Balkans

There’s little chance of cross-border economic cooperation projects like the ‘Open Balkan’ initiative being truly successful while political leaders in Belgrade continue to dream of a greater Serbian state encompassing the territory and citizens of neighbouring countries. Damir Marusic and Benjamin Haddad of the Atlantic Council, a US think-tank, published …

Sen. Bob Menendez called on Turkish soldiers to leave Cyprus, according to Greek media. Northern Cyprus’ president is upset at a US senator for reported comments about the Turkish military on the disputed island. Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey visited Cyprus on Monday. During the trip, he reportedly …

As work nears completion in the first phase of an ambitious project in Montenegro to develop a highway that will connect the Adriatic port of Bar with Serbia, Western officials and mainstream media are ramping up attacks on the endeavor. Western commentators are united in condemnation, ranging from fear-mongering over …

The recent repatriation of families of ISIS fighters to Kosovo, Albania and North Macedonia poses a tough challenge to all three countries to rehabilitate them back into society. On July 18, North Macedonia announced that it had repatriated 23 of its citizens who had spent the last few years on …

Bosnia has yet to even start resisting Russia’s patronage of far-right, ethno-nationalist groups in the country – that are deepening its already dangerous polarization. Russia engages a range of actors and tools across the Western Balkans, ranging from official diplomats to friendly oligarchs, and from informal radical groups to leading …

Adiplomatic quarrel broke out between Slovakia and Hungary after the speaker of the Hungarian parliament, Laszlo Kover, spoke about past Slovak “sins” unforgiven by Hungarians during a ceremony in southwest Slovakia held in memory of Hungarians expelled at the end of World War II. The Slovak Foreign Ministry took umbrage …

The decision by Poland and the Baltic nations to legalise the pushback of migrants at the Belarusian border is leading to a dangerous game of ping pong with vulnerable people, as BIRN has witnessed. When BIRN came across Safaa Alnaseri near the village of Minkowce in northeast Poland, on the …

Local courts in several EU countries, including Austria, Italy, and Slovenia, have ruled in favour of refugees and migrants who were pushed back over the bloc’s external borders, but can they stop the practice altogether? It was raining. Ayoub and his six companions were soaked through and shivering in the …

The recent repatriation of families of ISIS fighters to Kosovo, Albania and North Macedonia poses a tough challenge to all three countries to rehabilitate them back into society. On July 18, North Macedonia announced that it had repatriated 23 of its citizens who had spent the last few years on …

As climate change becomes more evident and droughts worsen, Balkan cities need to reduce the huge amount of water leaking each year from pipelines. Every day a woman went to a deep well in the middle of a vast meadow to fill her pots with water. The well had a …