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January 22, 2011
I remember the young children of the war who always preferred to play on concret because green meant death for them. And I remember forests with mines that have not seen mankind or any greater animal for a decade because of the landmines. This year I would like to find out what happened with those… » read more
August 15, 2010
Thousands of people across several Balkan countries have held services last week to commemorate those who died in Operation Storm 15-years ago. Like normal in Balkans the views what happened are almost opposite to each other. One side is celebrating victory, the other side has remembrance of those who died during the largest refugee crisis… » read more
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BalkanBlog, Balkans, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, English, ICTY, Jasenovac, Serbia, Serbs, War crimes, Yugoslavia |
Since independence, the relations between Slovenia and Croatia were essentially very good. We are one of each others’ main trade partners, Slovenes are welcome at Croatian cost and Croats on Slovenian ski slopes. A few issues remain unresolved after the breakup of Yugoslavia that kept the politicians and journalists busy, but did not have much… » read more
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Balkans, Central Europe, Croatia, English, Enlargement and Neighbours, EU borders, referendum, Slovenia |
May 13, 2010
Most of the time, the title of an article will draw my attention because it refers to an issue or topic that I am interested in, because it is humorous, or intriguing. And then once in a blue moon, a title will pop out at me from my computer screen that provokes a negative reaction… » read more
May 2, 2010
“Freedom of the press, freedom of association, the inviolability of domicile, and all the rest of the rights of man are respected so long as no one tries to use them against the privileged class. On the day they are launched against the privileged they are overthrown.” (Prince Peter Kropotkin) Different aspects of freedom are… » read more
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Albania, Ari Rusila´s BalkanPerspective, BalkanBlog, Balkans, Black Sea region, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Business environment, Caucasus, Croatia, English |
February 25, 2010
The V4+ Energy Summit held in Budapest on 24-26 February ended in a joint declaration signed by the V4 plus Austria, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, and the perspective member state Croatia (along with Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina). If these countries show such unity as they had in the March 2009 economic crisis summit, it can put a… » read more
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Austria, Balkan, Bulgaria, Central Europe, Croatia, Czech Republic, energy efficiency, Energy Supply, English, EU Priorities and Opinion, Hungary, Poland, romania, Slovakia |
February 19, 2010
Today, I couldn’t help but remember the days when French President Nicolas Sarkozy was campaigning to become President in 2007, his speeches then and on the day he was elected. You could disagree with him politically, but no one can deny that he had charisma, and when listening to him, I had but one reaction:… » read more
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Balkan politics, Balkans, Croatia, English, Enlargement and Neighbours |
January 27, 2010
The UN General Assembly chose January 27 as the official day for the commemoration, as it was on this day in 1945 that Soviet troops liberated the Auschwitz extermination camp, the last such camp still functioning. Throughout Europe, tributes will be paid to the 53 million people who died during World War II, of whom… » read more
January 23, 2010
I wonder how many readers saw anything in western media related to informal statement on 20.1.2010 made by Croatia’s President Mesic. Here quote: “If Milorad Dodik (head of Republica Srpska, AR) scheduled a referendum for secession of Republika Srpska from Bosnia and if I were the president…I would send the army,” and would ‘break […]
January 14, 2010
The last election in Croatia can bring a refreshing change with new President Ivo Josipovic – a university law professor and a composer of classical music – but he will find a much tougher struggle ahead of him. This struggle not only due economical problems (national debt and unemployment) but also problems related to Croatia’s… » read more
January 11, 2010
With over 60% of the votes cast in the second round of the election, Ivo Josipović, candidate of the Social democratic party is going to become Croatia’s third President. “Reason has won” are announcing some of the Croatian media tonight. Reason indeed. Many of the voters who cast their ballot today in favour of Mr.… » read more
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Croatia, English, Enlargement and Neighbours, External Relations |
January 5, 2010
It took Croatia’s current Prime Minister, Jadranka Kosor, a little under 30 hours to secure for herself the support of the HDZ leadership and evict her predecessor and former mentor from the Party. All but three members of the HDZ Presidency stood by her as she made it clear that fractions, open dissidence and attempts… » read more
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Croatia, English, Enlargement and Neighbours, EU Priorities and Opinion |
January 4, 2010
Six months ago, half-way through his mandate and without any valid explanation, then Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader announced that he was resigning from his position as head of Government and that of head of the majority HDZ party. To journalists’ questions about the reasons of that completely unexpected move, Sanader had simply said: “I… » read more
December 29, 2009
On Saturday night, a journalist friend of mine introduced me to Ivo Josipović, the Presidential Election candidate of the opposition Social-Democratic Party. We chatted a few minutes on the street, and he said that current Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić would be an easier opponent for him in the second round, as the vote in that… » read more
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Croatia, English, Enlargement and Neighbours, EU Priorities and Opinion, External Relations |
November 10, 2009
The refugee question is of paramount importance in Balkans – still. Beginning 1991, political upheavals – such as the breakup of Yugoslavia – displaced millions of people. Officially one part of these people are refugees meaning that they have escaped to other country, one part is “internally displaced persons” (IDPs) meaning that they have escaped… » read more
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Albania, Balkan, BalkanBlog, Balkans, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, English, European perspective, IDPs, kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, refugees, Serbia |
October 25, 2009
As Lisbon Treaty seems to come into force also the enlargement process in the Western Balkans got new boost. On 14 October 2009 the Commission adopted its annual strategy document explaining its policy on EU enlargement.The document includes also a summary of the progress made over the last twelve months by each candidate and potential… » read more
October 9, 2009
I am one of those gals who will, every so often, attempt to find all the good news in a day’s media, just for the sake of reminding themselves that life can be wonderful, that there are incredibly good people in the world, and that it isn’t harmful to feel good about the earth, humanity,… » read more
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Croatia, English, InfoSociety, Judiciary, Media, Public Affairs |
The new Eastern members, Central and Eastern Europe has been steadily catching up with the Western part of the Union, although at a rather slowish pace. The current depression has seroiusly hit some old and new member states, and less severely other ones, so the picture will be more varied at the end of this… » read more
June 26, 2009
If Mr Habsburg joins ECRG, it will add another explosive dimension to the Cameron-Kaczynski-Klaus trio’s strange group. Mr Habsburg’s father, Otto von Habsburg had been a Bavarian Christian Socialist MEP between 1979 and 1999, and also the last heir of the Austrian, Czech, Croat and Hungarian thrones (At those times, the last one entitled them… » read more
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Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, English, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia |
June 18, 2009
The results of the Global Peace Index for 2009 suggest that the world has become slightly less peaceful in the past year, which appears to reflect the intensification of violent conflict in some countries and the effects of both the rapidly rising food and fuel prices early in 2008 and the dramatic global economic downturn… » read more
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BalkanBlog, Balkans, Black Sea region, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Caucasus, conflicts, crisis management, Croatia, English, Georgia, Moldova, Radical Islam, Slovenia, Transdnistria, Yugoslavia |
