Balkans

NATO on May 27 called on Kosovar authorities to take immediate steps to de-escalate tensions in the Serb-majority northern towns after security forces used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse crowds in three towns and enter municipal buildings in support of recently elected ethnic Albanian mayors. The situation was …

With police brutality in the form of truncheons and spraying of tear gas in the eyes, the newly elected mayors of three municipalities in the northern part of Kosovo entered the buildings where they are supposed to establish their offices. Zubin Potok, Leposavić, Zvečan were the scene of unrest on …

The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, announced last night that he is stepping down from the leadership of the SNS, and Miloš Vučević , the current Minister of Defense, was elected as the new leader of the progressive party on Saturday. At the same time, Vučić announced the establishment of …

Croatia says that a big jump in migrants and refugees being returned to Bosnia is thanks to Sarajevo finally implementing a bilateral ‘readmissions’ deal. Data from Bosnia suggests otherwise. Croatia has been sending migrants and refugees back to Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2017 on the basis of a bilateral agreement …

Elsewhere, Polish parties try to outdo each other over child handouts; the media is in the headlines in Czechia; and Slovakia’s new technocratic government gets to work. Afact-finding delegation of the European Parliament’s Budgetary Control Committee left Budapest this week with concerns that the Hungarian government is not doing enough …

A leaked proposal by Hungary’s MVM Group that would see Serbia cede much of its hydropower resources has been seized on by the Serbian opposition and energy experts as another damaging consequence of the close ties between the countries’ leaders. Energy experts and opposition politicians in Serbia are accusing the …

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to the Arab League summit on May 19 surprised observers around the world. In Jeddah, Zelenskyy fervently petitioned the Gulf countries to support Ukraine, the invaded, and not Russia, the invader. His visit was timely — so far neither Kyiv nor the West has been …

Greece was the first country from the region that joined the EUGreece was the first country from the region that joined the European Union. Namely, Greece became and EU member in 1981, a member of the Schengen Zone in 1992, and it joined the Eurozone in 2001. Greece has been …

At the end of April, the 2022 population census of the Republic of Serbia was published, which revealed that the number of Croats in that country has drastically decreased in the past decade. According to the data of the Republic Institute of Statistics, 39,107 Croats lived in Serbia last year, …

Police and prosecutors in Kosovo are struggling to solve violent crimes, particularly when they occur in a northern pocket of the country populated mainly by Serbs, according to a BIRN analysis of crime data illustrated in an interactive map. Violent crime in Kosovo frequently goes unpunished, particularly in the Serb-majority …