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A press review prepared with the collaboration of Balkan Mail.
84 votes for, 19 against, 68 abstentions. On Thursday, May 23, the United Nations General Assembly was divided, but a majority voted for July 11 to become the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica.
Serbia had, however, deployed intense diplomatic efforts to block this resolution which de facto recognizes the genocidal nature of the massacre perpetrated by Ratko Mladić’s Serbian troops against more than 8,000 Bosnian men. According to Belgrade, this text would be unacceptable because it would present the Serbian people as collectively “genocidal”. However, there is no mention of this in the text, which is repeated several times. China and Russia voted against, as did Hungary and Cuba, but most of the non-aligned abstained.
The reactions were immediate and contrasting in the Balkans. Even before the outcome of the vote, the government of the Serbian entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced filing a request for “peaceful separation” to the Croatian-Bosnian Federation “within 30 days”. A new step towards the implosion of the country has therefore been taken, while the threats of secession are at their highest for many months.
Slovenia alongside Palestine
It is not just Spain or Ireland that are preparing to recognize the existence of a Palestinian state within the European Union. Slovenia will also do so, with a vote in Parliament scheduled for early June. The small country of barely 2 million inhabitants is fighting to make its voice heard, taking advantage of its current seat as a non-permanent member of the United Nations. Deciphering this geopolitical positioning with researcher Primož Šterbencgreat connoisseur of the Middle East.
For many years, Greece has been on the front line of the migration crisis. Faced with the massive arrival of exiles, Athens has implemented a very security policy, criticized for its violations of human rights by civil society. But this model largely inspired the European Union to adopt its Pact on Immigration and Asylum voted in April by the European Parliament. In the midst of the campaign for the European elections on June 9, the conservative government of Kyriákos Mitsotákis is highlighting its success in siphoning off far-right votes. Reporting.
It is in this context that was held the trial of nine exiles accused of the sinking of the Adriana. On June 14, 2023, this ship, which left Libya overloaded, was shipwreck off the coast of Pylos. Only a hundred of the more than 700 passengers survived. Greek justice finally dropped all charges against the defendants, all of Egyptian nationality.
Macedonia is already losing the North
Back in power after its triumph during the legislative and presidential elections of May 8, the Macedonian right leads a nationalist offensive which worries its neighbors. During her inauguration, the new president already triggered a diplomatic crisis with Greece by refusing to use the new name of her country, ratified by the Prespa agreement signed in 2018. Since then, the tension does not go down with Athens. However, the VMRO-DPMNE must seek allies to govern, which could lead it to temper its speech.
It is in this context that the Macedonian Orthodox Church fell out with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Its leader, Metropolitan Stefan, refuses to change the name of his Church to satisfy the demands of the Greek Church, a condition for its full recognition.
A much-discussed lesbian wedding in Albania
In Kosovo, no more transactions in Serbian dinars are authorized. The police therefore militarily closed six banks in the Serbian-majority North, accused of “illegal activities”. The European Union and the United States denounced non-concerted action and deplored, once again, the lack of dialogue by the government of Albin Kurti with Serbia. Fearing renewed tensions.
Last weekend, two lesbian women from Albania celebrated their wedding on the square of Tirana town hall. A much commented event in this country where unions between people of the same sex are still not recognized. Muslim, Orthodox and Catholic leaders were particularly annoyed by this union against the law, religion and tradition.