All the news

Leonard Orban: Deconstructing Europe

29/07/2010 -  Nikolai Yotov Bucarest

Between 2007 and 2010, Leonard Orban was Romania’s first European commissioner for multilingualism. OBC met him to discuss the present state of the European project and the challenges ahead: migrations, prejudices, enlargement and identity

ICJ and Kosovo, does the Court's Opinion resolve anything?

29/07/2010 -  Stefan Wolff

“I always tell my students that, when sitting an exam, they have to answer the question that has been set rather than one that they feel comfortable with.” Stefan Wolff comments on the main conclusions of the International Court of Justice's Advisory Opinion on Kosovo’s Declaration of Independence

Serbia:The socialist orbit

20/07/2010 -  Petra Tadić Belgrade

A party in which everything (and nothing) has changed. It is the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), today the pillar of a pro-European government, yesterday Milošević’s political creature. At its helm is Ivica Dačić, the man who succeeded in bringing the socialists back to the center of the Serbian political system without explicitly disowning the legacy of the 90s

Seliger's many faces

19/07/2010 -  Giorgio Comai Seliger

Thousands of young people from all over the world took part in a camp organised by the Russian government. A portrait of today's Russia, a country looking for openness and international recognition, where development and innovation are strictly tied to the Putin-Medvedev governmental “tandem”. A reportage

Buying a house in Vladikavkaz

16/07/2010 -  Tamara Shanaeva Vladikavkaz

In North Ossetia, an increasing number of people are able to fulfil the dream of owning their own home. A deeper journey into Vladikavkaz's real-estate market winds through construction scandals, bank offers, new mansions, and Stalinist apartments

Kosovo: A hot summer in Mitrovica

13/07/2010 -  Tatjana Lazarević Mitrovica

In early July, a series of political incidents in Mitrovica resulted in a death and several injured people. After ten years of conflict over Serbian-controlled north Kosovo, the divided city of Mitrovica emerges again on the Kosovo and international political agenda

Turkey: Orientals? We already are

09/07/2010 -  Fazıla Mat

Has Turkey, tired of waiting for EU integration, turned away from the West? These are only speculations, the stakeholders state. Among Turkish public opinion, though, trust is decreasing. An in-depth examination of Turkish regional relations and its Union integration position

White Orphans, the enlargement's children

07/07/2010 -  Cristina Bezzi

Romania’s 350,000 “white orphans” have been left behind by one or both parents, who emigrated to search for jobs and resources to grant their children a better future. During the “Left Behind” conference in May 2010 in Milan, Italy the “Albero della Vita” association presented the results of their study of the problem

Macedonia: Media Freedom Under Threat

05/07/2010 -  Risto Karajkov Skopje

In Early June, the EU Commission had to remind the Macedonian government that freedom of expression and of the media are fundamental rights and the basis of democratic societies. The reaction followed that of the European Federation of Journalists, which condemned the “scandalous neglect” of the safety of journalists in the country

Nagorno Karabakh: talk of peace, but also of war

02/07/2010 -  Onnik Krikorian Yerevan

Panic reportedly began to spread last week in Yerevan as news of the worst major skirmish between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces on the line of contact in two years was reported by the local media. Ironically, the ceasefire violation occurred just one day after the Armenian president and his Azerbaijani counterpart met in St. Petersburg for talks convened by Russia

Bosnia Herzegovina: The land of rivers

01/07/2010 -  Eldina Pleho Sarajevo

Bosnia Herzegovina is rich in waters and has huge energy potential. The Bosnian Federation alone is planning the construction of 12 hydro-electric, thermal plants and wind mills during the next 10 years. Until now, the tenders carried out in this sector, however, have not been transparent

Business entrepreneurs, not terrorists

29/06/2010 -  Giorgio Comai

The Kremlin's new regional approach to the northern Caucasus, based on competition and economic development, includes young people as key actors. The strategy blends Soviet experiences with capitalist values

European patchwork

22/06/2010 -  Nicole CorritoreFrancesca Vanoni Sarajevo

Italian regions, south-eastern European local authorities, and Italian civil society organisations will combine their experiences in a three-year programme. SeeNet II – South-East Europe Network is the widest partnership of decentralised cooperation between Italy and the Balkans

Croatia: the sentence for Predrag Matvejević

22/06/2010 - 

The confirmation of a sentence. For having labelled “Our Taliban” those writers who, with their pens, waited on the Balkan wars. Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso expresses his solidarity to Predrag Matvejević and supports an appeal in his favour

Tanović: Changing Bosnia

18/06/2010 -  Eldina Pleho Sarajevo

Bosnian director Danis Tanović, winner of an Academy Award for his movie No man's land, is getting ready for the October elections with Naša Stranka, the party he founded only two years ago. To defeat the rubbish of history. Our interview

Caucasus: New media, new social networks and old conflicts

16/06/2010 -  Arzu Geybullayeva

In the Caucasus, social networking and new media help build bridges among communities divided by long conflicts. More initiatives now work in this direction

Macedonia: Stuck in the Waiting Room

14/06/2010 -  Risto Karajkov Skopje

Although it was the first country in the region to sign a Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU, Macedonia seems to have slid backward in the accession queue, and will probably be stuck in a waiting room for a long time

Turkey, Europe

11/06/2010 -  Fazıla Mat

Despite changes - from the emigration waves of the sixties to internal migrations - Istanbul remains open to Europe and to the world. Writer Murat Belge talks about Turkey, Europe, and the re-emerging past

Abkhazia: Europe is close, on the other side of the Black Sea

09/06/2010 -  Giorgio Comai

Stanislav Lakoba is a well-known Abkhaz historian and politician. Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso met him in Sukhumi where he talked about Abkhazia's sense of belonging to Europe, the current situation in this self-proclaimed state, and its relations with Brussels

Europe: Yes, But When?

08/06/2010 -  Luka Zanoni

The EU - Western Balkans international conference held in Sarajevo ended without dramatic news. An emphasis on the region’s EU accession prospects with no discussion of specific dates or accelerated access. A comment