Serbia
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Eurozone crisis
Will the EU end up like Yugoslavia?
5 January 201267Politika Belgrade -
River transport
The Danube is running dry
26 October 2011NRC Handelsblad Rotterdam -
Serbia-Kosovo
Border tension growing
21 October 2011PresseuropDanas -
European Union
An enlargement of illusions
13 October 20113Dagens Nyheter Stockholm -
7 October 2011PresseuropDanas
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Former Yugoslavia
Balkan delusions of grandeur
3 October 20115Jutarnji List Zagreb -
24 August 2011PresseuropDanas
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Germany-Serbia
Plain speaking in Belgrade
22 August 2011PresseuropDer Tagesspiegel -
Romania
The totalitarian tourist trail
18 August 2011PresseuropRomânia libera -
29 July 20112NRC Handelsblad Rotterdam
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Serbia-Netherlands
Mladić transferred to The Hague
1 June 20111PresseuropNezavisne Novine -
Former Yugoslavia
Mladić arrest won't wash away the shame
27 May 20111 -
27 May 2011Nacional Zagreb
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Editorial
Balkan blues
27 May 20111Presseurop -
26 May 2011Politika Belgrade
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8 March 2011PresseuropRzeczpospolita
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EU accession
The Balkan family photo is blurred
21 January 20112Politika Belgrade -
26 October 2010Blic Belgrade
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Serbia
Dark side of the Yugosphere
13 October 2010Il Sole-24 Ore Milan -
Balkans
Neither here nor there
30 September 2010Adevărul Bucharest -
9 September 2010PresseuropPolitika
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Editorial
Restless holidays
27 August 2010Presseurop -
Enlargement
EU’s backdoor thrown open
16 August 20102Le Figaro Paris -
22 July 20101Jurnalul Naţional Bucharest
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14 June 2010PresseuropDe Volkskrant
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1 April 2010PresseuropTimpul
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19 February 20101Trouw Amsterdam
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BALKANS
Kosovo, the problem neighbour
17 February 20101The Guardian London -
8 February 20103Globus-Skopje Skopje
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1 February 2010Politika Belgrade
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26 January 2010
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European Union
The truth about Serbia
23 December 20091The Guardian London -
22 December 2009PresseuropPolitika
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10 December 2009Presseurop
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26 November 2009PresseuropPolska The Times
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Balkans
Hail Albania!
25 November 20091The Guardian London -
30 October 2009
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22 October 20091Wprost Warsaw
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EU enlargement
Auditors find "black hole" of the Balkans
14 October 2009PresseuropTrouw -
7 October 2009PresseuropDer Standard
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23 September 20091Handelsblatt Düsseldorf
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Bosnia-Herzegovina
Have passport, can't travel
3 September 2009BH Dani Sarajevo -
28 August 2009PresseuropDie Tageszeitung
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EU enlargement
Never mind the Balkans, here's Iceland
31 July 20092El País Madrid -
War crimes
New age guru Karadzic “defended the bees”
27 July 2009PresseuropThe New York Times -
The Stage
All the world's a train station
22 July 2009Die Zeit Hamburg
Seen from Belgrade, Zagreb or Sarajevo, the economic and institutional crisis that has struck the European Union has a certain air of déjà-vu. Serbian daily Politika remarks on the similarities with the years preceding the break-up of the federation founded by Tito. 
The Danube, Europe's second longest river, is one of the most poorly navigable rivers on the continent. Despite the EU’s Danube Strategy, the summer drought has resulted in even lower water levels, resulting in an enormous traffic jam. 
In opening up the prospect of accession to several candidate countries, the European Commissioner for Enlargement means to put on a show of optimism. But it only reinforces the impression that Europe doesn’t know where it’s going, writes the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter. 
In a phenomenon that has emerged in cities as diverse as Skopje, Niš and Split, the states of the former Yugoslavia are been swept by a craze for megalomaniac monuments. Croatian writer Jurica Pavicic examines the vogue for these nationalist monstrosities, and concludes their goal is to rewrite history. 
As the border post went up in flames, NATO troops moved in to prevent an escalation of hostilities. The tension on the border between Kosovo and Serbia, a smuggling flashpoint, has once again reached fever pitch. A Dutch columnist argues that the solution should be more talks and subsidies for legal businesses. 
While the European press has universally welcomed the arrest of Ratko Mladić, reactions vary according to how the different countries were caught up in the war in Bosnia. 
In arresting one of the generals responsible for the Srebrenica massacre, Serbian authorities have demonstrated their desire to close a dark chapter in their history. But several questions remain about Ratko Mladic’s flight from justice. 
The population census demanded by Brussels has become a political challenge in most of the countries of the western Balkans. Twenty years after the start of the wars in former Yugoslavia, the venture brings ethnic and social tensions back into the spotlight. 
On 25 October, the union’s 27 member states decided to forward Belgrade’s request for EU accession to the European Commission. But the process that is now underway will still have to overcome a significant number of obstacles, reports Serbian daily Blic. 
With Serbia’s candidacy for EU accession up for review at the end of the month, the tension fomented by Serb ultranationalists is mounting dangerously: witness Serb hooligans’ recent attacks on the Gay Pride parade in Belgrade and at the Italy-Serbia match in Genoa. 
A nest of vipers, a powderkeg of ancient hatreds or the cradle of Western civilisation — Europe doesn't know how to view its troublesome southeastern corner. One thing is sure though, it keeps getting its stance wrong. 
Millions of Turks, Serbs, Moldovans, Ukrainians and Macedonians could soon be European citizens, thanks to some fancy footwork by new member states 
On 22 July, the International Court of Justice ruled that the independence of the former Yugoslav province does not violate international law. For Europe, the future of this quasi-fictive state remains a geopolitical headache. 
Violations of freedom of religion, equality before the law, human rights: a great many Turks bypass their own legal system to put their case directly to the European Court of Human Rights. A phenomenon that vexes jurists no end, but is gradually changing the Turkish mindset. 
Two years after Kosovo's declaration of independence, the Union is still unable to come up with a coherent policy for the western Balkans. This threatens not only to scupper Serbia’s accession to the EU, but also to destabilise the region itself. 
Five centuries of Turkish domination left their mark on culture, cuisine, language and even gestures in Balkan countries. It is an influence that is still apparent in attitudes that have affected the pace of integration in the European Union for a number of Balkan states. 
Since 19 December, the citizens of Serbia are no longer required to apply for visas to enter the countries of the European Union. The change encouraged some Serbs to travel abroad for the first time in their lives.
Serbia’s formal application for EU membership on 22 December has been hailed as a great step forward. David Cronin in the Guardian, however, accuses Europe of “brazen hypocrisy” in its dealings towards the former pariah state. 
After years of gridlock, the EU 27 have now decided to get the Serbian accession talks going again. Whilst delighted by the EU’s green light for Serbia’s free trade agreement, the Serb press says Belgrade still has a long way to go before it can hope for accession. 
On 16 November the EU Council formally approved Albania’s application for accession to the Union. Guardian columnist Peter Preston argues in favour of an emerging country whose enthusiasm for the European project is a welcome antidote to eurosceptic cynicism. 
Separated by wars which marked the 1990s, some citizens of the former Yugoslavia are attempting to rebuild the cultural ties, which were a feature of the Titoist state. Today, with encouragement from Europe, political leaders are also beginning to recognize this trend. 
Pressing ahead with its worldwide expansion agenda, China is now snatching up contracts in highly-indebted Eastern Europe. Beijing is hell bent on out-leveraging the Western competition there by offering dumping prices and cheap loans. But this is not just about fat contracts, writes the Handelsblatt: the Middle Kingdom is also buying political sway.
From 1st January, 2010, Muslim Bosnians and Kosovans will be the only citizens of the former Yugoslavia required to obtain visas to enter the European Union. Sarejevo daily, BH Dani, explains how impartial principles will result in discriminatory practice. 
The enthusiasm with which member states have welcomed Reykjavik's request for accession to the EU is in marked contrast to the prudence — and in some cases hostility — which has greeted similar requests from the countries of ex-Yugoslavia and Turkey. But the EU cannot afford to give the impression that certain candidates enjoy special privileges. 
For 80 days, German, Turkish, Romanian, Croatian, Serb and Slovenian actors have been criss-crossing Europe on a train transmogrified into a theatre-on-wheels. The object of this project launched by the Stuttgart National Theatre is "to foster understanding between nations". Easier said than done, says a journalist from Die Zeit, who boarded the train for the stretch from Istanbul to Bucharest.