Increasing political and financial pressure threatens the independence and editorial autonomy of many media outlets in Serbia. We interviewed Irina Milutinović, Senior Research Associate at the Institute of European Studies in Belgrade and co-author of the Country Report on Serbia of the Media Pluralism Monitor 2023
For the Serbian leadership, the recent adoption of the UN General Assembly Resolution on Srebrenica was unnecessary, as the country has already tried those responsible for war crimes. A careful analysis, however, shows a very different reality
Since April, thanks to EU cohesion funds, the Trieste-Rijeka route has been open: a railway connection with symbolic value is back, decades after being interrupted at the end of the Second World War. We boarded the train on opening day
Violence against older people is a real and little-studied problem globally, but also felt in countries like Armenia and the Caucasus in general. Also because the elderly tend to live isolated, and struggle to find help
After the overwhelming victory in the political and presidential elections last May 8, VMRO DPMNE and its new allies are starting to outline the priorities of the new government. The future of the country's European integration, also linked to difficult constitutional reforms, remains a puzzle with a difficult solution
Betting and gambling companies have gained enormous influence in Bulgaria and Romania. Not only on the people who slip into gambling addiction, but also on the media, which suffer from their economic power. New laws seek to contain this influence, but their impact is unclear
Despite the inconsistencies and uncertainties around the agreement signed between Rome and Tirana for the reception of migrants on Albanian soil, and while awaiting the judgment of the European Court, work on the two centres has already begun in Gjadër and Shëngjin. We went to see how they were progressing
Though protests against border delimitation and demarcation had started to wane in recent weeks, smaller acts of civil disobedience this week might well have rejuvenated the movement led by a renegade archbishop calling for the Prime Minister’s resignation
Waste management, post-earthquake reconstruction, urban services: there are various areas in which the administration of the Croatian capital, led by the progressive green coalition "Možemo" (We Can) since 2021, has intervened also thanks to European funds. We talked about it with Luka Korlaet, deputy mayor of Zagreb
In Herzegovina, native grape varieties like Blatina, Trnjak, and Žilavka lead a resurgence in the vinicultural landscape. Historical depth merges with the innovation of new producers, crafting a distinctive terroir and driving global ambitions in Herzegovina's evolving wine industry
What developments do cohesion policies foresee? Is the Interreg programme, after over two decades, still valid? We asked Lodovico Gherardi, coordinator of the managing authority (the Emilia Romagna Region) of the Interreg IPA Adrion Programme
Following a landmark decision by Yerevan and Baku to delimit part of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, efforts towards an agreement to normalise relations move forward despite anti-Pashinyan protests in Yerevan
"I sailed to Hvar for the first time many years ago, going from island to island, on an insuleidoscopic journey of wonders, where every day it was the wind that decided our route": this is how Fabio Fiori describes his first meeting with the Croatian island
This is the second of two extracts from Ian Bancroft’s new novel, which tells of lives scarred by wars past and present, whose main characters - L., U., K., and A. - are confronted with the dilemmas of truth and justice, and the struggle to reconcile and forgive
The ruling party “Georgian Dream” acts on the basis of the obsessions of its founder, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, who sees threats to his interests coming from the West and from a potential change of government. The risk is an authoritarian turn, not a pro-Russian course
The public service in Bosnia and Herzegovina is in increasingly dire straits. In the absence of real reform, the lack of a sustainable financing mechanism has caused tensions to explode between two of the three public broadcasters
Erhard Busek (1941-2022), an Austrian politician active in Balkan regional cooperation and lover of a Europe of minorities in dialogue, opened the work of the Interreg Transdanube Travel Stories project by talking about history, languages, landscapes and international protests: a synergistic approach, in search of a shared narrative
Between 20 and 30 thousand demonstrators, led by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, protested in the Armenian capital to oppose the current demarcation process between Armenia and Azerbaijan, following the Nagorno Karabakh war, and to demand the resignation of the prime minister
Tens of millions of Euros of investments, which began over a decade ago: Sofia's waste management strategy was supposed to culminate in the construction of an incinerator. The judiciary put an end to the project, accepting the objections of citizens concerned about its environmental impact
With dedication and passion, Simeon Zlatev has created a true ethnographic museum by collecting traditional Macedonian objects, now mostly disappeared, for over three decades
