The heavy-handed attempts of the Spanish police to stop a Catalan referendum on independence on Sunday from taking place exposed predictable divisions in the Balkans.

While some politicians who support regional autonomy in the Balkans have come out in support of the Catalan referendum, most national governments - wary of separatism in their own countries - have lined up behind Spain.

Supporters and opponents of Catalonia's right to hold an independence referendum from Spain have emerged on foreseeable lines in the Balkans.

By: Marcus Tanner

An enfeebled Angela Merkel means a weaker, less courageous Germany – which will not do any of the Balkan states hoping to join the EU any favours.

Like Britain’s Theresa May, Angela Merkel has come out of her general election looking a lot weaker than when she went in.

Weeks ago, the talk was only of how massive her new majority would be. Now, like Mrs May, she is back in office but not really in power.

President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic received today in Belgrade a delegation of the British House of Lords, Serbian media reported.

According to a statement issued by the Presidency, Vucic and his guests spoke about "regional issues and the European path of Serbia."

Vucic "thanked the representatives of the House of Lords for their interest in the problems that the Western Balkans is facing, and pointed out that there are still many important issues on the European agenda of Serbia."

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, and Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn, met Western Balkans leaders in New York and reconfirmed the region’s European perspective.

Chairman of NATO's Military Committee Petr Pavel says there are reasons for concern over Russia-Belarus military maneuvers Zapad (West) 2017.

According to him, the exercise "could be seen" a "serious preparations for big war," Serbian media reported

In addition, Pavel also said that NATO was "not competing with Russia for the Western Balkans".

He told AP on Saturday that NATO was "increasing efforts to reestablish the military-to-military communications with Russia to avoid any unintended consequences of potential incidents during the exercise.”

The conditions for Western Balkan countries to join the EU membership will not be met before the end of the mandate of the current European Commission (EC).

EC President Jean-Claude Juncker said this on Wednesday, during his "state of the union" address at the European Parliament.

Beta is reporting that Juncker "stressed the EU will have more than 27 member states in the coming years."

Events to mark the International Day of the Disappeared in Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo and Serbia sought to raise awareness that 12,000 people are still missing from the 1990s wars.

Flowers were laid and candles lit across the former Yugoslavia at events to commemorate the International Day of the Disappeared on Wednesday in a bid to highlight the fact that the bodies of 12,000 of the estimated 40,000 missing persons from the 1990s wars have still not been found.

"I think that the relations between Serbia and Albania are doing better than any time. This is a very positive sign. Certainly, it is really, first and foremost, thanks to Prime Minister Edi Rama and President Aleksandar Vucic," the Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabic, has said.

A former chief of the Czech Army has warned that the EU is not paying attention to the Western Balkans - and is thus allow "terrorists to rest in the region."

"We are dealing with an entirely different part of Europe, that is, Western and Central Europe, and we have stopped paying attention to the Balkans since the 1990s war, especially security-wise," Jiri Sedivy has told the Czech media, according to Beta agency.

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz has called on the EU "to bring the Balkans into its orbit."

In an interview for Germany's Handelsblatt, quoted by Tanjug, Kurz "warned of the growing influence of Turkey and Saudi Arabia."

"In Sarajevo and Pristina, for example, women are paid to wear the full veil in public. We cannot look on and do nothing," the Austrian minister said.