European Union

Greece has the opportunity to attract Russian tourists seeking an alternative to the Turkish and Egyptian beaches. The Hellenic bureaucracy, though, appears incapable of accepting the challenge

Bosnia Herzegovina and the challenges ahead, twenty years after the signing of the the Dayton Peace Agreement. Interview with the Italian Ambassador in Sarajevo, Ruggero Corrias

At the border between Serbia, Hungary, and Romania, where the EU geographically begins but morally ends

Chronicle of a journey along the border between Hungary and Serbia in late June and early July, a week from the building of a new wall in Europe. Second Episode

The Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe sent a letter to the president of Ossigeno per l'Informazione on the occasion of today's conference “Protect who reports inconvenient truths”, taking place in Rome

The path of the migrants towards the EU is full of risks. Following the Balkan route, the 200 km crossing Macedonia can be the most deadly. Our report

By July 1^st, the 74 Serbian media still owned by the state or local governments will have to be privatised, but some say the deadline could slip to October

EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn told a BIRN conference that media freedom in the Balkans has become a major concern that must be addressed urgently

Serbia's Prime Minister paid a historic visit to Albania last week. Major disagreements remain, especially over Kosovo, but great cordiality was expressed. In the background, the need for collaboration on major infrastructure projects for the region

A Special Court should deal with alleged war crimes committed by KLA officials, but analysts in Kosovo are skeptical about its scope

Bulgaria is among the few European countries that have announced the achievement of the objectives of the "Europe 2020" strategy on renewable energy. At the same time, the sector is said to be in crisis and unsustainable. Our report

After years of extreme hostility, PDK and LDK strike a power sharing deal creating a government which will have to tackle the huge unemployment problem, and make progress on the normalisation of relations with Belgrade

The Maria Bamieh revelations on corruption inside the European rule of law mission in Kosovo, although not promptly investigated, appear to lack any real basis. Clearing the mission on a circumscribed scandal, however, will likely reduce the urgency for a much needed audition of its record overall

The recent allegations on EULEX seem too selective to be of much assistance for an analysis of the European mission’s performance. The whole mission, starting from its judicial functions, should be thoroughly scrutinized

The EU is struggling to save the credibility of its Kosovo mission, but is walking on thin ice. Our report

Yesterday we published the opinion of US judge James Hargreaves on EULEX failure. A reply

Changing laws in a country is often relatively easy; changing the culture in regard to the application of those laws is never easy. To date, EULEX has done nothing to attempt to address this fundamental problem and now it is too late according to the author, a US judge who spent the last year in the mission

The decision to hand over the judicial system to domestic authorities, cutting Eulex’s mandate before its objectives were achieved, will not help Kosovo in the long term. Analysis of the recent EC report

Media concentration and lack of ownership transparency are a major obstacle to media pluralism and freedom in Bulgaria. According to media law expert Nelly Ognyanova, neither of these obstacles can be removed without political will. Interview

After the enlargement stop set by President Juncker, some fear the risk of a Turkish scenario for the Western Balkans, i.e. negotiations that never end. Renzo Daviddi, Deputy Head of the EU Delegation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, thinks different. Interview

The European Parliament is running the hearings of the members of the new Juncker Commission. Johannes Hahn will be responsible for enlargement and neighbourhood policies. An analysis

Serbia adopted new rules that require the State to leave media ownership. Media associations have welcomed the new legislation, introduced as a result of pressure from Brussels

"What is most interesting about the report unveiled on Tuesday by the special investigative task force (SITF) is not what it says about the KLA, but what it implies about the post-conflict and state-building international interventions in Kosovo". A comment by Andrea Lorenzo Capussela

Keeping a toothless Eulex in Kosovo for two more years is not only a waste of money. It is also providing legitimacy to the decisions of vulnerable judges

Following the parliamentary elections of June 8, in Kosovo a new political landscape is emerging. Will it be more democratic? A comment

The Serbian government is facing increasingly frequent accusations of web censorship. The interventions by the OSCE and the European Commission, the reactions of prime minister Vučić

The EU elections confirmed traditional electoral trends in Cyprus, with a record level of abstention and two seats each for the two main Greek-Cypriots parties. Controversies mounted about thousands of Turkish-Cypriots citizens not allowed to vote

Crushing defeat for the Social Democrats of Prime minister Milanović. The HDZ, currently in opposition, ranks first party in the country

Alexis Tsipras' radical left (SYRIZA)is the winner of the European elections in Greece. Yet, despite the defeat, conservative prime minister Samaras rejected the request for early elections and is preparing for a government reshuffle

The environmentalist party ORaH, born just six months ago, managed to rank third in the European elections in Croatia with 9.4%. The celebrations at the headquarters and the preparations for the upcoming 2015 political elections