Week in Review: Different Stories, Fresh Angles

The Challenger

Military veteran Zdravko Ponos, the joint presidential candidate of United Serbia. Photo: Private archive

As Serbia gears up for Presidential and Parliamentary elections on April 3, who is the man positioning himself as current President Aleksandar Vucic's main opposition challenger? In one of our regular interviews, we talk to Zdravko Ponos about how he sees Serbia's present and future.

As a retired Chief of Staff of the Serbian Army who also served as Assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs during Vuk Jeremic's term at the Ministry, Ponos is in many ways an ideal candidate for the United Serbia opposition block. But will he be able to fend off the smear campaign from regime-controlled media in Serbia?

Read more: Presidential Challenger says Serbia Faces Vote between 'Good and Evil' (February 17, 2022)

Double Standards

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev. Photo: EPA-EFE/OLIVIER HOSLET

Respect for the rights and freedoms of ethnic Bulgarians in North Macedonia is high on the list of demands made by Sofia as a condition for removing its veto on the opening of accession negotiations between Skopje and the EU. Not surprisingly, the question of just how much the rights of ethnic Bulgarians in North Macedonia are respected or not is hotly contested, as is the number of ethnic Bulgarians in the country.

Yet when it comes to the issue of ethnic Macedonians in Bulgaria, official Sofia takes a very different line. To all extents and purposes, Bulgaria does not even accept the existence of this minority. Amid cautious hopes of progress in settling the identity-centred dispute between Bulgaria and North Macedonia, our analysis takes a look at the much less often discussed Macedonian...