"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
In Serbia, the environmental issue is becoming an increasingly important social and political matter. Protests against some controversial laws are bringing numerous citizens and environmental associations to demonstrate in various cities
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
The EU approach to migration is based on strongly government-centred, restrictive policies, impervious to the external motions of grassroots actors. Yet, there might still be room for a systemic change from below
In a space suspended between the digital world and real life in the Covid-19 era, a young Albanian woman returns to her homeland to promote agricultural development, traditions, and equal opportunities in the rural sector
The MATILDE research project recently published its first report, in which it aims to offer an alternative view of migration in Europe’s rural and mountain areas.
Peacebuilder and true activist, anti-nationalist Georgi Vanyan died at the age of 58 on October 15th. He is especially remembered for the enormous effort to bring Azerbaijani and Armenians to dialogue
“VivaBiH” is the first registered organisation fighting for animal rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since 2016, through projects and media campaigns, it has pursued the complete abolition of systems that exploit any animal, promoting veganism. An interview
On October 17, North Macedonia will go to the polls for the local elections. Many independent lists could upset the plans of the main parties and bring a breath of fresh air to the new municipal councils
Since 2018, many associations, international grassroots movements, and informal groups have taken action to support people in transit along the Balkan route. They stress the need for networking to counter the increasingly widespread criminalisation of organisations in solidarity with migrants
With the pandemic and online lessons, it turned out that many families in North Macedonia do not own and cannot afford a computer, but someone had already noticed and started to do something about it
"Croatia is aging, this is the message that the census will give us. But this will not alarm the government which, like a firefighter, is just going to put out the fires". On the day of the start of the general census in Croatia, we interviewed demographer Marin Strmota
"It makes no sense for civil society to spend time helping the state devise a strategy that will never be applied. In a country where the rule of law does not exist, there is no point in adopting new laws and strategies". A meeting with Maja Stojanovic, director of Građanske inicijative
The general census is scheduled for Croatia from mid-September to mid-October. A campaign by the far right is underway these days to intimidate the Serbian minority. Depopulation is also in the spotlight
Created in partnership between the Google News Initiative (GNI), German media innovation hub Media Lab Bayern, and the European Journalism Centre (EJC), the GNI Startups Lab Europe supports high-quality reporting for local communities, single-topic audiences and/or previously underserved communities. Deadline 20 September
Interview with Milka Tadic Mijovic, one of Montenegro's leading journalists and president of the Center for Investigative Journalism, who has always been at the forefront of the fight for a better country and for the defence of freedom of expression
Environmental battles in peripheral areas in Serbia are little known and little studied. Activists and citizens encounter many difficulties in mobilising. Interview with social researchers Jelisaveta Petrovic and Jelena Pesic from the University of Belgrade
School, the world of work, personal freedoms: young people in Serbia have not been at the centre of the priorities of the institutions in Serbia in this pandemic period – nor were they before
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
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
A historic verdict by the Administrative Court of Zagreb grants same-sex couples the right to adopt. The progress, however, was immediately undermined by the Ministry of the Family, which announced an appeal
Bayram Mammadov was a young Azerbaijani activist who was unjustly imprisoned in 2016 and then released on presidential amnesty. Since 2020 he had been in Istanbul for his studies. On May 2 he was found dead in the Turkish city. His story
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
North Macedonia is set to protect some of its main mountain ranges, such as Shar, Osogovo and Vodno, which are now increasingly threatened by exploitation of soil, water, and forests
Last April 10, thousands of citizens took to the streets of Belgrade for what has been called the "Ecological Revolt". The environmental issue was brought to the political level. Will the opposition be able to intercept this civic momentum?
