French President Emmanuel Macron said tonight that the future of Serbia is “within the European Union (EU) and “nowhere else” and called on Kosovo and Belgrade to “go further” on the road to normalization. “Serbia must not doubt, regardless of the early recent past, that its future is in the …
Read More »Miletić: Reinstating the death penalty in Serbia is incompatible with membership in the Council of Europe
Goran Miletić, a member of the Standing Committee of NGOs of the Council of Europe, reminds that the return of the death penalty is a topic that we have had many times in the public life of Serbia and that experts have constantly explained that it is impossible and that …
Read More »Northern Kosovo: Asserting Sovereignty amid Divided Loyalties
Tensions are rising in Kosovo’s restive Serb-majority north, as Pristina enforces its writ against the backdrop of continuing disputes with Belgrade. The parties and outside supporters should first work on defusing the short-term risk of violence and then look for ways to foster lasting stability. What’s new? A clash between police …
Read More »Bosnian Serbs ‘Honoured’ to Present Orban With Entity’s Top Award
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will receive the Order of Republika Srpska during his visit to Bosnia on Thursday and Friday, joining Vladimir Putin in the recipients’ club. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is paying a two-day visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he will visit the capital Sarajevo and …
Read More »Serbia and Russia want to refight Kosovo, this time with disinformation
Yesterday, marked the 25th anniversary of NATO’s intervention against Serbia in 1999 to halt the human rights abuses perpetrated against the ethnic Albanian population in Kosovo. Today, the U.N. Security Council, at Russia’s request, plans to discuss NATO’s intervention. This will kick off yet another round of Russian disinformation about …
Read More »25 years of aggression against Yugoslavia: NATO expansion and global context
A quarter of a century ago, on March 24, 1999, a combined group of NATO countries launched a military campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which at that time consisted of Serbia and Montenegro. Over the years, a lot has been written about the consequences of this aggression: and …
Read More »Serbia, Youth, And The EU – OpEd
“To be credible, I believe we must talk about timing and homework. And I have a proposal. As we prepare the EU’s next strategic agenda, we must set ourselves a clear goal. I believe we must be ready – on both sides – by 2030 to enlarge. This means that …
Read More »Serbia’s Two Traditions Of Freedom – OpEd
Today, Serbia does not enjoy a reputation as a free country. The philosophy of strong hand, top-down organization of society, a socialist understanding of economy, and fierce nationalism are its trademarks. The legacy of socialism with a human face, of which I have written elsewhere, has entrenched a statist mentality …
Read More »Serbia’s Authoritarian (Re)turn
The conduct of Serbia’s latest elections points to the country’s democratic decline. The EU cannot stay neutral in the face of President Vucic’s provocations and authoritarian tendencies. There is a certain back-to-the-future quality to Serbia. One would think that the country has long moved on from the lows of the …
Read More »BIRN Fact-Check: Was Kosovo’s First Transitional Justice Strategy Worth the Wait?
Kosovo’s first-ever transitional justice strategy is soon to be adopted, almost 25 years after the war ended – but experts argue that although it’s a step forward, it doesn’t do enough to address the problems that have persisted since 1999. More than two years since the drafting of Kosovo’s first-ever …
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