Serbia

The European Union has spent much of the past decade divided and impotent, as it flailed its way through a series of seemingly never-ending crises. But Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine last week appears to have reenergized the bloc, leading to the emergence of a newly assertive EU bound together …

Military veteran Zdravko Ponos, an opposition candidate for president in an election in April, tells BIRN that Serbia will struggle to recover from five more years of Aleksandar Vucic. As a candidate for Serbia’s highest office, Zdravko Ponos could hardly have a better biography: a highly-educated military man, former head …

The political elites in Belgrade have made good use of the politically controlled media to transform China’s image in the country. Close connections with the Serbian political elite and the favourable presentation of China in Serbian media, especially from outlets close to the Serbian government, have made China one of …

Under Aleksandar Vucic’s Progressives, the line between the state and organised crime has become increasingly blurred, raising the question – is Serbia a mafia state? According to the Hungarian sociologist Balint Magyar, in a ‘mafia state’ “The state itself, at the top, works as a criminal organisation.”

Serbia’s power-hungry leader will be following the upcoming election of the next Patriarch closely – but the complex electoral system means there’s no guarantee he will get the candidate of his choice.

Court records in Bosnia reveal that prominent members of Serb nationalist Chetnik organisations have been charged with war crimes, while the Bosnian Security Ministry has warned that such groups are extremists who could pose a security risk.

A 100 million-euro recapitalisation of Serbia’s national airline, Air Serbia, is just the latest injection of taxpayer funds into the struggling company. But how many Serbian citizens know it?

Most of the money Serbia spends on Serbs in the rest of the former Yugoslavia goes to those in Bosnia and Montenegro, where Serbian influence is greatest.

The International Court of Justice Tuesday dismissed claims of genocide by both Croatia and Serbia allegedly committed during the Balkan wars of the 1990s. “Croatia has failed to substantiate its allegation that genocide was committed. Accordingly, no issue of responsibility under the Convention for the commission of genocide can arise …

The Serbian government and the political party of detained Kosovo Serb leader Oliver Ivanovic, who is accused of war crimes, have launched a petition demanding his release. The Belgrade authorities along with Ivanovic’s Serbia, Democracy and Justice party launched the joint petition on Wednesday, asking the authorities in Pristina to …