About: Serbia Archives

A Serbian journalist was detained by police on Wednesday (1 April) on charges of causing public unrest and damaging a hospital's reputation after she reported about a shortage of protective medical equipment available for staff at a medical centre in the northern Vojvodina province.

When six Chinese doctors landed in Belgrade two weeks ago, Serbia's president greeted them with elbow-bumps before laying a kiss on their country's flag, a gesture of gratitude that sent Chinese social media aflutter.

The ongoing coronavirus crisis is feeding into the narrative that the EU is “turning its back” on the Western Balkans, the European External Action Service (EEAS) said in an updated report on ongoing disinformation campaigns surrounding the pandemic, published on Wednesday (1 April).

The EU on Monday (30 March) announced nearly €40 million to help Western Balkan countries deal with the coronavirus, after Brussels came under fire for not doing enough for its neighbours.

Kosovo's government was toppled by a no-confidence vote Wednesday (25 March) less than two months after coming to power, plunging the unstable democracy into political uncertainty as it tries to halt the spread of coronavirus.

Chinese Ambassador to Serbia, Chen Bo, informed Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić on Tuesday (17 March) that Beijing had approved a donation and decided to send experts to help Serbia fight the coronavirus pandemic. EURACTIV Serbia reports.

Serbia declared a state of emergency Sunday (15 March) to halt the spread of the new coronavirus, shutting down many public spaces, deploying soldiers to guard hospitals and closing the borders to foreigners.

A recent op-ed by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić is rich with unbelievable false statements, according to Dragan Djilas. As the deception of EU officials has become Vučić's common practice, the former Belgrade mayor sets out to refute almost everything Vučić wrote.

A few years ago, the newly elected Kosovo prime minister overturned Serbian trucks. But Albin Kurti now says he is ready to revoke tariffs introduced by his predecessor on Serbian goods.

An anti-immigration campaign launched by a Serbian rightwing nationalist party has sparked unease within the disparate opposition coalition to which it belongs.

European Council president Charles Michel on Sunday (16 February) met with leaders of the six Western Balkan nations seeking to join the EU, for 'frank' talks ahead of a key summit in Zagreb in May.

Montenegro needs its own Orthodox church to ward off meddling from Serbia and cement its identity, President Milo Đukanović told AFP, as tensions seethe over who controls a faith shared by both countries.

The EU's new enlargement methodology aims to strengthen ties with countries from the Western Balkans, especially with those that have already started EU membership negotiations  European Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Várhelyi said in Belgrade on Thursday (6 February). EURACTIV Serbia reports. 

Bulgaria’s chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev has written letters to the European institutions to complain about Serbia’s refusal to extradite a banker held responsible for what is considered Bulgaria's theft of the century, hinting it might affect Serbia's EU membership bid.

The new enlargement rules presented by the Commission on Wednesday (5 February) are supposed to inject credibility, predictability, dynamism and a political steer into the increasingly moribund process. "This is a geostrategic investment," promised Olivér Várhelyi, the Commissioner for enlargement.

Welcome to EURACTIV’s Global Europe Brief, your weekly update on the EU in the global perspective from our foreign affairs news team: Georgi Gotev and Alexandra Brzozowski.

EU countries should soon reach a consensus on new enlargement methodology. Details remain unknown and it is not clear if the reform will also apply to Montenegro and Serbia, which are further along the accession path than the Western Balkans' other EU hopefuls.

Europe’s largest airline, Lufthansa, signed an agreement in Berlin on Monday (20 January) to operate direct flights between Serbia and Kosovo's capitals, in a move welcomed by diplomats and politicians eager to see further rapprochement between the erstwhile foes.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has filed a lawsuit for defamation against Kosovo’s outgoing prime minister, who has repeatedly said Rama was involved in talks about dividing up Kosovo along ethnic lines, a court in Pristina said on Thursday (16 January).

The presidents of Turkey and Russia on Wednesday (8 January) formally launched the Turkish Stream pipeline which will carry Russian natural gas to southern Europe through Turkey, part of Moscow’s efforts to reduce shipments via Ukraine.

EXCLUSIVE: US sanctions will apply to any additional lines to the Russia-sponsored pipeline Turkish Stream, EURACTIV has learned. Serbia has already competed and Bulgaria is building expensive infrastructure to import gas from Turkish Stream and carry it further to Hungary and Austria.

For years, Serbia has been labelled as one of the frontrunners for EU accession in the Western Balkans, being one of two countries in the region currently negotiating membership. Unfortunately, there is little truth in this perception, write representatives of the Serbian opposition.

16 coal plants in the Western Balkans pollute as much as the entire EU fleet of 250 units, causing sickness and deaths across the continent. It’s high time to take action, write Viola von Cramon and Petros Kokkalis.

Serbian intelligence agencies have uncovered a wide-ranging intelligence operation involving Russian spies and members of the Serbian military, President Aleksandar Vučić said on Thursday (21 November).