BALKAN BLOG: Serbian president tries to move on from election controversy
1 month ago
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Balkan Blog
BALKAN BLOG: Serbian president tries to move on from election controversy
President Aleksandar Vucic wrapped plans to re-run contested Belgrade election and quickly carry out OSCE recommendations in anti-Western rhetoric.
BALKAN BLOG: Contested election and brutal attack on opposition leader in Serbia cannot be ignored
The West is under mounting pressure to take a tougher line on Serbia.
BALKAN BLOG: Does Kosovo risk losing its greatest asset to the EU?
Businesspeople in Kosovo say the country’s greatest asset is its youthful, educated workforce, but employers fear losing their workers when the visa-free regime with the EU starts in January 2024.
BALKAN BLOG: Southeast Europe’s young reformers burn bright but fade fast
Will Montenegro's incoming PES-led government have more staying power than those led by other young EU-oriented reformers in Southeast Europe?
BALKAN BLOG: Poor but green Albania is getting richer (but possibly dirtier)
Infrastructure investments and a booming tourism sector are already lifting Albania’s economy. Now it’s on the verge of a transformative oil investment.
Baltic Blog
BALTIC BLOG: Estonia's Centre party looks set to maintain kingmaker role
Populist liberal leader Juri Ratas will try to plot a comeback from behind the scenes, analysts believe.
BALTIC BLOG: Estonian Al law lags behind self-driving vehicles
A collision between a passenger vehicle and a self-driving bus in the Estonian capital puzzled the local transportation authority, which was suddenly faced with the questions of how to regulate driverless AI-based traffic and avoid accidents.
BALTIC BLOG: From the Aegean to the Gulf of Finland, China cements its presence across Eastern Europe
China’s Touchstone Capital Partners plans to extend €15bn to finance the construction of a rail tunnel linking Tallinn and Helsinki, highlighting how Chinese investment has spread across Central and Eastern Europe.
BALTIC BLOG: Latvia's triple-decker page-turner
Latvian central bank governor Ilmars Rimsevics denies running extortion racket and says accusations are an attack on the Baltic state.
BALTIC BLOG: E-Stonia prances with the porpoise in the form of Prince Andrew
If the Duke of York is the new poster child for E-stonia, then one has to consider if the concept is at what start-up culture calls a “jumping the shark” moment.
Bucharest Blog
BUCHAREST BLOG: Can Romania’s Klaus Iohannis take the Nato helm?
Romania’s outgoing president has challenged Dutch PM Mark Rutte, amid a debate over whether the security alliance needs a leader from Eastern Europe.
BUCHAREST BLOG: What the Andrew Tate case says about corruption in Romania
Disgraced influencer said he wanted to live “where corruption is accessible”. Then he got caught.
BUCHAREST BLOG: The life expectancy of Romania’s grand coalition mark 2
Political rivals the PSD and PNL have united to end the political deadlock in Romania. But their previous short-lived grand coalition doesn’t bode well.
BUCHAREST BLOG: Romania’s anti-corruption struggle still inspiring its neighbours
With relatively few true success stories in the fight against corruption in emerging Europe, the efforts of the Romanian DNA to bring corrupt officials to book remain one of the few shining lights of the anti-corruption struggle in the region.
BUCHAREST BLOG: Three days that plunged Romania into chaos
Romania moved from having a relatively stable and functioning centre-right ruling coalition to an explosive political situation with no credible mediator to defuse it.
Caucasus Blog
CAUCASUS BLOG: What's behind the Georgian government's revival of the foreign agents law?
Bill targeting NGOs and independent media comes as the ruling Georgian Dream party faces a tough challenge at this October's parliamentary elections.
CAUCASUS BLOG: Where next for Georgian Dream?
Two days of mass protest have forced the ruling Georgian Dream party to back down and withdraw a proposed “foreign agents” law, which would brand NGOs and media that receive more than 20% of their income from abroad.
CAUCASUS BLOG: Azerbaijan knows that power is power
Baku wants to use the new balance of power in the South Caucasus to dictate the terms of any peace deal, and appears to be testing Moscow’s willingness to keep the peace in the region.
CAUCASUS BLOG: Armenia’s day of crisis delivers anticlimax
Rally of PM Pashinian, who took to the streets warning a military coup was under way, fails to reach critical mass. Opposition’s rival effort, meanwhile, was a flop.
CAUCASUS BLOG: Georgia’s corrupted anti-corruption strategy
“Only 29 percent of Georgians believe that cases of high-level corruption are investigated properly in Georgia, while 47 percent think that they are not,” says Transparency International.
Central Asia Blog
CENTRAL ASIA BLOG: Cautionary tale as onion prices crash amid glut on a "tragic" scale
Farmers who rushed for promised profits floored across the region.
CENTRAL ASIA BLOG: Missiles made in Russia, tested in Kazakhstan and fired on Ukraine
Arrangement that is no secret to the Kazakhs has started to raise eyebrows among Kyiv’s allies.
CENTRAL ASIA BLOG: Success in delivering Turkmenistan methane crackdown would be big moment for COP28
US and global institutions have been lobbying the “super-emitter” all year long. The moment of truth will arrive at the summit.
CENTRAL ASIA BLOG: Sanctions hit the Kazakh cat bowl
Premium pet foods that used to arrive via Russia have vanished from shelves. Feline patience with the human kind could be running out.
CENTRAL ASIA BLOG: How many of the Russians who fled Putin’s war machine for Kazakhstan stayed there?
Issue a sensitive one for the Kremlin and Central Asian country’s Tokayev administration.
Istanbul Blog
ISTANBUL BLOG: Critics seize on Turkey’s silence in face of Israel-Iran crisis
Shadow foreign minister “astonished” regional power Ankara has nothing to say. Observers think Erdogan officials fear derailing of attempt at economic recovery.
ISTANBUL BLOG: Erdogan drone boys become Forbes billionaires
To some, Selcuk Bayraktar is seen as the likely next Turkish president. But staying out of trolling spats over Israel “deliveries” might be good advice for young pretender to the throne.
ISTANBUL BLOG: Fenerbahce players walk out on Turkish football. The mafiosi are not about to join them
Country’s soccer fans used to seeing criminals sat in the first row of the VIP seats.
ISTANBUL BLOG: Social media swings from depression to mania on local election results
Erdogan “defeat” provides further illustration of how no-one even remembers what was said five minutes ago.
ISTANBUL BLOG: Turkey to decide who will collect garbage in unglamorous local polls
The idea that Erdogan can be dislodged was crushed in last year’s general election. Despite the media fuss, let’s not kid ourselves.
Kyiv Blog
KYIV BLOG: EU finalises €5bn Ukraine Peace Fund contribution that will see little new money sent to Kyiv
EU ambassadors agreed to back a new €5bn Ukraine Assistance Fund on March 13, part of the EU's off-budget European Peace Facility (EPF) that is used to partially reimburse member countries for the weapons they provide to Ukraine.
KYIV BLOG: Ukraine's democracy vs corruption
The Zelenskiy administration has been rocked by a fresh corruption scandal at the Defence Ministry this week, but Ukraine has been plagued by corruption from the day of its independence.
KYIV BLOG: Zelenskiy lashes out at “don’t escalate” rhetoric
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has lashed out at the “don’t escalate” rhetoric as Bankova becomes increasingly more desperate that Western support might be evaporating.
KYIV BLOG: Did the West’s failure to offer bilateral security guarantees scupper the March 2022 peace deal?
The controversial story of the Ukrainian peace deal reached with Russia in March 2022 has come up again and the evidence a deal was agreed is now overwhelming, but the big unknown remains why President Zelenskiy walked away from it.
KYIV BLOG: Grain, grain go away…
There are two important grain stories in the list today. Firstly, Ukraine is on course to bring in a bumper harvest, but thanks to the war with Russia grain exports are down by a third in recent months and Ukraine’s farms are loss-making.
Moscow Blog
MOSCOW BLOG: How the ISIS attack in Russia puts Tajiks under pressure
Russian citizens of Tajik descent, alongside the broader Tajik diaspora, have found themselves in a precarious situation.
MOSCOW BLOG: Shock and resignation grip the Moscow suburbs
Initially, Anton and his friends thought it was a drone strike. The first images they saw on Telegram channels was of the top of the concert hall on fire, with black smoke billowing out into the light-polluted sky.
MOSCOW BLOG: Who were the attackers at Moscow’s bloody Crocus City shooting?
A group of gunmen attacked a crowd of concert goers at the Crocus City Hall in western Moscow on the night of March 22, killing at least 40 and injuring up to a 100 more, according to the Federal Security Service.
MOSCOW BLOG: Life in Russia has always been rubbish, that is why Putin would have been re-elected even in a fair election
“Life is hard. But at least it's short.” That is an old Soviet joke that plays on the harsh conditions Russians lived under since Tsarist times. Those times changed when Russian President Vladimir Putin came to power.
MOSCOW BLOG: Black mood descending as Ukraine problems increase
As the war in Ukraine goes into its third year, the initial optimism generated by the heroic defence of Kyiv against the invading Russian troops has evaporated as ammunition runs short and the Russian forces make advances.
Minsk Blog
MINSK BLOG: Artem Shraibman asks: What kind of dialogue can save Belarus?
Well-known Belarusian journalist Artem Shraibman rejected international mediation and called on multi-denominational council of religious leaders to mediate between the regime of Alexander Lukashenko and the Coordinating Council.
MINSK BLOG: Why no Euromaidan in Belarus?
President Alexander Lukashenko's repressive apparatus and the weak and divided opposition give people little hope of real change.
MINSK BLOG: Thaw with West is fast track to Kremlin's pocket
After his expected re-election as Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko still needs to win Russian funds for his struggling economy - and improved EU ties might just clinch it.
Tehran Blog
TEHRAN BLOG: Persian New Year set to bring more gloom for Iranians
Iranians will celebrate the start of the Persian New Year Nowruz on March 20. Next year looks to be another year of economic difficulty, as the rial continues to depreciate.
TEHRAN BLOG: Record low turnout expected in Iranian parliamentary elections
The ‘principlists,’ or conservatives, have fielded three separate lists, while the ‘moderate and reformist’ factions have united under a single banner.
TEHRAN BLOG: Did Iran help Hamas invade Israel?
The narrative that Iranian security officials choreographed the Hamas attack relies heavily on the assumption of a level of operational sophistication and control over disparate militant groups that Iran is unlikely to possess.
Will the Iran-US prisoner swap lead to better relations?
A rare deal came through between Iran and the US on September 18 that could potentially pave the way for further de-escalation in the historically tense bilateral ties.
TEHRAN BLOG: Iran's challenges remain daunting, one year after Amini's death
The causes of the protests – discontent with the theocratic ruling system, economic grievances, the fight for women’s rights – remain relevant one year on from her death in the custody of the country's morality police.
Visegrad Blog
VISEGRAD BLOG: New Slovak President Peter Pelligrini will not just be Robert Fico's stooge
Pellegrini will face a serious dilemma over how to react to the populist government’s attempts to curb the independence of judges, public service media and NGOs, which risk provoking a rule of law battle with the next European Commission.
VISEGRAD BLOG: Governments battle central banks in Poland and Hungary
The apparent threats to central bank independence are now worrying markets and the European Central Bank.
VISEGRAD BLOG: Poland will be a test case of how to reconquer the state and rebuild a liberal democracy
Liberals are fundamentally misunderstanding the nature of the PiS system if they believe Donald Tusk should tread water.
VISEGRAD BLOG: Orban folds after EU leaders call his bluff
The European Council Summit this week was a comprehensive defeat for Hungarian strongman Viktor Orban.
VISEGRAD BLOG: Slovakia can't afford another four wasted years
It already looks clear that Robert Fico’s new government will not prioritise economic reform, and will once again just tread water.
Bricks And Mortar
BRICKS AND MORTAR: Balkan real estate market shifts from offices to logistics
After the pandemic, working from home and hybrid models have significantly transformed trends in the office market.
Nigeria’s Oilserv shows interest in building gas pipelines to Morocco, Algeria
Oilserv, one of Nigeria’s largest oilfield services providers, is ready to participate in either of the two major natural gas pipeline projects that the national oil company (NOC) is considering.
Bucharest office blocks being turned into hospitals to accommodate booming private medical sector
Part of the Victoria Park office building will house the country’s first private dermatology and surgical oncology hospital in third office-to-hospital switch.
BRICKS & MORTAR: Swift economic recovery in Romania supported real estate investments
Number of deals increased in 1H21 amid swift economic recovery but size of deals was smaller, says JLL report.
BRICKS & MORTAR: Residential real estate markets bounce back in Southeast Europe
Strong recovery after spring 2020 lockdowns partly driven by demand for houses and rural properties, but prices remain among the lowest in Europe.
Conference Call
CONFERENCE CALL: New Uzbekistan: development, innovation and enlightenment
Uzbekistan is undergoing a rapid and profound transformation since President Shavkat Mirziyoyev took over in 2016, and those reforms are already starting to bear fruit. Now the country is entering a second stage of reform.
CONFERENCE CALL: Central Europe's populists follow the Putin playbook to control the media
Ruling parties are turning state broadcasters into propaganda mouthpieces, spreading disinformation, and using friendly private or state-owned companies to build sycophantic media empires.
EBRD 2022: Russia and the war in Ukraine dominate the EBRD’s annual meeting
The three-month-old war in Ukraine dominated the agenda on the first day of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development meeting in Marrakech, the first in-person AM in three years.
CONFERENCE CALL: Invasion of Ukraine would threaten the delicate balance of interests in the Arctic
The Arctic states including Russia and the US have benefitted from regional co-operation, even while building up their military capabilities. A land war in Ukraine would change this.
CONFERENCE CALL: A chance for Moldova and its biggest bank
Moldovan officials stressed their commitment to reform and EU integration as the country’s largest bank MAIB eyes a London IPO.
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