Radmila Sekerinska from North Macedonia appointed NATO Deputy Secretary General

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has appointed Radmila Sekerinska from North Macedonia as the next NATO Deputy Secretary General.

“I am happy to announce the appointment of Radmila Sekerinska as the next Deputy Secretary General. She is a true believer in NATO, knows the work it takes to join the Alliance, and what it means to be a full member,” said Mark Rutte.

• Mariya Gabriel could replace Mircea Geoană as NATO Deputy Secretary General

Radmila Sekerinska has served as Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration and Minister of Defence of North Macedonia, including at the time when the country joined NATO 2020 (2017-2022). She is to take over as deputy secretary general later this year.

This past summer, information emerged that Bulgaria’s former European commissioner Mariya Gabriel, who failed to take over from Nikolai Denkov as rotation prime minister of Bulgaria, as a result of which the government of We Continue the Change/Democratic Bulgaria (PP/DB) and GERB/SDS fell, could be the next NATO Deputy Secretary General.

• A foreigner's guide to the Bulgarian political saga

The news came this week that Mariya Gabriel is going to be the next President of the Robert Schuman Institute.

Romania’s PM Marcel Ciolacu holds telephone conversation with Donald Trump

Romania’s Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu talked with the President-elect of the US Donald Trump over the telephone this week, and told him that he would like the US to remain Romania’s prime investor and trade partner outside the EU, the Romanian government writes on Facebook. “I had a very good telephone conversation with President-elect Donald Trump. I congratulated him on the historic victory and I said that I am fully committed to the promotion of our strategic partnership… I told him that I would like the US to remain Romania’s prime investor and trade partner outside the EU,” Marcel Ciolacu writes on Facebook. “I believe that under the Trump administration, our strategic partnership with USA will move to a new level so we can bring big American capital into the Romanian economy, but also to the modernization of the army and the development of the national defence industry,” adds PM Ciolacu. He informed Donald Trump that the government has made significant steps to respond to his call for increasing the defence budget up to 2.5% of the GDP.

The first round of the presidential elections in Romania is taking place on Sunday, 24 November, and the second round is scheduled for 8 December. Between the two rounds, on 1 December, Romanians will be voting for parliament.

Santorini residents threaten protests over excessive tourism

The residents of Santorini are threatening to organize protests and boycott tourists unless tourist visits to the Greek island are restricted. Tensions flared up when, during high season, the mayor of the island asked the residents on the island to stay indoors so as to make more room for tourists – at the time, in the space of just one day, cruise ships with 17,000 tourists on board arrived on the island, BNR’s correspondent in Greece Katya Peeva reports. The residents of Santorini are demanding restrictions on the tourist flow and an end to the issuance of building permits for tourist sites. A population of no more than 15,000 received 2 million tourists during the season, and that is a task that is impossible, the locals say. Environmentalists have also been giving voice to their frustration over the constant erosion of the coast and the shortage of drinking water.

3,000 attend Nomad Digital Festival in Tirana

November 18-22, the Albanian capital Tirana is hosting the latest edition of the Nomad Digital Festival, the Bulgarian news agency BTA reports, citing the Albanian news agency ATA. The event brings together digital nomads from all over the world – people who combine remote work with travel to different countries and encounters with different cultures.

“Today, Tirana is No. 1 in the Balkans, bringing together 3,000 digital nomads… people who are doing the job of the future. We are definitely popularizing Tirana, and at the same time we are getting ready to be the Mediterranean capital of culture next year. A great many of the digital nomads are going to join the cultural activities. We would like to continue with all of this positive energy and become a truly cosmopolitan city,” said the Mayor of Tirana Erion Veliaj.

Compiled by Miglena Ivanova
Translated and posted by Milena Daynova
Photos: community-democracies.org, romania-insider.com, greece-is.com, shqiptarja.com