News archive of March 2023

If you'd like to walk for miles in concrete burrows built to defend an isolationist totalitarian regime that nobody wanted to attack, Kukes in northeastern Albania is the place for you.

BELGRADE - Serbia registered 18.5 pct more tourist visits in February 2023 relative to the same month of last year and the number of overnight stays was up by 21.5 pct y-o-y, according to figures released by the national statistical office.

Overnight stays generated by Serbian tourists were up by 8.5 pct y-o-y, while those generated by foreign tourists were up by 44.6 pct y-o-y.

BRUSSELS - In a statement ahead of an April 4 Brussels meeting of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, the EU said on Friday it expected both parties to contribute to an atmosphere of reconciliation, normalisation and quick implementation of agreements.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis promised Friday to extend a wall across all of the country's land border with Turkey as he campaigned for the general election.

The Turkish government will soon launch a new effort to build earthquake-proof and modern houses for the people under the urban transformation plan, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, vowing to finish the construction of new residential areas for the earthquake victims in one year.

Andrej Plenkovic meeting the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky/ Photo: Croatian govt

Upon his arrival, Plenkovic spoke with his Ukrainian colleague Denis Smihal, who called his visit a "strong message of support and solidarity".

"Let me first of all congratulate you on the heroism and immense resistance you have shown," Plenkovic said.

BELGRADE - Serbian PM Ana Brnabic said on Friday that, after the completion of a gas pipeline to Bulgaria in October, Serbia would focus on building a gas pipeline to North Macedonia as well in order to connect with Greece and LNG terminals there.

In the rugged Rhodope mountains in southern Bulgaria, many voters have little hope that Sunday's parliamentary election, the nation's fifth in two years, will produce a stable government able to tackle corruption, inflation and poverty.

The eastern Mediterranean can provide a key energy corridor to Europe through a planned electricity cable connecting the power grids of Cyprus, Greece and Israel and a potential natural gas pipeline, the three countries' top diplomats said Friday.

Criminal Ties

Montage by BIRN

In 2015, North Macedonia took what was then both a revolutionary and controversial step in the region by legalizing the cultivation of cannabis for medicinal purposes. Since 2017, the industry truly took off in the country, encouraged by a government which saw it as an economic growth opportunity.