Balkanatolia: the forgotten continent that sheds light on the evolution of mammals

Paris, France (SPX)

Feb 23, 2022

A team of French, American and Turkish palaeontologists and geologists led by CNRS researchers1 has discovered the existence of a forgotten continent they have dubbed Balkanatolia, which today covers the present-day Balkans and Anatolia. Formerly inhabited by a highly specific fauna, they believe that it enabled mammals from Asia to colonize Europe 34 million years ago. Their findings are published in the March 2022 volume of Earth Science Reviews.

For millions of years during the Eocene Epoch (55 to 34 million years ago), Western Europe and Eastern Asia formed two distinct land masses with very different mammalian faunas: European forests were home to endemic fauna such as Palaeotheres (an extinct group distantly related to present-day horses, but more like today's tapirs), whereas Asia was populated by a more diverse fauna including the mammal families found today on both continents.

We know that, around 34 million years ago, Western Europe was colonized by Asian species, leading to a major renewal of vertebrate fauna and the extinction of its endemic mammals, a sudden event called the 'Grande Coupure'. Surprisingly, fossils found in the Balkans point to the presence of Asian mammals in southern Europe long before the Grande Coupure, suggesting earlier colonization.

Now, a team led by CNRS researchers has come up with an explanation for this paradox. To do this, they reviewed earlier palaeontological discoveries, some of which date back to the 19th century, sometimes reassessing their dating in the light of current geological data. The review revealed that, for much of the Eocene, the region corresponding to the present-day Balkans and Anatolia was home to a terrestrial fauna that was homogeneous, but distinct from those of Europe and eastern Asia. This exotic fauna included, for example, marsupials of South American affinity and Embrithopoda (large herbivorous mammals resembling hippopotamuses) formerly found in Africa. The region must therefore have made up a single land mass, separated from the neighboring continents.

The team also discovered a new fossil deposit in Turkey (Buyukteflek) dating from 38 to 35 million years ago, which yielded mammals whose affinity was clearly Asian, and are the earliest discovered in Anatolia until now. They found jaw fragments belonging to Brontotheres, animals resembling large rhinoceroses that died out at the end of the Eocene.

All this information enabled the team to outline the history of this third Eurasian continent, wedged between Europe, Africa and Asia, which they dubbed Balkanatolia. The continent, already in existence 50 million years ago2 and home to a unique fauna, was colonized 40 million years ago by Asian mammals as a result of geographical changes that have yet to be fully understood. It seems likely that a major glaciation 34 million years ago, leading to the formation of the Antarctic ice sheet and lowering sea levels, connected Balkanatolia to Western Europe, giving rise to the 'Grande Coupure'.

Source: Terra Daily.

Link: https://www.terradaily.com/reports/Balkanatolia_the_forgotten_continent_that_sheds_light_on_the_evolution_of_mammals_999.html.

Russians flock to Serbia for Western-made COVID-19 vaccines

October 09, 2021

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — When Russian regulators approved the country's own coronavirus vaccine, it was a moment of national pride, and the Pavlov family was among those who rushed to take the injection. But international health authorities have not yet given their blessing to the Sputnik V shot.

So when the family from Rostov-on-Don wanted to visit the West, they looked for a vaccine that would allow them to travel freely — a quest that brought them to Serbia, where hundreds of Russian citizens have flocked in recent weeks to receive Western-approved COVID-19 shots.

Serbia, which is not a member of the European Union, is a convenient choice for vaccine-seeking Russians because they can enter the allied Balkan nation without visas and because it offers a wide choice of Western-made shots. Organized tours for Russians have soared, and they can be spotted in the capital, Belgrade, at hotels, restaurants, bars and vaccination clinics.

“We took the Pfizer vaccine because we want to travel around the world,” Nadezhda Pavlova, 54, said after receiving the vaccine last weekend at a sprawling Belgrade vaccination center. Her husband, Vitaly Pavlov, 55, said he wanted “the whole world to be open to us rather than just a few countries.”

Vaccination tour packages for Russians seeking shots endorsed by the World Health Organization appeared on the market in mid-September, according to Russia’s Association of Tour Operators. Maya Lomidze, the group’s executive director, said prices start at $300 to $700, depending on what’s included.

Lauded by Russian President Vladimir Putin as world's first registered COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V emerged in August 2020 and has been approved in some 70 countries, including Serbia. But the WHO has said global approval is still under review after citing issues at a production plant a few months ago.

On Friday, a top World Health Organization official said legal issues holding up the review of Sputnik V were “about to be sorted out,” a step that could relaunch the process toward emergency use authorization.

Other hurdles remain for the Russian application, including a lack of full scientific information and inspections of manufacturing sites, said Dr. Mariangela Simao, a WHO assistant director-general. Apart from the WHO, Sputnik V is also still awaiting approval from the European Medicines Agency before all travel limitations can be lifted for people vaccinated with the Russian formula.

The long wait has frustrated many Russians, so when the WHO announced yet another delay in September, they started looking for solutions elsewhere. “People don’t want to wait; people need to be able to get into Europe for various personal reasons,” explained Anna Filatovskaya, Russky Express tour agency spokeswoman in Moscow. “Some have relatives. Some have business, some study, some work. Some simply want to go to Europe because they miss it.”

Serbia, a fellow-Orthodox Christian and Slavic nation, offers the Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Chinese Sinopharm shots. By popular demand, Russian tourist agencies are now also offering tours to Croatia, where tourists can receive the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, without the need to return for a second dose.

“For Serbia, the demand has been growing like an avalanche," Filatovskaya said. "It’s as if all our company is doing these days is selling tours for Serbia." The Balkan nation introduced vaccination for foreigners in August, when the vaccination drive inside the country slowed after reaching around 50% of the adult population. Official Serbian government data shows that nearly 160,000 foreign citizens so far have been vaccinated in the country, but it is unclear how many are Russians.

In Russia, the country's vaccination rate has been low. By this week, almost 33% of Russia’s 146 million people have received at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine, and 29% were fully vaccinated. Apart from Sputnik V and a one-dose version known as Sputnik Light, Russia has also used two other domestically designed vaccines that have not been internationally approved.

Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko recently said administrative issues were among the main holdups in the WHO’s review process. Judy Twigg, a political science professor specializing in global health at Virginia Commonwealth University, expects Sputnik V to be approved eventually, but “maybe not by the end of this year.”

“The WHO has said that it needs more data, and it needs to go back and inspect some production lines where it saw issues early on. Those re-inspections are a multiweek process, with good reason. It’s not something that they just gloss over lightly."

Amid low vaccination rates and reluctance by the authorities to reimpose restrictive measures, both Russia and Serbia have seen COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations reach record levels in the past weeks.

The daily coronavirus death toll in Russia topped 900 for a second straight day on Thursday — a day after reaching a record 929. In Serbia, the daily death toll of 50 people is the highest in months in the country of 7 million that so far has confirmed nearly 1 million cases of infection.

Pavlova said the “double protection” offered by the Pfizer booster shots would allow the family "to not only travel around the world, but also to see our loved ones without fear.” Since the vaccine tours exploded in popularity about a month ago, they have provided welcome business for Serbian tour operators devastated by the pandemic in an already weak economy. The owner of BTS Kompas travel agency in Belgrade, Predrag Tesic, said they are booked well in advance.

“It started modestly at first, but day by day numbers have grown nicely,” Tesic said. He explained that his agency organizes everything, from airport transport to accommodations and translation and other help at vaccination points. When they return for another dose in three weeks, the Russian guests also are offered brief tours to some of popular sites in Serbia.

Back in Russia, some Moscow residents said they understood why many of their fellow Russians travel abroad for vaccines. But Tatiana Novikova said homegrown vaccines remain her choice. "I trust ours more, to be honest,” she said.

Associated Press writers Dusan Stojanovic and Ivana Bzganovic in Belgrade, Serbia, and Daria Litvinova and Daniel Kozin reported from Moscow.

Balkans feel abandoned as vaccinations kick off in Europe

January 06, 2021

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — When thousands of people across the European Union began rolling up their sleeves last month to get a coronavirus vaccination shot, one corner of the continent was left behind, feeling isolated and abandoned: the Balkans.

Balkan nations have struggled to get access to COVID-19 vaccines from multiple companies and programs, but most of the nations on Europe's southeastern periphery are still waiting for their first vaccines to arrive, with no firm timeline for the start of their national inoculation drives.

What is already clear is that Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia — home to some 20 million people — will lag far behind the EU's 27 nations and Britain in efforts to reach herd immunity by quickly vaccinating a large number of their people.

North Macedonian epidemiologist Dragan Danilovski compared the current vaccine situation in the Western Balkans to the inequalities seen during the 1911 sinking of the Titanic. “The rich have grabbed all the available lifeboats, leaving the less fortunate behind,” Danilovski told broadcaster TV 24.

Such sentiment as the world faces its gravest health crisis in a century has gained traction in the Western Balkans - a term used to identify the Balkan states which want to join but still are not part of the EU. It is actively being stoked by pro-Russian politicians in a region sandwiched between Western and Russian spheres of influence.

“I felt as if the bottom fell out of my hopes for a return to a normal life,” 50-year-old Belma Djonko said in Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital, describing the emotional fallout of hearing that thousands of doctors, nurses and the elderly across the EU had received the first doses of a vaccine developed by American drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech while her war-ravaged country is kept waiting.

Many Balkan nations are pinning their hopes on COVAX, a global vaccine procurement agency set up by the World Health Organization and global charity groups to address rising inequities of vaccine distribution. COVAX has secured deals for several promising COVID-19 vaccines but, for now, it will only cover doses to inoculate 20% of a country’s population.

Alongside other politically unstable post-communist Balkan nations that have long professed their desire to join the EU but keep failing to fulfil conditions to achieve that goal, Bosnia has reserved vaccines through COVAX and expects to start receiving its first doses in April at the earliest.

That seems like an eternity from now. “Meanwhile, I must continue depriving my 83-year-old father of the company and love of his grandchildren,” Djonko said, referring to the low-tech but heartbreaking defense against the virus, keeping the elderly isolated from potential sources of infection.

Serbia is the only Western Balkan nation to receive vaccine shots so far, getting deliveries from Pfizer-BioNTech and the Russian-developed Sputnik V vaccine. However, Serbia does not have enough doses to begin mass vaccinations, as only 25,000 shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 2,400 of the Russian vaccine have arrived.

Serbia's vaccination program began on Dec. 24, three days before the EU, when Prime Minister Ana Brnabic received a dose in a bid to increase public trust in the vaccine, as many Balkan governments also struggle to counter a strong anti-vaccination movement.

The EU’s executive arm, the European Commission, recently agreed upon a 70 million-euro ($86 million) package to help Balkan nations get access to the vaccines, on top of 500 million euros ($616 million) the bloc has already contributed to COVAX.

“Throughout the pandemic, the EU has shown that we treat the Western Balkans as privileged partners,” said EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi. Ursula von der Leyen, head of the Executive Commission, says the EU will have more vaccines than necessary for its residents in 2021 and indicated the bloc could share its extra supplies with the Western Balkans and countries in Africa.

Yet in the Balkans, the dominant impression is that the bloc has once again failed the underdeveloped European region. In the words of Albanian political analyst Skender Minxhozi, the EU has reached its “put up or shut up” moment.

“Either show us that you care about us, or don’t be surprised if some of us follow the call of Russian or Chinese pied pipers who are traversing the world with pockets full of their vaccines,” Minxhozi said.

The apparent lack of Western solidarity amid the pandemic is being exploited by local pro-Russian politicians to portray the EU as solely profit-oriented. Russia and China, meanwhile, are vying for political and economic influence.

“I trust (the Russian vaccine), I don’t trust the commercial narratives that are coming from the West,” Milorad Dodik, Bosnian Serb's leader, declared before he was hospitalized with coronavirus. In the Albanian capital of Tirana, Prime Minister Edi Rama demanded an apology from the Russian embassy after it published a message on social media that Moscow stood ready to immediately supply Albania with the Sputnik V vaccine, although that shot is not certified in the EU.

“As a person I felt indignant and as a European I felt ashamed, while as Albania’s prime minister I felt more motivated than ever not to allow Albanians from being excluded from the possibility of being protected simultaneously with other Europeans," Rama said while announcing a contract to buy 500,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Some believe the vaccination delay might prove to be a blessing in disguise in a region where years of declining trust in government and public institutions have amplified the voices of virus deniers and vaccine skeptics.

“I cannot wait for life to return to normal and for that to happen we need a successful vaccine,” said Belma Gazibara, an infectious disease specialist working in Sarajevo's COVID-19 hospital. Gazibara says watching the coronavirus vaccine rollout elsewhere in Europe will increase Bosnians' desire to have the shots too.

“If, as I strongly hope, the approved vaccines keep their promise elsewhere in Europe, I expect the uptake to be much higher than it would have been right now,” she said.

Stojanovic reported from Belgrade, Serbia. Llazar Semini in Tirana, Albania, and Konstantin Testorides, in Skopje, Macedonia, contributed.

Montenegro police clash with anti-gov't protesters

February 15, 2014

PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — Police in Montenegro fired tear gas and stun grenades Saturday to disperse hundreds of stone-throwing protesters who were blaming the government for high unemployment, economic mismanagement and alleged corruption, and demanding its resignation.

The protests were called by an informal Facebook group that asked Montenegrins to voice solidarity with Bosnian anti-government demonstrators who earlier this month stormed into the country's presidency and other government buildings in Sarajevo and torched them over similar demands.

In Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro, at least nine riot policemen were injured in the clashes with the demonstrators, many of them wearing masks to conceal their identities. At least 20 demonstrators were detained during the violence, which erupted when some 300 protesters tried to march toward the downtown government headquarters.

"Bosnia has taken to the streets. What are we waiting for?" the organizers said on their Facebook page. "Tens of thousands of unemployed, hungry and robbed people should take justice into their own hands!"

"We can't pay our 500 euros electricity bills with 100 euros (monthly) salaries," protest organizer Ljubo Varagic said. Montenegro, a tiny Adriatic Sea state of 600,000 people, and neighboring Bosnia were part of the former six-republic Yugoslavia that broke up during civil wars in the 1990s. Montenegro has been run for the past 25 years by Milo Djukanovic, now the prime minister, who has shifted several times from premier to president and back again.

"I think that the corrupt elite, led by Djukanovic, should end up in jail," said Marko Milacic, one of the demonstrators. "The mother of all demands is that Djukanovic leaves power after 25 years." Montenegro's economy, heavily hit by the Yugoslav wars and wartime U.N. sanctions, is mostly based on tourism. It is in the in process of transition as the country seeks European Union membership.

Djukanovic, his family and ministers have often been accused of corruption.

AP Balkan Correspondent Dusan Stojanovic contributed from Belgrade, Serbia.

Croatia promises to change extradition law

September 25, 2013

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's newest member, Croatia, promised Wednesday to meet EU demands and change a law on banning extradition of suspected criminals as soon as possible.

The EU had threatened sanctions such as suspending EU funds for Croatia's border controls if Zagreb didn't comply. Croatian Justice Minister Orsat Miljenic said his government "will swiftly ... take all measures to unconditionally make the law comply with European law."

The law was adopted just a day before Croatia formally became an EU member on July 1. It included a retroactive prohibition on Croatian citizens being extradited, which goes against EU practice. Miljenic said the law, which was officially intended to protect veterans of its 1991-95 war for independence from prosecution abroad, would change by Jan. 1 at the latest and fall fully in line with the EU's European Arrest Warrant, which eases the handover of criminals and suspects to other EU nations.

EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding didn't remove the threat of sanctions despite the promises, waiting for an assessment from EU member states by Oct. 5 and Croatian moves to effectively change the law.

"What we expect now is that the official declaration ... will be translated swiftly into action, into law," Reding said. Croatia's opposition said the law was intended to protect former Croatian intelligence chief Josip Perkovic — who is sought by Germany in the murder of a Croatian dissident allegedly killed by the former Yugoslav secret service in Germany in 1983. Perkovic, who created Croatia's secret service once Croatia split from the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, worked for Communist Yugoslavia's secret service in the 1980s.

EU lawmakers welcomed Croatia's commitment. "It is good that Croatia finally understood the risk of incorrect implementation of this key EU crime-fighting measure on the future freedom of movement of its citizens," said ALDE liberal Sarah Ludford, the European Parliament's rapporteur on the European Arrest Warrant.

EU mission member killed in Kosovo shooting

September 20, 2013

MITROVICA, Kosovo (AP) — An EU customs officer in Kosovo was shot to death early Thursday in the tense, Serb-dominated north, the EU Rule of Law Mission said.

The incident took place during regular staff rotation when two EULEX vehicles came under fire from unknown attackers, the mission said in a statement. The hospital chief in Mitrovica, Milan Ivanovic, said the victim was shot in the chest and leg and was dead on arrival.

"I condemn in the strongest possible terms the attack that led to the death of the staff member," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement, adding that the dead man was Lithuanian. "The perpetrators must be brought to justice."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the "cowardly attack," and called for a swift and thorough investigation to bring the perpetrators to justice, U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

The EU mission has been overseeing the implementation of the rule of law in Kosovo, a former Serbian province that declared independence in 2008 but that remains tense because Serbia and Kosovo Serbs do not recognize the split.

Kosovo's president, Atifete Jahjaga, blamed the attack on "forces that want to destabilize Kosovo." She said in a statement the attack happened as the country "is showing political maturity" ahead of the Nov. 3 local elections, the first such poll that should see the minority Serbs voting in an election run by the ethnic Albanian administration in Pristina.

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic also condemned the attack. "This shooting is not only against EULEX, but against the future of the Serbian people in Kosovo," he said. EULEX staff members have been manning checkpoints on the border with Serbia, which has angered hardline Serbs who view the border control as confirmation of Kosovo's independence.

Joint border patrols were negotiated in EU-brokered talks between Serbia and Kosovo. The former foes signed an agreement normalizing ties in April.

Associated Press writers Florent Bajrami in Pristina, Juergen Baetz in Brussels and Jovana Gec in Belgrade contributed.

Counting underway in Albania election

June 24, 2013

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Vote counting has begun a day after Albania's general election, which was marred by gunfire at a polling station which left one man dead and two others wounded.

Initial returns indicated a narrow lead for the opposition Socialist Party-led coalition of Edi Rama, who is running against Prime Minister Sali Berisha of the Democratic party. Both men claimed victory after polls closed Sunday evening.

Turnout was 53 percent of some 3.3 million registered voters, according to preliminary estimates by the country's Central Election Commission, in the eighth national polls since the fall of communism in 1990.

Official results were not expected to be announced earlier than Tuesday. A police spokesman said Gjon Gjoni, 49, died after being shot in an exchange of fire that also wounded Mhill Fufi, 49, a candidate for Berisha's governing Democratic Party, and a relative of Fufi.

The violence drew condemnation from an EU official. "Violence is simply not acceptable and cannot be tolerated," Ettore Sequi, the EU ambassador to Tirana, told Associated Press television. Berisha and Rama have both expressed the hope that Albania can gain entry to the EU, and Sunday's election was seen as a test of whether the country can run a fair and safe election.

"These elections are a crucial test for the democratic maturity of the country a test for the smooth functioning of the Albanian institutions," Sequi said. Preliminary findings of some 400 international observers were expected later Monday.

Although the election campaign was highly acrimonious, it was generally considered peaceful. In 2009, three people were killed in politically motivated attacks during the campaign. The Socialists boycotted the parliament for a long time in protest to what it called manipulation from the governing Democrats.

Albania, now a NATO member despite a rocky road to democracy, has been denied EU candidate status twice since 2009 because of criticism that it has not done enough to fight corruption and proceed with democratic reforms that include its ability to hold elections that comply with international and European standards.

Last month, parliament held an extraordinary session to pass the last three laws in a series of 12 key recommendations required by the EU as part of the country's quest for eventual membership.

Associated Press writer Nebi Qena in Tirana contributed to this report.

Candidate shot at Albania election polling place

June 23, 2013

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — An Albanian political candidate was shot and a supporter of a rival party killed in an exchange of gunfire near a polling station, police said Sunday, as the country held crucial elections already marred by a dispute that could leave the outcome up in the air.

Both conservative Prime Minister Sali Berisha and his close rival, Socialist leader Edi Rama, have hopes for eventual entry to the European Union, and the election is seen as a test of whether the country can run a fair and safe vote. An EU diplomat condemned the violence.

There were few immediate details, but a police spokesman said that Gjon Gjoni, 53, died after being shot in an exchange of fire with Mhill Fufi, 49, a candidate for Berisha's governing Democratic Party. An opposition party leader identified Gjoni as a supporter.

Another man, Kastriot Fufi, was also injured. It was not immediately clear if he and the candidate were related. The shooting in the city of Lac started with an argument, said police spokesman Tefik Sulejmani, who gave few other details.

Once one of the world's hardest-line communist countries, the impoverished country has had a rocky road to democracy, plagued by corruption and elections marred by violence and vote-rigging. The month-long contest had been relatively calm until election day, though there had been reports of civil servants and even school children being pressured to attend pro-government rallies.

Ilir Meta, the leader of the Socialist Movement for Integration said the dead man was a supporter and directly blamed police and "criminal elements" of the ruling Democrats of exerting pressure at polling stations.

"Sali Berisha is not Albania's premier any more. He cannot leave power without shedding blood," said Meta. The EU's top diplomat in Albania took a hard stand on the violence. "I want to say something very clear, very firm. Among the international and European standards for elections, there is the refusal of violence," said Ettore Sequi, the EU ambassador to Tirana.

Some 3.3 million registered voters are eligible to cast their ballots in the eighth national polls since the fall of communism in 1990. The country's president called for unity. "Peace, calm, citizens' life is important. I appeal for calm and maturity because, true we vote for different parties, but we are one nation," Bujar Nishani said.

Because of a battle over the country's election commission, it is uncertain when results will be announced, though the law mandates they be revealed no later than three days after the vote. Rama postponed voting to head to Lac, about 37 miles (60 kilometers) northwest of the capital Tirana.

Berisha invited all Albanians to take part in the vote and turn Sunday "into a day of festivities and good understanding." "I assure you that your vote will be fully respected," Berisha told reporters after casting his ballot.

The premier declined to comment on the killing, saying he needed more information first. Following aggressive campaigns by both Berisha's Democrats and the Socialists, streets in the capital of Tirana were uncommonly empty, but had long queues of people at polling stations.

The country's seven-member election commission, which prepares and holds votes, is down by three people, meaning it may be unable to certify the election. If the election is not certified, it means Parliament cannot be convened and no government formed.

In April, one of Berisha's main government allies withdrew from the coalition to join forces with the opposition. He was then ousted and replaced at the election commission by Berisha's Democrats. That move drew sharp criticism from the United States and the EU, who said it would erode people's confidence in the electoral process.

Three members affiliated with the opposition withdrew in protest, leaving the commission short of the people necessary for 5-2 approval. They have said they would consider returning to the commission to certify the election once they see the results.

Albania joined NATO in 2009 but has failed to gain candidate status from the EU, which is pressing for broader democratic reforms and an improved election record. Some 400 international observers and about 8,000 local ones are monitoring the voting.

Albanian voters urged to remember 'ties to world'

June 22, 2013

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania's president on Saturday warned voters to remember the country's "ties to the world" during parliamentary elections considered a crucial test of the impoverished nation's ability to hold fair elections.

Conservative Prime Minister Sali Berisha is seeking a third term but faces a strong challenge from Socialist leader Edi Rama in Sunday's vote. Both have ambitions of closer ties and eventual membership in the European Union, which is pressing for broad reforms and an improved election record in a country once among the most isolated in the world.

As required by law, political parties ceased their one-month campaign the day before the vote. Though the month-long election contest has been relatively calm — unlike past elections that were frequently marred by violence — the West is concerned that the vote won't be fair.

The campaign season has been marked by a continuing dispute over the country's election commission after the ruling Democrats replaced a member and the opposition pulled its members out in response. That means the commission won't be able to certify election results, potentially leaving the outcome of the vote in doubt.

There have also been reports of civil servants and even school children being pressured to attend pro-government rallies. President Bujar Nishani urged voters to have "Albania and its future" uppermost in their minds.

"(We) should properly consider the importance tomorrow's vote has for our ties with the world, with which our freedom, prosperity, fate of the present and the future are closely linked." Some 3.3 million eligible voters will choose among more than 6,900 candidates from 66 political parties who run for 140 parliamentary seats. Some 400 international observers and more than 8,000 local ones will monitor the polls.

It is uncertain when results will be announced.

Albania votes after rowdy but peaceful campaign

June 21, 2013

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Political parties in Albania rallied supporters on their final day of campaigning for Sunday's general elections, which are considered a test for the Balkan country to shed its history of troubled polls as it seeks closer ties with and eventual membership in the European Union.

Conservative Prime Minister Sali Berisha, 68, is seeking a third term and spoke in front of thousands of backers at his Democratic Party's main election rally Friday in the capital Tirana. He is facing a strong challenge from 48-year-old Socialist Edi Rama, whose campaign has concentrated on the enduring levels of poverty in the country, which has 3.3 million registered voters.

Rama is leading in most opinion polls, though surveys are not generally considered reliable in Albania. Both he and Berisha have run aggressive campaigns, with negative TV ads and daily party rallies around the country — leaving its cities and towns littered with blue Democrat and purple Socialist flags and pamphlets.

Rama's Socialists even paid for television ads in neighboring Greece, which has a large Albanian immigrant community. Once one of the world's hardest-line Communist countries, Albania joined NATO in 2009 but has failed to gain candidate status from the European Union, which is pressing for broader democratic reforms and an improved election record.

"The parliamentary elections in Albania on 23 June represent a crucial test for the country's democratic institutions and its progress toward the European Union," Catherine Ashton, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs, and Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule said in a recent statement.

Berisha called on his countrymen to get on "the road toward European Albania. "The road toward Europe is the enlightened future for each Albanian. Let's get together to take the candidate status. With major reforms and efforts during this year we shall make our utmost to launch (membership) negotiations," Berisha said.

The monthlong election contest has been relatively calm, unlike past elections that were frequently marred by violence. However, there have been reports of civil servants and even school children being pressured to attend pro-government rallies.

The country heads to the polls amid a continuing dispute over the country's election commission that remains dominated by Berisha allies despite the fracturing of his center-right coalition in mid-April. Berisha's failure to resolve the dispute over the Central Election Commission drew sharp criticism from the United States and EU.

Rama held his main campaign rally Thursday, addressing thousands of supporters in Tirana's central Mother Teresa Square. He accused Berisha of running the country with a corrupt elite who had "ruined the economy, society, democracy, and Albanians' European dream."

On Friday, Rama took part at a big rally in northern Shkodra city and then by helicopter flew to southern Vlora city, where the Socialists were holding their last rallies at the same time. The Vienna, Austria-based Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has sent a team of election monitors to Albania.

Albania to vote in crucial polls determining its EU future

21 June 2013

(TIRANA) - Albanians go to the polls on Sunday for a crucial vote that could determine whether one of Europe's poorest country has a chance of joining the European Union in the foreseeable future.

Having failed to deliver clean elections since the fall of communism two decades ago, Albania desperately needs to prove that it is able to hold fair polls that meet international standards if it is to have a shot at joining the bloc.

But even in the run-up to the elections, accusations of vote-buying and voter roll irregularities are already flying, sparking fears of a repeat of the 2009 polls which descended into a political crisis.

And international observers are warning that democratic elections are compromised as the agency tasked with certifying the vote is paralyzed by a dispute.

Brussels, which has twice rejected Tirana's EU membership application, said the vote "represents a crucial test for the country's democratic institutions and its progress towards the European Union".

"It is the joint responsibility of all Albanian political leaders... to create conditions for election results to be accepted by all," EU Foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuelle said in a joint statement ahead of the vote.

Brussels would "watch everything very closely," Ettore Sequi, head of the EU mission in Tirana, told AFP.

Since the collapse of Enver Hoxha's communist regime in 1990, polls in the country have been marred by violence and allegations of vote-fixing.

The last general elections in 2009 ended up with a dispute between Prime Minister Sali Berisha's ruling center-right Democrats and the center-left Socialists led by Edi Rama.

The opposition boycotted parliament for months, crippling legislative progress in the country.

And once again, as Albania's 3.2 million voters gear up to pick lawmakers for the 140-seat assembly, the electoral system appears to be struggling to meet international standards.

It emerged that the Central Electoral Commission -- the agency tasked with certifying the vote -- would be unable to carry out its mission because it has lost three members over a dispute.

US ambassador Alexander Arvizu warned that: "In order to have a good election, you need a functioning commission, not the one based on a charade."

The Council of Europe said "democratic elections are compromised as the commission would not be seen by Albanians as an impartial body."

Opposition leader Rama also alleges irregularities in the voters' register and attempts by the ruling Democrats to buy voters.

"I strongly hope that peoples' will would not be manipulated... but these elections are not like ones that a NATO or EU member country should have," Rama said.

Berisha -- who is seeking his third term as prime minister -- dismissed Rama's claims as an "opposition's attempt to justify in advance its next electoral defeat".

The prime minister's Democrats have pledged new investments while accelerating Albania's path towards the EU.

Berisha has also promised a six percent hike in wages and pensions to come into effect after the election.

Berisha, 69, said he wants "another four years, the most ambitious in my life, (in order) to realize the dream of Albania joining EU."

Voters such as 37-year old teacher Eduart Bimi, are hoping that the electoral "promises of more employment and investments" would be kept.

Analysts have predicted a tight race between Berisha's and Rama's parties.

Some 3,000 observers will monitor the elections, while first unofficial results are expected by Monday.

Source: EU Business.
Link: http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/albania-politics.pbb.

Turkish PM's supporters hold rallies in Macedonia

June 14, 2013

SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Ethnic Turks and Albanians in two Macedonian cities have held peaceful rallies in support of the prime minister of Turkey, which has been rocked by two weeks of anti-government protests.

"Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Skopje is with you," a few hundred people chanted after midday prayers at a mosque in the capital Skopje. Rally organizers said that while they did not oppose the protests in Turkey, they deplored violence by some demonstrators.

About 2,000 people attended a similar rally in the western town of Gostivar. Organizers said participants included ethnic Turks from Albania, Bulgaria and Kosovo. About 80,000 ethnic Turks live in Macedonia, and about a third of the country's 2.1 million people are Muslims.

Serbia holds funeral for Yugoslavia's last king

May 26, 2013

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia held a funeral on Sunday for Yugoslavia's last king, Peter II Karadjordjevic, who had fled the country at the start of World War II and died in the U.S. in 1970.

The former king's remains, and those of his wife, mother and brother, were interred in the family tomb at St. George church in Oplenac, central Serbia, in a ceremony aired live on the state television.

The funeral was attended by top state officials, who described it as an act of reconciliation and unity. After fleeing Yugoslavia during its Nazi occupation, the former king never returned because Communists took over the country at the end of the war and abolished the monarchy.

He died in exile at the age of 47 and was buried at a Serbian Orthodox Church monastery in Libertyville, Illinois — the only European monarch laid to rest on U.S. soil. "We can no longer afford any divisions and injustice," President Tomislav Nikolic said in a speech at Sunday's ceremony.

Peter was born into a royal family, and his godfather was Britain's King George VI, but his life was often tragic and chaotic. He was only 11 years old when his father, King Alexander I, was assassinated in 1934 in Marseilles, France. For the next six years the boy's powers were in the hands of a three-man regency headed by his uncle, Prince Paul.

In March 1941, Prince Paul was overthrown in a military coup after signing a pact with Germany. Peter, then 17, was made the king by the Serb anti-fascists. But when Germany invaded Yugoslavia in April 1941, Peter was forced to flee, first to Greece, then to Egypt, then to Britain, where he headed the government-in-exile. He later lived in France and ended up in the U.S.

History books portray him as a figurehead leader and a victim of cunning politicians.

'Yugonostalgia' as Croatia prepares to join EU

May 25, 2013

KUMROVEC, Croatia (AP) — Forget the European Union, many in this Croatian village are saying. The group of nations being celebrated this weekend is one that died more than 20 years ago when Yugoslavia — now fervently remembered as a haven of peace, prosperity and equality — fell apart in a cascade of ethnic wars.

Thousands of people came together Saturday in the birthplace of Yugoslavia's late communist leader, Josip Broz Tito, to mark his birthday and pay their respects to him and the ex-federation. As Croatia prepares to formally enter the EU on July 1, becoming only the second former Yugoslav republic to become a member of the bloc after Slovenia, many in the village of Kumrovec and across the region still regard Yugoslavia as having been a haven of peace and prosperity despite a lack of democracy and freedoms.

"Tito, the one and only," Slobodan Janusevic, a 52-year-old retiree, said. "I think all the worse of both the EU and today's Croatia." Waving Yugoslav flags with communist red stars, carrying banners and memorabilia, people — some dressed in T-shirts with Tito's portrait — listened to music blaring from loudspeakers and watched footage from the Tito era on a huge screen next to his monument and a small modest house where he was born in 1892.

Crowds of his followers also flocked to Tito's grave in the Serbian capital of Belgrade, coming in by buses, cars or on foot. Some wept, others danced and sang old revolutionary songs, while others dressed like Tito, who died in 1980 after ruling unchallenged for 35 years.

While vilified during the nationalist euphoria that followed the bloody breakup in the early 1990s, Yugoslavia has since regained popularity, commanding a steady influx of followers, even among the younger generations that were born after the country disintegrated. The phenomenon is called "Yugonostalgia" and is often explained as a mental getaway from the disappointments of the brutal reality of postwar and post-communist transition that the citizens of the troubled Balkans faced in the last decade of the 20th century.

"The citizens feel they live much worse than they did 30 years ago," explained Serbian historian Dubravka Stojanovic. "They feel defeated." Formed after the end of World War II, Tito's Yugoslavia was a federation of six, ethnically-mixed republics that were kept together under iron-fisted Communist party rule. But unlike other Eastern European countries, Yugoslavia enjoyed a somewhat softer version of communism, separated politically and economically from the Soviet Union.

Yugoslavs traveled freely to the West as they enjoyed relatively high standards of living, job security, free education and health care. The transition to a market economy and wars left thousands jobless, widening the gap between the rich and the poor. Therefore the Yugoslav era is widely perceived as a just society in comparison with Western capitalism, which is often seen as too inhuman.

After Tito's death, Yugoslavia started falling apart amid political bickering between its republics. Ethnically-inspired differences exploded into wars. Slovenia, then Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Kosovo split from the federation one after another. More than 100,000 people died and millions were left homeless after the most brutal conflict in Europe since World War II.

"It would have been better if we all gathered together to play guitars instead of holding guns and shooting at each other," Malina Jelic from Belgrade said. "Unfortunately, time has taken its toll and we are left with consequences."

Although Tito was a Croat, Croatians were the staunchest opponents of Yugoslavia, partly because they believed larger Serbia dominated the federation after Tito's death. The Yugoslav capital was in Belgrade, Serbia, where late strongman Slobodan Milosevic gained power and popularity with his populist and warmongering policies. Milosevic largely built his popularity on claiming that Serbia — the largest of the six republics — was stifled by other, smaller nations.

"Yugoslavia was a prison for all its nations and anti-communists," said Zorica Jovanovic, 49, who watched the Belgrade gathering from a distance. "It is wrong to glorify a dictator, but people now remember only the good things and forget the bad ones."

Anti-Tito sentiments also run high in Kosovo, dominated by ethnic Albanians and which was part of Serbia during Tito's times. Kosovo fought a war to break away from Serbia's rule and declare independence in 2008. Serbia still does not recognize the move.

"For the Albanians nothing good came from him," 71-year old Daut Krapi said. "Poison would have been better ... we are now free." Even some who arrived in Kumrovec on Saturday believed that Croatia would be much better off alone, without the EU or Yugoslavia.

"This place is part of our Croatia," Ruzica Riffert, 62, said. "Croatia is capable of moving forward on its own. It doesn't need any union." Stojanovic, the historian, said Yugonostalgia is an expression of the people's belief that the new, ethnically-defined, but mostly economically and politically weak states felt "inferior" compared to Tito's era. She added that "this is why they view Yugoslavia as a positive utopia."

Ivan Lovrenovic, a Bosnian intellectual, said this was particularly true for his country, where the three main ex-Yugoslav religious groups — Muslims, Catholics and Christian Orthodox — lived in harmony before the war.

"That's because no other new country was as devastated by the wars as Bosnia was, and nobody lost more than Bosnia did," he said. Marko Perkovic, who created a pro-Tito group in tiny Montenegro, by the Adriatic sea, said he remembered Tito's era as the "time of happiness."

"Tito is a personification of a happy time in the most beautiful country in the world," Perkovic said. "His time is not comparable to nowadays. We were safe and happy." In Montenegro's capital of Podgorica — formerly Titograd, or "Tito's town" — one of the city's most popular nightclubs is named "Titograd", while ex-Yugoslav TV programs and songs about Tito can be heard while dining at local restaurant "Nostalgia."

At another, western end of the former Yugoslavia, in Slovenia, Tito-era memorabilia such as uniforms, photographs or Yugoslav flags, are stashed in an underground wine cellar at the best hotel in the country's bustling capital of Ljubljana. Only special guests are allowed in, explained Oto Skrbin, a hotel employee, as he unlocked a thick, wooden door leading into the room.

"This room was created because of the nostalgic feelings for the old days," he said. "We all fondly remember Yugoslavia. Everyone had jobs and salaries, which is not the case today." In the Slovenian mining town of Velenje, a towering monument of Tito dominates the main square. Residents said they prevented authorities, during the nationalist euphoria of the 1990s, from removing the 10-meter (30-foot) statue, which has since become a tourist attraction.

Sociologist Peter Stankovic noted that Yugonostalgia has been strong in Slovenia since the mid-1990s. It has been additionally fueled as Slovenia plunged into an economic crisis linked to the downturn in the eurozone, he said.

"Not everyone in Yugoslavia was prosperous, but there is a sense that things were balanced more justly than in today's society," he said. Even youngsters born after the Balkan country's demise are identifying with yesteryear, sharing old movies, songs and symbols on social media. Historian Stojanovic said the drive is motivated by the desire of young people to move beyond the borders of their small countries "and let the fresh air in."

In the southernmost former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, 17-year-old Igor Jovanov described Tito as a "communist king" who "enjoyed luxury, women and good food." A show dubbed "Tito's Kitchen" is a hit, drawing huge audiences, both young and elderly.

Ali Zerdin contributed from Slovenia, Predrag Milic from Montenegro, Aida Cerkez, from Bosnia, Nebi Qena from Kosovo, Konstantin Testorides from Macedonia and Dusan Stojanovic from Serbia.

Macedonia's local elections free of violence

March 24, 2013

SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Macedonians voted peacefully in local elections Sunday, boosting hopes the country is turning a page and won't repeat the political and ethnic violence that has marred past voting cycles.

The 2,976 polling stations closed at 7 p.m. local time (1700 GMT). State electoral commission head Subhi Jakupi said the turnout by 5 p.m. was 57.5 percent, 8 percent higher than at a similar stage in the previous local elections in 2009. More than 1.7 million people were eligible to cast votes.

"No serious incident has been registered," police spokesman Ivo Kotevski told The Associated Press. "The voting process in general went smoothly, fair and free, without violence." The small Balkan country hopes that free, transparent and peaceful local elections will help it strengthen its case for European Union membership. More than 400 international observers were monitoring the Sunday election.

Ethnic Macedonians form the controlling majority in 63 of the country's municipalities and ethnic minority Albanians control 16. Ethnic Turks and Serbs each have the controlling majority in one community.

There is a history of conflict between the ethnic Macedonians, who make up more than 60 percent of the population, and ethnic Albanians, who comprise a quarter of the population in this nation of 2.1 million. The tensions almost resulted in civil war in 2001.

The civic association MOST, which deployed 3,500 domestic observers, pointed to numerous irregularities, such as dozens of cases described as "family voting" — with one family member openly guiding others as to which candidate to vote for.

Observers also mentioned several cases of voters seen taking photos of their ballots with cell phones — possibly to offer proof to people to whom they'd promised to vote a certain way. The two primary coalitions putting up mayoral candidates cut across ethnic lines and are likely to win almost all of the municipal elections. The conservative coalition of 39 political parties is favored to win in most cities.

The leftist opposition of Social Democrats joined the elections at the last moment. It had boycotted the Parliament for more than two months but ended the boycott earlier this month after talks brokered by the European Parliament and the EU Commission. EU enlargement commissioner Stefan Fuele had said the opposition's participation in the local elections is crucial for Macedonia's EU candidacy.

Macedonia has been an EU candidate member since 2005, but has not yet obtained a date for the start of accession talks. This is partly due to Greece, which is opposed to Macedonia's name. The Greeks say the name implies a territorial claim to the northern Greek province of Macedonia. But the EU also is wary of admitting a state where ethnic conflict is still simmering.

Preliminary results are not expected before midnight Sunday. The electoral commission will announce the full results, plus the final turnout figure, Monday afternoon.

Croatians to vote on golf in historic referendum

April 27, 2013

DUBROVNIK, Croatia (AP) — In 1991, Croatians voted for independence and then last year to join the European Union.

Now, in only the third referendum ever in the country, the residents of the postcard-pretty Adriatic sea resort of Dubrovnik will vote on the construction of a massive golf complex on a hill above their ancient walled tourist city. The implications could be just as enduring.

Although the Sunday vote focuses on local issues, backers hail it as an unprecedented citizen referendum giving voters in post-communist Croatia a direct say in their democracy. But the project's investors warn it could have serious consequences on future foreign investment in the economically struggling Balkan country, which is to formally become EU's 28th member this summer.

Backers say the 1.1-billion-euro ($1.4 (€1.08) -billion) golf course designed by Australian golfing legend Greg Norman — which includes villas, hotels, tennis courts, a horse-riding club and restaurants — will be a tourist boon and the source of hundreds of jobs.

But others worry that the club will endanger their scenic city of red-roofed stone houses and aquamarine sea, dubbed the Pearl of the Adriatic. Foreign investors have already paid some 100,000 euros ($130,000) to buy the largely barren rocky land from private owners, but opponents say the construction would choke the old town, would represent an environmental hazard and would not bring financial gains for Dubrovnik residents.

"First and foremost, this is not a golf project at all," said Enes Cerimagic, a member of the group campaigning against the project, whose makeshift pro-referendum stand stood out on the city's main street of white stone 17th-century palaces and churches.

"Golf here serves just as excuse for a big real estate development," he said, that at 300 hectares (740 acres) dwarfs the area of the old walled town, would overburden the city's infrastructure and penalize taxpayers.

The private investors say the project would provide 1,000 new jobs in Dubrovnik, would bring wealthier golf-playing tourists to the area and stretch the main tourist season, which currently last only two summer months.

Maja Frenkel, the head of Razvoj Golf, the main Israeli investor group behind the project, insisted that the referendum and the opposition to the project is sending the wrong signal to other foreigners planning to invest in Croatia, which will enter the EU on July 1.

"Unfortunately, the message has already been sent," Frenkel said. "No matter the outcome of this referendum, I think that any other investor will be very carefully watching the development of our project and will think twice before entering the country, which has relatively unclear investment procedures."

Croatia split from Yugoslavia in the wars of the 1990s, and is currently going through a painful transition into a market economy. The privatization and the closure of once prosperous factories led to mass unemployment.

Its economy relies heavily on tourism, which brings some 7 billion euros ($9.1 billion) a year to the nation of 4.2 million, blessed with a spectacular Adriatic coast and stunning islands. The rocky 415-meter (1,360-feet) Srdj hill currently has only a cable car from the old town to the Napoleon-era Imperial fortress on its top, a large stone cross, a restaurant, a souvenir shop and the small village of Bosanka, with some 30 homes. The Bosanka residents are in favor of the golf park.

"We locals are all against the referendum," said Luko Paskojevic, as he pointed toward the stretch of dry bushes where the project is planned. "We are against someone else deciding what we are to do with our land. They are saying 'Srdj is ours,' but this is all a private land," he said. "We hope people will see that this golf project is good and that the referendum will fail."

Referendums in the Balkans have in the past been organized by ruling elites and dealt with issues such as secession of their countries from Serb-led Yugoslavia, or joining the EU or NATO. This is the first time that a referendum has been called by a group of citizens to deal with everyday issues.

Dubrovnik mayor Andro Vlahusic says that the Sunday referendum is a sign of Croatia's democratic development. But, he said he hoped Dubrovnik will vote for the golf park. "That area has been neglected for 15 centuries," Vlahusic said. During that period, there were two ideas of what to build there, he said.

"One was a railway station, the other was golf. Between the railway station and golf, golf is much better."

Women emerge as crisis leaders in macho Balkans

March 04, 2013

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Women in the Balkans are leading a political revolution.

Historically given little say in the politics of the conservative region, they are increasingly taking top leadership posts, signaling that the traditional rules are changing as Balkan countries shake off their war pasts and move toward membership in the European Union.

During the bloody 1990s, many in the Balkans turned to warrior leaders, mostly male nationalists they thought would protect them from the ethnic conflicts that flattened cities and left over a hundred thousand dead. The new millennium has brought crisis in a different form: economic doldrums, naggingly high unemployment and glaring political corruption.

Encouraged by the EU and influenced by closer ties with the West, more and more it is women who are stepping in to change the old ways of doing business in the macho Balkans. Some see women as less nationalistic and more attuned to the needs of a new era — diplomacy, consensus, and compromise.

"Women have always been more successful than men, with all due respect," said Duska Latinovic, a nurse from the Serb-controlled part of Bosnia. "Women are ... more sensitive, stronger, emotional, and in these rough times people need more of a heart."

Although overall gender equality standards are still far from those in Western democracies, strongly patriarchal Kosovo and the post-war Serb mini-state in Bosnia have both installed women in their top positions. Male-dominated Serbia and Montenegro have passed laws to increase the numbers of women in leadership positions, part of a slate of efforts to convince the EU they belong in the bloc.

"The power of women in the politics is a soft power," Atifete Jahjaga, the female president of Kosovo told the AP. "It is a positive change that our country and other countries in the region ... are making by giving a chance to women."

The latest political newcomer is the charismatic 43-year-old financial expert Alenka Bratusek, Slovenia's first ever female prime minister. While Slovenia has traditionally been more advanced than the rest of the Balkans, Bratusek's election last week was significant because it came at a moment of deep financial and political turmoil in the small Alpine state.

A rising star among veteran Slovenian politicians, Bratusek has been entrusted with consolidating the nation's economy and restoring confidence in state institutions, which have been badly shaken by the EU's broader financial crisis.

"It is important that this happened at a sensitive moment, a period of crisis," sociologist Milica Gaber Antic said. "It's a strong message to other women: 'We women can do it!'" Many women leaders are already being lauded for steering their countries through the storms.

Croatia's former Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor, took over the premiership in turmoil after her predecessor Ivo Sanader was forced to resign in 2009 in a whirl of corruption scandals, and then wrapped up her country's accession talks with the EU.

In 2011 in Kosovo — where Parliament members were recently issued notebooks with an assortment of sayings including one saying that "silence is the only treasure a woman possesses" — the little-known Jahjaga was elected the first ever female president, part of a U.S.-brokered compromise that put to a rest the bickering between political groups dominated by formal rebel fighters and murky business leaders.

Last week in the ethnically Serb mini-state in Bosnia another little-known female politician, Zeljka Cvijanovic, was proposed as the new head of government after the previous Cabinet resigned. That would make her the first ever woman to lead the government in any of the country's many levels of power-sharing, where no ministry in the central government is headed by a woman.

"As a woman, I hope to add a new flair and a new dimension to the institutions of Republika Srpska," she said in an interview. Women accounted for only 1.6 percent of Serbia's Parliament in 1990, the lowest rate in Europe. But with strongman Slobodan Milosevic ouster in 2000 and the country's efforts to join the EU, the proportion of women has soared to 20 percent. Serbian law now calls for every third candidate on an election list to be a woman — a rule requested as part of EU reforms.

It isn't always the same story across the region. During the communist rule that followed World War II, authorities promoted women's inclusion in politics as part of the communist agenda of gender equality. At the time women served at top positions in the governments and were granted equal rights, jobs, salaries and education.

Bulgaria, for example, had the highest percentage of working women in the world in the 1970s, and women in top offices include the vice president, the parliament speaker, four ministers, and the mayor of the capital city, Sofia.

But, old habits die hard. Kosovo's Minister for European Integration Vlora Citaku acknowledged that "it is almost impossible to forget even for a moment that I am a woman — I've been reminded of that every day since I became a minister."

She said that being a woman in the male-dominated politics is "a tough life." "First of all they ask you are you married? What your dad think of you traveling alone surrounded by all men?," she scoffed. "I mean, it's all these stereotypes ... There are certain duties that a woman must do in order to be 'complete.'"

And in Slovenia, shortly after Bratusek won Parliament's approval, political opponents tweeted that "her mandate will be as long as her skirt." Bratusek responded simply: "I wish we women were no longer judged only by the length of our skirts."

Ali Zerdin in Slovenia, Veselin Toshkov in Bulgaria, Sabina Niksic and Irena Knezevic in Bosnia, Alison Mutler in Romania, Monica Scislowska in Poland, Karel Janicek in the Czech Republic, Nebi Qena in Kosovo, Pablo Gorondi in Hungary, Darko Bandic in Croatia, and Predrag Milic in Montenegro contributed to this report.

Ex-premier elected new Czech president

January 26, 2013

PRAGUE (AP) — A former left-leaning prime minister staged a big return to power Saturday by winning the Czech Republic's first directly elected presidential vote.

With all the votes counted, Milos Zeman won 54.8 percent of the vote for the largely ceremonial post, the Czech Statistics Office reported. His opponent, conservative Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, had 45.2 percent.

"Long live Zeman!" his supporters chanted at his campaign headquarters in Prague. "I promise that as a president elected in a direct popular vote I will try to be the voice of all citizens," Zeman said.

Voters seemed to punish Schwarzenberg for the government's unpopular austerity cuts that aimed to reduce the budget deficit. "It definitely didn't help me," Schwarzenberg said, adding he will continue to serve as foreign minister.

Since Czechoslovakia split into Slovakia and the Czech Republic in 1993, the Czech Republic has had two presidents elected by Parliament: Vaclav Havel and Vaclav Klaus. But bickering during those votes led lawmakers to give that decision to the public.

The 68-year-old Zeman will replace the euro-skeptic Klaus, whose second and final term ends March 7. Zeman is considered more favorable toward the 27-nation European Union, to which the country belongs. People in his inner circle also have close business ties with Russia so "he might become an advocate of closer relations with Russia," said Josef Mlejnek, an analyst from Prague's Charles University.

Zeman is not opposed to pre-emptive strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities and opposes Kosovo's independence. In the campaign, one of the top issues became the 1945 expulsion of 3 million ethnic Germans from then-Czechoslovakia in a move approved by the Allies. Schwarzenberg said Czechs should not be proud of this action, prompting attacks from both Zeman and Klaus.

"Nationalism took over the campaign," said Mlejnek. A chain smoker who likes a good drink, Zeman made international headlines as prime minister with his outspoken comments. He once compared the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to Adolf Hitler, drawing condemnations from the EU and the Arab League, and called Austrians who opposed a Czech nuclear plant "idiots."

After the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S., Zeman and his interior minister said they believed that hijacker Mohamed Atta met with a senior Iraqi intelligence official in Prague in April 2001. That purported meeting was cited as evidence of a possible al-Qaida connection to Iraq. The 9/11 commission later said such a meeting never happened.

In 2002, Zeman outraged German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder by calling ethnic those Germans "Hitler's fifth column." In protest, Schroeder canceled his official trip to Prague. During his four years in office beginning in 1998, Zeman's government privatized the ailing bank sector but was criticized for a lack of transparency in privatizing state-owned property and for often failing to run public tenders for state contracts.

Under the Czech constitution, the president has the power to pick the prime minister after a general election and to appoint members of the Central Bank board. With the approval of Parliament's upper house, the president also appoints Constitutional Court judges.

Otherwise the president has little executive power and the country is run by the government chosen and led by the prime minister.

Thousands strike amid gov't crisis in Slovenia

January 23, 2013

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) — Schools closed down, theaters cancelled shows, hospitals switched to weekend schedules and long lines formed at Slovenia's borders on Wednesday in a massive anti-austerity strike, as the main coalition partner walked out of the government over corruption allegations against the prime minister, bringing it to the brink of collapse.

Tens of thousands of teachers, university professors, doctors, customs officials and other state employees joined the strike, angry that the coalition government of Prime Minister Janez Jansa has cut their salaries by 5 percent to reduce debt and avoid needing an EU bailout.

Meanwhile, Jansa's main coalition partner, the Citizens' List, announced it is quitting the government, leaving it without the ministers of justice and finance, and a majority in the parliament. That does not mean the immediate collapse of Jansa's Cabinet, because he can continue to lead a minority government pending a no-confidence vote in the assembly.

Earlier Wednesday, several thousand flag-waving protesters rallied in central Ljubljana, the capital, demanding job security and accusing the government of corruption. "Don't believe those who say the situation will improve if cleaners, policemen or nurses are fired!" a union leader, Branimir Strukelj, told the crowd.

Jansa's government has said that the austerity measures are necessary for Slovenia to restore public finances that, like the economy, have been hurt by the eurozone debt crisis. The measures also include a plan to overhaul the banking system and reform the labor market.

But the government has been shaken by corruption allegations against Jansa, who has been asked to step down by coalition partners. A report issued this month by an anti-graft watchdog accused him of failing to declare more than €200,000 ($266,000) in private assets, which he has denied.

Gregor Virant, the leader of the Citizens List, blamed Jansa for the political turmoil. "The political crisis erupted the day that the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption presented its grave and damning findings," Virant said. He added that his party's walkout from the ruling coalition was "the first step in the resolution of the political crisis."

The priority for his party is an early election, he added, saying the report "has changed the situation in Slovenia so much that the citizens ought to be given the chance to make a new choice." Virant also announced he will step down as Parliament speaker.

In an interview Tuesday with local Primorka TV, Jansa urged "sensibility and maturity to enable the government to do what needs to be done without delay." The anti-graft report also accused Zoran Jankovic, the main opposition leader who is also the mayor of Ljubljana and one of the richest people in Slovenia, of failing to clarify where €2.4 million ($3.1 million) of his money came from.

Slovenia, once a star economy among EU newcomers, has seen its gross domestic product shrink by 3.3 percent in the third quarter compared with a year earlier — the third-biggest drop in the eurozone after Greece and Portugal.

Jovana Gec and Dusan Stojanovic contributed from Belgrade, Serbia.

Macedonian protesters demand budget cuts

December 29, 2012

SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Several thousand supporters of the leftist opposition, led by Social Democrat leader and former Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski, have staged a demonstration in front of the ruling party's headquarters to protest violence that erupted during a parliamentary debate over the budget.

Macedonia's parliament approved the budget on Monday amid clashes outside Parliament between rival groups of protesters that left 11 police officers and at least 3 opposition lawmakers injured. Opposition deputies and journalists were expelled from parliament ahead of the vote.

The opposition, which held Saturday's peaceful protest in Skopje, argues that the conservative government of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski is spending too much money on grandiose monuments and expensive cars and furniture for state officials. The opposition is demanding spending cuts and says it will boycott parliamentary proceedings indefinitely.