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Mayors in Bosnia’s Serb-dominated Republika Srpska vowed to heed President Milorad Dodik’s call for streets to be named in honour of the January 9 ‘statehood day’ holiday banned by the Constitutional Court.

A Kosovo court has handed down conditional jail terms for four opposition Vetevendosje MPs, found guilty of using offensive weapons when they let off tear gas in parliament in 2015.

The killing of a reported member of a Montenegrin organised crime gang in Belgrade shows that Serbia is allowing its capital to become a 'safe house' for warring clans, one analyst says.

Romania on Wednesday said it had begun extradition procedures for Radu Mazare, the former mayor of Constanta, after he skipped meetings with his parole officer and went to Madagascar.

From general elections threatened by a faulty election law to the deepening political crisis and a blocked path to the EU path, Bosnia is facing both old as well as some new challenges.   

Gerald Knaus, the man who came up with the plan to stem the migrant influx through the Aegean, tells BIRN that Bulgaria could use its EU presidency to make the refugee deal with Turkey work.

Turkey and Russia are competing influences in Moldova’s only autonomous region, where most locals eye Moldova’s courtship of the EU with suspicion.

In a regional review for BIRN, the European Commission says it is working on a new strategy for the Balkans and urges the countries to embrace the chance to further their European perspectives.

The failure of healthy growth rates to translate into wage rises – coupled with the passage of unpopular and controversial laws – are likely to mean a bumpy year. 

Many youngsters are unwilling to start a business in Bosnia because of the complex red tape and high taxes – but one woman says the obstacles poses less of problem than people think.

As 2017 draws to an end, we bring you this year’s most read articles.

President Hashim Thaci signed a decree to pardon three former Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas convicted of killing a family in 2001 in revenge because one of them served with the Serbian police.

After a failed attempt to revoke the law that allows the new Hague-based Specialist Chambers to try former Kosovo Liberation Army fighters, MPs who backed the initiative vowed not to give up.

The Pristina Basic Court has released Vetevendosje MPs Albin Kurti and Donika Kadaj Bujupi who had been detained on charges of letting off tear gas in parliament.

Despite outside perceptions of Romania as a booming country, a new survey has revealed a deep pessimism among people about about their future, their government and politics.

Bosnia's Federation entity looks likely to start 2018 without a budget as a result of chronic disputes between the ruling parties in the mainly Bosniak and Croat entity.

Former Bosnian Serb Interior Minister Tomislav Kovac was charged with controlling all the police forces involved in the mass executions of Bosniaks from Srebrenica in 1995.

President Hashim Thaci is believed to be considering giving a pardon to three former Kosovo guerrillas convicted of killing a family in revenge for their links with the Serbian police.

Bosniaks alleged to a Croatian news magazine that in 1993-94, they were forced to work in a Mostar-based factory that was managed by Dragan Covic, who is now the Bosnian presidency’s Croat representative.

Known as one of the easiest places in Europe to find a good time any season, it should be no surprise there is no shortage of places to party in Belgrade as the New Year approaches.