Our Homeland won six per cent of the popular vote in Hungary’s April election; experts say it represents both a risk and an opportunity for Viktor Orban.
In calling for the 1920 Treaty of Trianon – which stripped Hungary of two-thirds of its territory and half of its population – to be repealed, the official manifesto of the far-right Hungarian party Our Homeland might sound a little unrealistic.
A new minority government in Montenegro offers the Democratic Party of Socialists a change to re-establish itself as a force to be reckoned with ahead of elections in 2023.
Disappointed with the West, lacking trust in local leaders, and served a diet of Serbian media, many in North Macedonia are vulnerable to Russia’s wartime propaganda.
The police takedown of encrypted communications provider Sky ECC has led to a spate of new arrests across the Balkans, notably that of notorious drug boss Darko Saric and the former head of Montenegro’s top court. Whether justice will come is still in doubt.
As Belgrade feels the heat over its warm ties to Moscow, Beijing’s stake in the country is likely to grow.
Serbia is coming under significant pressure over its policy towards Russia due to current events in Ukraine. A country on track to EU accession, with European values enshrined in its constitution and a near-majority supporting EU membership, it has long benefitted from cooperation both with Europe and Russia. This policy is supported by a high share of the population, especially supporters of the current government. But now, as a sharp turn further in the direction of either Russia or the EU looks relatively unlikely, Chinese influence is likely to increase.
“For us Ukraine is the defining moment on whether we live in a world governed by rules or by force. We condemn Russian aggression against Ukraine and support this country’s sovereignty, democracy, not because we follow the US blindly, as sometimes China’s suggests, but because it is our position. This was an important message for the Chinese leadership to hear.” — EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
It was billed as a promising breakthrough — Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meeting last month and agreeing to try to resolve their countries’ age-old differences, keeping, at least, a lid on tensions as the conflict in Ukraine rages.
The fall of the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan gave Taliban fighters access to more than $7 billion worth of American military equipment, according to data in a report submitted this week to U.S. lawmakers and confirmed by the Pentagon.
The United States and the European Union have warned against giving in to what they called Russian “blackmail” over gas supplies to Europe.
Russia, which supplies about 40% of Europe’s gas needs, had demanded that what it called “unfriendly” European countries pay their gas bills in rubles — seen as a way to prop up the currency in the face of Western sanctions on Russian banks, including its central bank. Some EU states have set up Russian bank accounts to try to work around the sanctions.
U.S. President Joe Biden asked Congress Thursday to approve $33 billion in additional aid for Ukraine to help it resist invading Russian forces over the next five months. The House overwhelmingly passed legislation aimed at removing obstacles that slow the delivery of military assistance.