Balkaninsight.com

The decision of global Orthodoxy’s nominal leader to grant the Ukrainian Orthodox Church independence from Moscow will pit Orthodox churches against each other in the Balkans.

After the leader of the global Orthodoxy, the Patriarch of Constantinople, announced he will grant the Ukrainian Church independence from Moscow, churches in the Balkans have remained silent for now.

Mourners gathered on Friday in Ruse for the funeral of murdered reporter Viktoria Marinova – whose alleged assailant has confessed in Germany to assaulting her but denies having raped or killed her.

Croatia's Health Minister survived a no-confidence vote on Friday – but the issue of women's healthcare has been thrust into the spotlight after an MP shared her own 'painful' experience of the hospital system.

The UK headquartered Liberty House Group announced on Friday that it wished to purchase four steel plants from ArcelorMittal, including those in Romania and Macedonia. 

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in a first-instance verdict has jailed Dragan Janjic for seven years for rape in the Foca area of eastern Bosnia in 1992 – while acquitting him of other charges.

The independent-minded opposition MP Daniela Rangelova says she does not regret voting in Macedonia’s recent ‘name’ referendum – and her party must also take European criticism of its actions seriously.

President Hashim Thaci of Kosovo claims French President Emmanuel Macron supports his controversial proposal for a border 'correction' with Serbia – despite strong opposition to the idea at home.

Numerous Bosnian Croats have staged a protest against the election of Zeljko Komsic as the Croat member of Bosnia's state presidency, saying he does not represent their community.

Writers in Croatia have slated the promotion of a new revisionist biography of the infamous commander of wartime concentration camps, Vjekoslav ‘Maks’ Luburic, which is being promoted in churches and other venues.

Zlatko Teodosievski, member of working group set up to decide the fate of ‘Skopje 2014’, says the city-wide revamp was ill-informed and worked illegally – and most of its monuments should be scrapped.

Almost a week after the general election in Bosnia, the Central Election Committee, CIK, has still not released the final results – prompting some critics to say that the process is too slow.

In regulating the rights and status of its 63,000 Muslims, Croatia is ahead of its European peers. The community says it faces little hostility, but the same cannot be said for the mainly Muslim migrants and refugees crossing Croatia’s borders.

Prime Minister Edi Rama says websites must be 'legalized' by registering with the tax authorities by Monday as part of an 'anti-defamation package' that many media activists have condemned as muddled and contradictory.

The Serbian government has scrapped its visa-free regime for citizens of Iran, the authorities said on Wednesday, saying the system had been 'abused' by Iranians to get into the EU.

Three former Bosnian Serb policemen and a former soldier were charged with involvement in the murders of at least 16 Bosniaks and the persecution, torture and abuse of civilians in the Vlasenica area.

Atif Dudakovic, the former commander of the Bosnian Army’s Fifth Corps, was charged alongside 16 subordinates with crimes including over 300 murders and the destruction of Serb Orthodox churches.

Former Bosnian Serb Army soldier Zoran Adamovic was indicted for crimes against humanity, including the murders and forced disappearances of Bosniaks and Croats, in the Kljuc area in the summer of 1992.

Displays of the will of the people, as expressed through elections and referendums, are in no short supply as we digest the results of the Bosnian general elections – and their implications – while wrangles to interpret the will of the people continue in Macedonia. 

After winning the Serbian seat on Bosnia's state presidency, Milorad Dodik announced on Thursday that he will not be working at the Bosnian Presidency in Sarajevo – but at another residence in Serb-run East Sarajevo.