In the first EU-Balkans Roundup, Damir Kapidžić, Donika Emini, Florian Bieber and Tena Prelec take stock of four stories shaping the region. Florian looks at Serbia’s snap election and the student challenge to Aleksandar Vučić, against the backdrop of Ratko Mladić’s funeral and the competing images of Serbia it exposed. Damir turns to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s general election and the role of the Office of the High Representative. Donika unpacks the political aftermath of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers’ first-instance war-crimes convictions of Hashim Thaçi and three other former KLA leaders. Tena closes with the wider enlargement picture: Iceland’s vote against reopening EU accession talks, Erdoğan’s statement that membership is no longer a priority for Turkey, and Montenegro’s accelerating accession process. Together, they ask what these developments say about democratic competition, political legitimacy and the EU’s changing pull in the Balkans.
","author_name":"Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group "}