As 2017 draws to a close, most inhabitants of the Balkans could afford to raise a glass to a year that brought the region saw some economic benefits and saw no major conflicts between any states in Europe’s still fractured and potentially neuralgic southeast corner.
Moreover, as Britain advanced its preparations to exit the EU, the first country to do so, interest grew into which of the five EU candidate countries – four in the Balkans – would be the first to take Britain’s vacant place.
Regional conflicts
The Kosovo-Serbia logjam continued without much sign of light at the end of the tunnel, but also without major alarms or repetitions of January’s ill-judged “nationalist train” affair, when Serbia upped tensions by attempting to send a train decorated with Serbian slogans into its former province.
Kosovo and Montenegro failed to resolve their border issues, as the EU had demanded, after a new government was formed in Kosovo dominated by those elements that had rejected the previous government’s agreement to a border deal.
Further north, Slovenia and Croatia continued to argue over the waters of the Pirin Bay. Croatia ignored an international tribunal ruling in July, awarding most of the disputed water to Slovenia.
Political changes
Elections took place in a number of Balkan countries in 2017 but only a few resulted in substantive changes.
For more read the full of article at The Balkaninight
