Balkans

Prosecutors in Albania say a former minister used a remarkably simple scheme to funnel big bribes for public contracts. It still took them several years to find him out.On September 26, 2016, a warehouseman at state-owned Albania Railways called Arber Denizi opened his own business for the import and export …

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the beginning of the Yugoslav wars, Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II. Although the Balkan states moved toward democratic governance and integration with NATO and the European Union in the immediate aftermath of the wars, consistent neglect on the part of the …

North Macedonia is facing calls to address the threat from right-wing groups and far-right extremism when its national counter-terrorism strategy comes up for renewal next year. The current strategy, which covers the period 2018-2022, focuses primarily on religious extremism and Islamic radicalisation. The European Commission, the executive arm of the …

Mirko Zecevic Tadic was a member of the self-styled Croatian Defense Council during the Bosnian War. He had just reached adulthood as the fighting broke out in 1992, and eventually lost his right leg below the knee in a conflict that pitted neighbor against neighbor and majority Bosniaks, Serbs, and …

BIRN’s new interactive map pinpoints China’s growing business presence in the region – which experts say media and civil society need to focus on more. Experts and journalists have warned that Chinese loans and investments in the Balkans lack a desirable level of transparency and say more of a focus …

Kosovo is trying to reintegrate returnees from the Islamic State. But its strategy on religious extremism must evolve too, experts say. In the backyard of a house in the southern Kosovo city of Prizren, a four-year-old girl sits with a smartphone listening to Ilahi, a form of Islamic song. The …

We ought not to consider The Balkans a region completely immune from potential crises and conflicts. The symptoms of this assumption are clearly visible in the current political situation in Bosnia, which is risking to enter into a new conflict with unforeseeable consequences, even 25 years after the Dayton Peace …

Political veteran Sali Berisha will bid to take back control of the opposition Democrats on Saturday, but in doing so he risks splitting the party in two.Tirana’s 22,500-seat ‘Air Albania’ stadium will host a grudge match on Saturday, but there won’t be a football in sight. Instead, a 77-year-old former …

Bulgarian politics enter a new phase with ‘We Continue the Change’ heading a coalition under Kiril Petkov as Prime Minister – but the political diversity of the new cabinet could be a major problem.The formation of a new government in Bulgaria in early December understandably brought a new sense of …

Malgré des positions différentes entre Macron et Orban, un rapprochement est en train de s’opérer. Pour s’émanciper de l’Allemagne ? Le président Emmanuel Macron a rencontré le Premier ministre hongrois Viktor Orban. Ce dernier assure actuellement la présidence tournante du groupe de Visegrad (Pologne, République tchèque, Slovaquie et Hongrie) et a …