Balkaninsight.com

Red-faced over reports about how much it cost, the Serbian capital's mayor has pledged to cancel the city's contract for its super-costly plastic Christmas tree - although the tree is already up.

Moldova's parliament on Thursday named Vitalie Pirlog as new head of the state security and intelligence service in what some experts see as a payoff for his services to the ruling party's leader.

Romania’s parliament on Thursday adopted a controversial justice bill, despite warnings from civil society, opposition and foreign diplomats that it threatens to subvert the rule of law.

The Croatian state management of the stricken Agrokor company has decided to resolve part of the company's huge debts by transforming the company's creditors into owners of its more profitable parts.

Former guard Brane Planojevic was acquitted of assisting in the killings, rape and torture of civilians and prisoners of war at a detention camp in Rogatica in 1993 and 1994.

The UN tribunal for the former Yugoslavia shuts on Thursday after convicting 90 war criminals, but its successes have been accompanied by courtroom controversies and a disputed legacy in Balkan countries.

Bosnia says it will tighten controls over illegal logging ahead of the Christmas holiday, when the hunt for free yule logs and Christmas trees poses a threat to the country's woodlands.

The Bulgarian government's PR campaign ahead of its forthcoming first Presidency of the EU in January has inspired a wave of satire on social networks.

Members of the opposition 'Let’s not drown Belgrade' movement suspect trolls linked to Serbia's ruling party are behind the wave of Facebook attacks on them.

Chaotic and at times violent scenes in and around the Albanian parliament on Monday have again revealed a polarised politicial atmosphere in the country.

Balkan governments need to ask the US and Saudi Arabia more questions following revelations that their arms deliveries are routinely diverted to Syria and into the hands of ISIS, a report says.

Romanians expressed concern after police responded to an alleged death threat on the Bucharest metro three days after a woman murdered one passenger and attempted to kill another.

As Macedonia’s capital Skopje breaks air pollution records, Russia used a US call for ideas to curb the problem to promote its own proposal to build a natural gas pipeline in the Balkans.

Lawmakers agreed changes to Bosnia’s excise law, which will increase road tolls and biofuel prices - a condition for the IMF and European development bank to release around a billion euros of development funds.

Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik said he will seek to block efforts for the country to one day become a member of NATO, insisting on military neutrality, in line with Serbia.

Across the region, rising pressure is visible, good and bad, from coercion against freedom of speech in Serbia and the media in Bulgaria to more constructive pressure to resolve old disputes between Greece and Macedonia. 

Patients’ organisations and political parties have vowed to take the Bulgarian state to court for halting public funding for innovative treatments for diseases like cancer, after the decision was backed by MPs.

The Serbian opposition accused the ruling coalition of obstructing debate in parliament by filing hundreds of meaningless amendments that prevented proper discussion of next year's state budget.

Eight years after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Bosnia was guilty of ethnic discrimination, nothing has changed, said one of the plaintiffs in the high-profile case.

Kosovo government minister Dalibor Jevtic says Serbs and Albanians need to build trust - and that Kosovo Serb children should learn the Albanian language to ensure better communication for the future.