Balkan Insight

Four days before parliamentary elections, Serbian police arrested at least seven individuals suspected of planning violent actions on election day and plotting to ‘overthrow the state’.

A wave of student protests have swept Albania over the last week and escalated into clashes with police.

Bedri Hamza, the leader of PDK, Kosovo’s largest opposition party, announced his resignation on Wednesday, opening the way for the party to select a new leader.

Kosovo Serb Milorad Djokovic was sentenced by a Pristina court to 10 years in prison for war crimes related killings and beatings of civilians during a Serbian military assault on a village in 1999.

Ahead of Serbia’s high-stakes snap parliamentary elections on Sunday, citizens abroad are organising shared transport and accommodation to reach polling stations, sometimes thousands of kilometres away.

Russia remains ready to aid its Balkan allies in their electoral endeavours and sabotage EU and NATO membership prospects, as Vladimir Putin’s recent efforts to boost Milorad Dodik and Aleksandar Vucic’s campaigns showed.

The prime minister says he doesn’t believe in Nato solidarity, even as Slovakia relies on its partners for military protection and continues its alliance commitments.

BIRN has confirmed that at least three associates of US President Donald Trump attended a campaign rally for Milorad Dodik’s Serb nationalist SNSD party, raising questions of possible violations of electoral law.

The far-right Homeland Movement party accused media of conducting a “witch-hunt” against a Hajduk Split football fan group that targeted journalists who reported on its members’ pro-Nazi and anti-Semitic chants.

Romanian lawmakers have voted in favour of a new government led by the politically independent Luca Niculescu, ending five months of political crisis.

With the adoption of constitutional changes to enhance integrity checks on high-level government officials, Montenegro comes a step closer to fulfilling EU accession requirements.

Edi Rama described some of the student protesters involved in unrest in Tirana as extremists who have been manipulated by foreign powers, causing critics to warn that such harsh rhetoric may further inflame tensions.

Over 150 testimonies reveal how public sector employees are pressured to deliver votes and attend political rallies while some job posts are given to loyalists who staff party call centres on the clock.

Washington’s lifting of sanctions on the Bosnian Serb leader left him free to pursue closer ties to Russia without restrictions – effectively giving Moscow veto powers over Bosnia and Herzegovina’s future.

Kosovo is failing to access hundreds of millions in EU funding after two years of political wrangling left Brussels-mandated reforms on hold.

Six days before crucial Serbian parliamentary elections, digital rights investigators report with “high confidence” that two prominent figures connected to the anti-government protest movement were targeted by spyware.

Catch up on the weekend’s most important developments with Balkan Insight’s digest of news from countries across the region.

Thousands of people joined student-led protests in Tirana at the weekend to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama, as clashes with police resulted in more injuries and arrests.

Paun Rohovei tells BIRN that Ukraine is advancing EU-backed anti-corruption reforms and seeking closer security ties with Moldova and Romania.

The Upper Horizons hydropower scheme threatens to forever alter the vital Neretva river that flows from Bosnia to the Adriatic via Croatia, threatening ecosystems, communities and a centuries-old way of life.

Ahead of Serbia's crucial elections this month, members of a commission tasked with bringing order to the electoral roll say they were ‘obstructed’ by authorities.

As Prime Minister Edi Rama rules out resignation in response to violent protests, a political solution is needed to calm the unrest, experts argue.

Since 2023, the Serbian foreign ministry has channelled more than 250,000 euros to Serb diaspora organisations whose activities and public statements dovetail with the right-wing policies and positions of Serbia’s ruling party.

Our selection of Balkan Insight Premium stories this week takes a look at salacious tales making unpleasant headlines, political deals being mooted and insiders spilling secrets.

Hundreds of thousands have demonstrated across France for better schools, revealing deep concerns among young people about their education system and their future.

Hajduk Split fans' anti-Semitic and pro-Hitler chants before match against Ajax trigger arrests and draw condemnation from government and Israeli embassy.

After the capital endured a third night of violent clashes between student-led protesters and police, Edi Rama vowed not to bow to the demands for him to quit.

The dominance of pro-government TV channels, while commercial pressures squeeze critical media outlets, shows how uneven the media landscape has become ahead of the October 25 elections.

Elsewhere, Slovakia to revive cooperation with Russia at meeting planned for November 25; Hungary parliament approves new child protection legislation; and Czech Army chief warns of possible Russian attack

A groundbreaking book about the UN’s tribunal in The Hague shifts the focus from war criminals on trial to the hidden workforce that powered the court.

As a noose tightens on one of Turkey’s last remaining independent TV channels, the transformation of a once diverse media sector into a ‘univocal government-dominated ecosystem’ is almost total.

Croatian leaders dismiss Belgrade's protest note accusing Zagreb of meddling in looming elections and suggest Serbia's under-pressure ruling party is using the claim to mobilise voters.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti announces plan to move ahead with stalled changes to civil legislation as opposition MP attacks provisions deemed hostile to 'traditional family values' such as same-sex partnerships.

A citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina was sentenced to five years in prison for participating in a conspiracy to buy portable anti-aircraft weapons from North Korea, breaching US sanctions.

Zagreb has issued eight conditions for supporting Montenegro's EU membership, mostly relating to the violent breakup of the former Yugoslavia – and all of which it calls 'clearly achievable'.

Edi Rama accuses opposition of trying to 'pull Albania down' after a second night of violence saw government buildings and businesses attacked and set on fire amid clashes between student protesters and police.

The four Central European countries all face growing labour shortages, but are at different stages of that process and are taking different approaches to it.

Military experts are alarmed at what they see as inaction on the part of Bulgaria’s government in the face of spillover from Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The ruling Serbian Progressive Party’s nervousness about possibly losing the October 25 elections is driving its hardcore supporters’ increasingly aggressive behaviour on the streets.

President Bajram Begaj voiced concern about escalating tensions as students who gathered for a second day of rallies against the government clashed with law enforcement officers again.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti announces working group to assist appeals of convicted former Kosovo Liberation Army leaders – while the country's Ombudsperson accuses the Hague court of lacking transparency and accountability.

Momcilo Marjanovic says he spent a decade providing ‘security’ for Serbia’s ruling party, a role that involved buying votes, beating protesters, and taking bundles of cash from the director of a public utility in the northern city of Novi Sad.

An anti-government protest led by students demanding better educational conditions escalated into violent clashes between demonstrators and police in the Albanian capital.

The moralistic reaction to leaked tapes of women filmed secretly in intimate acts shows Albania is still struggling to accept women as sexual beings – while also failing legally to protect victims of non-consensual exposure.

When one member of a childless couple dies in North Macedonia, the other has to pay tax to inherit the home they both lived in - and the legal complications don’t end there.

Party leaders were criss-crossing the country assembling backstage coalition deals ‘on the road’ long before all the ballot-counting was finished.

Police made 23 arrests as violence erupted between students and police officers at a demonstration in Tirana linked to the ongoing ‘Flamingo Revolution’ anti-government protests.

Former presidential candidate Calin Georgescu’s detention replaced with house arrest for alleged involvement in major fraud case as right-wing supporters rally outside court.

PM Rumen Radev summons Russian ambassador over latest drone strikes targeting ships in Bulgaria's Black Sea economic zone, admitting Moscow likely 'benefited' from the attacks.

As the 70th anniversary of Hungary’s 1956 anti-Soviet uprising approaches, Hungarians are preparing for the release of communist-era informer lists – and a new political battle over interpreting the past.