions of the Ohrid Peace Agreement, which ended the armed conflict between Albanians and Macedonians in 2001.
The leading party of the Albanians of North Macedonia, DUI (Democratic Union for Integration, Demokratska unnija za integracija, Bashkimi Demokratik për Integrim), believes that the decision of the Constitutional Court to start reviewing the constitutionality of provisions related to ethnic quotas in the public sector is “the beginning of the destruction of inter-ethnic relations, built with great effort.” “The cancellation of the Balancer will open multiple new problems in the near future, which can and will lead to the destruction of the basic foundations of the Ohrid Agreement,” DUI said.
- RFE/RL exposes Russian disinformation network targeting Western Balkans.
A months-long investigation by RFE/RL’s Balkan Service uncovered a pro-Kremlin disinformation network that uses AI to quickly generate hundreds of news articles.
For four months, RFE/RL monitored websites in different languages targeting audiences in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, North Macedonia, and Serbia. Journalists discovered how the “articles” were automatically generated and spread in waves, with a large number of them ending up on local websites.
Often these fake or propaganda messages were based on content from Russian media, banned in the EU (RT, Sputnik). Using hoax news sites, Russian disinformation has found a “loophole” to reach out to European audiences, experts say.
The Balkan network is part of a wider pro-Russian disinformation project, the so-called Portal Kombat.
In February, VIGINUM, a French government body that monitors foreign digital interference, released a report on a pro-Russian propaganda network it referred to as Portal Kombat. The report identified nearly 193 websites that purported to widely disseminate information from pro-Russian sources, as well as Russian news agencies and institutions.
