Southern Balkans

The Serbian parliament adopted new legislation to regulate the building of war memorials which says that monuments that are not in line with “the tradition of the liberation wars of Serbia” could be demolished. The Serbian...

The EU’s last-minute compromise statement backs formation of processing centres inside the EU and ‘disembarkation platforms’ outside EU borders – and promises more financial help for African states and cooperation with Western Balkans. EU leaders ended...

Officials in Brussels have reminded the government in Chisinau of the need to respect democratic principles after courts in the country annulled the capital’s mayoral election. The EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Enlargement Commissioner...

Macedonia and Albania have welcomed European ministers’ agreement on a conditional start date of next summer for their long-awaited EU accession talks. Macedonian and Albanian leaders on Wednesday welcomed the decision by European ministers to give...

Ukraine’s General Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation into 54 suspected members of a pro-Russian foreign legion – including several Serbs – who took part in attacks on Ukraine’s forces in the east of the country...

President Gjorge Ivanov said he will not sign the landmark ‘name’ deal with Greece, claiming it is not in the national interest – but as his powers are limited, he cannot delay its progress indefinitely. Ivanov...

Right up to the wire, there was a hope that Turkey might say “no” to Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s eternal-seeming authoritarian regime. It was not a big hope, admittedly. Having jailed thousands of his opponents, including one...

After football’s world governing body FIFA fined two Swiss players of Kosovo origin for making an Albanian ‘eagle’ hand gesture when they scored against Serbia, some Kosovo Albanians, including senior officials, offered to pay. Gani Dreshaj,...

The Russian ambassador to Sarajevo indefinitely postponed a visit to Srebrenica after he was not allowed to visit the memorial centre for victims of the 1995 massacres because Moscow refuses to define them as genocide. Russian...

The Croatian Journalists’ Association said that an assault on a journalist in the city of Zadar was a consequence of the authorities’ failure to condemn a minister’s alleged threat to another reporter. Denis Romac, vice-president of the...