Analysis

Elsewhere in emerging Europe

A selection of articles about emerging Europe published elsewhere this week, all of which caught our eye and all of which are well worth your time. Listing them here does not necessarily mean that we agree with every word however, nor do they necessarily reflect Emerging Europe’s editorial policy.

Since the end of 2018, anti-government protests have been weekly held across Serbia. Maja Bjeloš of the LSE explains the background to the protests, which have demanded an end to government pressure on the media, stronger protection for journalists and political opponents against violence, investigations into alleged political killings, and electoral reforms.

Full story here.

In 2013, the far-right Slovak politician Marian Kotleba won a shock victory in regional elections. Four years later, he was voted out in a landslide. But now he’s running for president.

Full story here.

A year after the murder of Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanović, a slew of gun and bomb attacks in Kosovo’s lawless north remain unsolved.

Full story here.

Ahead of a controversial vigil for a Bulgarian royalist general drawing neo-Nazis from across Europe, its opponents says revisionism and institutional complicity are to blame for ultra-rightists parading in the streets.

Full story here.

Georgians are entering the new year with good news – salted with bad omens, claims New Eastern Europe.

Full story here.

Ukraine has taken the extraordinary step of deporting a senior cleric of the Moscow-aligned Orthodox Church and stripping him of his citizenship, marking a political escalation in the historic rift that has shaken the Eastern Orthodox world and further raised tensions between Kyiv and Moscow.

Full story here.

Writing in the Irish Independent, Anne Applebaum claims that populist leaders such as Hungary’s Viktor Orbán are ‘united by their hypocrisy’.

Full story here.

Romania’s capital Bucharest has a buzzing nightlife with plenty of options for a romantic night out – unless you’re LGBT.

Full story here.

Voting is open throughout February for the ninth European Tree of the Year contest, organised by the Environmental Partnership Association and featuring entrants from 15 countries: eight are from emerging Europe.

Full story here.