All the news

North Macedonia, citizens oppose the opening of mines

27/12/2022 -  Aleksandar Samardjiev Tetovo

Civil society organizations in North Macedonia have been fighting against the opening of new copper and gold mines for years. Citizens have collected documentation and evidence that mining will seriously damage the environment

Croatia joins Schengen

23/12/2022 -  Giovanni Vale Zagreb

Croatia will enter the Schengen area from January 1st. As the president of the European Commission and the Croatian Prime Minister focus on celebrations, humanitarian organisations fear an increase in violence and pushbacks against migrants

European cities, the frontier of cohesion

22/12/2022 -  Gentiola Madhi

How to ensure that cities are places of rights and quality of life and not of division and marginalisation? European institutions, through cohesion policy, are trying to find solutions

Rivers of the Balkans: the Kupa and barbed wire

21/12/2022 -  Giovanni Vale

Second episode of our reportage along the Kupa. The shock of the border in 1991, the shock of barbed wire in 2015. Yet, some are not giving up

Time is running out for war crimes prosecution in Bosnia

20/12/2022 -  Massimo Moratti

“A race against time” is the title of a recent report by the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) highlighting the delays in implementation of the country’s strategy for war crimes prosecution. The risk is to see the process prolonged for a number of years. While the completion of those trials was a top priority for the country only 15 years ago, it has now become hostage to political tensions in Bosnia

Romania: plagiarism, a gateway to corruption

19/12/2022 -  Sielke Kelner

In this conversation with Emilia Șercan, investigative journalist and senior lecturer at the University of Bucharest, we explored the state of the art of Romanian journalism and reflected upon the different meanings of plagiarism in a country where corruption remains rampant

Plitvice: the care of a park

15/12/2022 -  Nicole Corritore Plitvice

A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979, the Plitvice Lakes Park located in Croatia on the border with Bosnia Herzegovina, with its 300 sq km of surface area, is an exceptional European natural area. The biodiversity of its habitats and its overall ecosystem need constant protection interventions. A reportage

Serbia, algorithmic discrimination rehearsals

14/12/2022 -  Federico Caruso

A new law on social services in Serbia provides for the collection of a large amount of personal data of beneficiaries, to be analysed with an algorithm that evaluates their socio-economic condition. The declared goal is to improve the distribution of resources, but over 22,000 people have already lost the subsidy, without knowing why

North Macedonia, the energy challenge

14/12/2022 -  Aleksandar Samardjiev Tetovo

The global energy crisis has exposed all the difficulties of North Macedonia, with its limited and obsolete production system. Renewing it and bringing it up to date is one of the main challenges for the future of the country

Rivers of the Balkans: the Kupa

07/12/2022 -  Giovanni Vale

We dedicate the second chapter of our report on the rivers of the Balkans to the Kupa. The journey will lead us to talk about natural parks and migrations, borders and declining industry, barbed wire and sustainable tourism

Armenian and Georgian workers: war drives them away from Russia

07/12/2022 -  Armine Avetisyan

This year, the number of people who left Armenia to work in Russia decreased by 20,000. The number of migrant workers leaving for Russia from Georgia has also decreased slightly. The main reason is war

Bulgaria and discrimination: there is progress, but the road is still a long one

06/12/2022 -  Francesco Martino Sofia

A recent report by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) takes stock of the fight against discrimination in Bulgaria. Progress has been registered in recent years, but many problems remain unresolved

Turkey, bombs and censorship

02/12/2022 -  Kenan Behzat Sharpe Istanbul

The recent attack in the heart of Istanbul brought the issue of political violence in Turkey back to the fore, but also dramatically exposed the limitations on access to free information in the country

Green, fair, and pacifist Turkey: glimpses from Bozcaada

02/12/2022 -  Sofia Verza

Bozcaada has hosted an ecological documentary film festival for nine years now. A community-building cultural initiative that is of crucial importance in today's repressive climate in Turkey. We were there from 12 to 16 of October

What the Balkans think about climate change

29/11/2022 -  Klaudijo Klaser

On Eurobarometer we find all the data on the opinions of European citizens on climate change. In the Balkans, as in the rest of Europe, few think that citizens themselves can be the key to virtuous dynamics

Start-ups in Albania: a young but promising ecosystem

29/11/2022 -  Serena Epis

The start-up sector in Albania is relatively young, yet it has big innovation potential, especially in the ICT industry. An interview with Arjan Ymer, director of the business incubator Oficina

Fair farming, Emilia Romagna and northern Albania

25/11/2022 -  Davide Sighele

RuralAlbania, a project to support small agricultural producers in northern Albania, started in September. It follows up on strong preexisting relationships, and one of the first initiatives was a study visit

The Hybrid Warriors and the Invasion of Ukraine

24/11/2022 -  Giorgio Comai

What were the proximate dynamics that made possible what took place in the Donbas between 2014 and 2022? And what has even happened? An important part of the answer is convincingly outlined in Anna Arutunyan’s excellent latest book

Gag complaints, an anti-SLAPP shield is coming

22/11/2022 -  Paola Rosà

OCCRP, the transnational investigative journalism platform against crime and corruption, has devised a system to prevent lawsuits, prevent self-censorship, and defend journalists from gag lawsuits – an actual shield in defence of reporters. We interviewed Drew Sullivan, co-founder of OCCRP

Kosovo, making the best use of innovation potential

17/11/2022 -  Ornaldo Gjergji

Kosovo is growing fast in the field of innovation, but the strong potential of the sector is currently not being used as much as it deserves. We talked about it with Uranik Begu, director of the Innovation Center Kosovo