Week in Review: Good Vibrations and Political Earthquakes (original) (raw)

**Spring in its step

European Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos and Prime Minister of Montenegro, Milojko Spajic, at a press conference in Brussels, January 2026. Photo: EPA/OLIVIER MATTHYS.

Brussels in May has a spring in its step, and not just because of the warmer weather. On May 9, the capital of the EU celebrates Europe Day and the great project that has brought peace and more prosperity to the continent.

May also brought good vibrations to backers of EU enlargement, with the EU agreeing to begin drafting an accession treaty with Montenegro. In her letter from Brussels, Gjeraqina Tuhina takes a look at Montenegro’s accession prospects and at the EU’s efforts to reform itself from within.

Read more: Letter from Brussels: May is the Month for Montenegro (May 13, 2026)

**Uncertain future

The High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina Christian Schmidt gives a press conference in Sarajevo, July 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/FEHIM DEMIR

A moderate political earthquake struck the region when Christian Schmidt recently announced plans to resign as the international community’s High Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina, pending the appointment of a successor. For journalists, experts, as well as the public, one key question was what had triggered the decision.

Beyond this, the announcement also reignited old debates on the future of the Office of the High Representative, OHR. In his opinion piece for Balkan Insight, Srecko Latal looks at what the news means for Bosnia, and for the future of the OHR.

Read more: As Schmidt Abandons Bosnia’s ‘Mission Impossible’ – What Now? (May 12, 2026)

**Back in the fold

Kosovo’s then President Vjosa Osmani and Prime Minister Albin Kurti in Pristina, February 2024. Photo: EPA/Georgi Licovski.

Kosovo is gearing up for yet another parliamentary election on June 6. It is far from clear that the outcome will resolve the persistent political stalemate. Yet some significant political realignments are afoot.

Rejected by Albin Kurti and his Vetevendosje party, former president Vjosa Osmani is back in the fold of her old party, the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, some six years after she left it. Will her return help or hinder the LDK? Our analysis takes a look.

**All change

President of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians, Balint Pastor (right) with Tisza leader and Hungarian PM-elect Peter Magyar, April 2026. Photo: Instagram/drpasztorbalint.

As Hungary moves to elect a new government, the reverberations of the defeat of Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party in the recent parliamentary elections are still being felt across the region. Could this also mark a moment of reckoning for SVM, the party representing Serbia’s ethnic Hungarians?

The SVM was long closely aligned with Fidesz, supporting it until the very end, but also benefitting from its financial largesse. Prime Minister-elect Peter Magyar is now sending strong signals that the way Hungary interacts with Hungarians in the region is about to change.

**Credibility at stake

North Macedonia’s Anti-Discrimination Commission Headquarters in Skopje. Photo: BIRN.

The key task of North Macedonia’s Anti-Discrimination Commission is to protect society’s most vulnerable from a plethora of discriminatory practices. Yet recent attempts to install new members suggest another goal may be to again steer the Commission in the direction of political control.

The stakes are high. Experts say that behind every human rights violation is some discriminatory act. For citizens to trust the Commission – and report such discrimination – the appointment process must preserve absolute credibility.

**Tackling the silence

Illustration: BIRN/Igor Vujcic.

One expert calls menopause a “silent experience”. To give voice to women going through this experience in Greece, BIRN conducted a survey of its impact on their professional, social and sex lives.

The resulting report takes a look at the challenges facing women entering menopause in Greece, and asks what can be done to support them.