Week in Review: Reshuffling the Cards

Boiling Point

Montenegrin parliament speaker Aleksa Becic (left) and Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic. Photo: Government of Montenegro

The government of Montenegrin Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic, which marked the first transition of power since the fall of Communism in Montenegro, got off to a bad start, amid coalition bickering from the first day. Indeed, it seemed to skip any 'honeymoon' phase and continued to sink into deeper and deeper crisis.

With the biggest block supporting the government demanding a government reshuffle - with or without PM Krivokapic - and conditioning the adoption of the 2021 budget with this, our analysis takes a look at how the current crisis might be brought to an end. With the political temperature reaching boiling point, a reshuffle or a new election seem to loom, despite Krivokapic's refusal to countenance such an option.

Read more: Reshuffle or Election Only Options Left for Montenegrin Government (June 17, 2021)

Going Green

DUI's leader Ali Ahmeti, promoted his party's green agenda in Skopje's central park. Photo: DUI

'Green' seems to be all the rage in politics these days and the environmental awakening that is sweeping much of Europe has not bypassed the Balkans. Yet while a range of colourful bottom-up green movements are springing up, some well-known faces on the political scene also seem to be trying to ride the green wave in an effort to reinvent themselves.

The latest party to try reinventing itself in a green guise is North Macedonia's Democratic Union for Integration (DUI). As a clearly ethnic Albanian party which grew out of the demobilised National Liberation Army, DUI is an odd fit for a green revamp. Many observers have mocked the attempt by...