Balkaninsight.com

Bulgaria’s absorption of 160 million euros of EU funds for management of the refugee crisis is endangered by the country's political instability and by issues to do with public procurements, a minister warned.

Wartime Sarajevo-based correspondent Kevin Sullivan’s new novel The Longest Winter tries to reflect the humanity and courage of people living in the Bosnian capital during the 1992-95 siege.

Montenegrin crime reporter Jovo Martinovic has pleaded not guilty to drugs smuggling charges, calling the indictment against him contradictory and unclear.

The ruling Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, reportedly plans to reject the 2017 city budget proposed by Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic - and so start the process of removing him from his post.

The new Serb mayor of Srebrenica, the town notorious for the 1995 massacres of Bosniaks, said he has been invited to the 65th National Prayer Breakfast hosted by the US Congress and attended by Donald Trump.

GERB’s sudden withdrawal of support from its former coalition partner has dampened the hopes of the nationalist Patriotic Front of forming the next government.

Sharp falls in Croatian imports from Russia worry few experts in Zagreb - who in any case blame falling energy prices and changes in currency exchange rates as well as tit-for-tat sanctions and political feuds.

Swing voters and habitual abstainers together make up a whopping 30 to 40 per cent of Macedonia’s electorate, so whoever can mobilize them will win in December, experts believe.

Experts and journalists say the decision of another Kosovo court to hold a high-profile corruption trial behind closed doors will further damage people's trust in the judiciary.

Despite a host of fresh faces in the cabinet, not everyone is persuaded that Montenegro's new government under Dusko Markovic will be that different from the old one.

Journalists across the Western Balkans face a hostile environment that impedes their ability to report in a critical fashion, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.

Russia’s Foreign Minister will be seeking to clarify Moscow’s increasingly complex relations with Serbia on his upcoming visit to Belgrade, explains Bosko Jaksic, a Belgrade-based foreign policy expert.

Bakir Izetbegovic, leader of the Party of Democratic Action, SDA, and chair of the Bosnian Presidency, is facing a growing challenge from restive dissenters in the ranks.

The prosecution in the genocide and war crimes trial of former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic will begin its closing statements at the Hague Tribunal on December 5.

Tensions are growing ahead of local elections in Drenica, the birthplace of Kosovo’s revolution, as the ruling Democratic Party fights to keep power in its stronghold.

Montenegrin police arrested Miroslav Jovic, a Serb convicted in absentia in Croatia of committing war crimes against Croats during the conflict in the country in 1991, media reported.

The Hague Tribunal has made public an international arrest warrant for three Serbian Radical Party politicians wanted for witness intimidation, calling on UN member states to detain them if possible.

Defence ministry employees have been accused of being responsible for criminal negligence that cost the state a million euros in the latest in a series of charges raised by prosecutors against officials and ministers.

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz’s endorsement of the ruling VMRO DPMNE party before the upcoming elections horrified freedom-seeking Macedonians and contradicted the EU’s democratic values.

Davor Bernardic, the new leader of the main opposition Social Democratic Party, has promised a more left-wing agenda, but analysts say the party isn’t likely to veer off its moderate course.