Leadership struggles
Ousted Republican People’s Party (CHP) chair Ozgur Ozel (C) leads supporters in a march toward parliament after being evicted from the party’s headquarters in Ankar, May 2026. Photo: EPA/NECATI SAVAS.
Opposition parties usually have the ruling party as their main antagonist. But in Turkey, a court ruling on May 21 that restores the previous leader of the Republican People’s Party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, has ignited a feud within the main opposition party.
The internal struggle over who leads the party is sapping the CHP’s strength and distracting it from its struggle with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). But at the heart of the dispute is more than just who will lead the main opposition party.
Read more: Court-Imposed Leadership Crisis Risks Eroding Turkey’s Main Opposition (June 17, 2026)
Weaponising institutions
Romanian President Nicusor Dan (C) nominating liberal politician Adrian Vestea (R) as the second designated prime minister after Eugen Tomac (L), who was nominated to form a technocratic government ten days earlier, 14 June 2026. Photo: EPA/ROMANIAN PRESIDENCY OFFICE.
On June 14, Adrian Vestea was nominated by President Nicusor Dan to try to form a new Romanian government. This was the second time in 40 days that the president had handed the mandate to someone to try to form a government.
Yet unlike some other countries, Romania’s political woes are not the result of democratic backsliding or a broken political system, argues Bjorn Anseeuw in an opinion piece for Balkan Insight. Instead, democratic tools appear to have been weaponised in a way that makes governing close to impossible.
Read more: Romania’s Democracy is Not Broken, and That’s Causing Problems (June 16, 2026)
Searching for compromise
Acting Prime Minister of Kosovo and leader of the Vetevendosje party Albin Kurti celebrates with supporters in Pristina after the elections on June 7, 2026. Photo: EPA/Georgi Licovski.
The votes from Kosovo’s June 7 parliamentary elections have now been fully counted, and it is clear that the third election in 16 months has not produced a result radically different from the previous two electoral cycles.
Observers are already wondering whether the political deadlock that led to this rapid cycle of elections can be broken. Many worry that another election is not far off. Yet as Donika Emini argues in her opinion piece for Balkan Insight, it is not another election, but political compromise, that is Kosovo’s best hope.
Read more: Kosovo Cannot Vote Its Way out of Its Political Crisis (June 16, 2026)
A new life?
A tunnel leading to the former Zeljava Military Airbase, a covert Yugoslav military installation that the Croatian government now intends to convert into a facility for processing and detaining migrants. Photo: Tommaso Siviero/BIRN.
The Zeljava Military Airbase is a sorry sight these days. Straddling a remote area of the border between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the secret underground airbase, which once allowed fighter jets to emerge from under the Pljesevica mountain, is a feat of military engineering.
But today’s security concerns are very different from the military concerns of the Cold War era. Croatia has now drawn up plans to repurpose the derelict airbase as a detention and processing facility for undocumented migrants, much to the alarm of rights groups and locals.
Read more: Croatia Eyes ‘Secret’ Yugoslav Airbase as New Node in EU Asylum Architecture (June 16, 2026)
Disputed rules
Wizz Air aircraft. Photo: Wikimedia/Wizz Air Hungary Ltd.
A feud has broken out between Serbia and Wizz Air, after Serbian authorities amended their transport regulations. The low-cost airline claims that the latest changes may force it to quit Belgrade.
The European Commission is now reviewing whether the regulatory changes undermine fair competition. Our analysis takes a closer look at the dispute.
Read more: Brussels Scrutinises Serbian Airline Regulation after Wizz Air Complaint (June 12, 2026)
Priced out
Olive oil on market shelves in Turkey. Photo: Can Erok.
High inflation has blighted Turkey for years, with food inflation estimated to be running at over 30 per cent. Amid all this, the country’s relationship with olive oil, a traditional staple, has come to symbolise the predicament of both consumers and producers.
Olive growers and olive oil manufacturers complain of rising costs and competition from cheaper global producers, such as Spain. Meanwhile, for ordinary Turks, olive oil is increasingly becoming a luxury item.
Read more: From Staple to Luxury: Olive Oil Prices Become Symbol of Inflation-Hit Turkey (June 15, 2026)
Read the full article at Balkan Insight (BIRN) →
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