Balkans

Following the shock decision to designate Albania’s former president and PM ‘corrupt’, experts are divided on whether the gesture will do Albanian democracy more harm than good. The US State Department decision to declare Albania’s former prime minister and president Sali Berisha persona non grata for corruption shocked many Albanians, …

Barring a major upset, activist and MP Tomislav Tomasevic is set to become mayor of the Croatian capital, marking a new chapter for the city. The day after Croatia’s May 16 municipal elections, local media and social networks were flooded with 11 year-old photos of the man who is now …

Defying the limitations imposed by the pandemic, many youngsters in Pristina have found release for their untapped energy in a community centre where volunteers assist the poor and homeless. While many social activities resumed in Kosovo after the total lockdown imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic last year from March …

Defence Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic has fallen out of favour, but his political master and president may let him limp on. “Nebojsa Stefanovic will leave power when I do,” Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said in December 2018, after Stefanovic offered his resignation as interior minister following an incident involving police and …

A handful of wives and children of Montenegrins who joined Islamic State remain in camps in Syria, with no official requests made for their repatriation.Authorities in Montenegro say they have not received any requests for the repatriation of the wives and children of Montenegrin citizens who fought with Islamic State …

As a referendum on a snap election brews, Slovaks are reminded of their dismal track record in voting in plebiscites. Yet this time could be different. Six years after it last appeared in the public’s mind, “referendum” is a buzzword again in Slovakia. As a nearly 600,000-signature petition calling for …

Twenty-one years after a massacre by Yugoslav Army soldiers in Kosovo, the trial of the alleged perpetrators is still ongoing and a Serbian court has ruled that senior commanders cannot be held legally responsible for crimes committed by their subordinates. It was the morning of May 14, 1999 when Serbian …

A small group of Kosovo citizens marched in the capital, Pristina, on Friday, in solidarity with the Palestinian people following the latest escalation between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza. As Israel stepped up its offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza, dozens of supporters of a feminist group in Kosovo …

While the Right may claim victory in Sunday’s local elections in Croatia, the capital is tilting to the Left.Croatia’s ruling conservatives look set to win big in local elections on Sunday, but a relatively new party on the left – ‘Mozemo!’, or ‘We can!’ – may grab the headlines if …

Tomislav Tomasevic’s imminent victory in Zagreb matches a pattern emerging across Europe – where big cities choose radical mayors – but not ones drawn from the traditional parties of the left. The Croatian state’s founding father, the warrior-politician and nationalist Franjo Tudjman, must be spinning in his grave, which lies …