Balkan Insight

31/10/2025

BIRN on Friday published an updated version of ‘Serbia on the Streets’, with new material for free download to coincide with the anniversary of the Novi Sad station disaster.

A comprehensive collection of reports by Balkan Insight about Serbia’s mass protest movement from November 2024 to the present is free to download in PDF and EPUB formats on the link:

An e-book of Balkan Insight’s coverage of the student-led protest movement in Serbia has been republished with new material for free download to coincide with the anniversary of the Novi Sad station disaster.

31/10/2025

Ten years ago, the European Union cast itself as a global climate leader after the Paris Agreement.

Today, Europe’s once-ambitious targets are faltering, as economic growth takes precedence over the planet.



https://balkaninsight.com/2025/10/31/arte-europe-weekly-has-the-eu-given-up-the-fight-on-climate-change/

31/10/2025

To no great surprise, the nationalist-populist governments of Hungary and Slovakia were pegged as having overseen the sharpest declines in the rule of law in 2025, according to an index published by the World Justice Project this week.

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Elsewhere, ANO and two right-wing parties to present coalition deal to Czech president on Monday; further tensions on NATO’s eastern flank as Poland forced to temporarily close two airports; Slovak MP who is member of oversight body for intelligence agencies makes unapproved visit to Moscow.

31/10/2025

Poland is the poster-child of Nato military spending but its patchy civil defences are pushing anxious citizens to build private bomb shelters and join online survivalist communities.

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Poland is the poster-child of Nato military spending but its patchy civil defences are pushing anxious citizens to build private bomb shelters and join online survivalist communities.

31/10/2025

The Novi Sad railway station disaster last November cost 16 lives and sparked the biggest protest movement in Serbia for a quarter of a century. But despite the public outcry, the judiciary hasn’t managed to hold anyone accountable yet.
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The Novi Sad railway station disaster last November cost 16 lives and sparked the biggest protest movement in Serbia for a quarter of a century. But despite the public outcry, the judiciary hasn’t managed to hold anyone accountable yet.

31/10/2025

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31/10/2025

Anti-corruption prosecutors said they are investigating deputy premier and infrastructure minister Belinda Balluku for violating tender rules, linked to the construction of a road in 2020.
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Anti-corruption prosecutors said they are investigating deputy premier and infrastructure minister Belinda Balluku for violating tender rules, linked to the construction of a road in 2020.

31/10/2025

In runoff local elections in Skopje on Sunday, disenchanted voters have a rare chance to challenge the longstanding control of the country’s two dominant parties by backing a leftist contender. But will they?

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In runoff local elections in Skopje on Sunday, disenchanted voters have a rare chance to challenge the longstanding control of the country’s two dominant parties by backing a leftist contender. But will they?

31/10/2025

Albania's president praised the legacy of the three-times prime minister, an important figure in the country's post-communist politics, who died on Friday.
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Albania's president praised the legacy of the three-times prime minister, an important figure in the country's post-communist politics, who died on Friday.

31/10/2025

Serbian police on Friday arrested a local opposition councillor in Novi Sad, Misa Baculov, one day before a major commemorative protest marking the first anniversary of the railway station disaster in the city that cost 16 lives.

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A day before a large anti-government rally in Novi Sad, Serbian police arrested a local opposition councillor in the city – and the authorities also cancelled train services.

31/10/2025

At a private audience in the Vatican on Friday, Croatian President Zoran Milanovic invited Pope Leo XIV to come to his country - and expressed optimism that the pontiff would agree to pay a visit to Croatia's Catholic faithful.

Photo: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia