Croatia
-
Croatia
A small “yes” to EU
23 January 20122PresseuropNovi List, Slobodna Dalmacija, Jutarnji List -
20 January 2012Le Vif/L’Express Brussels
-
20 January 201215Tportal Zagreb
-
Eurozone crisis
Will the EU end up like Yugoslavia?
5 January 201267Politika Belgrade -
9 December 2011Al-Mustaqbal Beirut
-
1 December 20112Tportal Zagreb
-
European Union
An enlargement of illusions
13 October 20113Dagens Nyheter Stockholm -
Former Yugoslavia
Balkan delusions of grandeur
3 October 20115Jutarnji List Zagreb -
Croatia
EU drawn into election campaign
23 September 20112PresseuropVečernji list -
Germany-Serbia
Plain speaking in Belgrade
22 August 2011PresseuropDer Tagesspiegel -
29 June 2011Le Vif/L’Express Brussels
-
Croatia
Still a long road to Europe
13 June 20111Novi List Rijeka -
Croatia
Barroso opens door to EU
8 June 20113PresseuropJutarnji List -
Croatia
Pope: EU good for the soul
6 June 2011PresseuropVečernji list -
Editorial
Balkan blues
27 May 20111Presseurop -
20 April 20113Novi List Rijeka
-
Croatia
National hero sentenced
15 April 20111PresseuropVečernji list -
Croatia
EU – what's it in aid of?
12 April 2011Tportal Zagreb -
Croatia
EU accession on track
21 February 20111PresseuropVjesnik -
Croatia
Zagreb looks to the euro
3 February 2011PresseuropVjesnik -
EU accession
The Balkan family photo is blurred
21 January 20112Politika Belgrade -
Pharmaceutical industry
European guinea pigs
23 December 2010PresseuropVanity Fair -
Balkans
The big cleanup begins
23 December 20104Monitor Podgorica -
Croatia
Disgraced Mr Europe jumps ship
10 December 2010PresseuropVečernji list -
Institutions
EU grows weary of enlargement
10 November 20101Presseurop -
Economic Crisis
Austerity progress report
18 October 2010PresseuropRomânia libera -
Balkans
Neither here nor there
30 September 2010Adevărul Bucharest -
Czech Republic
Klaus opt-out called into question
27 September 2010PresseuropLidové noviny -
7 June 2010PresseuropVečernji list
-
8 February 20103Globus-Skopje Skopje
-
Balkans
Hail Albania!
25 November 20091The Guardian London -
17 November 20091International Herald Tribune Paris
-
22 October 20091Wprost Warsaw
-
Accession
Zagreb and Ankara "must do better"
15 October 2009PresseuropZaman -
Debate
Europe, the future frontiers
14 October 20092Le Monde Paris -
13 October 20091Novi List Rijeka
-
Enlargement
Game on for Croatia
2 October 2009PresseuropGazeta Wyborcza -
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Have passport, can't travel
3 September 2009BH Dani Sarajevo -
Croatia
The island of Marshall Tito
3 August 2009Trouw Amsterdam -
EU enlargement
Never mind the Balkans, here's Iceland
31 July 20092El País Madrid -
The Stage
All the world's a train station
22 July 2009Die Zeit Hamburg -
Tourism
Don’t celebrate, escalate
20 July 2009Der Spiegel Hamburg -
Marriage
Mr and Mr Smith
17 July 2009Cafebabel.com Paris -
17 July 20091Presseurop
-
Balkans
Frustrated expectations
15 July 2009The Guardian London -
Political theatre
Topolánek only topless this time round
2 July 2009PresseuropMladá Fronta DNES -
Cooperation
Balkans to Europe
26 June 2009PresseuropDe Volkskrant
On 22 January, Croats voted in favour of ratifying the Treaty of Accession to the EU, prompting a sigh of relief in Brussels. The record voter abstention rate, however, must give cause for concern, notes the Croatian press. 
On January 22, Croatia must ratify by referendum the Treaty of Accession to the EU. But the campaign, coming just as the country is about to enter a Europe in crisis, has been marked by second thoughts and a new nationalist rhetoric. 
Seen from Belgrade, Zagreb or Sarajevo, the economic and institutional crisis that has struck the European Union has a certain air of déjà-vu. Serbian daily Politika remarks on the similarities with the years preceding the break-up of the federation founded by Tito. 
On 4 December, voters in Croatia will elect a new parliament. A few days later, Zagreb is set to sign its accession to the European Union. However, before it officially becomes part of the EU in July 2013, the country will have to implement far reaching reforms, which neither the government or the opposition appear ready to announce to their fellow citizens. 
In opening up the prospect of accession to several candidate countries, the European Commissioner for Enlargement means to put on a show of optimism. But it only reinforces the impression that Europe doesn’t know where it’s going, writes the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter. 
In a phenomenon that has emerged in cities as diverse as Skopje, Niš and Split, the states of the former Yugoslavia are been swept by a craze for megalomaniac monuments. Croatian writer Jurica Pavicic examines the vogue for these nationalist monstrosities, and concludes their goal is to rewrite history. 
Croatia got the green light to join the European Union on July 1, 2013, it was announced on June 10. But several events, the latest of which is the scattered confrontations during Split’s Gay Pride Day this weekend, highlight that the road to Europe remains long, notes Boris Pavelic in Croatian daily Novi List. 
The conviction of former General Gotovina for war crimes on April 15 has been received very badly by a people who consider him a hero of the wars in former Yugoslavia. But this verdict is also a chance to think about what happened, a Croatian columnist writes. 
"For or against joining the EU?" Between now and the end of the year, the citizens of Croatia will be called on to answer a question they increasingly see as irrelevant. Having overcome many obstacles on the road to accession, they are no longer interested in a Europe that is strongly associated with their country’s discredited political elite. 
The population census demanded by Brussels has become a political challenge in most of the countries of the western Balkans. Twenty years after the start of the wars in former Yugoslavia, the venture brings ethnic and social tensions back into the spotlight. 
Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro: in the space of a fortnight, the leaders or ex-leaders of all three countries have been arrested or accused of wrongdoing. Meanwhile, reports a Montenegro weekly, the EU is paving the way for the accession of all three Balkan countries.
For the European press, the publication of the annual “progress report” on prospective candidates for EU accession, has failed to dispel the general apathy that surrounds the question of enlargement. 
A nest of vipers, a powderkeg of ancient hatreds or the cradle of Western civilisation — Europe doesn't know how to view its troublesome southeastern corner. One thing is sure though, it keeps getting its stance wrong. 
Five centuries of Turkish domination left their mark on culture, cuisine, language and even gestures in Balkan countries. It is an influence that is still apparent in attitudes that have affected the pace of integration in the European Union for a number of Balkan states. 
On 16 November the EU Council formally approved Albania’s application for accession to the Union. Guardian columnist Peter Preston argues in favour of an emerging country whose enthusiasm for the European project is a welcome antidote to eurosceptic cynicism. 
Nowhere in the world is sugar more expensive than in the European Union. There are two reasons for this – generous CAP subsidies that prop up this €7bn industry…and lucrative scams perpetrated by the beneficiaries, Europe’s own sugar companies. A report from the International Herald Tribune. 
Separated by wars which marked the 1990s, some citizens of the former Yugoslavia are attempting to rebuild the cultural ties, which were a feature of the Titoist state. Today, with encouragement from Europe, political leaders are also beginning to recognize this trend. 
As the political situation on its periphery evolves, the EU needs to clearly define its borders, argues geopolitician Michel Foucher in Le Monde, especially in regard to Turkish accession, on which the Commission is publishing its annual report today. 
Europe and America are trying to obtain an agreement between Bosnian leaders on the reform of the constitution of Bosnia-Herzegovina. However, the Croatian daily Novi List reports that the EU appears to be unable to exert much pressure in the negotiations, which may prove crucial to the future of the country. 
From 1st January, 2010, Muslim Bosnians and Kosovans will be the only citizens of the former Yugoslavia required to obtain visas to enter the European Union. Sarejevo daily, BH Dani, explains how impartial principles will result in discriminatory practice. 
A Croatian island that was home to a sinister Titoist re-education camp for 40 years will shortly be provided with a memorial and documentation centre. For former detainees, acknowledgement of the horror they endured remains an ongoing combat, reports Dutch daily Trouw. 
The enthusiasm with which member states have welcomed Reykjavik's request for accession to the EU is in marked contrast to the prudence — and in some cases hostility — which has greeted similar requests from the countries of ex-Yugoslavia and Turkey. But the EU cannot afford to give the impression that certain candidates enjoy special privileges. 
For 80 days, German, Turkish, Romanian, Croatian, Serb and Slovenian actors have been criss-crossing Europe on a train transmogrified into a theatre-on-wheels. The object of this project launched by the Stuttgart National Theatre is "to foster understanding between nations". Easier said than done, says a journalist from Die Zeit, who boarded the train for the stretch from Istanbul to Bucharest. 
Every year, tens of thousands of German secondary school graduates descend by the busload on the beaches of Southern Europe to party, now that they are done with their finals: both a bonanza and a poisoned chalice for the towns hosting these binging teens. A report from the Spanish Costa Brava. 
Same sex couples continue to benefit from more extensive civil rights almost everywhere Europe. But de jure gay marriages are only authorized in five countries. Cafebabel.com sets out to map "gay-friendly" Europe. 
On July 16th, the Icelandic parliament passed an EU application proposal which is likely to be submitted to the Swedish presidency when the council meets in Stockholm later this month. The European press has welcomed the news while being under no illusion that accession for the debt-burdened island nation may be fraught with difficulty. 
Croatia's prime minister resigned July 1 because his country's future accession to the EU had been called into question. In Macedonia too, the EU aspirant government is fragile. As the European dream recedes, the more Western Balkan states are destabilised, writes British researcher Ian Bancroft in the Guardian.