In Serbia, 2025 was the year when protesting students rejected collaboration with the country’s civil society NGOs - but at what cost? Twenty-one-year-old Jovana Pongracic is a third-year student of ...

People across Serbia have lost their jobs after supporting student-led protests against the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, or for refusing to attend government-backed counter-rallies. For 16 years, ...

In giving a clear victory to Albin Kurti’s Vetevendosje, Kosovo’s voters delivered a strong message – the months-long political stalemate must end so the country can move forward. As the dust settles ...

A BIRN investigation finds evidence that systemic flaws in Romanian military procurement mean many local units are awarding big contracts to questionable companies, potentially compromising national ...

From mass protests and fragile peace talks to pressure on opposition parties and the jailing of journalists, Turkey had another politically troubled year. Riot police use teargas to disperse ...

Despite political tensions sparked by high-profile corruption cases, Klodjan Braho tells BIRN that his main priority will be to guarantee Albanians that “no one is above the law”. Supporters of the ...

Amid heightened political tensions in Bulgaria, the sudden non-appearance of outspoken TV morning show hosts Maria Tsantsarova and Zlatimir Yochev drew claims that the country is going back to 'a time ...

Albania’s communist regime outlawed religion and waged a decades-long campaign of repression against Christian and Muslim believers, jailing and executing clerics and persecuting their families - but ...

China’s Huawei has come to dominate the 5G rollout in Cyprus, with risks for data security and independent policymaking that go far beyond the island’s shores, experts warn. This post is also ...

Former Bosnian Serb Army military policeman Goran Viskovic, who is already serving a prison sentence for crimes against humanity, was charged with participating in the killings of eight Bosniak ...

The inclusion of women’s right to abortion in France’s constitution is significant and welcome – but it’s not quite the ‘pioneering’ move it’s being called. The recent decision of the French ...

Internal documents show Frontex and the European Commission are well aware of Bulgaria’s dire human rights record on its border with Turkey, but the EU’s executive arm had other priorities – expanding ...