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Straits Times
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic makes first-ever visit to Ukraine
FILE PHOTO: Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic arrives for the European Political Community Summit at Skanderbeg Square in Tirana, Albania, May 16, 2025. REUTERS/Valdrin Xhemaj/File Photo KYIV - Serbia's populist President Aleksandar Vucic travelled to the Ukrainian city of Odesa for a regional summit on Wednesday, the first time the Moscow-friendly leader has visited the country during his 12 years in power. In a statement, Vucic's office said he would travel to Ukraine for one day to take part in the Ukraine-Southeastern Europe Summit in the Black Sea port of Odesa, which this week faced a major Russian drone and missile attack. Senior politicians from 12 Southeastern European nations were expected to take part in the summit. Serbia wants to join the European Union, but Russia, a traditional Slavic and Orthodox Christian ally, remains its biggest gas supplier, and the country's sole oil refinery is majority-owned by Gazprom and Gazprom Neft. Although Belgrade has refused to join Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, it has condemned Moscow's policies in the United Nations and expressed support for Ukraine's territorial integrity. Vucic has also previously met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at least three times. Belgrade recognises Ukraine in its entirety, including territories seized by Russia since 2014, while Kyiv refused to recognise the 2008 independence of Kosovo, Serbia's predominantly Albanian former southern province. In late May, the SVR, the Russian foreign intelligence service, accused Belgrade of "a stab in the back", alleging Serbia's defence manufacturers were selling ammunition and weapons to Ukraine via intermediaries. The only Serbian president to visit Ukraine since the Balkan country became independent in 2006 was Boris Tadic in 2011. Ukraine's previous president, Petro Poroshenko, visited Serbia in 2018. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
The Star
11-06-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic makes first-ever visit to Ukraine
FILE PHOTO: Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic arrives for the European Political Community Summit at Skanderbeg Square in Tirana, Albania, May 16, 2025. REUTERS/Valdrin Xhemaj/File Photo KYIV (Reuters) -Serbia's populist President Aleksandar Vucic travelled to the Ukrainian city of Odesa for a regional summit on Wednesday, the first time the Moscow-friendly leader has visited the country during his 12 years in power. In a statement, Vucic's office said he would travel to Ukraine for one day to take part in the Ukraine-Southeastern Europe Summit in the Black Sea port of Odesa, which this week faced a major Russian drone and missile attack. Senior politicians from 12 Southeastern European nations were expected to take part in the summit. Serbia wants to join the European Union, but Russia, a traditional Slavic and Orthodox Christian ally, remains its biggest gas supplier, and the country's sole oil refinery is majority-owned by Gazprom and Gazprom Neft. Although Belgrade has refused to join Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, it has condemned Moscow's policies in the United Nations and expressed support for Ukraine's territorial integrity. Vucic has also previously met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at least three times. Belgrade recognises Ukraine in its entirety, including territories seized by Russia since 2014, while Kyiv refused to recognise the 2008 independence of Kosovo, Serbia's predominantly Albanian former southern province. In late May, the SVR, the Russian foreign intelligence service, accused Belgrade of "a stab in the back", alleging Serbia's defence manufacturers were selling ammunition and weapons to Ukraine via intermediaries. The only Serbian president to visit Ukraine since the Balkan country became independent in 2006 was Boris Tadic in 2011. Ukraine's previous president, Petro Poroshenko, visited Serbia in 2018. (Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Alex Richardson)
New European
27-05-2025
- Politics
- New European
Alastair Campbell's diary: The corrupt state desperate for EU membership
The celebrations were barely over when Rama took the chair to host the recent European Political Community Summit in Tirana, truly a sign Albania had arrived on the international stage. Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz, Keir Starmer, Recep TayyipErdoğan, Volodymyr Zelensky, Giorgia Meloni, Ursula von der Leyen … all the European big guns turned out in a country most had shunned for decades. Indeed, Starmer was the first serving UK PM ever to visit. I have been visiting Albania regularly for 14 years. This enduring relationship began when then-opposition leader Edi Rama, fresh from losing an election he said had been rigged, asked me to help devise his strategy for the next one when it came. He won it, with a landslide, to become prime minister in 2013. Fast-forward to May 2025, and he has just won his fourth term in power, a stunning achievement for any leader in the modern democratic world. At six feet seven inches tall Rama towered, both physically and politically, over the event. His and his country's confidence were on show. The 47 European leaders arrived into the fastest-growing airport in Europe. They were greeted with an AI film in which they (as children), one by one, said 'welcome to Albania'. Even Erdoğan laughed. The purpose-built venue was decorated with wallpaper made from the feltpen doodles that Rama, an artist before he entered politics, does while working. One of them, I am happy to say, is of me, riding a horse into battle, a sword in one hand, a phone in the other. The entire event sent a clear message: Albania is no longer merely asking for a seat at the table; it is ready to help build it. The prospect of EU membership by 2030 is real and it matters, not just for Albania, but for Europe, because enlargement brings with it greater security and deeper cooperation against instability in the Western Balkans and the malign force of Russian aggression. But EU membership isn't granted on ambition alone. It is earned through democratic values, reforms, and above all, through the rule of law. And herein lies a tension. In recent years, Albania has made real progress on justice reform, essential to repair the damage done to its reputation by corruption. The establishment of SPAK – the Special Structure Against Corruption and Organised Crime – was a landmark step. It was set up with support from the EU and the US and, operating independently from government, it has delivered dramatic results: senior officials, ministers and MPs have been among those prosecuted. Corruption, it has made clear, is no longer consequence-free. But with power comes responsibility; and with judicial power comes an even greater burden – to act fairly, proportionately, and with transparency. That's why what's happening to Tirana's mayor, Erion Veliaj, should worry us all. I have known Veliaj as long as I have known Rama. A Socialist Party colleague and former staffer for Rama, he is widely seen as a possible successor. According to SPAK, he has been running a complex bribery and money-laundering scheme through a network of NGOs and companies controlled by his wife and brother. If true, that is scandalous, and he deserves to be punished. There is a big IF, however. For he has now been held in detention for over 100 days with no charges, nor knowing what the charges are likely to be, while remaining as mayor and expected to run the capital. All this from SPAK – the very institution meant to defend the rule of law, not compromise it. Judicial reform cannot become judicial overreach. Anti-corruption efforts cannot become a cover for arbitrary action. The EU should not be turning a blind eye. Because if the process of accession is to mean anything, it must uphold the very values the Union is built on: due process, judicial integrity, human rights. No official, no matter how high-ranking, should be immune from investigation into wrongdoing. But no citizen, however high-profile, should be detained without charge or due process. Not in a democracy. Not in a country on the path to Europe. What we saw at the EPC Summit was a country setting out its European credentials with real verve. But Albania's place in the EU will be secured not by optics or rousing speeches, but by the substance of its democratic credentials; right now, those are being tested. It's time for clarity. From Brussels. From member states. From all who care about Europe's future. Arbitrary detention has no place in a European democracy. And if Albania is to be part of the EU club – a goal it has every right to pursue – both it, and the bodies responsible for its process of modernisation and accession, must play by the rules of that club, not just its politics. Because in the end, rule of law isn't just a box to tick. It's the foundation for everything else. 'Never go to bed without knowing something you didn't know when you got up in the morning.' One of my little life rules, to keep me curious and keen to keep learning. And the thing I learned last Tuesday, speaking at an event in Leeds Civic Chambers, is that 900,000 children in England live in what is called 'bed poverty'. Also speaking was Bex Wilson, deputy head at a primary school in a deprived area of Leeds, who told the story of a conversation with an 11-year-old boy she was teaching. He was not his usual self, so she asked him if he was tired. 'Miss, I am always tired,' he replied. 'I don't have a bed.' I love stories of people who get good out of bad. That boy now has a bed, thanks to his teacher badgering a bed manufacturer. And Bex, a real force of nature, has founded a charity, Zarach, with the goal of ensuring all children have a bed to sleep in. It's terrible that we even need it, in Britain 2025. But with more than four million British children growing up in poverty, sadly, we do. Check out I was in Leeds to host a panel the following morning at a huge event called UKREiiF, the UK's Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum, attended by 16,000 people. I kicked off by asking for a show of hands on whether Labour's pledge to build 1.5m homes in this parliamentary term would be met. Of the several hundred people packed into our discussion on housing, not a single person (bar a civil servant at the front who probably felt he had to) raised their hand. The general view was that they would be lucky to get halfway there. Worrying. In for a penny, in for a pound, I ended up doing five events at the Hay Literary Festival, including interviews with Donald Trump's former spokesman Anthony Scaramucci, and Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Alexei Navalny, murder victim of Vladimir Putin's regime. The first was great fun, the second deeply moving, with standing ovations for her courage at both start and finish. I also really enjoyed the session with students from Welsh state schools who were lively, boisterous, passionate and, in the case of those who volunteered to come up on stage and make speeches they were not expecting to make in front of 1,500 teenagers, absolutely brilliant. Labour are committed to lowering the voting age to 16. I would go even lower.
Euronews
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Democracy is Europe's first line of defence
Romania has a new president. And for a moment, Europe held its breath. This was never just about one election. What hung in the balance was military aid to Ukraine, the territorial integrity of neighbouring countries, and a potential strategic and ideological pivot towards Washington on security and defence. Nicușor Dan's victory may offer a temporary reprieve. But it does not erase the deep fractures across our continent, nor the powerful currents reshaping its future. Just this past Friday, I joined more than 40 European heads of state and government at the European Political Community Summit in Tirana. Security, stability, and democratic resilience were at the top of the agenda. Europe's security architecture stands exposed — and with it, the vulnerabilities we can no longer ignore. Europe's security is inseparable from its values. The Council of Europe, with its 46 member states, was founded on the conviction that true and lasting security depends on democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. Today, this means tackling issues like terrorism, migration and cybercrime. The traditional divide between 'hard' and 'soft' security is outdated. Europe must now define a strategy for democratic security — one that puts values at the heart of our defence. Because the very values that have made peace possible in Europe for over eighty years are under attack. The European Union is right to commit €800 billion for military defence. Democratic security demands the same clarity, urgency, and resolve across the entire continent. Not all threats come from outside Europe's borders. One of the most insidious is the fragmentation of the political landscape. Traditional parties are losing ground. Political reference points are shifting — often to the benefit of extreme positions. Disruptive forces are rushing in to fill the vacuum. Today's politics is, above all, anti. Anti-European. Anti-immigration. Anti-elite. Anti-woke. Anti-system. Democratic debate is increasingly drowned out by so-called 'culture wars'. There are always easy targets. In the UK, Conservative Party Chair Kemi Badenoch has highlighted the weaponisation of the European Convention on Human Rights, accusing it of weakening national identity and border security. In the US, Vice-President JD Vance, doubling down on his Munich speech, has framed limits on free speech as a direct threat to Western civilisation. The risk is using the tools of democracy itself — its laws, institutions, and freedoms — to restrict rights, suppress dissent, and create the illusion that security must come first. Across Europe, foreign influence laws are being introduced. Their intent may be legitimate. But as I have made clear, these measures should not be used to stifle criticism or shrink civic space. These laws must be scrutinised without double standards, especially by the judiciary. What is deemed unacceptable in Georgia or Hungary must be judged by the same measure in Germany or Romania. Because double standards, whether real or perceived, erode public trust and damage Europe's credibility, not least in the eyes of the Global South. It is not an isolated concern. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, a legal and constitutional crisis threatens to destabilise the Western Balkans. In Germany, a far-right AfD candidate recently claimed Adolf Hitler was a communist, a jarring reminder that lies continue to poison democratic life. This is where the real danger lies: trading democratic security for the security of democracy, without even realising it. In this new paradigm, freedoms are curtailed in the name of protecting them, institutions are hollowed out by cynicism or design, and rules are bent under the pretext of sovereignty or urgency. The window for action is closing fast. That is why we need a New Democratic Pact for Europe, backed by all 46 member states and built on three priorities: education, protection, innovation. To educate is to teach the difference between truth and falsehood. Seventy-six per cent of young Europeans say they have encountered disinformation in the past week. Forty-two per cent rely on social media as their primary news source. Europe cannot surrender the public sphere to algorithms. We need to pave the way for a Council of Europe Convention on Disinformation and Foreign Influence — to draw clear boundaries between freedom of expression and imperative for truth, between legitimate critique and destabilisation. To protect is to reinforce democracy wherever it is in retreat. From attacks on journalists to weakened elections and politicised justice systems, the warning signs are all around us. A Democratic Resilience Fund would provide rapid support wherever democracy teeters, allowing us to prevent, rather than repair. To innovate is to adapt our institutions to fast-moving, cross-border, hybrid threats. No single organisation can face this alone. The Council of Europe and the European Political Community share the same continent and have the same ambition. One brings legal standards, institutional experience, and technical expertise; the other, political momentum. Together, they can make democratic security a European priority. Building Europe's democratic security will not be easy. But Europe has turned adversity into opportunity before. In April 1945, Buchenwald survivors scrawled two simple words on makeshift signs: 'Never again.' They became the post-war rallying cry for an entire continent. From that moral pact emerged a new Europe — and with it, the Council of Europe. Eighty years later, if Europe is to avoid reliving 'Never again', it must unite around a new pact and make democratic security its first line of defence. Alain Berset is Secretary General of the Council of Europe and former Swiss president.
Dubai Eye
21-05-2025
- Business
- Dubai Eye
Sheikh Abdullah discusses bilateral ties with Armenian counterpart
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, has discussed ways to enhance collaboration across key sectors with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan. During a phone call, the two ministers explored opportunities that support sustainable development in both countries. The discussion follows an April meeting in Abu Dhabi between UAE President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan at Qasr Al Bahr, where they discussed ways to strengthen economic and investment cooperation. At the time, Sheikh Mohamed had expressed hope that peace negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan would enhance stability and prosperity in the region. It was in March that the two countries had finalised the text of a historic peace agreement to end decades of war over the Karabakh region. However, signing of the agreement remains to be defined. On May 17, leaders from both sides held a brief discussion in Tirana during the European Political Community Summit, showcasing momentum in the talks. Armenia had then issued a statement saying that both sides 'underlined the need for continued progress towards signing' the peace agreement between the two countries.
