The former head of the Serbian State Security Service, Jovica Stanisic, sentenced to 15 years in prison for wartime violations in Bosnia and Croatia, has apologised for his crimes and requested early release.

Following parliament’s failure to elect a new president, Kosovo is heading towards snap polls in which former President Vjosa Osmani is clearly planning a role.

Political change in Sofia promises a stable government after years of turmoil – but it isn’t likely to translate into a substantial shift in policy towards neighbouring North Macedonia and its blocked EU aspirations.

Kosovo MPs have until midnight on Tuesday to elect a new president or head into new snap elections – only four months after the last polls.

Giant data centre and innovation campus, codenamed Pantheon – to be built at Topusko, south of Zagreb – is expected to turn Croatia into a regional hub for digital infrastructure.

Former prime minister warns of democratic decline, criticises the rightward shift of her former party, the HDZ, and reflects on Croatia’s successful path to the EU.

Catch up on the weekend’s most important developments with Balkan Insight’s digest of news from countries across the region.

Kosovo’s biggest religious communities stand accused of meddling in the work of parliament to block passage of legislative changes that would expose them to new financial scrutiny and provide legal recognition for an array of other faith groups.

Former European integration minister Gordana Djurovic tells BIRN that Montenegro, the frontrunner for EU accession, now has membership within its sights - but cautions that there is plenty of hard work ahead.

Three Serbs were found guilty of terrorism and involvement in a violent attempt to seize northern parts of Kosovo in September 2023, as part of an armed group that was backed by Serbia.

Elsewhere, Magyar claims Hungary tilted Slovak 2023 election Fico’s way by shifting migrants to border; crypto scandal in Poland puts spotlight on president’s veto of law on such assets; protests in Czechia over public media reforms.

A court in Kosovo will issue its verdict on Friday in the trial of three Serb men accused of involvement in a deadly attack on police in 2023. According to the indictment, Serbia is also in the dock.

Kosovo’s rival political leaders are already slipping into election campaign mode, trading blame and barbs for their failure to find a new president for the country.

On his path to rolling back illiberal rule, Hungary’s newly elected prime minister has found an ally in a veteran of European politics - Poland’s Donald Tusk. The question now is how far that playbook can travel – and where its limits lie.

Photographer Petrut Calinescu went on a journey to explore how contemporary Romanians interpret the mythology to the ancient Dacian people - from re-enactment events to tourist attractions and right-wing ‘sovereigntist’ movements.

Naim Murseli was jailed for life for orchestrating the murder of his wife and staging it as a robbery. A second man also received a life sentence for carrying out the killing, while a third was sentenced to 30 years for abetting the murder.

Moscow has lost its main ally inside the EU with the defeat of Hungary’s Viktor Orban. Can the victory of Bulgaria’s Rumen Radev provide the Kremlin with a new disruptor for the European bloc?

The Social Democratic Party, the leading party in Romania’s governing coalition, announced its decision to withdraw support for Liberal Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan - a move expected to trigger political instability.

Catch up on the weekend’s most important developments with Balkan Insight’s digest of news from countries across the region.

Same-sex couples in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are still waiting for legal security in the event of sickness, unemployment, bereavement and parenthood.

If the European Commission decides to follow the parliament’s recommendation, it could start a process that both Hungary and Poland went through when they were governed by anti-EU, populist governments.

New agreement on exchange of classified data in the defence sector appears designed to accelerate arms shipments from Israel to Serbia.

Academics say state universities across the country are coming under increasing pressure from the authorities, who see them as a hotbeds of organised political dissent that could challenge the Serbian Progressive Party’s long rule at the next elections.

For more than a decade, Besnik Kelmendi has been under US sanctions for facilitating the alleged drug trafficking operations of his father, Naser, yet in that time he obtained a gun licence in Kosovo with the help of a senior anti-drugs officer.

Some industry insiders say there are signs of a shift from ‘brain drain’ to ‘brain circulation’ when it comes to Kosovo’s information, communication and technology talent, but the lure of better pay and career prospects abroad is still very strong.

Court sentences Jelena Djukanovic, a former OSCE employee in Kosovo, to six years in jail for using her position to supply Serbia's intelligence agency, the BIA, with sensitive information.

With dating and sexual habits changing, the way younger Czechs interact and form relationships has left experts pondering over what it means for the social fabric.

Our selection of Balkan Insight Premium stories this week tells a story of political change in key countries in the region, but associated uncertainty about future political directions.

The Serbian government condemned the verdict convicting three Serbs of involvement in a deadly attack in northern Kosovo in 2023, but MPs in Pristina burst into applause when they heard about the judgment.

Will the clear victory for Rumen Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria in last weekend's elections herald new efforts to tackle corruption, as he has promised - or cause new problems in the country's relationship with the EU?

Kosovo’s Albin Kurti and Albania’s Edi Rama have distinct and divergent approaches to governing, each with its own set of risks and rewards.

The Turkish Interior Ministry says almost a million stray animals - mostly dogs - have been ‘collected’ from the streets in the past year, but the fate of the animals is unknown.

For years, Romania’s political elite has mounted a rearguard action to protect its weakest link – the academic plagiarism that was used on an alarming scale to secure career advancement.

After over six years on the run, Moldovan oligarch and former political leader Vladimir Plahotniuc has been handed a 19-year prison sentence for his role in a massive banking fraud widely.

Revelations from the US about an alleged Iran-linked hacker group’s attempt to sell Albanians’ personal data have raised more questions about cyber defences in the Balkan country after a series of attacks on state systems.

In Brussels, Rumen Radev’s landslide win in Bulgaria’s parliamentary election has fuelled fears that Russia will have a new ally inside the European Union. At home, however, hopes are rising of an alliance with reformists to overhaul the much-maligned judiciary.

How ruthless or pragmatic will Hungary’s incoming prime minister be? We may get more of an idea this week when he meets with the pro-Orban leader of Romania’s ethnic Hungarian political party.

A meeting between Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and opposition leader Lumir Abdixhiku to agree on who should become the next head of state ended without results, raising concerns about snap elections.

BIRN’s monthly update on digital rights and safety in the Western Balkans and Turkey highlights the most significant scams, data leaks, bomb threats and sexist and homophobic attacks across the region in March.

Former President Rumen Radev is on course for a landslide win with his freshly formed Progressive Bulgaria party, vowing to tackle poverty and oligarchic power - but raising questions with his "pragmatic" stance on Russia.

Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe bestows its top 'award' on Croatian judge Ivan Markovic for issuing over 20 lawsuits against journalists – the third 'winner' from Croatia in five years.

Slobodan Radenkovic was jailed for two years for taking part in attacks on NATO peacekeeping troops in the north of Kosovo in May 2023 that left over 90 soldiers injured.

Instead of smuggling drugs, the cartels send ‘cooks’ to produce them in laboratories hidden in villages in the Polish regions of Pomerania or Podlaskie.

The vote removing Diana Sosoaca’s parliamentary immunity clears the way for her criminal prosecution in Romania for allegedly detaining a journalist and promoting anti-Semitism.

Prosecutors lift the lid on an alleged corruption scam involving the government body tasked with handling Albania’s digital public services. A handful of people made millions.

A new programme to subsidise the care of infants is designed to make it easier for women with children to rejoin the workforce.

In her latest despatch from the US, Jovana Djurovic considers how far Trump has turned things upside down – and how Balkan states are scrambling to appease him.

Council of Europe body advises changes following controversial legal changes that critics say could undermine prosecutors' work in high-profile cases involving Serbian officials.

Kosovo MPs supported a bill to ratify the country’s membership of President Donald Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’, with lawmakers saying it helps the Balkan state get closer to the US.

The paths of a street-vendor from Kandahar, an elderly couple from Bulgaria, and a Greek tech worker and a tattooist converge on an Aegean holiday island with a troubled past.

Romania is bracing for a period of political uncertainty after the resignation of one third of its ministers from its coalition government.

Legislation prohibits social media companies from offering services to under-15s, while a new law is also being drafted requiring identification verification for all Turkish social media users.

Greek parliament lifts immunity of 13 MPs accused of involvement in EU agriculture funds scandal following a request by the European Public Prosecutor's Office.

After elections heralded a change of power, controversial senior prosecutor Borislav Sarafov is stepping down, with the new parliament likely to seek an overhaul of the Supreme Justice Council as part of justice reforms.

The convincing victory of Rumen Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria alliance should offer the opportunity for stable government after years of turmoil - but little is known about which political direction it will take.

BIRN lifts the lid on the online ads bringing to the Balkans illicit opioids more potent than fentanyl, sourced in China, ‘100% double vacuumed sealed’ and delivered by FedEx and DHL.

Montenegro’s plan to commemorate victims of a World War II concentration camp in Jasenovac has drawn sharp criticism from Croatia, reigniting tensions between the neighbours and risking a setback in recently improving relations.

Bosnian state court upholds verdict acquitting Andrija Bjelosevic, a wartime security chief in the town of Derventa, of raping a Bosniak woman multiple times.

Fifteen years after it committed to do so, Serbia has yet to give Kosovo scanned copies of the cadastral records it seized at the end of the 1998-99 war, leaving thousands of property disputes unresolved.

New legal amendments allowing ‘strategic investors’ to develop port facilities at tourist resorts without competitive tenders represent the latest custom-written legislation brought in by Edi Rama’s government to benefit big business, critics claim.