Balkan developments

Montenegro and Albania close more chapters in EU accession talks

At an Intergovernmental Conference in Brussels, Montenegro closed two chapters in its accession negotiations with the EU: Chapter 8 “Competition Policy” and Chapter 29 “Customs Union.” Podgorica has now closed 18 of the 33 negotiating chapters.

Chapter 14 “Transport Policy” was also ready to be closed but did not receive the green light from Croatia, which raised the issue of the right of carriers from one country to operate transport services within another country. Zagreb also blocked the closure of Chapter 31 “Foreign, Security and Defence Policy,” RTCG reported.

Albania has also closed its first three chapters in EU accession negotiations, Euronews reported. They are “Science and Research”, “Education and Culture” and “External Relations.” Tirana has opened all 33 negotiating chapters.

President Aleksandar Vučić wants to return as Prime Minister

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić told Financial Times that he plans to return to the post of prime minister after early elections later this year.

“Most probably, first we will have a parliamentary election, and then presidential. There is no space for different decisions”, Vučić told Financial Times.

He also called on the EU to abandon its increasingly merit-based approach to enlargement, under which Montenegro and Albania are frontrunners, and instead admit the Western Balkan countries together.

“What do you want to build? Stronger borders between everyone?”, he asked. “We need the region to be united. Not to be a new conflict zone among people that enter the EU and others that are far away from that”, BTA reported.

Croatia’s Parliament adopts resolution urging political equality for Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Croatia’s Parliament has adopted a resolution on strengthening the political status of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, drawing sharp reactions in Sarajevo, N1 reported. ''The resolution calls on the Croatian government to continue supporting the political equality of Croats in Bosnia and to oppose electoral arrangements that could, according to the resolution, undermine their ability to choose their own representatives. It also urges Zagreb to support reforms of Bosnia’s electoral system aimed at ensuring that each of the country’s three constituent peoples can elect their 'legitimate political representatives'. Among the proposals backed by the resolution are demands from Bosnian Croat representatives for the creation of a separate electoral constituency for the election of the Croat member of Bosnia’s tripartite presidency’’, wrote N1.

The Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denis Bećirović, described the move as “unacceptable interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state’’.

European Commission designates Special Representative for Cyprus

The appointment of European Commission Executive Vice-President Raffaele Fitto as the EU’s special envoy for the Cyprus issue reflects the European Unions’s increased interest and readiness to play a “leading and more substantive role” in efforts to resume negotiations, Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides said, CAN reported.

According to the European Commission, Fitto will work closely with Maria Angela Holguín, the Personal Envoy of the United Nations Secretary General on Cyprus.

Türkiye’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Öncü Keçeli criticized the appointment. “We remind yet again that the EU lost its impartiality on the Cyprus issue by admitting the Greek Cypriot side to EU membership in 2004, despite the latter’s rejection of the UN Comprehensive Settlement Plan”, Keçeli wrote on X, Turkishminute.com reported. 

Russian couple detained for reading Bible at Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia

Two Russian tourists have been detained in Istanbul after one of them allegedly read passages from the Bible inside Hagia Sophia, the 6th-century Byzantine monument that was converted to a mosque in 2020, BGNES reported.

The Moscow couple, Igor and Victoria Filonov, aged 32 and 36, were detained on July 14 at Hagia Sophia after police were called by citizens. Authorities launched proceedings against the Russians on charges of “inciting society to hatred and hostility” under Article 216 of Türkiye’s Criminal Code. They were later transferred by the Provincial Directorate of Migration Management to a temporary accommodation center for foreigners and are awaiting deportation.

The incident comes nearly three months after two Greek tourists were arrested at Hagia Sophia for waving a flag featuring the Byzantine double-headed eagle.

Edited by Ivo Ivanov

Translated by Kostadin Atanasov