Balkans

Kosovo’s local elections on October 12 come at a time of unusual strain. What should have been a routine democratic exercise has instead become a test of whether the country can sustain its institutions, integrate its Serb minority, and manage the costs of decisions taken in pursuit of sovereignty. The …

“A few weeks before the 2024 election campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina started, my phone rang – it was a top-ranking person in the city administration and the ruling party. This person had never called me before nor have they since,” recounted Aleksandar Drakulic, the owner of a local news …

“Tell them you’re only offering educational materials,” one said into the camera. “Nothing more.” The raid was one of 22 carried out the same day in Serbia, Bulgaria and Cyprus, coordinated by Europol and involving considerable manpower and intelligence from Germany. Four call centres were hit, all of them in …

No one seems to care about the beaten woman. Instead, those who performed their civic duty are in the dock while their attackers – who clearly pulled strings – remain at liberty. Their escape from justice is hardly unusual. If they are off the hook because of kickbacks and political …

BIRN details the creation of a shadowy, heavily-armed and potentially illegal police unit at the exclusive, 24-hour beck and call of the man who led Bosnia’s border police for nine years and is now a fugitive from arrest. On December 30, 2014, the then head of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s border …

Their plight was already dire, but in the evening of June 21, 2024, things got even worse for Bilal and the other refugees and migrants trying to cross the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina with European Union member Croatia. Asylum seekers euphemistically call it ‘The Game’ – the moment they …

Launched at the 2023 Group of Twenty (G20) summit in New Delhi, the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) features three pillars that integrate existing and future infrastructure: a transportation pillar—the corridor’s backbone—integrating rail and maritime networks, an energy pillar with interconnected energy and electricity infrastructure across continents, and a digital …

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has faced nine months of mass protests against corruption and authoritarianism, with demonstrators facing off at times against riot police and violent pro-government thugs. But most Serbian media coverage has reflected the government narrative, depicting student and other protestors, as well as journalists, as “terrorists” conspiring …

Protestors called for an end to the atrocities and genocide in Gaza. As global outrage toward the state of Israel grows over the escalating humanitarian crisis and atrocities against Palestinians, several hundred citizens gathered last night in Skënderbeg Square in Tirana to express solidarity with the Palestinian people and to …

Supporters of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party members, protected by police, clashed with protesters again in major Serbian cities on Thursday night as months of anti-corruption demonstrations erupted into civil unrest for a fifth consecutive night. In cities and towns across the country, protesters mostly demonstrated at Progressive Party (SNS) …