Democracy and the State of Emergency - Responses to the Corona Crisis in the Western Balkans

The reports cover the situation of “Democracy and the State of Emergency” in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia, and the first report in the series is online. The first report in the series is published today.

Leaders are invoking executive powers and are seizing a great deal of authority with scant resistance. We are witnessing a curtailing of civil and political rights on a massive scale, which is unprecedented in peacetime. While there was anger in the non-EU member states of the region about the EU’s restrictions on the export of medical equipment, China is using the pandemic to strengthen its ties by providing medical equipment and expertise.

As the corona pandemic and responses to it in the region unfold, we will continue to monitor the development. This is the first in a series of reports which sets out to monitor effects of the corona crisis management on institutions, political and civil rights, parties, civil society, as well as external factors. More Analysis will follow on May 18.

Here you can watch a brief interview with the author for the Macedonian essay, Nenad Markovikj, who is an Assistant Professor at and the head of the political science department within the law faculty of St. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje.