Serbia

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 …

Read More »

Serbian Democracy is Paying a Price for Western Geopolitical Interests

Western actors in the Balkans prioritize regional stability above all other considerations – and while Vucic delivers that, they will continue to view election irregularities as a secondary matter.Just five days after highly controversial elections in Serbia, the social media accounts of the US embassy in Belgrade published a video …

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 »

Serbia Elections To Prolong Questions Of Stability And Security In Western Balkans – Analysis

Two days ago on 17 December, general and local elections took place in Serbia, a Western Balkans country often linked with conflicts. The outcomes of the elections are already being challenged by the majority of opposition leaders, particularly within the ‘Serbia Against Violence’ coalition. The results of these elections in …

Read More »

Kosovo and Switzerland, Switzerland and Kosovo

The two small European mountain countries have a deep political, economic, historical but above all human relationship, through numerous personal ties. About 250,000 people belong to the Kosovar diaspora in Switzerland. This is significantly lower than Italians living in Switzerland, for example. And yet it’s a high number. After all, …

Read More »

Germany: Serbia vote fraud ‘unacceptable’ for a candidate to join the EU

A team of international observers on Monday (18 December) slammed Serbian elections over a string of “irregularities”, including “vote buying” and “ballot box stuffing”, after the opposition accused the ruling party of committing voter fraud. The accusations aired by the monitors, which included representatives from the Organization for Security and …

Read More »

Extraordinary Elections: Bid To Restore Tycoons’ Rule In Serbia? – Analysis

Extraordinary parliamentary elections in Serbia, extraordinary elections for the Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, and extraordinary local elections for the capital city of Belgrade and an additional 65 local self-governments will take place on 17 December 2023. According to analysts, these elections are considered the most important since …

Read More »

Elections In Serbia: Prologue To An All-Out War? – OpEd

Trotsky, once a close friend of Lenin, is believed to have said: “You may not be interested in the war, but the war is interested in you.” This is the situation in South-Eastern Europe which the West had neglected for a long time, tolerating Serbia to weave illusions about the …

Read More »

“Swiss diplomacy in Kosovo is not visible”

SWI swissinfo.ch: Often using military force, Russia has imposed pro-Russian separatist movements in Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria and, of course, in eastern Ukraine. However, Putin has always defended himself against criticism, claiming that NATO intervened in Kosovo in 1999. Is that comparison fair? Oliver Jens Schmitt: No, they’re two completely …

Read More »