Djordje Balasevic (11 May 1953 – 19 February 2021), the greatest Yugoslav singer-songwriter, is gone forever. Almost all of former Yugoslavia joined in grief: Zagreb, Sarajevo, Ljubljana, Novi Sad, Belgrade, Skopje, from Vardar to Triglav
The path of transitional justice has proven difficult and discontinuous, yet it has had a real impact on the lives of ordinary citizens. Survivors’ families and associations, who invested the most emotional labour in the process, however, have often felt left out of the official transitional justice processes
An agreement between Telekom and the Telenor company threatens to completely alter the media market in Serbia. Telekom – with public money and agreements with other groups – threatens to become the dominant actor in Serbian media landscape, penalising media critical towards the government
Why do people emigrate from Serbia? What are the feelings, desires, and perceptions behind such a decision? A study goes to the bottom of these questions
Doubts, controversies, delays. Vaccination campaigns against Covid-19 in the Western Balkans have only started in Serbia and Albania, while the other countries in the area risk dangerous delays, despite some support initiatives promoted by the European Union
With great courage and determination, Serbian actress Milena Radulović publicly denounced being raped as a child by her then acting teacher Miroslav Mika Aleksić. Her gesture encouraged more testimonies and Aleksić is now under investigation
We need a new approach to enlargement policies, lest their complete failure. And it is necessary to start afresh from the abolition of unanimous voting. An interview with Srdjan Cvijić, author together with Adnan Ćerimagić of "Rebuilding Our House Of Cards: With More Glue"
The possible destruction of almost 35 hectares of forest and green areas of "Košutnjak", a protected natural asset regarded by many as the "lung of Belgrade", has given way to a new environmental battle in the Serbian capital
Cautious optimism and a new package of economic incentives for the Western Balkans: with the "2020 enlargement package", the EU tries to relaunch the integration of the region, but the prospects remain of slow, never predictable progress
Almost a month after the agreement signed by Kosovo and Serbia in the U.S., expectations are high on Kosovo's side. Prishtina's goal remains mutual, legally binding recognition
The data from the first four months of monitoring by the MFRR consortium confirm a concerning landscape for the safety of journalists and the state of media freedom, both in EU member countries and in countries as Serbia and Turkey
A real diplomatic race between the US and the EU has recently started on the Serbia-Kosovo negotiations. The opinion of Lulzim Peci of the Kosovar Institute for Political Research and Development and Sonja Biserko, founder and president of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia
Everyone ended up losing in Serbia's recent political elections. President Vučić, because his authoritarian regime has been exposed; the opposition, because the boycott led to nothing; the EU, because it appears less and less capable to foster democratic processes in the area
On the eve of the elections, yet another scandal invests Serbia's leadership. A photograph portrays the son of President Vučić at a bar in the company of some other people, including a member of a mafia clan
Despite the pompous statements by President Aleksandar Vučić on the economic solidity of Serbia after Covid-19, supported by the Minister of Finance, the situation presents more than one weakness
Elections for the US presidency are approaching and Donald Trump is determined to score some foreign policy success for his election campaign. He failed with Kim Jong-un and North Korea. Why not try the agreement between Serbia and Kosovo?
The measures adopted by some Balkan countries to contain the pandemic have raised perplexity in associations and researchers who deal with privacy and digital rights. Emergency actions, derogating from the national rules of law, could translate into mass surveillance tools.
While Serbia is awaiting the revocation of the state of emergency, some citizens have been protesting against the government by beating on pots from the balconies for days. On the other hand, hooligans loyal to power roam the rooftops threatening public security and democracy itself
According to Željko Bodrožić, president of the Association of Independent Journalists of Serbia (NUNS), the state of emergency has only worsened the situation of non-aligned media, often subject to the discredit of the media controlled by power
Are the histories of the former Yugoslavia and Albania finally entering Europe’s space of memory? A constantly increasing number of Italian school trips to the region gives us reason to hope so
The Covid-19 pandemic is likely to be used by the Serbian authorities to violate the Constitution, break laws, and even formally attempt to introduce censorship – all this by manipulating citizens' fears
A comment by the director of Serbia's Center for Investigative Journalism after the Serbian government recently introduced a measure that restricts freedom of information during a state of emergency. A ruling that the Serbian Prime Minister declared will be withdrawn
Writer and journalist Saša Ilić was awarded the prestigious NIN literary prize for best novel of the year in 2019. We interviewed him and talked about psychiatry, Yugoslavia, the Divine Comedy, and refugees
The Telekom company, of which the state is the majority owner, has removed from its cable offer N1, the only television network aimed at the general public that also presents critical positions towards the current majority
Serbia sets the pollution record in Europe: the Kostolac B thermal power plant alone emits more sulfur dioxide per year than all the thermal power plants in Germany combined. And Serbia does not seem willing to spend the funds received on loan from various international agencies for environmental protection
In the arms trafficking scandal recently exposed in Serbia, a state-owned company was allegedly damaged to the advantage of a private company that involved the father of the Minister of the Interior. The whistleblower ended up in jail
Three years after its first edition, the impression that emerges from the Media Days – an event promoted by the EU Commission in the Balkans – is that of a telenovela with a predictable ending, where the characters move within a well-defined perimeter. But the region's media need more
It's her third hunger strike over a year. The reason is always the same: to draw attention to the terrible state of the Serbian media, in particular her Kanal 9, one of the first private broadcasters in Serbia
Opposition protests against Vučić's government continue in Serbia. But the manipulations, mainstream media's propaganda, and the government's hate speech are likely to lead to violence
