All the news

Territorial Integrity and Democracy in Georgia

12/08/2009 -  Giorgio Comai Tbilisi

Twelve months after the conflict in South Ossetia, tension in the border area is running high again. In reality, Tbilisi does not expect renewal of the hostilities, but there is concern about domestic politics. An article by our correspondent

The Yugoslav '89

06/08/2009 -  Marco Abram Belgrade

While most of the countries in Eastern Europe were experiencing revolutions and violence meant to change the course of history, Yugoslavia was, in a way, just observing. One of the important voices during that time was the Association for Yugoslav Democratic Initiative

Magic word IPA and the EU book of spells

04/08/2009 -  Risto Karajkov

IPA for the Western Balkans: a buzzword and how to make it work. Expectations, precedents, and future challenges in an interview with Bulgarian expert Pavlina Nikolova

Points of view

03/08/2009 -  Giorgio Comai

Both Russia and Georgia have devoted considerable efforts to promoting their own points of view on the conflict of August last year. Narratives remain strongly contrasting

Lips, eyes, ears

30/07/2009 -  Davide Sighele

Michael studies Indo-European languages. Gianni is Arbereshe and teaches Albanian at the Calabria University. Monica is the first in Italy to have obtained a PhD in Albanology. A group of linguists and a journey in Albania through words, stately peaks, and places of borders

Corporate environmental responsibility?

28/07/2009 -  Claudia Iatan

A further take on corporations, responsibility, and the market in Romania. The strong focus on environment, funding mechanisms, and fashion in an interview with Dragos Bucurenci, founder of a specialised NGO

Youth activists and bloggers detained

20/07/2009 -  Arzu Geybullayeva Baku

Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizada have been recently detained in Azerbaijan because of apparently groundless accusations. Despite inquiries to the local authorities by foreign embassies in Baku, they are still being held in jail

Kosovo's costly World Bank membership

20/07/2009 -  Veton Kasapolli Pristina

Membership in the World Bank costs Kosovo greatly because it must pay its portion of the old Yugoslav debt. As outlined by the Ahtisaari plan, membership comes despite Kosovo not receiving any assets deriving from the dissolution of Yugoslavia. Belgrade's continuing politics to pay Kosovo's foreign debt, as part of Serbia's general debt, is breaking down

Lifting the wall

17/07/2009 -  Risto Karajkov Skopje

The European Commission proposed visa liberalization for Macedonia, Serbia, and Montenegro, which would bring an end to a costly and sometimes humiliating ritual for people who need to travel abroad. Kosovo, Bosnia and Albania, though, were excluded from the recommendation

Responsibility or marketing?

15/07/2009 -  Claudia Iatan Bucharest

Sensitivity on corporate social responsibility is embryonic in Romania as well as elsewhere. Trade unions are absent, institutions are fragile, and NGOs draw on the business sector for their fund-raising activity

A wind of change or pathetic illusion?

13/07/2009 -  Iulian Lungu Chişinău

The Republic of Moldova on 29 July will hold new parliamentary elections. Despite the opposition leaders' demand not to hold elections in the summer but to postpone them until the autumn, the communist authorities decided to organise the elections as soon as possible

Brother Boyko

10/07/2009 -  Francesco Martino Sofia

Boyko Borisov, leader of the rightwing and winner of the recent national elections will be the next Bulgarian prime minister. But where does he come from and who is Borisov, known by everybody as "Brother Boyko"? The story of his rise to political power

Bittersweet relief for NGOs in Azerbaijan

08/07/2009 -  Arzu Geybullayeva Baku

Recent amendments to the law on NGOs in Azerbaijan have been milder than earlier expected. And while the local NGO community is relieved, there is some dissatisfaction and worry that the struggle is not over yet

Fighting to preserve press freedom

07/07/2009 -  Veton Kasapolli Pristina

Investigative journalism in Kosovo? Someone is trying, not without difficulties. The case of the TV programme "Jeta në Kosovë" and threats to journalist Jeta Xharra stir the debate within institutions and the public opinion

Belgrade's urban wilderness

02/07/2009 -  Lucia Manzotti Belgrade

Belgrade is a city almost half of which built in an "informal way," that is to say, illegally. At the heart of this phenomenon that never seems to slow, despite efforts on the part of the authorities to thwart it, lie real estate speculation and a systemic incapacity to respond to the need for basic housing

Bosnian Chess

02/07/2009 -  Andrea Rossini Sarajevo

An interview with Senad Pećanin, director of the news weekly Dani, about the ongoing clash between High Representative Inzko and the institutions of Republika Srpska, the position of the international community, and the future of the country

North of Tehran

30/06/2009 -  Arzu Geybullayeva Baku

In spite of the fact that there's a large Azeri minority in Iran - up to one fourth of the population - state-run media, as well as public officials in Azerbaijan, largely ignored the protests taking place across the border

Invest in Macedonia?

25/06/2009 -  Risto Karajkov Skopje

Macedonia ranks third, after the United States and France, in Google searches for the term "invest in". Of course, the real level of foreign investment is most important, but this search statistic is a relevant statistic of the country's visibility as a possible destination for foreign investments

Mountains, seas and crisis

19/06/2009 -  Tengiz Ablotia Tbilisi

Georgia has great touristic potential with beaches, mountains, ancient cities, castles and churches, but political instability, conflicts and economic crisis have not made the country attractive to visitors from the West. The war and the global economic crisis have hit all sectors of the Georgian economy, but the tourism sector, which had begun to recover in the last 2 to 3 years, has taken the hardest fall

The Shara mountain sheepdog

19/06/2009 -  Risto Karajkov Skopje

He has been guarding sheep and shepherds' families around the Balkans for centuries. When Macedonia became independent in 1991, the Shara mountain sheepdog was given a place on the new Macedonian one denar coin