Pressure is Growing for Negotiations
It's been exactly three years since the start of the war in Ukraine. After US President Donald Trump came to power, US support for Ukraine has completely changed and the pressure to start peace talks has increased. We talk to Olena Halushka from Kiev, co-founder of the International Center for Ukrainian Victory, about whether Ukrainians are ready to give up rare minerals and meet Trump's demands, as well as about public opinion in Ukraine about the pressure from the US.
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Macedonia got a new President - Eastern European countries are fighting for democracy
Analysis of Macedonian diplomacy, Callings from Georgia and Ukraine on the situation with the protests and the war.
The first guest in this edition of Labyrinth is the former Ambassador of Macedonia to Sweden and Romania, Tihomir Ilievski. We talked about the oath taken by the new President and the reactions it caused among our neighbors. Despite the reactions and difficulties in bilateral relations, the diplomat is still optimistic about the European integration of Macedonia, as well as about the normalization of relations in the entire Balkans.
In Georgia, massive civil protests are taking place over the law on "foreign agents" which moves the country away from the European path, but also seriously threatens the livelihood and freedom of Georgian citizens. From Tbilisi, we were joined by Ekaterine Basilaia - director of the Center for Media and Social Research of Georgia, who explained in more detail what this law is and why so many people took to the streets. We discussed the use of excessive force by the police in arresting peaceful protesters and the legal fight to protect those detained.
In Labyrinth, we also included the volunteer in the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces, Volodymyr Sapekhin. Volodymyr has been going to the fronts and back for more than two years. We talked about the current situation on the fronts, about the progress of Russian forces in the Kharkiv region, but also about his personal feelings about the two realities he lives in.
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As long as there are quotas and the need for special laws, we do not have gender equality
Women in the private security sector
In the first March edition of Labyrinth, we talk about women in the private security sector with the Secretary General of the Chamber of Private Security, Sanja Kermetchieva. Similar to the state, in the private security sector only 10% of the employees are women. As long as we talk about quotas, as long as we count how many women are in certain positions, regardless of whether it is in the highest state positions, whether it is a position of women managers, whether they are in rectors, in dean's administrations and so on, in any which position or in specific jobs in security, how many women are police officers, how many in private security, how many are soldiers...
Until then and while we are talking about this and while there is a need for special conventions, special laws and policies in companies, we are facing with gender inequality. -
After Albania resolved its bilateral disputes, the fight against corruption is the last step towards the EU
The arrest of the ex-President Meta, the migrant camps and the EU path of Albania in the focus of this Labyrinth.
Albania started a fierce fight against corruption - this is how Albanian citizens see the arrest of the former President, Ilir Meta. With colleague Arber Hitaj from Report TV from Tirana, we discuss the arrest and trust in the Special Prosecutor's Office. Topics of conversation were the migrant camp, as well as European integration, that is, the unblocked road for Albania and the Balkan tour of the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, which started right from Tirana.
After Tirana, Von der Leyen visited Skopje. From the Government, she assured the citizens that expansion remains the focus of the European agenda. Neither the President Von der Leyen, nor Prime Minister Mickoski gave a concrete answer to the question of whether the proposal for delayed implementation of the possible constitutional amendments is acceptable to the EU.
