Balkan Insight

Germany has described Kosovo's latest move to secure Council of Europe membership this week as insufficient, saying the 'heavy lifting' it had expected 'has still not happened'

War victims association demands sanctions for the Bosnian army personnel who paid tribute in front of a monument to former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic, a convicted war criminal.

Elsewhere, Hungary’s foreign minister confronted with evidence he knew of Russian hacks; Polish government to spend more on intelligence gathering to counter Russian threat; and Soviet-era metro station in Prague to keep artwork but post an explainer.

Kosovo director Samir Karahoda tells BIRN that his short film ‘On the way' – which is about a disappointed youngster thinking of emigrating – draws on personal experience.

Kiril Petkov said he was putting his campaign for the June 9 elections on hold after surviving a car crash which left one person dead and two injured

Our selection of stories from BIRN's Premium Content selection this week includes several investigations digging into controversial topics, from facial recognition technology to military volunteers fighting for Russia.

Separatist regime releases activist Victor Plescanov, who was arrested and jailed in 2022 for flying a Ukrainian flag and criticising the authorities in the Kremlin-backed region of Moldova.

North Macedonia's new conservative leaders are heading for confrontation with neighboring Greece and Bulgaria, likely jeopardizing their country's EU accession hopes.

As Kosovo gets closer to Council of Europe membership, bringing access to the ECHR, experts tell BIRN that it must take notes from Croatia's mistakes in conducting war crime trials without the presence of defendants.

In expanding the grounds on which a person's citizenship can be revoked, Moldova's pro-European government risks setting a dangerous precedent, some analysts say.