🎙️ New BiEPAG Podcast: The EU-Balkans Roundup #1. Florian Bieber, Damir Kapidžić, Donika Emini & Tena Prelec take stock of Serbia's election, Bosnia's vote, the Kosovo Specialist Chambers verdict and the EU's changing pull in the region. 🎧 Listen: open.spotify.com/episode/69Hz... #BiEPAG

New BiEPAG Op-ed by Jovana Marović: is Montenegro really a risk to EU stability? Ten enlargement myths, tested against the facts. 👉 Read: tinyurl.com/bdfcbfwn #Montenegro #EUEnlargement #BiEPAG

New BiEPAG Op-ed by Giorgio Fruscione: has the international community forgotten Bosnia and Herzegovina? A vacant High Representative post exposes deep divisions among its international partners. 👉 Read: tinyurl.com/5brbm6t2 #BosniaAndHerzegovina #WesternBalkans #BiEPAG

📢 New BiEPAG Policy Paper by Donika Emini & Dimitar Bechev How the Western Balkans are becoming security contributors, not just recipients — and what's still missing for deeper EU integration. 👉 Read: shorturl.at/zpF7U #WesternBalkans #BiEPAG

📢 Final call: BiEPAG Survey The BiEPAG survey closes today, Monday, 21 September. If you haven’t completed it yet, please take a few minutes to do so. 👇👇👇

Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG)@biepag.bsky.social · 3w ago

📢 We need your feedback! The deadline for the BiEPAG survey has been extended until 21 September. The survey takes around 7 minutes and is confidential. 👇 Take the survey: www.surveymonkey.com/r/RT9R6T9 #BiEPAG #WesternBalkans #Research

📢 We need your feedback! The deadline for the BiEPAG survey has been extended until 21 September. The survey takes around 7 minutes and is confidential. 👇 Take the survey: www.surveymonkey.com/r/RT9R6T9 #BiEPAG #WesternBalkans #Research

📢 BiEPAG wants to hear from you! How has BiEPAG’s analysis, podcasts and advocacy contributed to your work? Share your experience, views and suggestions for our future work. 📝 Take the 7-minute survey by 18 Sept. 👇 tinyurl.com/3bb8hd59 #BiEPAG #BiEPAG #Research

BiEPAG member Giorgio Fruscione spoke to @NewUnionPost about the recent meeting between Aleksandar Vučić and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Serbia–Ukraine relations, and the role of EU accession. 🔎 Read the full article: tinyurl.com/5n8zv93s #BiEPAG #EUEnlargement #Serbia #Ukraine

The unexpected Serbia-Ukraine alliance on EU accession

The Vučić–Zelensky meeting in Belgrade showed that EU enlargement is "the only real common ground" shared by Serbia and Ukraine, says Giorgio Fruscione (ISPI)

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🌍 Beyond Stability: Who Governs the Western Balkans? Vera Tika explores how civic mobilisations across the region are reshaping democratic demands. 📖 Read the full op-ed on our website: tinyurl.com/33aj5hfx Image credits: protesti.pics #WesternBalkans #Democracy

Beyond Stability: Who Governs the Western Balkans?

More than sixty years ago, Robert Dahl posed a deceptively simple question: Who governs? His inquiry was not merely about who holds office, but about how power is exercised, who benefits from polit...

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🎙️ New episode of “Seriously Enlargement” is out! In our first episode Donika Emini talks with Timothée Truelle and Natasha Wunsch about France’s evolving view on EU enlargement, the future of Europe, and what it means for the Western Balkans. 🎧 Listen now: tinyurl.com/45wbanhu

🇷🇸 Srebrenica cannot be openly discussed in autocratic Serbia. The genocide has become a political instrument wielded by the state. Dragan Popović argues that only democracy can create the conditions necessary for truth, acknowledgment, and regional reconciliation. New op-ed: tinyurl.com/mrx576ua

🇷🇸 Serbia's student movement has emerged as the only political force challenging the regime. But can they keep Serbia on the EU path? In her BiEPAG op-ed, Jelena Vasiljević examines what post-Vučić Serbia needs to avoid being lost to competing geopolitical projects. Read now: tinyurl.com/9t2hp9xy

⛏️ New BiEPAG study is out! 🌳 The EU needs critical raw materials for its green transition. The Western Balkans has them. But can mining projects proceed in weak institutional environments without sacrificing democracy and environmental protection? 🔗 Download from our website: tinyurl.com/yc4mkvck

⚖️ Montenegro leads EU accession negotiations. Yet its public sector has ballooned by 5.500 employees in six years. One in three workers is employed by the state. Alessandro Ieranò examines the paradox of progress on paper versus dysfunction on the ground. Read his blog: tinyurl.com/224acuyr

🏛️ Across the Western Balkans, mass protests rise while opposition parties weaken. Citizens turn to streets because they no longer trust institutions. 🔍 Bernard Nikaj and Lura Pollozhani examine what this democratic disconnect means for the region. 🔗 New BiEPAG blog is online: tinyurl.com/5zbcbzfv

The way and timing of #Vucic announcement point to "a game of castling in chess – relinquishing the presidency to assume the office of prime minister while preserving effective political control" in #Serbia, explains Giorgio Fruscione (@biepag.bsky.social) newunionpost.eu/2026/06/29/v...

Behind Vučić’s words on resignation and elections in Serbia

It seems "a game of castling in chess" – relinquishing the presidency for the role of prime minister and preserving power in Serbia, explains Fruscione (ISPI)

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A new @biepag.bsky.social policy paper examines why democratic breakthroughs in the #WesternBalkans & other competitive authoritarian regimes fail to produce lasting democratic change. www.biepag.eu/publication/...

The Narrow Corridor of Re-Democratization in the Western Balkans (and beyond): Making Democratic Breakthroughs Work

A new BiEPAG policy paper by Florian Bieber, Claudia Laštro, and Enej Lovrečič examines why democratic breakthroughs in the Western Balkans and other competitive authoritarian regimes so o...

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📋 New BiEPAG policy brief is out! When competitive authoritarian regimes fall at the ballot box, there is a narrow window for reform. Yet most democratic breakthroughs fail. @fbieber.bsky.social, Claudia Laštro, and Enej Lovrečič examine why and what must change. Read now: tinyurl.com/jck8k2j5

🎙️In Episode 25 of our podcast, BiEPAG Fellow Gresa Hasa and Member of the Albanian Parliament Redi Muçi examine mass protests demanding accountability from PM Rama and opposition leader Berisha. Hosted by Florian Bieber. 🎧Tune in for a discussion on "the flamingo revolution": tinyurl.com/4ywkcnsp

🗳️Vetëvendosje remains the largest party, but Kurti's gamble cost him. Turnout collapsed from 48% to 37%. Voters stayed home, signaling lost faith in a process defined by confrontation over compromise. Donika Emini examines what these results reveal about Kosovo's democracy. 🔗 tinyurl.com/3zp7cu7n

🔊 The Serbian and Albanian protests use charged ethnonyms as political weapons. Yet beneath these slogans lies a shared struggle for democracy, rule of law, and environmental protection. In our BiEPAG blog, Aleksandar Pavlović contextualizes what unites these movements. 🔗 tinyurl.com/23m9uu3y

The Merz-Macron proposal on gradual integration offers a European Economic Area+ model. But does it address the real challenge? EU must follow through with internal reforms and deliver predictable accession pathways. Marina Vulović and Odeta Barbullushi analyze the stakes. 🔗 tinyurl.com/7rsfnmnr

🦩 The Zvërnec mega-resort project has sparked debate over project governance, environmental protection, and decision-making transparency in Albania. Lutjona Lula examines systemic issues exposed by ongoing mass protests over Jared Kushner-linked resort in Albania. 🔗 tinyurl.com/46jdhzew

📢 New BiEPAG study chapter is now online ✍️ In her analysis, BiEPAG member Jelena Vasiljević examines how environmental activism has evolved into one of the most influential forms of civic mobilization in the Western Balkans. 📖 Read here ⬇️ tinyurl.com/ahawckpr

Serbia's Growth Plan funding hangs in balance. Only six of 34 reforms implemented by March 2026. ⚖️ The EU freezes payments over judicial independence, yet hesitates to call it. Will geopolitics trump rule of law? Read the analysis from BiEPAG Fellow Ivana Miličević. 🔗 tinyurl.com/28vyasen

⛏️ New BiEPAG study chapter "Mining in the Western Balkans: Who Really Profits?" by Biljana Jovanović, Kristijan Fidanovski, and Branimir Jovanović explores who captures the gains from the region’s growing mining sector and critical raw materials projects. 📖 Read the chapter: tinyurl.com/296j73hj

My latest guest blog for @biepag.bsky.social on how Europe+ can take the initiative in the #WB6 in the interests of these countries' citizens - and their own. www.biepag.eu/blog/europe-...

Europe+ Needs to Ensure Security in the Western Balkans – Including Its Own

Most Western Balkan leaders comfortably inhabit an indeterminate gray zone. They want the validation and benefits of being EU partners without paying the freight. In this sense, the entropy in Bosn...

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Western Balkans leaders claim EU partnership while avoiding responsibility. Bosnia and Herzegovina sits at the center of regional instability, yet Europe+ has the leverage to reset this dynamic. A bold new strategic vision is imperative. Read the full analysis by @kurtbassuener.bsky.social ⬇️

🔔 New BiEPAG blog Serbian students’ “Memorandum on Kosovo” sparked outrage at home and abroad, but its actual position is political mainstream. ✍️ Nikola Burazer argues its nationalist rhetoric is unlikely to shape the broader dynamics of the dialogue process. 📖 Read ⬇️ tinyurl.com/2m2fredz

📢 New BiEPAG study chapter ⛏️ Legal and Environmental Aspects of Mining in the Western Balkans This chapter, authored by a group of contributors, examines environmental governance, legal frameworks, and public participation in mining projects across the region. 📖 Read here ⬇️ tinyurl.com/363ek4c7