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WARSAW, Poland — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk traveled Saturday to the country’s border with Belarus, which is also the European Union’s external border with the autocratic state, and pledged to do more to strengthen security along its entire eastern frontier.

Tusk accused Belarus, Russia’s ally, of intensifying what he called a “hybrid war” against the West by encouraging migrants to try to cross into the EU. He vowed that Poland would spare no expense on its border security.

“I know that there are more and more illegal crossings every day,” Tusk told reporters at the border, where he met with Polish army soldiers, border guard officers and police. He also cited “the growing threat resulting from the Russian-Ukrainian war, Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and the uncertain geopolitical situation.”

The visit to the border, Tusk’s first since he took office in December, comes after a Polish judge defected to Belarus this month. He claimed he was facing persecution in Poland, a democracy. Officials have denounced him as a traitor, and he is being investigated on suspicion of espionage.

Tusk replaced a national conservative party at odds with the EU over rule-of-law issues. That party, Law and Justice, took a strong stance against migration in a way that set it at odds with other European allies when it first took power in 2015.

Since then, though, the general mood against migration across Europe has toughened. While Tusk does not use some of the harsh anti-migrant rhetoric of his predecessors, he, too, is opposed to unregulated migration.

“This is not only Poland’s internal border, but also the border of the European Union. Therefore, I have no doubt that all of Europe will have to — and I know that we will achieve this — invest in its security by investing in Poland’s eastern border and in the security of our border,” Tusk said.

He added that he made a declaration to the commanders of the security forces at the border that “there are no limits on resources when it comes to Poland’s security.”

The visit comes weeks ahead of next month’s elections for the European Parliament, and Tusk seemed intent on sending a message to voters that his political party, Civic Coalition, favors border security and supports the uniformed officers there.

“I came today primarily so that both commanders and their subordinates have no doubt that the Polish state and the Polish government are with them in every situation, here at the border,” he said.

A crisis erupted along the EU’s eastern border with Belarus in 2021 when large numbers of migrants from the Middle East and Africa began arriving there. The EU accused Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko of encouraging the migration to destabilize the EU after it imposed sanctions on the country for an election widely viewed as fraudulent.

Poland’s previous government responded to the crisis by constructing a tall steel wall.
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MALMO, Sweden — The Netherlands’ contestant in the Eurovision Song Contest was dramatically expelled from competition hours before Saturday’s final of the pan-continental pop competition, which has been rattled by protests over the participation of Israel.

Competition organizer European Broadcasting Union said Swedish police were investigating “a complaint made by a female member of the production crew” against Dutch performer Joost Klein. The organizer said it wouldn’t be appropriate for Klein to participate at the event in Malmo while the legal process was underway.

Although Eurovision’s motto is “united by music,” this year’s event has proven exceptionally divisive. Israel’s participation has attracted large pro-Palestinian demonstrations, with protesters saying the country should be excluded because of its conduct in the war in the Gaza Strip.

Klein, a 26-year-old Dutch singer and rapper, had been a favorite of bookmakers and fans with his song “Europapa.”

He failed to perform at two dress rehearsals on Friday, and the EBU had said it was investigating an “incident.” Although rumors had been flying that the incident was connected to Israel’s delegation, organizers said that it “did not involve any other performer or delegation member.”

Dutch broadcaster AVROTOS, one of dozens of public broadcasters that collectively fund and broadcast the contest, said that it “finds the disqualification disproportionate and is shocked by the decision.”

“We deeply regret this and will come back to this later,” AVROTOS said in a statement.

It all makes for a messy climax to an event that draws both adoration and derision with its campy, kitschy ethos and passion for pop.

Thousands of people gathered in central Malmo on Saturday to march for the second time this week through Sweden’s third-largest city, which has a large Muslim population, to demand a boycott of Israel and a cease-fire in the seven-month war.

In Finland, a group of about 40 protesters stormed the headquarters of public broadcaster YLE on Saturday morning, demanding it withdraw from the song contest because of Israel’s participation.

Several kilometers from the city center at the Malmo Arena, 25 acts — narrowed from 37 entrants by two semifinal runoffs — are scheduled to perform three-minute songs in front of a live audience of thousands and an estimated 180 million viewers around the world.

Tensions and nerves were palpable in the hours before the final. Several artists were absent from the Olympics-style artists’ entrance at the start of the final dress rehearsal, although all but Ireland’s Bambie Thug went on to perform.

The Irish performer issued a statement saying the absence was due to a situation “which I felt needed urgent attention from the EBU” and telling fans: “I hope to see you on the stage later.”

French singer Slimane cut short his song “Mon Amour” at the dress rehearsal to give a speech urging people to be “united by music, yes — but with love, for peace.”
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BARCELONA, Spain — Carles Puigdemont, Catalonia’s fugitive former leader, stares confidently out the backseat window of a car, the sun illuminating his gaze in a campaign poster for Sunday’s critical elections in the northeastern Spanish region.

The image plays on another one imagined from six years prior when Puigdemont hid in the trunk of a car as he was smuggled across the French border, fleeing Spain’s crackdown on a failed illegal 2017 secession attempt that he had led as Catalan regional president.

Sunday’s elections will be a test to see if Catalonia wants him back as leader or if the wealthy region has moved on from secession and has more pressing worries.

Puigdemont is still technically a fugitive. But ironically, recent maneuvers by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez have revitalized his political career. Sánchez promised amnesty to Puigdemont and other separatists facing charges in return for the support of separatist lawmakers in the national parliament to form a new government in Madrid. But that could now backfire and cause problems for the national government if Puigdemont, public enemy No. 1 for many Spaniards, is reelected.

Sánchez’s stake

Either from conviction or necessity, Sánchez has spent huge amounts of political capital taking decisions embraced in Catalonia but largely lambasted in the rest of the country that were aimed at wooing back voters from the separatist camp.

So far it seems to be working.

The Socialists’ candidate, Salvador Illa, is currently leading all the polls ahead of both Puigdemont and current Catalan regional president Pere Aragonès, another secessionist from a different Catalan party.

Illa won the most votes in the 2021 Catalan elections but could not stop Aragonès from keeping the separatists in power. If the Socialists win Sunday, Sánchez, who has campaigned alongside Illa, can boast that his risky bets on Catalonia have paid off.

“Carles Puigdemont is the past, we represent the future,” Illa said at a debate this week, as he focuses on social issues and casts the debate about secession as stale.

“If the Socialists have a strong showing, that will give Sánchez a boost, especially before European elections (in June),” Oriol Bartomeus, a professor of political science at the Autonomous University of Barcelona told The Associated Press.

But Illa’s chances of becoming regional president will, according to all election polling, still hinge on winning the support of other parties, including most likely Aragonès’ Republican Left of Catalonia.

Puigdemont’s pledge

Puigdemont is running on the pledge that he will finally return home — in theory under the protection provided by the amnesty — when the newly elected lawmakers convene to form a new regional government. That investiture vote would come in the weeks after the post-election negotiations between parties.

Puigdemont has moved, at least temporarily, from Waterloo, Belgium, where he has lived as a self-styled “political exile,” to a French village just north of Spain where he has campaigned with rallies by followers who have crossed the border.

He has said that if he is not restored to power he will retire from politics.

Voter priorities

The question Puigdemont, Illa, Aragonès and the other candidates now face is how much Catalonia has changed.

A record drought, not independence, is the number one concern among Catalans, according to the most recent survey by Catalonia’s public opinion office. Some 70% of would-be voters now say that the management of public services, the economy and climate change would drive their choice at the polls, while 30% say the question of independence was still their priority.

The opinion office said 50% of Catalans are against independence while 42% are for it, meaning support for it has dipped to 2012 levels. When Puigdemont left in 2017, 49% favored independence and 43% were against.

Pablo Simón, political science professor at Carlos III University in Madrid, said that the secessionist movement was in a period of uncertain transition.

“I would not dare say that the secessionist movement is dead, but I can say that we are in a period where we don’t know what will come next,” he said.
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Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam — Vietnamese officials are hopefully anticipating an unannounced visit to Hanoi by Russian President Vladimir Putin, possibly as early as next week on his way to Beijing for meetings with Chinese leaders.

Experts say such a visit would allow the Russian leader to show that Western efforts to isolate his government over its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine have failed, while furthering Hanoi’s efforts to navigate a middle ground between the United States and China.

Vietnam could also be expected to seek an arms deal with its historical ally as its Soviet-era military equipment ages beyond its service life.

During a phone call on March 26, the leader of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam — General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong — extended an invitation to Putin to visit Hanoi. According to state media outlet Vietnam News Agency, “President Putin happily accepted the invitation and agreed for the two sides to arrange [the visit] at a suitable time.”

Ian Storey, fellow at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, told VOA that the visit could take place this month, when Putin is expected to travel to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Putin confirmed at an April 25 congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs that he would visit Beijing sometime in May. He did not provide dates, but Bloomberg quoted unidentified sources saying it would take place on May 15 and 16.

“Putin might use this opportunity to visit Russia’s three closest partners in Asia: China, Vietnam and North Korea,” Storey wrote in an email on April 10. “Putin would use this visit to signal to the world that his government’s ‘Turn to the East’ policy remains on track and that the West has failed to isolate Russia.”

Balancing power

Maintaining a close connection to Moscow is a priority for the Vietnamese leadership as they attempt to balance between the world’s two leading powers, said Alexander Vuving, a professor at Honolulu’s Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies.

“Vietnam has to balance its relationship between China and the United States, and it’s like it’s caught between a rock and a hard place,” he told VOA during a Zoom call on April 13.

Vuving said that Beijing is a threat to neighboring Vietnam’s territorial integrity not only as it encroaches into the South China Sea but also as its power grows regionally. While the U.S. is the obvious counterbalance, Washington is seen as a threat to the country’s regime by the ruling Communist Party.

“Russia offers a very good middle ground for Vietnam,” Vuving said. Moscow shares “regime affinity and their leaders still call each other comrades.” Furthermore, Russian enterprises are key partners to Vietnam’s oil and gas ventures in the South China Sea, he said.

Storey said a meeting would be particularly significant after Hanoi upgraded ties with Washington in September 2023 and Xi visited Hanoi in December.

“Putin has been invited to visit Vietnam twice now,” first by President Vo Van Thuong in October 2023 and again in March by Trong, Storey wrote.

“Now that the visits of Presidents [Joe] Biden and Xi have taken place, Vietnam might welcome a visit by Putin for two reasons: First, to demonstrate that it pursues a balanced foreign policy; and second, to show Moscow that despite the war in Ukraine, Russia remains a valuable friend.”

Arms and public perception

Nguyen The Phuong, a doctoral candidate at the University of New South Wales Canberra, told VOA that an arms deal with Russia may be in the works.

“If Putin visited it will be a very good chance for Vietnam to explore those kinds of possibilities of how they could somehow purchase weapons from Russia,” Phuong said, speaking to VOA on April 8 over Zoom.

Storey wrote that acquiring new fighter jets is a top priority for Vietnam “as its current inventory of Russian-made aircraft is reaching the end of its operational life.”

“We cannot rule out future purchases from Russia,” he said, adding that any discussion of arms deals would be kept tightly under wraps amid sensitivity over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Although Vietnam’s international reputation would be damaged if news of an arms deal with Russia was made public, it would likely be supported by the majority of the Vietnamese public, according to Phuong.

“They would be welcoming of the upcoming visit of Putin,” he said. “The Vietnamese public still has some sense of some support for Russian weapons — it’s a result of a historical narrative and propaganda.”

Still, that support is not universal.

Tran Anh Quan, a Ho Chi Minh City-based social activist, said he has opposed the war on Ukraine since its outset.

“If today I do not oppose Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, then later, if China invades my country, who will speak up to support us?” he wrote over the messaging app Telegram in Vietnamese on April 13.

Quan told VOA that he has faced pushback from Vietnamese authorities for his efforts to support Ukraine.

“In March 2022, I created the Vietnamese Stand With Ukraine fanpage to launch a campaign to support the Ukrainian people. Then I printed and sold t-shirts with the slogan Vietnamese Stand With Ukraine to raise money to send to the Ukrainian embassy in Hanoi,” he wrote.

“In October 2022, security from the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security came to my house to arrest me and interrogate me about my pro-Ukraine views. The police told me verbatim that ‘supporting Ukraine is a plot to overthrow the Vietnamese state.'”

In the face of threats, Quan said, he closed his initiative to support Ukraine.

“They threatened to kill me if they met me in Ho Chi Minh City. So I had to close my business to be safe,” he said.
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london — Chinese President Xi Jinping departed Hungary on Friday after a five-day trip to Europe, his first visit to the continent in five years. Xi pledged to work with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in a new “multipolar world order.” Analysts say Beijing is courting its allies in Eastern Europe to exploit Western divisions.

Xi left Budapest after having signed 18 bilateral agreements to increase economic and cultural ties during his two-day stay in Hungary. The two countries announced what the Chinese president termed a “new-era, all-weather, comprehensive strategic partnership.”

“We are ready to take this as a new starting point to push our relations and practical cooperation into a golden voyage,” Xi said Thursday at a news conference.

“The two sides will strengthen the docking of development strategies, deepen cooperation in the fields of economy and trade, investment and finance, push forward the construction of key projects such as the Budapest-Belgrade Railway,” he added.

Current Chinese investment projects in Hungary amount to over $17 billion, according to Budapest, with further investments from Beijing to follow, including in several electric car and battery plants.

The European Union accuses Beijing of unfairly subsidizing the industry and undercutting its own carmakers, which China denies.

Multipolar world

But Xi’s visit was about more than money. China and Hungary sent a geopolitical message to the West.

“We used to live in a one-center world order. Now we live in a multipolar world, and one of the pillars of this new world order is the Republic of China — the country which now defines the course of world and economic politics,” Orban told reporters Thursday.

Hungary sees dual benefits in wooing China, said analyst Andras Hettyey of the University for Public Service in Budapest. “The government believes that this will be beneficial for the Hungarian economy as a whole. But I think we shouldn’t forget that this also comes with political allegiances or political ties — a political bond between Hungarian leading politicians and Chinese leading politicians,” he told VOA.

War on Ukraine

Xi and Orban discussed Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. The West accuses China of aiding Moscow’s war through economic support and the sale of dual-use goods that can be used in weapons. Beijing denies the accusations.

Hungary’s Orban also maintains close political and economic ties with Russia, and echoed his Chinese counterpart’s claim that they are working toward peace.

“Our voice in Europe is a lonely one. Europe today supports war. The only exception is Hungary, urging immediate cease-fire and peace talks. And we support all international efforts towards peace, and thus we support the Chinese peace initiative presented by President Xi Jinping,” Orban said.

Ukraine has said it will not negotiate until invading Russian troops leave its territory.

Western anger

Orban’s traditional allies in the European Union and NATO have voiced concerns about his close ties with Beijing and Moscow and have criticized a perceived backsliding of democracy in Hungary.

That won’t bother Budapest, said Hettyey. “In fact, it might be even a point of which our government will be proud. Because by now there is a very strong alienation between the Hungarian government and its Western partners, to the point where the present Hungarian government does not want to achieve, does not deem important to have a good reputation in the West,” he said.

There were small demonstrations against the Chinese president’s visit, including by pro-Tibetan and Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigners. Teams of people in red baseball caps — whom the Chinese Embassy in Budapest described as “volunteers” — confiscated protesters’ flags.

Serbia visit

Prior to visiting Hungary, Xi visited Serbia, another European ally with close ties to Moscow — and which is, like Hungary, a partner of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative and has received billions of dollars in infrastructure and industrial investment.

The visit to Belgrade coincided with the 25th anniversary of NATO’s accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy in the city, which killed three people, prompting an apology from the United States.

During his visit, Xi reaffirmed Beijing’s view that Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008, is still part of Serbia. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic reiterated his country’s acceptance of the “One China” principle, which considers Taiwan as part of China.

Exploiting divisions

Earlier in the week, Xi visited France, meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. There were few indications that Xi is prepared to offer concessions on Chinese trade practices or on its support for Russia.

The Chinese president did, however, praise his French counterpart’s desire for “strategic autonomy” — the idea that Europe should reduce its security reliance on the United States. China is seeking to exploit divisions in the West, said analyst Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at SOAS, University of London.

“The ‘united front’ approach of divide and rule is integral to Chinese foreign policy, particularly under Xi Jinping. And that is, of course, reflected in the choice of all three countries that Xi Jinping would visit.

“So, the more that China can charm Europe and persuade Europeans not to work with the Americans, the better,” Tsang told VOA.
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belgrade, serbia — Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Serbia this week brought out a crowd waving Serbian and Chinese flags and praising the “ironclad” friendship of two countries. Elsewhere in the West, it raised many questions about Serbia’s future role in Europe. 

Analysts say that was exactly the idea. At a time of global rivalry between Beijing and Washington, the messages Xi delivered from Belgrade appeared aimed at a much wider audience. 

Xi and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic signed a number of bilateral agreements on Wednesday, which followed the 25th anniversary of NATO’s bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade during NATO’s 1999 campaign to halt the ethnic cleansing of Albanians in Kosovo. The U.S. apologized for that action, calling it “a mistake.” 

David Shullman, an expert on China with the Washington-based Atlantic Council, told VOA that Xi’s arrival in Belgrade on the May 7 anniversary was aimed at sending a broader message in the context of the war in Ukraine: that China is not a “warmonger” like the U.S. and NATO. 

Chinese messaging, Shullman said, “parrots Russia’s messaging about the war in Ukraine, about not putting a blame on Russia, but putting a blame on the U.S., NATO for ‘fanning the flames’ of the war, continuing to support the Ukrainians, and that China is the one that’s the force for peace and stability. …  

“There is an awareness in the Chinese system [that] this is a key binding point between China and Serbia, and it fits into that message that China has been pushing about NATO and the U.S.” 

China’s president referred to the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in an op-ed published Tuesday in Serbia’s pro-government newspaper Politika: “The people of China value peace, but they will never allow a historical tragedy to happen again.”  

Paul McCarthy, director for Europe at the International Republican Institute in Washington, agreed that the timing of Xi’s visit was no accident. 

“I think that Xi’s entire visit to Europe was organized around the 25th anniversary of the NATO bombing,” he said. “It is too symbolic an opportunity for the Chinese to miss and underlines, so to speak, the position of Serbia and the strategic disagreement with the West that has been going on for 25 years.” 

Xi and Vucic signed a statement on the two countries’ “shared future,” which the Serbian president described as being a level above the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership the two countries agreed to in 2016. 

According to the Atlantic Council’s Shullman, Xi has often used the phrase “shared future” to indicate he wants a new balance of power in the world. 

“The story of a shared future is how China wants to establish a global order that is less U.S.-led, that is multipolar, that is a more ‘democratic’ international order — as the Chinese say,” he said. 

“In essence, it is an order that is no longer led by the U.S. and in which China plays a more significant role.” 

He added: “The fact that Serbia is spoken of as the first European country that will be part of the community and ‘common future’ shows that for Chinese leaders, especially Xi, Serbia is of great importance … as an economic partner and as a country that is a candidate for the EU.” 

In addition, Xi’s visit to Serbia signaled to Washington that China has reliable partners in Europe and that the U.S. “will not be able to completely win over Europe to its side.”  

China owns mines and factories across Serbia and has provided billions of dollars’ worth of funding for roads, bridges and various facilities, becoming Serbia’s key partner in much-needed infrastructure development.  

Still, some experts say the future of cooperation between Belgrade and Beijing is uncertain, given the complicated relations between the U.S. and China. 

Vuk Vuksanovic, a senior researcher at the Belgrade Center for Security Policy, told VOA that broadening cooperation between Serbia and China from a strategic partnership to the level of “building a community of Serbia and China with a common future in the new era” is little more than a diplomatic game that suits both governments at the moment. 

He added that the future relationship depends much more on Beijing than on Belgrade.  

“The previous strategic partnership agreement was a joint statement from 2009 that had warm rhetoric but did not actually bring about any monumental transformation of those relations,” he said. 

“And that was until the moment when China showed greater interest in the Balkans due to the Belt and Road Initiative,” a massive, Chinese-led global infrastructure development strategy. “I think the key question for the U.S. will be whether that cooperation will include some major project in the field of defense and high technology.” 

The International Republican Institute’s McCarthy said it is unclear how the agreements between Serbia and China and the plans for a “common future” will affect Serbia’s relationship with the West. 

Still, he noted, a free-trade agreement between China and Serbia that comes into force in July “turns Serbia more towards the East,” raising the question of “how serious is Serbia on its European path.” 

He added: “I have to say that, from Washington’s perspective, they might feel like they’re losing the battle for Serbia’s heart, so to speak.” 

This article originated in VOA’s Serbian Service with contributions from Dino Jahic, Marko Protic and Stefan Miljus.
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WASHINGTON — North Macedonia elected its first woman president Wednesday as the ruling Social Democratic Union of Macedonia suffered historic losses in presidential and parliamentary elections.

With nearly all the votes counted, university professor Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, the presidential candidate of the right-wing VMRO-DPMNE opposition party, won nearly 65% of the vote, with incumbent President Stevo Pendarovski winning 29%, according to the country’s State Election Commission.

In the parliamentary contest, the VMRO-DPMNE-led coalition Your Macedonia won 43% of the votes, giving it 58 of the parliament’s 120 seats, just short of a majority.

Although it was uncertain on election day whether the 40% turnout threshold for the presidential election would be reached, due to calls for a boycott, the State Election Commission reported that turnout exceeded 46%.

In her first post-election public address, President-elect Siljanovska-Davkova promised to “act as the president of all citizens, of all ethnic groups, of party members, of those who are not in parties, because a president, especially not if she is a woman, cannot unite and search for unity if he sticks to party lines.”

VMRO-DPMNE party head Hristijan Mickoski called the election results a “historic victory for North Macedonia and the people of Macedonia,” adding that the ruling Social Democratic Union, or SDSM, lost because of “crime, corruption, incompetence, false values, the confiscated state, tenders, nepotism and a hundred other consequences that made the state suffer and the people disappointed.”

SDSM officials have repeatedly rejected these criticisms.

SDSM head Dimitar Kovacevski congratulated the victors Wednesday while telling reporters that his party’s loss was “disappointing” and “a heavy blow.”

EU and NATO considerations

The country agreed to change its name from the Republic of Macedonia to the Republic of North Macedonia in 2019 following a decadeslong dispute with Greece over the designation.

In a 2018 referendum, voters in North Macedonia approved an agreement with Greece that included changing the country’s name in order to clear the way for its European Union and NATO accession. However, turnout for the referendum was less than the 50% threshold required to validate the results, leaving parliament to approve the change.

Mickoski has refused to acknowledge the country’s name change and the 2018 agreement with Greece. The opposition also supports standing firm in ongoing linguistic and historical disputes with neighboring Bulgaria, an EU member that has blocked North Macedonia’s EU accession negotiations.

EU membership negotiations with North Macedonia — and fellow-candidate Albania — began in 2022, and the process is expected to take years.

Commenting Wednesday on North Macedonia’s elections and their potential effect on the country’s EU accession bid, Deputy U.S. Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Gabriel Escobar said, “I am confident and hope that regardless of the elections in North Macedonia, the road to Europe will continue.”

On Tuesday, European Commission spokesperson Ana Pisonero told reporters in Brussels that “North Macedonia has committed itself to constitutional changes and, from our perspective, we believe that all political forces will focus on progress in the EU integration process.”

Pisonero added: “The European Council has clearly stated what the expectations are and we, for our part, fully support the perspective of North Macedonia’s membership in the EU, and we hope that we will be able to open the negotiation process as soon as possible.”

Corruption is an issue

The European Commission reported in November that corruption, another hot-button issue, “remains prevalent in many areas” of North Macedonia.

In December, U.S. Ambassador to North Macedonia Angela Aggeler said there was “an epidemic of corruption in this country that has affected every sector, every organization, and only by exposing the corrupt actors can we begin to help the country address these issues.”

The VMRO-DPMNE has accused the SDSM and its junior coalition partner, the Democratic Union for Integration, the third-largest political party and largest ethnic Albanian political party, of causing a “corruption pandemic.”

Wednesday was the third time that Macedonian citizens in the U.S. and elsewhere outside North Macedonia voted in the country’s presidential elections.

According to the State Election Commission, more than 2,300 domestic and international observers monitored the voting.
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Athens — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has officially dedicated an ancient Byzantine church as a mosque, drawing a protest from Greece. Many Greeks want a summit scheduled for Monday in Ankara between Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to be canceled. 

Greece’s criticism centers on the formal opening of the Church of St. Saviour in Chora as a Muslim house of worship, four years after it was converted. The ancient site was a museum before its conversion to a mosque and is a United Nations-protected monument revered for its mosaic masterpieces.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan presided remotely over the opening ceremony this past Monday from the presidential palace in Ankara.

While the move to open the site as a mosque has won praise from the Muslim faithful in Turkey, it has angered many Greeks, among them Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

He said Erdogan’s decision is “unnecessary” and an insult.

Speaking after talks Thursday with Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, Mitsotakis said if anything, the church’s conversion is an affront to, as he put it, the rich cultural history that Istanbul has to show for… at the crossroads of many civilizations.

The Church of St. Saviour in Chora is the latest ancient church that Erdogan has converted since ordering Istanbul’s prized landmark, the Hagia Sophia, to be transformed in 2020 to a Muslim house of prayer.  

Analysts view the conversions as part of an attempt by Erdogan to consolidate the conservative and religious support base of his ruling party amid an economic downturn gripping Turkey.

The latest conversion has also drawn criticism from the United States, with the State Department calling on Turkey to preserve the monument’s diverse history and allow access to all visitors.

In Athens, many political leaders are urging Mitsotakis to cancel a meeting he has scheduled with Erdogan for next week as part of a previously agreed plan to ease relations between the longtime foes. 

Nikos Androulakis, the leader of Greece’s socialist party, is among those calling for the talks to be called off.

“There is no way that I would go,” Androulakis said, adding, “This is a provocation.”

The prospect of canceling the talks is a “no-go,” said Mitsotakis.

“It is imperative to keep all channels of communication open,” said Mitsotakis.

He went on to say, “It is much better that I face President Erdogan in person and express my strong opposition to this latest conversion, than allow this matter to spark another crisis between the two countries.” 

Relations between Greece and Turkey have long been strained. The two neighbors and NATO members nearly went to war in 2020 over contested energy reserves in the Mediterranean. They have also been at odds over the divided island of Cyprus; it is split between a Turkish-Cypriot north and a Greek-Cypriot south.

Since 1974, several efforts by the United Nations and the United States to reunite the island have failed.

In recent remarks, Erdogan said all problems can be resolved between Greece and Turkey. In December, Erdogan made an official visit to Greece, where he met with Prime Minister Mitsotakis. They agreed on several measures to ease tensions.
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Warsaw, Poland — Poland’s defense minister said Thursday his country is strengthening the metal barrier along its border with Belarus to deter illegal migration.

“We are mending the barrier on the Polish-Belarusian border, we are strengthening this barrier,” Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on private Radio Zet. “The spending on these purposes is the highest in [Poland’s] history.”

Kosiniak-Kamysz said the increased presence of Polish and allied military forces in regions close to the border is also helping to tighten the eastern frontier of NATO and the European Union. That presence has been increased since Russia’s aggression in Ukraine in 2022.

He spoke in favor of Poland building a line of defensive bunkers, trenches and ditches along that border and the one with Russia’s exclave of Kaliningrad, steps that the Baltic states have already taken.

Poland says a massive wave of illegal migration from Belarus, especially in 2022, was orchestrated by that country and by Russia to destabilize Poland, a Ukrainian ally, and the European Union. The influx was largely curbed by the metal barrier that Poland completed last year, but some illegal crossings continue.

The minister’s comments also suggested that the barrier is seen as a wider defense measure during Russia’s war with Ukraine, which borders Poland.
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The European Union has agreed in principle to a deal that would use the proceeds from frozen Russian assets to supply weapons for Ukraine. As Henry Ridgwell reports, allies in Washington want the EU to go much further
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Turkey’s decision last week to stop all trade with Israel until Israeli leaders reach a permanent cease-fire in Gaza is likely to hit Israel’s economy hard. Adding to those concerns are signs Turkey is encouraging other nations in the Islamic world to do the same. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
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MARSEILLE, France — French Olympic swimmer Florent Manaudou became the first Olympic torch carrier in France after the Olympic flame arrived in Marseille’s Old Port Wednesday on a majestic three-mast ship from Greece for the welcoming ceremony at sunset in the city’s Old Port. 

The ship sailed into Marseille’s old port with the French national anthem, La Marseillaise, echoing from the embankment and a French Air force flyover with planes first drawing the five Olympic rings and then the red-blue-white colors of the nation’s flag. 

The ship docked on the pontoon that reflects an athletics track and Manaudou carried the torch to mainland France as tens of thousands cheered and thousands of others waved from balconies and windows overlooking the festivities. 

“We can be proud,” said President Emmanuel Macron, who attended the ceremony to welcome the torch. 

“The flame is on French soil,” Macron said. “The games are coming to France and are entering the lives of the French people.” 

The torch was lit in Greece last month before it was officially handed to France. It left Athens aboard a ship named Belem, which was first used in 1896, and spent twelve days at sea. 

Paris 2024 Olympics Organizing Committee President Tony Estanguet said the return of the Olympic Games to France was cause for a “fantastic celebration.” 

“As a former athlete, I know how important the start of a competition is. That is why we chose Marseille, because it’s definitely one of the cities most in love with sports,” added Estanguet, a former Olympic canoeing star with gold medals from the 2000, 2004 and 2012 Games. 

Safety of visitors and residents has been a top priority for authorities in Marseille, France’s second largest city with nearly a million inhabitants. About 8,000 police officers have been deployed around the harbor. 

Thousands of firefighters and bomb disposal squads have been positioned around the city along with maritime police and anti-drone teams patrolling the city’s waters and its airspace. 

“It’s a monumental day and we have been working hard for visitors and residents of Marseille to enjoy this historical moment,” said Yannick Ohanessian, the city’s deputy mayor. 

The torch relay will start on Thursday in Marseille, before heading to Paris through iconic places across the country, from the world-famous Mont Saint-Michel to D-Day landing beaches in Normandy and the Versailles Palace. 

A heavy police and military presence was seen patrolling Marseille’s city center Tuesday, as a military helicopter flew over the Old Port, where a range of barriers have been set up. 

French Interior Ministry spokesperson Camille Chaize said officials were prepared for security threats including terrorism. 

“We’re employing various measures, notably the elite National Gendarmerie Intervention Group unit, which will be present in the torch relay from beginning to end,” she said. 

The Olympic cauldron will be lit after the Games’ opening ceremony that will take place on the River Seine on July 26. 

The cauldron will be lit at a location in Paris that is being kept top-secret until the day itself. Among reported options are such iconic spots as the Eiffel Tower and the Tuileries Gardens outside the Louvre Museum.
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LONDON — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was accused Wednesday of leading a “chaotic” government as another one of his Conservative lawmakers defected to the main opposition Labour Party ahead of a looming general election. 

In a stunning move just ahead of the weekly prime minister’s questions, Natalie Elphicke crossed the floor of the House of Commons to join the ranks of Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, which appears headed for power after 14 years. 

“We need to move on from the broken promises of Rishi Sunak’s tired and chaotic government,” said Elphicke, who represents the constituency of Dover in southern England, which is at the front line of migrant crossings from France. “Under Rishi Sunak, the Conservatives have become a byword for incompetence and division.” 

Elphicke is the second Conservative lawmaker to defect to Labour in two weeks,; Dan Poulter quit in anger over the government’s handling of the National Health Service. 

The defection of Elphicke is particularly surprising as she was widely considered to be on the right of the Conservative Party. She has been hugely critical of Labour in the past and Starmer himself but has recently been increasingly disapproving of the government’s approach to migrant crossings. 

“From small boats to biosecurity, Rishi Sunak’s government is failing to keep our borders safe and secure,” she said. 

Just under 30,000 people arrived in Britain in small boats in 2023, and Sunak has made reducing that number a key issue ahead of the election due this year, notably with his controversial plan to send some asylum-seekers to Rwanda. More than 8,000 have made the dangerous crossing already this year. 

Elphicke was elected in 2019, taking over the Dover seat that had been held by her then-husband Charlie, who was found guilty in 2020 of sexually assaulting two women and sentenced to two years in prison, of which he served half. 

Elphicke will not be standing in her Dover seat at the next election, although she said she will help the party with Labour’s housing policies. 

Starmer welcomed Elphicke to the Labour benches as well as Chris Webb, the party’s new lawmaker in Blackpool South in northwest England following his big victory in a special election Thursday. 

The Labour Party’s head reiterated his call for Sunak to immediately call for a general election, saying the Conservatives cannot carry on when even a lawmaker at the forefront of the small-boats crisis — meaning Elphicke — said Sunak “cannot be trusted with our borders.” 

The date of the general election rests in the hands of the prime minister. It must take place by January, and Sunak has repeatedly said his “working assumption” was that it would take place in the second half of 2024. 

Last week, the Conservatives suffered a historic drubbing in local elections, with nearly half of its candidates losing, while Labour made gains and won most of the key mayoral races it fought, including in London. 

Particularly encouraging for Labour was winning in areas that voted for Britain’s departure from the European Union in 2016 and where it was crushed by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the general election in 2019. 

Elphicke’s defection may help Labour deflect Conservative attacks during the election that the opposition party may seek to reverse Brexit. In her statement Wednesday, she said Labour “has accepted Brexit and its economic policies.” 

Her defection has not only raised eyebrows within the Conservative Party. 

The left-wing Labour grouping, Momentum, said that Elphicke has “consistently demonized refugees and aid groups” and that she “should have no place in a Labour Party committed to progressive values and working-class people.” 
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