"Candidate countries for EU accession work really hard and they have the knowledge, but the experience of partner institutions from EU members is invaluable". When transnational networks help European integration. An interview
Despite European funding and new measures undertaken by the Sofia authorities, Bulgaria lags behind in safeguarding the rights of people with disabilities who continue to experience high levels of poverty and social marginalization
Hundreds of kilometres of border, and for years no public transport lines crossing it. Some cross-border Interreg projects dedicated to sustainable mobility have reversed the course
A public consultation on gag complaints is open until 10 January. In a meeting on the subject with organisations from all over Europe, which we attended on Thursday 25 November, Vice President of the European Commission Vera Jourova renewed her call for numerous contributions from all countries of the EU
Currently, trains offer a reasonable alternative to around half of the most popular short-haul flights in Europe. Additional improvements and incentives could bring further reductions in CO2 emissions from transport.
A group of European Parliament members wrote to High Representative Josep Borrell and High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina Christian Schmidt, expressing concern over the latest escalation of tensions in BiH
A positive assessment emerges from the recent "Progress Report" on Albania. However, the local media - compared to the past - speak little about it: there is a strong disillusionment with the failure to start negotiations
Relations between Ljubljana and Brussels are increasingly tense. Janez Jansa, Prime Minister of Slovenia, shows no bounds in provoking the European Union. He demonstrated this during the recent visit of a European Parliament delegation that came to Slovenia to assess the situation of the rule of law
If the European Union really wants to meet its Green Deal targets, food related emissions must be curbed. To that end, the introduction of "traffic light" sustainability labels could convince Europeans to cut down on their meat consumption.
This time the violence of the Croatian police against migrants is well documented and unequivocal, so much so that the police themselves are forced to admit its veracity. However, the Minister of the Interior ignores the matter. The EU expresses concern, but its inaction makes it complicit
After almost two years of negotiations, last June the European Parliament and the Council reached an agreement for the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), with several novelties and strong criticisms
"They ask me 'are you for or against immigration?', but the question makes no sense, there is no need to be for or against, immigration exists. Rather, you have to choose how to manage it". An interview with Tiha K. Gudac, director of the documentary «Žica», barbed wire
The European Commission has presented the new package of climate proposals to the European Parliament: the goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels and achieve full climate neutrality by 2050
After a long experience in the NGO sector, Jovana Marovic decided to engage in politics with the URA movement. In this interview, she tells us about her choice and her vision on Montenegro's European integration path
As part of the Common Agricultural Policy, the European Union spent 100 billion Euros to combat climate change between 2014 and 2020. But these funds, which make up half of the entire EU budget earmarked for the fight against climate change, have not led to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions
North Macedonia is now fully part of Europe only in football. The country is condemned to a long wait which highlights all the contradictions of the EU enlargement strategy to the Western Balkans. A comment
The CASE coalition of which OBCT is part has received the text that will be presented to the European Parliament next Monday: a commitment to defend the rule of law and public participation, which collects many suggestions and proposals from civil society organisations
What is the attitude of Croatia and the European Union towards migrants and refugees trapped at the external borders of the EU? Massimo Moratti, deputy director of Amnesty International’s office for Europe, explains in detail
In many territories on the border between Italy and Slovenia, a climate of integration had finally been reached, but the measures introduced to limit the pandemic have changed everything. Neither Rome nor Ljubljana worried that much, but some, with creativity, "took the field" in favour of the complexity, interests, and relationships of cross-border areas
Recently, the Croatian government presented a summary of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. This document is crucial for obtaining 49,08 billion kuna (6,5 billion Euros) from the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility to overcome the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and of earthquakes which hit Croatia last year
With the suspension of the Frontex budget and the launch of a parliamentary commission to shed light on alleged human rights violations in illegal pushbacks at European borders, the European Parliament affirms the political will to acknowledge the rights of migrants. We talked about it with MEP Pierfrancesco Majorino
According to Valentin Inzko, High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, the country is at serious risk. The idea of its "peaceful dissolution" would also begin to take hold in Brussels circles. For this reason, in his opinion, it is necessary for the EU to quickly change its approach with respect to the Balkans and Bosnia and Herzegovina
"The Western Balkans are not and must never be a defeated periphery of the West, but they are and must remain the beating heart of the present and future of the great European family". Interview with Fabio Massimo Castaldo, Vice President of the European Parliament
Civil society, academia, citizens of the Balkan region, the EU and the United States have written a letter addressed to their respective governments to denounce and prevent the ethno-nationalist drift that seems to be increasingly taking place in the Western Balkans, of which the recent "non-papers" are a striking example
In Europe, the period 2020-2021 was to mark the turning point in the fight against plastic waste, one of the most urgent problems of our century. Then came the new Coronavirus: with masks, gloves, and anti-contagion packaging, the risk of a step back is increasingly concrete
Together with Christine Hübner, Jan Eichhorn, and Luuk Molthof, political scientist Srdan Cvijic recently published a report that analyses the French point of view on the enlargement of the European Union to the Western Balkans. We interviewed him
