Trends and society

A young student, designer and entrepreneur from North Macedonia decided to make her dreams come true by developing hats produced by reusing waste materials. The idea is enjoying great success

Last March 8, the Greek parliament approved a law that enables the creation of private universities: a provision that divides the country, bringing the right to education and democracy back under the spotlight

The number of Indians moving to Armenia is increasing and for thousand of them Armenia is a dream, but not everyone's dream comes true right away

Among many problems, North Macedonia is trying to reform its education system, adapting it to the challenges of the present. The results, however, at least for now, remain disappointing

With the Prespa Agreements of 2018, the then Republic of Macedonia agreed to change its constitutional name to North Macedonia. Now the new definition must be included in citizens' documents, a process however full of delays and obstacles

Analysing street names in major European cities, it turns out that people of African and Asian descent are strongly underrepresented. Barely 0.1% of streets commemorate non-white personalities born outside Europe

A journalist and a photographer from Romania have been living in a van for ten years to be able to write their investigations on how life is in Romania and how expatriate Romanians live. They are Elena Stancu and Cosmin Bumbut: we met them

In his wanderings along the Adriatic, Fabio Fiori returns to Brindisi, the gateway to this sea full of charm and light. An out-of-season dive takes him back to an essay by Tonio Hölscher on the sea, body culture and eros in ancient Greece

Turkish politics has always been extremely sensitive to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli military operation in Gaza have reopened debate and conflict in Turkey too

Located at the heart of the "Balkan route", North Macedonia has been a transit country for many migrants in search of a new life in Europe. Some of them, however, decided to stay

Once a widespread phenomenon in Armenia, selective abortion has declined in the last decade. However, according to the data up to 2022, the practice of prenatal selection based on gender has started again

The end of the Station and new beginnings with the Robida collective, between nostalgia, mountain sobriety, and lucid enthusiasm: the second part of a reportage from Topolò, which never ceases to be a forge of cultural and life projects despite all the difficulties, including bureaucratic ones

Bilingualism denied, espionage in families, Gladio: history on the border has left indelible marks on the present of Topolò, a town on the Italian-Slovenian border where, also thanks to European funds, attempts are being made to build a future. First part of a reportage

Every year dozens of children are born in Armenia with the help of a surrogate mother. Although there are no clear statistics, experts state that the figure is increasing year by year. A story of a surrogate mother

There is great anticipation in Yerevan for the first edition of the Armenian Fashion Week, to be held in early July. The ambitious event is the first of its kind in the country

Synthesise and integrate two "failed", seemingly antithetical political thoughts, the Marxist and the Islamic one. This is what EKP-dominated Turkey needs according to Recep İhsan Eliaçık, Turkish thinker and activist, animator of the first collective of "anti-capitalist Muslims”

David Pejić, born in 1990, won the European Commission award for "Best European organic farmer" last September. David is at the helm of the oldest organic farm in Croatia and his is a very unusual story that crosses agriculture and philosophy

Many Russian citizens buy in Armenia – and resell in Russia – what cannot be found at home because of sanctions

We have compiled a ranking of the 100 men and women that appear most frequently in the toponyms of 15 European capitals. There’s a lot of saints and white men from the 19th and 20th century, but there’s also quite a few actresses and female Nobel laureates

In 30 of Europe's biggest cities, streets named after women make up only 9 per cent of the streets dedicated to individuals. The imbalance has started to narrow in some places, but progress is too slow: at this rate, it would take centuries to really close the gap.

For families who emigrated from Eastern Europe, affection and memory are also handed down through culinary inheritances. Distant and recent memories of a Transylvanian grandmother intertwine remembering Erzsebet's passion for coffee and her lost pickled gherkins recipe

Bozcaada has hosted an ecological documentary film festival for nine years now. A community-building cultural initiative that is of crucial importance in today's repressive climate in Turkey. We were there from 12 to 16 of October

Kosovo is growing fast in the field of innovation, but the strong potential of the sector is currently not being used as much as it deserves. We talked about it with Uranik Begu, director of the Innovation Center Kosovo

Supporting the development of young and innovative businesses in the Western Balkans. This is the objective of the Star Venture programme of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. We talked about it with regional coordinator Dejan Tonic

Tetovo, North Macedonia, is one of the most multi-ethnic and multicultural cities in the Balkans. Here many inhabitants can speak all the many languages of the city: a skill appreciated for the ability to open doors, friendships, and possibilities

Recent research on menstrual poverty in Croatia, conducted by the PaRiter association, has allowed the issue of menstruation to be addressed by educational institutions. Various initiatives to make menstrual products free

The gaming industry in Serbia is growing exponentially. More and more companies in the sector are growing thanks to mutual collaboration. We interviewed Kristina Janković Obućina, director of the Serbian Game Association

Swimming for dozens of kilometres without using his legs, a sixteen-year-old Macedonian boy is teaching not to give up in the face of difficulties and inspiring the entire country

First the pandemic, now the price crisis have been increasingly pushing the Greek and Turkish communities of Cyprus to cross the de facto boundaries that divide them and to interact, despite the persistence of prejudices and mutual distrust. A reportage from the island

With the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, thousands of Russians have moved to Armenia. There is an actual emigration wave of Russian entrepreneurs with their families. Most of them choose to live in the capital Yerevan in search of peace and stability