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
A study by the European Parliament examined the use of cohesion funds in the seven-year period 2014-2020, highlighting a decrease in absorption rates. It is necessary to reform the administrative system at national level and simplify the rules governing cohesion policy
Romania produces more and more photovoltaic energy also thanks to the rapid increase in prosumers - consumers who resell excess energy from their panels to the grid. A virtuous process, but limited by long delays in payments and an unclear legal framework
In addition to EU structural and investment funds, from 2021 Romania also has access to money from the Just Transition Programme. What does this programme mean, how much money can Romania actually receive and what is it earmarked for?
Since 2007, the year Romania entered the EU, over 62 billion euros have flowed into the country from the EU. There could have been more, but the Romanian state failed to attract them all. Why?
The management of European funds is an often complex task that requires specific administrative and technical-financial skills. For accession countries such as Serbia, preparation to the negotiation stage is key
Stimulating convergence with EU countries, creating a regional common market and proceeding with sectoral integration in the European single market are among the objectives of the European Union's renewed engagement with the Western Balkan countries. But the path remains uphill
A large share of Transnistria’s economy, including most of its budget, depends on a structural subsidy it receives from Russia in the form of free gas. As Ukraine has promised to stop all Russian pipelines going through its territory by the end of 2024, how will Transnistria cope?
Thanks to EU cohesion funds, Bulgaria is activating and completing numerous projects to renew its railway network. However, the shadow of corruption looms over the works and the possibility that, in the past, part of the funds may have been used improperly
In Romania, also thanks to dedicated European funds, the number of photovoltaic panels installed is growing rapidly. So quickly, that some programmes have been suspended, as the increase in energy production strains the distribution network, which is still obsolete
Decarbonise, decentralise, democratise. These are the three Ds of a possible energy revolution that some citizens are carrying out on the Croatian island of Krk through the installation of many photovoltaic systems and the establishment of an energy community. An interview
The green transition is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Ukraine, however, not only has to decarbonize, but must do so amidst a war. Despite it, the country is already rebuilding and discussions about greening the economy are vivid
1.8 million projects carried out by over 600,000 entities thanks to the EU cohesion policy. Who managed this myriad of initiatives, and on which areas and subjects were resources concentrated? A look at the data from the Kohesio platform
For centuries the opium poppy has been cultivated with great success in what is now North Macedonia. After the bans of the Yugoslav era, there are now those who want to reintroduce it for the (legal) needs of the pharmaceutical and food industries
Where was Marco Polo born? What is his native country? A question that made little sense in the 13th century – everything was under the control of the Republic of Venice – is nowadays a source of debates, especially between Croatia and Italy. A new project tries to overcome them
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
The current Macedonian government wants to speed up the construction of road infrastructure: to do so, it is changing several laws and awarding the contract without a tender. Procedures which, according to the opposition, mainly damage the treasury in favor of private interests
In the Balkans, a region where energy is produced from fossil fuels or – when from renewable sources – from hydroelectric energy, energy communities are gaining ground: groups of citizens and small businesses that focus on self-production and self-consumption of renewable energy
In San Martino in Valle, on the island of Cres, the distillation of medicinal herbs boasts a centuries-old tradition. Today, it is kept alive by Irena and her husband Guerino
In recent decades North Macedonia has been affected by a very strong emigration trend and today more and more companies struggle to find staff. Among the solutions proposed, there is that of encouraging the arrival of workers from non-European countries
The warm season will be an opportunity to test the new infrastructures and strategies of an EU-funded project in the municipalities of Gorizia, Nova Gorica, and Šempeter-Vrtojba, a border area that conceives itself as a single, homogeneous territory along the river Soča
As in other areas of the Croatian coast, also in Baška, a municipality on the southern tip of the island of Krk, the local administration is facing depopulation in the winter months and saturation in the summer ones. We talked about it with its mayor, Toni Juranić
Few cities can boast of being crossed by four rivers. Karlovac is one of them. Kupa, Dobra, Korana, and Mrežnica. A river city that saw its golden age towards the end of the eighteenth century. Our reportage continues along the Kupa River
Energy communities are projects in which citizens associate both as producers and consumers of clean energy at a local level. There are already many of them, including in South-Eastern Europe. They could be supported by EU cohesion policy, but that is not the case yet
Local official in the morning, farmer in the afternoon. Franjo Toic is the emblem of what Europe can be: local, global, with a strong civic and community sense. An encounter
In Europe, Romania has one of the lowest general unemployment rates and one of the highest youth unemployment rates. And the trend is not getting better
We were in Kryvyj Rih, an industrial city in central Ukraine, to investigate what the workers' organisations are doing and how they have reacted to the conflict
In Slovenia, the healthcare system, once a flagship of the country, seems to be on the verge of an irreversible crisis that risks leading to the dismantling of the public system in favour of the private sector