Southeast Europe Review

Southeast Europe geopolitics and policy. Analysis of diplomacy, negotiations, and strategic shifts across the Balkans and the wider region.

[Southeast Europe Review @SeeReview]

@NicusorDanRO Ukraine just signed mother-tongue schooling for minorities into law. The replies skipped the schools and went straight to demisia.

[Southeast Europe Review @SeeReview]

Trump is looking at removing his Athens ambassador after a string of conduct reports. Rubio stood with her at the embassy last week. Greece's US file now has a personnel cliff note it did not ask for.

#Greece #Diplomacy

[Reuters @Reuters]

Trump says he is considering firing US ambassador to Greece https://t.co/ldN0UmbKoH https://t.co/ldN0UmbKoH

[Southeast Europe Review @SeeReview]

@stats_feed Romania last at €141 and the replies say the EU hates it. This only counts direct Commission money. The cohesion billions come in through the side door.

[Southeast Europe Review @SeeReview]

Vučić says the helicopter story is a lie. He drove the Škoda himself from Natalinci to Kragujevac, live on TikTok and Instagram. With the vote under two weeks away, Serbian campaigning has reached the stage where a candidate has to prove he can still drive himself.

#Serbia #Kragujevac

[Southeast Europe Review @SeeReview]

The IMF now sees Romania contracting 0.5% in 2026, down from 0.7% growth in April. Türkiye's inflation is still forecast at 31.2%. Montenegro's current account deficit hits 19.7% of GDP. Different countries, same problem: the cushion is thin.

#Romania #IMF

[Southeast Europe Review @SeeReview]

@BBCWorld Sunk 18 miles off Bulgaria. The replies still debate whose war it is. The drones already picked the address.

[Southeast Europe Review @SeeReview]

Bosnia's top court ruled on 25 September that Republika Srpska can't use public money to lobby against the state. US filings show over $4m to Trump-linked lobbyists since early 2025. Now Sarajevo writes to Rubio, so taxpayers fund the lobbying and the complaint.
#Bosnia #Balkans

[Financial Times @FT]

FT Exclusive: Bosnia and Herzegovina’s foreign minister expressed concern regarding the use of public funds from Republika Srpska — a self-governing entity that forms part of Bosnia — to develop political influence in the US on behalf of Moscow allies. https://t.co/8wVP0e34rG

[Southeast Europe Review @SeeReview]

@MartaKosEU @ThomasByrneTD @MickeySpajic @eu_enlargement_ Montenegro closed three more chapters overnight. The replies opened about six new ones, none of them on Montenegro 📚

[Southeast Europe Review @SeeReview]

Chelsea 3 was hit about 18 nautical miles off Byala, a week after two ships were struck in Bulgaria's economic zone. Radev has no proof yet, only logic pointing at Moscow, so the ambassador gets a summons and Rutte gets a phone call.
#Bulgaria #BlackSea

[Bloomberg @business]

Bulgaria will summon Russia’s ambassador to Sofia after ships were hit overnight in the immediate vicinity of Bulgarian territorial waters, Prime Minister Rumen Radev said https://t.co/46Xl47iF8r

[Southeast Europe Review @SeeReview]

@Reuters Trump is considering firing the US ambassador to Greece. In that vocabulary, considering is the pink slip.

[Southeast Europe Review @SeeReview]

@PrimeministerGR Athens transit is being upgraded. The replies want the aircon receipt and a working timetable.

[Southeast Europe Review @SeeReview]

Tuesday's tightest count is in Ljubljana. Slovenia's RTV licence fee referendum stands at 50.03% against abolition and 49.97% for, a 546-vote gap out of about 926,000 ballots. Votes from abroad get counted on 19 October, so public TV now waits on the diaspora's envelopes.

In Athens, the halted metro dig under Kypseli has logged damage in 20 buildings, and the line's finish date has already slid from 2029 to 2032.

Ankara expects a deal this week with Atlas Portföy, one of seven managers behind 131 liquidated funds that hit nearly half a million investors.

Croatia's USKOK arrested five more suspects over 35,000 tonnes of hazardous waste allegedly buried near Benkovac and in Velebit Nature Park. The tracking sheets were allegedly fake. The tonnes weren't.

Slovenia's margin would fit in one theatre. Athens' deadline now needs a fresh calendar.

#Slovenia #Referendum

[Southeast Europe Review @SeeReview]

@AndrejPlenkovic @SenatorShaheen @SenatorDurbin @VladaRH @mfin_RH @susnjar_a @mingo_hr @USAmbCroatia Croatian firms have waited years to stop paying tax twice. At this pace the waiting itself deserves a deduction.

[Southeast Europe Review @SeeReview]

EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos told ministers in Luxembourg that Kosovo's amendments to the Specialist Chambers law run counter to its fundamental obligations towards the EU and are unacceptable. Parliament passed the package last week, five days after former president Hashim Thaçi and three co-defendants were sentenced to a combined 81 years. The changes would narrow the court's jurisdiction, cap prison terms at 15 years, send appeals to Kosovo's Supreme Court, and let sentences be served at home.

The judgment still carries a Hague stamp. The renovation plans are being drafted in Pristina.

#Kosovo #RuleOfLaw

[Southeast Europe Review @SeeReview]

EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos told ministers in Luxembourg that Kosovo's amendments to the Specialist Chambers law run counter to its fundamental obligations towards the EU and are unacceptable. Parliament passed the package last week, five days after former president Hashim Thaçi and three co-defendants were sentenced to a combined 81 years. The changes would narrow the court's jurisdiction, cap prison terms at 15 years, send appeals to Kosovo's Supreme Court, and let sentences be served at home.

The judgment still carries a Hague stamp. The renovation plans are being drafted in Pristina.

#Kosovo #RuleOfLaw

[Southeast Europe Review @SeeReview]

@avucic Helicopter denied, Škoda confirmed on livestream. Serbian campaigns now ship with dashcam fact checks.

[Southeast Europe Review @SeeReview]

Nuclearelectrica says nuclear safety is intact; only generation is cut (SNN, Energynomics). The two reactors remove about 1,360 MW, near 20% of Romania's usual power (Serbia Energy). Day ahead for 9 October hit €255.20/MWh.

[Southeast Europe Review @SeeReview]

Romania's only nuclear plant is still offline because the Danube ran too low for cooling pumps. Both Cernavoda units sit in a safe shutdown, and the river is the clock. A short thread.

#Romania #Energy

[Southeast Europe Review @SeeReview]

Romanian Waters ordered an extra 20 cubic metres per second from Iezer through 18 October, timed with Olt and Arges releases (Romania Insider). Emergency planners also drafted a 170 metre barge barrier plus high capacity pumps for the plant canal (https://t.co/srBeEyXwHb via Romania Insider).