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“First and foremost we tried to help them rethink the way they feel about being part of the Romani minority,” said advocacy camp trainer Daniel Radulescu, president of the Bucharest branch of Sastipen, a European program aimed at improving the health of Roma. “When we started this camp, several students had low self-esteem and complained about repeatedly falling victim to discriminating attitudes and practices. Others confessed that they’ve done their best to hide their ethnicity. We tried to empower them instead and make them see this as an extraordinary challenge. They have a great opportunity to become leaders and help break old barriers and prejudices.”

For the most part, countries with a low GDP also ranked low on the happiness scale. In terms of GDP the bottom five countries are Macedonia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia, while Slovenia ranked 17th and Greece 15th. In terms of happiness, Bulgaria ranked last, followed by Macedonia. Turkey, Croatia, Romania and Greece ranked 27, 24, 23 and 21 respectively. The happiest Southeast Europeans are the Slovenes who rank 13th, higher even than (higher GDP country) Germany.

 GDP and income figures alone do not tell the entire story. Looking beyond GDP and income figures, other socio-economic figures also appeared to have an impact on subjective happiness. While Greece had the highest GDP of the Southeast Europe countries, they ranked only 27th, lower than both Romania and Croatia when it came to being able to make ends meet, and had 15% of survey respondents in arrears with basic utility bills, which might explain the descreprency between Greece’s GDP and subjective happiness.

Economic status also appeared to be a greater indicator of subjective happiness within Southeast Europe than in Western Europe or the Nordic countries. In Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria, people in the lowest income bracket scored on average 2pts lower on the life satisfaction scale than those in the highest bracket. In contrast, in Sweden and Denmark, countries with a strong social safety net, there was little difference between income groups when it came to life satisfaction.

Other factors besides income also appeared have an impact on happiness. Most importantly, in Bulgaria, Macedonia, Hungary and Romania, all countries that fall on the low end of the scale economically, there was a very strong correlation between happiness and level of education achieved. While in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Lithuania, youth also correlated with happiness. According to the study younger adults are having an easier time of coping with and adjusting to the enormous political and societal changes in their countries. Across the EU and candidate states, relationship status also had an effect on happiness. Those in a relationship were shown to be happier than those not in a relationship.

It’s not just the economy, stupid. Take the example of Macedonia, with the lowest GDP of all the countries, the highest income inequality between rich and poor and a low life satisfaction; one might expect Macedonia be somewhere in the teens when it came to measuring “positive expectations of the future.” That would be wrong. Despite their massive economic woes, 56% of Macedonians had a positive expectation of the future. A figure the study attributes to positive political development, both within Macedonia itself, and candidacy to join NATO and EU.

Lucky for me, (and you-unless you want me to write ad-nauseum about Bianka Panova and Maria Petrova), Boyko Vassilev has written a very informative article on how the recent Russian-Ukranian gas crisis exasporated tensions between Russophobes and Russophiles in Bulgaria, which traces its beginnings to the Russo-Turkish war of 1878.

Like nowhere else in the Balkans, Bulgarian nationalists are deeply divided into three factions: some love Russia, some hate Russia, some don’t care. The Russophiles normally fear Turkey and ignore the West. The Russophobes admire the West and perceive Orthodox Serbs and Greeks as enemies. Those who don’t care are equally suspicious of Russia and the West, insisting that the country should isolate itself from the dangerous outer world and build a fortress around its borders.

The first group is fixated on Bulgarian Turks and Turkey proper, the second on Macedonia, and the third on the domestic Romani population and the issue of globalization. It may sound like an oversimplification, but this division strikes a deep chord into Bulgarian hearts and minds – even if they don’t consider themselves nationalists. The three types have ardent defenders on the fringes and more moderate supporters in mainstream politics

Both sides of the divide saw the same issues during the crisis through very different lens.

What is happening? “Ukraine steals gas, then cuts it off, and jeopardizes its European future,” said the first group. The other countered: “Russia sits on top of the gas pipeline and decides whom to punish. Our contract is with Gazprom, after all.”

Why is it happening this way? “Ukraine turned its back on Russia, and now it’s paying the price for its treachery. Kyiv is collapsing economically and politically ahead of elections and seeks a scandal,” said the first group. The other shot back: “Falling oil prices have made Russia nervous and vulnerable. Moscow is looking for compensation by imposing intolerable gas prices on Ukraine.”

Why is Bulgaria the most affected country? “Ukraine deliberately stopped the gas to Russia’s allies, like Bulgaria, Serbia, and Macedonia, to provoke anti-Russian feelings,” said the first group. To which the other responded: “We rely too much on Russian energy and are now paying the price for this dependency. Moscow is going to blackmail us forever.”

What should Bulgaria do? “Abandon the stupid quarrels with Russia,” the first group said, urging progress on the South Stream pipeline, which would bring Russian gas under the Black Sea to Bulgaria and on to other parts of Europe. But the other group argued, “Escape the energy grip of Moscow as quickly as possible,” by moving forward with the Nabucco pipeline, which would carry gas from the Caspian region through the Caucasus and Turkey, then into Europe, bypassing Russia.

The most urgent issue is to ensure the diversification of Bulgaria’s energy supply. According to Vasiliev:

The good news is that, better late than never, Bulgaria is recognizing the problem and its severity. Stanishev and Economy and Energy Minister Peter Dimitrov are discussing alternatives – like linking the Bulgarian gas system with Romania, Greece, and Turkey; building a liquefied natural gas terminal; and modernizing and expanding local gas fields and storage depots.

Another possibilty is the use of nuclear power, which recieved support from a wide section of the public, however, that would not solve the gas issue and plant would likely be supplied with Russian fuel.

Luckily for me, there are people who do know what they are talking about. Edward Hugh of AFOE writes about the IMF’s 3 billion dollar loan the government and Serbia, and the possible ramifications of the loan.

Anyways, justwatch-l discussion group just linked to an article that apparently states that the Kenyan authorities arrested a man who is sought by the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Rumors being of course that this man might be either Ratko Mladic, or (perhaps more likely given Mladic’s apparent health problems) Goran Hadzic.

So far, google news shows only the one above linked article mentioning the story of Mladic, Hadzic, or whoever’s alleged arrest in Kenya . That of course doesn’t mean that it is untrue, especially if the  ICTY, Interpol, or the governments of either Kenya or Serbia are trying for obvious reasons to keep this as discrete as possible until an identity  is established and extradition procedures can be implemented; but by now stories like these are usually already out on the AP wires. On the other hand, a justwatch-l poster writes that he also has been hearing the same rumors about the arrest from sources in the Serbian gov’t.

* UPDATE*

Another  justwatch-l poster just wrote that the arrested person  is not Mladic nor Hadzic, but is someone who is on the wanted list.

*UPDATE II: We’re all Panamanians now

This arrested indvidual was not Mladic nor Hadzic, nor any one who had anything to do with the war or war crimes; but a Croatian water sport instructor.

Summarizing the findings, SE Times reports that:

The country reports on eight Balkan nations concluded that the authorities in six of them — Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia — “generally respected” the citizens’ human rights, but that problems remained in some areas.

The Romanian government “addressed some human rights problems” in 2008, the State Department said. It added, however, that abuses continued to occur in the country. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, meanwhile, the authorities’ human rights record “remained poor” last year, despite improvements observed in certain areas.

The reports: Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey

Elena Basescu and her father

The Romanian blogosphere (and indeed the entire country) are buzzing about news that President Traian Basescu’s daughter is planning on running to join the European Parliament. Although she served as a European Parliament intern last fall,  Elena is more famous for photos like thisthan any real political acumen. To that end, it is probably no surprise that by and large the response (at least gaging from the articles I’ve read) are dismissive of Basescu’s candidacy. Typical of the reaction across the Romanian blogosphere, is that of blogger Mohui:

. “I wonder what will she say to the fellow European MPs? Will she lecture them about fashion, strange haircuts and a 5mm lipstick layer (…)?”

I haven’t heard of Elena Basescu before tonight, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.  However, based on the articles I have read; I have yet to read one convincing argument that Basescu is either the best choice for MP or even qualified to be an MP in the first place. To be fair, a reporter, Traian Ungureanu pointed out that in her favor, Basescu was not corrupt, nor a protege of the wealthy (and corrupt) oligarchy. But, I assume (?) that Basescu is not the only candidate for MP who can meet these basic ethical standards. Furthermore, Ungureanu’s argument was hardly an endorsement of Basescu’s candidacy on her own merits (i.e. what she can specifically bring to the European Parliament).

One politician, Alina Mungiu Pippidi, has stated that she will not run for Parliament with Elena Basescu on the slate. For Pippidi, there are six qualifications that should be met by a candidate:

not having colaborated with the Securitate, not owning any wealth that cannot be justified by their incomes, not having been sentenced by a court and not being probed or on trial, not taking advantage from the public office of a family member, not having moved between more than two political parties, not having an inadequate behavior in public.

I understand Pippidi’s objection to Basescu’s candidacy. However I think that some of those six points (which are quite obvious at who they are directed at) might carry some unintended baggage. For one, I’m really not sure what she means exactly by “owning wealth that cannot be justified by their income.” There are  people who own wealth that “cannot be justified by their income” (i.e. they did not earn it themselves, coming from a wealthy family). Is this what Pippidi means, or am I misinterpreting her point? Coming from wealth, or even living a nouveau rich lifestyle should not, in and by itself be a disqualifying factor for political office.

The issue at heart should be whether Elena Basescu the candidate, not Elena Basescu the President’s daughter, or Elena Basescu to model or Elena Basescu the socialite, is the best person to represent Romania at the European Parliament. To that end, it appears that Basescu still has a long way to go.