Week in Review: Pandemics and Politics

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to shape news in the region, we take a look at the different ways in which is it intersecting with domestic, regional and international (geo)politics in the south-east corner of Europe.

Going Nowhere Quickly

Pedestrians walk in the Serb dominated northern part of the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica, Kosovo, 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/VALDRIN XHEMAJ

If the dialogue on normalising relations between Kosovo and Serbia was not complicated enough, the COVID-19 pandemic has added another layer of complexity. So has the recent vote of no confidence in the Kosovo Government.

Our analysis explores the challenges facing negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina, over and above the usual disagreements. Analysts seem to agree that it is unrealistic to expect any progress until the pandemic subsides. Yet even after that, numerous challenges will remain – Serbia will hold elections, while Kosovo will need to resolve its own political crisis. Not least, rival mediators are competing to lead the dialogue.

Read more: Pandemic Adds Fresh Uncertainty to Kosovo-Serbia Dialogue (April 16, 2020)

Power Politics

Turkish Military Cargo Plane which carries medical aid lands Sarajevo International Airport Photo: Twitter account of NATO Headquarters Sarajevo

Powers great and small from around the world are competing with each other to provide medical aid to the countries of the Balkan region – at least in part to counterbalance each other’s influence – albeit at differing speeds.

Despite a growing pandemic crisis at home, Turkey is racing not to be outdone, or at least to remain at the table. Turkish military planes bearing aid landed in Belgrade, Podgorica, Pristina, Sarajevo and Skopje bearing medical aid on April 8. The aid came with the best wishes of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Yet while Turkey rushes to project power in the region, a crisis rages closer to home.

Read more: With Balkan Aid Flights, Turkey Projects Big-Power Image (April 10, 2020)

Risky Ideas

People in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/FEHIM DEMIR

In what seems to have been a clumsy attempt to prevent the spread of COVID 19, Bosnia’s Croat-dominated Canton 10 attempted on March 22 to prevent the entry of other Bosnian citizens – apart from the police, army and medics – into the canton. The rationale was that the canton was, on the one hand, still corona-free, while on the other it lacked the resources to handle any outbreak.

The decision was quickly withdrawn after outrage in Sarajevo, where Bosniak politicians saw the move as unconstitutional, even claiming it smacked of separatism, or an attempt to force the creation of a long-mooted third entity. In light of this, Valentino Grbavac offers a thought-provoking analysis of what Bosnian Croat politicians really want. Despite their rhetoric about a third entity, as well as broad support among Bosnian Croats for the idea, Grbavac argues that those same political elites would stand to lose much from the implementation of such an idea.

Read more: Third Entity Would Destroy Bosnia’s Croat Political Elite (April 10, 2020)

Stuck

Migrants at a military barrack in Blazuj, suburbs of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Photo: EPA-EFE/FEHIM DEMIR

One of the neglected aspects of the coronavirus pandemic in the Balkans is how it is affecting migrants and refugees stuck in camps along the ‘Balkan route’. Social distancing and lock downs are bad enough for those stuck in their homes.

But what about those stuck in camps which lack basic amenities even at the best of times? Our report looks at how migrants and refugees stuck in these camps are coping in Bosnia and Serbia.

Read more: Movement Ban Worsens Migrants’ Plight in Serbia, Bosnia (April 9, 2020)

Pollution Problems

Power plant Kostolac, B block, in eastern Serbia. Photo: eps.rs

Air pollution is one of the biggest, yet probably least talked about killers in Serbia, as in much of the Balkans. Some estimates put the number of pollution-related deaths at 175 per 100,000 people, one of the highest in Europe. The World Health Organization estimates that around 6,500 people die prematurely in Serbia due to poor air quality each year.

Despite this, the Serbian Government has done remarkably little to reign in the country’s coal-fired power plants, one of the main sources of the problem. At the beginning of the year, Europe’s Energy Community opened proceedings against Serbia due to the country’s failure to adopt a national harmful emissions strategy. We analyse the scale of the problem and what is (not) being done about it.

Read more: No Limits: Serbia Fails to Rein in Coal-Fired Polluters (April 15, 2020)

Flying the Flag(s)

Young Montenegrin girls wrap the national flag. Photo: EPA/BORIS PEJOVIC

Flying flags might seem like a benign topic at first sight, but in many countries it is a sensitive issue. This is particularly so in the countries of the former Yugoslavia, with their burdens of recent wars and sizeable ethnic minorities.

Montenegro is one country which has, until recently, had very restrictive laws on the flying of flags of other nations. Last December, the law was relaxed somewhat to allow the flying of flags of recognized minorities, albeit alongside the Montenegrin flag. Yet many representatives of non-Montenegrin communities complain that the legal framework is still too restrictive.