together, but not in the EU

In his speech delivered on 9 May in Strasbourg on the occasion of Europe Day, Emmanuel Macron cooled membership dreams European Union of Ukraine, but also of the candidate countries of the Western Balkans. He proposed that non-EU countries unite among themselves under a new “european political community“. An announcement perceived by experts as an attempt to stifle EU enlargement.

On May 12, Kosovo applied for membership of the Council of Europe, seizing the opportunity of Russia’s recent exclusion following the invasion of Ukraine. The young country has a good chance of being admitted, decisions being taken by a majority of the members. Serbia, which had shown itself to be particularly threatening in the face of this prospect, announced retaliationconvening a National Security Council the next day.

Telegram, the favorite app of pro-Russian conspirators

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, pro-Russian groups proliferate in Serbo-Croatian on Telegram, followed by tens of thousands of people. The encrypted messaging app, deemed more lax on hate speech, is a powerful sounding board for conspiracy theorists, who rewrite history and spread unverified information and hate messages with impunity.

Gathered behind a banner to the glory of Vladimir Putin’s “Immortal Regiment”, several hundred people marched on May 9 in the Serbian cities of Belgrade, Niš, Novi Sad, but also in Banja Luka, the capital of the Serbian entity. in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Objective of the demonstrators: to commemorate the victory over Nazism in 1945 to the rhythm of Russian songs, but also to support what is in their eyes the fight of Russia against a fascism which is reborn today. “I’m here to support Putin, an exceptional man, a Slavic brother who fights Nazi evil“explained one of the walkers wearing a “Z” as big as him.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the war has claimed the lives of more than 46,000 people and forced 14 million Ukrainians to flee their country. Besieged from the start, Mariupol is now reduced to ruins. The port city had been for centuries the Greek community center from Ukraine. Having come to settle in the 18th century, the Greeks had named the city in honor of the Virgin Mary.

Moldova: in Transnistria, “the armed forces are ready for combat”

In Moldova, a small country bordering Ukraine, the situation is still tense. According to the American intelligence services, Vladimir Putin does not intend to stop in Donbass and would like to bring the conflict to the Moldovan separatist region of Transnistria. If the Moldovan government wants to be reassuring, many voices are raised to denounce the absence of a plan B if the situation were to escalate.

The situation is pushing certain European institutions to react. On May 5, the European Parliament passed a resolution asking European leaders to grant Moldova the status of a candidate country for integration. A primarily a symbolic gesture, while the European Council will meet on 23-24 June in Brussels. In the meantime, the EU is stepping up its financial aid to help Chișinău cope with the massive influx of Ukrainian refugees and get out of its energy dependence on Moscow.

Also very dependent on Russian hydrocarbons, Bulgaria, both Russophile and member of the EU and NATO, finds itself destabilized on all fronts by the war in Ukraine and the recent Russian gas cut. Since April 28, it has in fact no longer been supplied, because it is one of the “unfriendly” European countries which have refused to pay for their deliveries in roubles, as Gazprom is now demanding in retaliation for sanctions against the Russia. The emerging energy crisis is causing tensions and divisions at the top of the Bulgarian state in particular between the presidency and the government.

In Serbia, Ukraine is in the spotlight at the Beldocs Documentary Film Festival, which is being held from May 11 to 18 in Belgrade. a hundred movies contemporary and often engaged are presented there, including Mariupolis, in homage to the director Mantas Kvedaravičius, who died in Ukraine at the beginning of April.

Far from Ukraine, the refugee crisis continues on the Balkan route. In a report published on May 4, three NGOs denounce a “double standard” system for refugees in Greece. While Ukrainians are treated with humanity, exiles from other countries at war are violently turned back at the borders, especially in the Evros region. A new practice is to give up for several dayswithout water or food, groups of exiles on islets in the middle of the river.

Abortion in Croatia, the cross and the banner

Anger is rising in Croatia over a major abortion scandal. Mirela Čavajda, more than six months pregnant, has found no clinic allowing the operation as her baby suffers from a serious tumor lodged on the cerebellum, making her chances of survival at birth almost nil and suggesting the existence of serious malformations. The law guaranteeing access to it dates from the Yugoslav socialist era, but since independence in 1991, attacks from groups close to the Croatian Catholic Church have multiplied against this right and it has become more and more complicated for women. to terminate their pregnancy. Demonstrations took place in several Croatian cities on May 12.

In Romania, the actress Viorică Vodă threw a stone into the pond during the Gopo Awards ceremony, which brought together the elite of Romanian cinema in early May. She there denounced sexual harassment of which she was the victim during the filming of the famous film by Noe Caramfil Philanthropic (2002). A first in a country that has not yet experienced a #metoo movement.

Serbia qualified for the Eurovision final on May 14. She will be represented by singer Ana Đurić, alias Konstrakta. With over 14 million views on YouTube, his song In Corporel Sano has become a hit in the Balkans and beyond. Because the artist, equal to herself despite her success, embodies a desire for change for many fans which are found in his texts. His presence clashes in a glitter contest where political correctness takes precedence.

Finally, major news for scientists. A team of Swiss-Albanian archaeologists, headed by the University of Bern, may have discovered the oldest traces of agriculture in Europe, at the bottom of Lake Ohrid, border between North Macedonia and Albania. Three dwelling sites on stilts have been identified and the first analyzes indicate that the oldest dates from 14,000 BC.