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
Nikol Pashinyan, a 34-year-old opposition newspaper editor currently on trial for allegedly provoking mass riots and defying representatives of state authority, will contest the vote slated for 10 January 2010
According to the European Commission, Macedonia is ready for the accession negotiations, but needs to solve the dispute with Greece first. Despite some positive signals between Skopje and Athens, like the meeting between Gruevski and Papandreou, the country expects a further disappointment
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
At first people in Albania thought it was a joke, but politicians in that country have proposed the creation of a government commission to "Albanize" all place names of Slavic origin...and there are many of those. A commentary
Days after the 15 November elections in Kosovo, unorthodox agreements have caused a rift between the coalition partners in the Pristina parliament. Prime Minister Thaci's PDK threatened to break up with President Sejdiu's LDK, but its attempt to dictate the political agenda to its junior partner clearly failed
Tensions between LDK and PDK in view of Kosovo's local elections of November 15th. Bitter fights over the control of Pristina, the likely boycott from Kosovo Serbs. The electoral campaing in the chronicle of our correspondent
Tomorrow, the Moldovan Parliament will vote for a new president. The governing coalition, The Alliance for European Integration, needs the support of at least some communist MPs in order to finally elect a new president and continue on the path of political reform
In Bulgaria, a few months after the fall of the Wall in 1989, the Communist regime triggered the exodus towards Turkey of 360,000 Bulgarian citizens of Turkish ethnicity. The mass exodus, gone down in history as the "big excursion", has left deep scars on the people who lived it. Our reportage
Ioan Savu used to work in a detergent factory in Timişoara. On the 16th of December of 1989 he took the streets with thousands of fellow citizens. Four days later he was in front of a disbelieving Romanian Prime Minister to demand free elections and Ceauşescu's resignation. A life and a revolution.
Between 2000 and 2009 Romania experienced one of Europe's highest growth rates. Yet even before the economic crisis hit Bucharest hard, it became clear that the wealth of the economic boom was built with dramatic social costs, paid mostly by children, unemployed, pensioners, and Roma
In Azerbaijan, intellectual elites began a long struggle for independence and democracy in the 1970s. This story chronicles Azerbaijan's journey after 1989 through a difficult transition, war, and instability
Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Western Balkans and the Caucasus are left with many a lost chance. The analysis of Tihomir Loza, deputy director of "Transitions on line", since 1999 among the major online news media devoted to the former Eastern Bloc
The Romanian generation born in 1989, what they do not know about their past, and what they want from the future. A reportage from Bucharest on the memory of Ceasescu in nowadays' Romania, where the events of 1989 continue to divide society and generations
The reactions in Armenia to the signing of the protocols with Turkey. The political scenario, the public debate. A survivor of the 1915 genocide speaks out
A clear strategy is now needed: effective political dialogue and a strong EUSR. A comment on the Butmir negotiations on the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina
In Georgia, opposition activists are victims of aggression and suffer violent attacks, even at the hands of the police. The government minimises these accusations and speaks of a Georgia which is headed straight on the path toward democracy
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
Radu Carp is a Public Law and Political Science professor, vice-dean of the University of Bucharest's Political Science Department, a respected lecturer, and the author of several important studies. Osservatorio spoke with him about Romania's relations with the European Commission
The difficult balances of the EULEX mission, the proposals for territorial exchange between Serbia and Kosovo, and the visa liberalisation issue. Our correspondent talked to Italian ambassador in Kosovo Michael L. Giffoni
Twenty years after the fall of the Wall, the controversial lustration process - the epuration of those who cooperated with the police of Communist regimes - is still in deep waters. And many wonder whether rummaging archives still makes sense. A contribution from our dossier ''The long-lasting '89''
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
Alena Arshinova is the leader of "Proriv"("Breakthrough"), a youth organization founded in 2005 in Transnistria, a de facto independent territory that, in Soviet times, belonged to the Moldovan SSR. We met her at the organization's headquarters in downtown Tiraspol. An interview
Music in all three republics continues to be dominated by those singers and musicians who are subordinate to nationalist or predominant political interests. But rock and rap bands are starting to speak out, especially in Azerbaijan
An urban-renewal plan for Istanbul has been destroying entire neighbourhoods and expelling residents to the city's periphery. The Roma population has been expelled from their ancient neighbourhood, Sulukule, where a third bridge will be built on the Bosphorus
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
On 9 April 1989, Soviet troops dispersed demonstrations in Tbilisi, killing 20 people. That event changed the political debate in Georgia and deeply influenced further developments in the two decades that followed, a period of great expectations and missed chances. An interview with Marina Muskhelishvili
Domestic violence is a taboo topic in Azerbaijan. Every attempt to discuss issues that touch the private, family realm is perceived as a threat to the country's national identity
Berisha's proposal to legalise same-sex marriages caught everyone by surprise. Yet, the main motivation for the Albanian prime minister and other politicians in the region to engage with radical reforms in the field of civil rights may just be...getting Brussels to notice
Twelve months after the conflict in South Ossetia, tension in the border area is running high again. In reality, Tbilisi does not expect renewal of the hostilities, but there is concern about domestic politics. An article by our correspondent
