Eastern Europe

"While they do hurt the Belarusian economy, half-hearted Western sanctions will not topple Lukashenko’s regime." By Chris Coljin.

"Zelenskyy and his allies in Kyiv and abroad need to understand that any compromise with Russia won’t fulfill all wishes of the Ukrainian side." Lance Bradley on Kyiv's diminishing leverage over [...]

This month, Owen Howells take a look at the newly established Open Balkan Initiative aimed at further cooperation and integration of the Western Balkans and potentially speed up the EU accession [...]

"For worshippers of Romuva in Lithuania, June came with some seriously welcome news, as the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) sided with worshippers in a case against the State". Article by [...]

One of Edi Rama's election promises in Albania's national parliamentary elections earlier this year was to keep guiding Albania towards EU accession - how is it going so far? By Xhorxhina Molla.

"In the Western Balkans, there is little doubt that education remains hostage to political interests and ironically, is nobody’s responsibility" Opinion piece by Francesco Trupia and Gentiola Madhi

Hugo Blewett-Mundy on the EU enlargement and the Western Balkans.

In perhaps the unlikeliest of European regions, a quiet and gradual march towards acceptance and equality has been underway, often going unnoticed and unacknowledged.

In early May, Romania's largest brown bear was killed by a member of the Lichtensteinian royal family. It's a story that exposes corruption, growing populism and nationalism in Romanian politics.

Ivana Hadjievska on the problem of neighbourhood - or the problem of people living next to each other and North Macedonia's accession to the EU.