what’s trending

  • Skopje, North Macedonia ©EricBery/Shutterstock
    ANNIVERSARY

    The Ohrid Framework Agreement ended the armed conflict in North Macedonia in 2001 and expanded the political, linguistic and cultural rights of the Albanian community. Twenty-five years later, the real challenge is to transform a system designed to prevent conflict into a functional and inclusive society

  • The inauguration of the Bulgarian University in Taraclia (May 2025). Photo: Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
    MINORITIES

    150 km south of Chișinău, Taraclia is the capital of Moldova’s Bulgarian minority. In 2025, an agreement with Sofia led to the creation of a new university, a branch campus of the University of Ruse in Bulgaria. For the Bulgarian government it is a strategic investment; for the Moldovan one, a political gamble that has yet to pay off.

  • Bansko © Robert Harding Video/Shutterstock
    Cohesion policy

    In south-eastern Europe, too, remote working in rural areas is attracting an ever-increasing number of workers seeking a better balance between personal and professional development. Despite ongoing challenges, this trend is now seen as a potential solution to the depopulation of marginalised areas. Our report

    11/08/2026, Francesco Martino  Bansko

  • Vineyards near Demir Kapija, North Macedonia - ©RnDmS/Shutterstock
    WINE

    With the end of Yugoslavia, the system that supported wine production in the federation’s territories crumbled. After years of difficult transition, some producers are now attempting to rebuild the sector on new foundations, focusing on quality and global competitiveness

    10/08/2026, Ian Bancroft 

  • Grozny, Chechnya © artaxerxes_photo/Shutterstock
    repression

    Chechnya adds a unique dimension to transnational repression: beyond being a state that pursues its opponents abroad, it is also a system of control made up of family, community, informal networks and apparatuses. Second part of our in-depth analysis

    07/08/2026, Marilisa Lorusso 

  • Tirana, protest against CPRs (Repatriation Detention Centres) © for Nyje.al, Ronald Qema
    Human rights

    The Rama-Meloni agreement takes on a significance that goes far beyond the management of repatriations on behalf of the Italian state, and therefore of Europe. More than a simple bilateral agreement, the protocol has become a political and legal precedent, anticipating some of the rationales currently at the heart of the European debate on the externalisation of migration