Balkanalysis.com

By Ioannis Michaletos* Water management is attracting the attention of businessmen in Greece, especially when it is related to the water cycle and energy production. Dams, water transmission pipelines, water depots, and seawater desalination plants are all included in the five-year plan that the Karamanlis administration has relayed recently to the press, as a plan [...]

By Christopher Deliso The successful conclusion of a long reform process that has brought a greater sense of stability and security for military personnel, as well as a more prominent role in Balkan partnerships on the national level, are two of Bulgaria’ss key achievements, according to General Zlatan Stoykov, Chief of General Staff of the [...]

By Ioannis Michaletos* Greek businesses today are increasingly looking into the prospects of further investments into waste management and possible applications for the bio-fuels industry. Already, some of the bigger companies are making plans for incorporating bio-fuel production into their portfolios, and the general trend towards renewable energy sources and the generous state and European [...]

Editor’s note: this special report comes to us from Dr. Jonathan Harris of Royal Holloway, University of London. It recounts the proceedings of an absorbing workshop recently held at London’s Hellenic Centre, which brought members of the general public into contact with some of the world’s leading experts on Byzantium- this time, in the unique [...]

By Ioannis Michaletos* The electricity sector in Greece has expanded recently, and remains characterized by substantial profits made by companies due to the high system marginal prices. Currently there are several companies active in electricity trade in the country that mainly deal in imports of electricity from the Balkans and Italy to Greece. The country [...]

By Oxford Business Group* Though Bulgaria was sidetracked by the economic slowdown, the country fared better in 2008 than many of its neighbours and fellow members of the EU, maintaining higher levels of growth, seeing a fall in inflation and recording solid rates of foreign direct investment (FDI). According to official figures published by the [...]

The first New Year’s gift of 2009 to the citizens of many Balkan countries has come in the form of the season’s first significant snowfall, blanketing large areas in Macedonia, northern Greece, Serbia, Kosovo, Bulgaria and Albania. In the Macedonian capital of Skopje, some 16cm of snow has accumulated in the past three days- posing [...]

by Ioannis Michaletos* Perception of an emerging Southeastern European electricity market is providing impetus for the creation of new companies seeking to take advantage of regional trade, and especially an increase in demand. In this pursuit, Greek and Italian interests are proving especially active. Already, the Italian energy company Edison has made the first step [...]

Professor Victor Friedman is one of the world’s foremost experts on Balkan languages, and has been studying them for almost four decades, since 1993 as a linguist at the University of Chicago. Professor Friedman has a special place in his heart for Macedonia, which he first visited in 1971. This year finds him back in [...]

By Ioannis Michaletos* The following exclusive report from Athens, by longtime Balkanalysis.com contributor Ioannis Michaletos, analyzes new Greek government initiatives in countering pervasive fuel smuggling- and how deeply entrenched this practice is with other kinds of organized crime in Greece and the Balkans. €šÃ„¶€šÃ„¶€šÃ„¶€šÃ„¶€šÃ„¶€šÃ„¶€šÃ„¶ The Greek government recently began a significant law enforcement operation, codenamed [...]