Serbia - Articoli

Serbia: towards a regional truth on war crimes

12/01/2010 -  Cecilia Ferrara Belgrade

The work of the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor in Belgrade, public opinion, and the initiative of a group of NGOs to create a regional truth commission. An interview with Bogdan Ivanisevic, consultant of the International Center for Transitional Justice


Serbia: waiting for Fiat

21/01/2010 -  Lucia Manzotti Kragujevac

A journey to Kragujevac, the home town of Zastava - the “Made in Yugoslavia” car. The expectations of citizens and workers in the “Yugoslav Turin” in the wake of the recent agreement between Belgrade and the Fiat Group to establish the new Fiat Automobili Serbia in that city


Serbia: visa free

29/12/2009 -  Danijela Nenadić Belgrade

From December 19, citizens of Serbia can go to Szeged, Thessaloniki, or Trieste for coffee...without a visa. There is happiness, but not for everyone. The most disappointed are adolescents and those who were born and grew up under the sanctions. A commentary


Kosovo's stolen properties

15/12/2009 -  Veton Kasapolli Pristina

In Kosovo many buildings, mostly belonging to Serbian citizens, are occupied or sold illegally in the owners' absence. Swindlers often use false documents and conniving officials, unveiling the weakness of the rule of law. The case of Peja/Pec


The return of non-aligned Serbia

14/12/2009 -  Marco Abram

If Serbian diplomats get what they want, Belgrade will be the place where the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Non-Aligned Movement is celebrated in 2011. Yet, many commentators are now questioning the advantages of such a movement in a world which has changed so radically in the last half-century


Kosovo elections: conflicting realities South and North of the Ibar

11/12/2009 -  Tatjana Lazarević Mitrovica

The mid-November local elections in Kosovo stressed once more the two different realities of the Serbs living north and south of the Ibar river. For those living south, some kind of participation was considered as a vital necessity to retain local power. North of Mitrovica, the boycott was almost complete


The partial fall of the Schengen wall

10/12/2009 -  Mustafa Canka Podgorica

On 30 November, the Council of Interior Ministers of the EU approved the request to cancel visa requirements for citizens from Serbia, Macedonia, and Montenegro. Citizens from these countries will be able to travel freely to EU countries starting from 19 December. The reactions from Podgorica, Montenegro.


The discomfiting sound of The Hourglass

02/12/2009 -  Cecilia Ferrara Belgrade

"The Hourglass" ("Pešcanik") is one of Serbia's more talked about radio shows. War crimes, privatization, politics, and justice are among the topics covered each week by journalists Svetlana Lukić and Svetlana Vuković. Our interview


Serbia: bread instead of reforms?

22/12/2009 -  Cecilia Ferrara Belgrade

A cynic and a pessimist according to many, he disagrees with most of the economic policies implemented by the Serbian government and does not think that postponing reforms to avoid social unrest is a good idea. An interview with economist Miroslav Prokopijević


Under siege

09/10/2009 -  Danijela Nenadić Belgrade

Street violence, cancellation of the gay pride, attacks on foreigners. But it was only with the death of a French football fan beaten by Serbian hooligans that Belgrade felt under siege and tried to react. Brice Taton, the young French football fan who was brutally beaten by Serb hooligans before the match between Partisan and Toulouse, died of injuries on September 30th


State of Impotence

24/09/2009 -  Danijela Nenadić Belgrade

It was a lot more than a missed opportunity. The cancellation of the gay pride parade in Belgrade exposed the weakness of the state in the face of extremist groups and their threats of beatings and violence. A commentary by our correspondent


EULEX, looking for a perfect middle

31/08/2009 -  Veton Kasapolli Pristina

The Kosovo government is having their first major disagreement with EULEX over the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo intention, announced in August, to sign a protocol with Serbian police as part of regional cooperation to fight organized crime


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


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


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


The hard path

06/05/2009 -  Veton Kasapolli Pristina

Together with some fellow journalists, Altin Raxhimi, an Albanian freelance reporter, took the hard path to disclose the truth on KLA detention camps, allegedly established in Albania and Kosovo during the 1999 war. An exclusive interview for Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso


Exclusion and inclusion

21/04/2009 -  Irene Dioli

''The decline in economic growth will be more effective in raising poverty rates than the 6 years of growth just passed was in reducing them''. An interview with Paul Stubbs, author of an independet study for the European Commission on social inclusion in the Western Balkans


As if nothing had ever happened

23/03/2009 -  Danijela Nenadić

"They listen to my generation's stories of fighting against Slobodan Milošević's regime like we used to listen to the partisans' stories we were told, once upon a time." The bombings and the generation born under them, the unsaid, the future


Noz, Zica, Srebrenica

15/01/2009 -  Risto Karajkov Skopje

When Facebook caught on to a Serb ultra-nationalists forum called "Noz, zica, Srebrenica", or "Knife, Wire, Srebrenica", using the social networking site to glorify one of the bloodiest massacres in Europe since World War II and promote hatred against Muslims, it was promptly shut down. But on the Internet, where does the hate speech end?


Storm in a Teacup

28/11/2008 -  Drago Hedl Osijek

The diplomatic battle which started after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accepted jurisdiction in the charge of genocide raised by Zagreb against Belgrade, has abated. According to many Croatian analysts, it would have been better had the court not accepted the task


Storm in a Teacup

28/11/2008 -  Drago Hedl Osijek

The diplomatic battle which started after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accepted jurisdiction in the charge of genocide raised by Zagreb against Belgrade, has abated. According to many Croatian analysts, it would have been better had the court not accepted the task


Macedonia Recognises Kosovo

13/10/2008 -  Risto Karajkov Skopje

After the big vote in the UN General Assembly, the Macedonian Government recognized Kosovo. Despite the bitter reactions of Belgrade, Skopje thinks its decision will strengthen peace and stability in the region


Between Dialogue and Transition

30/09/2008 -  Francesco Martino

The role of the UN mission after Kosovo's declaration of independence, the relationship with the European mission EULEX, the dialogue process with Belgrade and Pristina, the situation in the area north of Mitrovica. An exclusive interview with Lamberto Zannier, new head of UNMIK


The End of an Era

11/09/2008 -  Danijela Nenadić Belgrado

The Serbian Radical party is splitting over a Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the European Union. Defeated by the party's more extreme faction, Nikolic, who served as leader after Seselj's arrest, leaves and plans the creation of a new party. A crisis, which has brewed for months, finally explodes


The End of an Era

11/09/2008 -  Danijela Nenadić Belgrado

The Serbian Radical party is splitting over a Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the European Union. Defeated by the party's more extreme faction, Nikolic, who served as leader after Seselj's arrest, leaves and plans the creation of a new party. A crisis, which has brewed for months, finally explodes


A Question to the Court

25/08/2008 -  Danijela Nenadić Belgrado

Is Kosovo's independence in accord with international law? This is the question that, subject to prior approval by the UN General Assembly, Serbia decided to address to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the supreme judicial body of the United Nations


Serbian-Albanian Honeymoon

29/07/2008 -  Marjola Rukaj

'Honeymoon' will be the first Serbian-Albanian film co-production using the internationally famous Serbian director, Goran Paskaljevic, and the promising Albanian screenwriter and producer, Genc Permeti. An excellent contribution to the cultural cooperation between the two countries


My Personal Karadžić

28/07/2008 -  Zlatko Dizdarević

The lives of those he buried do not count. Justice does not count. Soldier Radovan Karadzic was sacrificed for the greater interest of Serbia and Europe. Now he can retire. Between the excitement and the bitterness of a sleepless night, Zlatko Dizdarevic remembers his encounters with the detainee


My Personal Karadžić

28/07/2008 -  Zlatko Dizdarević

The lives of those he buried do not count. Justice does not count. Soldier Radovan Karadzic was sacrificed for the greater interest of Serbia and Europe. Now he can retire. Between the excitement and the bitterness of a sleepless night, Zlatko Dizdarevic remembers his encounters with the detainee


They Arrested Karadžić

22/07/2008 -  Luka Zanoni

The wind of change which arrived in Serbia made possible the arrest of Karadzic. The reactions in the country and the new European perspective for Belgrade. Our comment