NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, left, and Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev at the NATO summit, Brussels, July 12, 2018 (Photo by Alexey Vitvitsky for Sputnik via AP Images).

Among the European countries that watched with great concern when President Donald Trump failed to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on Monday, and when he lambasted NATO and the European Union earlier in his trip to the continent, was Macedonia. The Balkan nation of 2 million people has been trying for years to gain entrance into NATO, to the great irritation of Russia. One could excuse the Macedonians for feeling a sense of confusion about what the future holds. The country has had much to celebrate in recent weeks, but also a great deal to worry about. During […]

Opponents of the recent name deal between Greece and Macedonia light flares outside the parliament building, Skopje, Macedonia, June 23, 2018 (AP photo by Boris Grdanoski).

Yesterday, leaders from the six countries in the Western Balkans—Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia—gathered in London for the latest summit of what is known as the Berlin Process. Now in its fifth year, this annual meeting of ministers and heads of government, which includes participants from a select few members of the European Union, is meant to encourage greater cooperation among Balkan states as they prepare, some day, to join the EU. Leaving aside the obvious contradiction of a country that is leaving the EU hosting a meeting that aims to expand the bloc’s membership, the […]

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras holds a tie at the end of a speech to lawmakers from his left-led governing coalition, Athens, Greece, June 22, 2018 (AP photo by Petros Giannakouris).

On June 22, Greece reached an agreement with its eurozone partners to formally exit from the latest of a series of bailout programs that have provided an economic lifeline to Athens throughout its debt crisis, but at the cost of eight years of brutal austerity. To celebrate the deal, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras finally donned a tie, something he had pledged in 2015 not to do unless Greece was granted debt relief. In an email interview, Angelos Chryssogelos—a teaching fellow in politics at the Department of European and International Studies, King’s College London, and associate fellow of the Europe […]