A tale of survivors
The survivors of the fire in North Macedonia are struggling. Romania has a thing for strongmen, and Costa’s Balkan tour failed to impress. Plus: the ghost of a Bosnian town, and socialist cabriolets.
Good morning,
and welcome back! This is Balkan Brew, hitting your inbox for the second time this week after our Eurovision special.
Greece and Albania are the only two Balkan countries that made it to the final. Klavdia will be the 17th to perform on Saturday, but the show producers clearly wanted to end on a high note: Shkodra Elektronike will be the last act of the night.
We’re not even pretending to be impartial, we’ve already said they’re our absolute favourites. If you’re curious, check out this live session they dropped three years ago.
Today, we take you back to North Macedonia, two months after the Klub Puls fire. Then we head to Romania, where the fascination with strongmen is alive and well, and wrap in Antonio Costa’s Balkan tour. But also: the ghost of a Bosnian town, and a socialist cabriolet cruising through Istria.
Let’s start.
OUR BAD. In our Eurovision special, we incorrectly said Cyprus isn’t participating this year. That’s on us. But after watching the performance, we kind of wish we’d been right.
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A tale of survivors
Two months have passed since the fire at Club Puls in Kočani, North Macedonia, which killed 62 people.
INJURED. 128 survivors are still being treated for severe burns in the local hospital - described by Sloboden Pečat as operating under “makeshift conditions.”
TRYING TO RESIST. The Kočani hospital lacks proper infrastructure and materials, and the small team of doctors and nurses is overworked and largely unsupported.
PSYCHOLOGICAL SUPPORT. Many survivors depend on donations to continue their treatment. According to one of them, there’s an urgent need for psychological support as well, especially for those with permanent injuries.
PROTESTS. Two months on, the families of the victims are protesting against the authorities and calling for those responsible for the incident to be prosecuted.
AND SILENCE. While a number of individuals have held regular protests, they have so far failed to gain broader traction. About 70 people have been arrested in connection with the incident.
GETTING TOUGH. North Macedonian authorities are ramping up requirements and inspections for construction companies. According to BIRN, many firms risk losing their licenses, and several public infrastructure projects could be stalled as a result.
Strongmen nostalgia
THAT VINTAGE VIBE. On 14 May, Romania’s Institute for the Investigation of the Crimes of Communism announced it will ask the National Audiovisual Council to dismantle a network of social media accounts that promote nostalgic narratives about Romanian communism and its former leader, Nicolae Ceaușescu, who was executed in 1989.
FAR LEFT IS THE NEW FAR RIGHT. Some far-right politicians have begun embracing Ceaușescu as a kind of “sovereignist” icon. According to Marius Lulea, vice-president of the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), he “built millions of flats and hundreds of power plants.”
SURPRISE (NOT)! Ceaușescu’s appeal to the far right can be explained by the fact that he often resorted to Romanian nationalism to stay in power. His grave today is even an attraction for far-rightist admirers.
WANNABE STRONGMAN? This Sunday, AUR leader George Simion will face Bucharest mayor Nicușor Dan in the runoff of the presidential campaign.
NOT GONNA TALK. Simion has a strong shot at becoming Romania’s next President. In the meantime, he’s skipping several televised debates with Nicușor Dan.
Coast to coast
There’s only one question the Western Balkan tour of Antonio Costa, President of the European Council, left us with: why?
THE 5 W. Costa visited Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Albania between May 13–15, meeting with some Presidents and Prime Ministers of the WB6.
FIRST. It was Costa’s first trip to the Balkans since taking office last December as President of the European Council. And that seems to be the one and only reason for the visit.
TIME TRAVEL. Set the clock back four, five, even six years. If Costa had been President back then, he could have delivered the exact same speeches his assistants prepared for this trip. It’s as if nothing at all has changed.
🤷♂️. This was particularly visible in Serbia, where Costa gave President Aleksandar Vučić a light scolding over his recent visit to Moscow, then proceeded to completely ignore the student protests shaking the country.
🤷♀️. Or in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the institutional crisis that has paralysed the state since February was neatly summarised in just two sentences.
IN OTHER NEWS.
A maxi-operation by the Italian police on May 14 led to the arrest of seven Pakistani citizens active on the Balkan Route in BiH, Croatia, Slovenia and Italy, accused of smuggling, robbery, extortion, kidnapping for ransom, and aggravated assault.
Croatia heads to the local elections this Sunday, and you can follow them live on N1.
The political crisis in Kosovo drags on. Not even the intervention of President Vjosa Osmani has been able to break the deadlock.
GHOST OF A TOWN. Ugljevik was once, according to its residents, the perfect town in Bosnia and Herzegovina - built around a coal mine that provided everyone with the same job, same house, and same standard of living.
Now, it’s nearly deserted. The coal mine that once gave the town everything has, in the words of locals, “taken everything” in return.
The photographic reportage by Mitar Simikić on Ugljevik won the first prize in the landscape category at Photodays in Rovinj. You can check it out here.
AND FINALLY. "It’s time. A woman behind the wheel." That’s the slogan chosen by Croatian Socialist Democratic Party MP and Istrian Prefect candidate Sanja Radolović for her campaign.
The video that goes with it - Radolović driving a red cabriolet around Istria, waving and greeting people - is almost perfect. It just misses one thing, in our opinion: an old-timer red Yugo.
That’s it for this week, thanks for reading all the way through. For comments, suggestions, corrections, or just a friendly hello, you can simply reply to this email. Or reach out to us on Bluesky or LinkedIn.
Enjoy the Eurovision final, and see you next week!
BB