By attacking BIRN once again, Serbia’s President is, as usual, trying to divert his own public from social unrest, corruption scandals – and his increasingly authoritarian grip on institutions.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and his proxies routinely label BIRN and its journalists liars and traitors. His well-practiced authoritarian concept of “enemies” and “foes” has been used before – in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. For us, it is not news anymore.

After many Serbs fled their homes in the violent aftermath of the Kosovo war in 1999, some villages in the country are now almost completely deserted, with poor economic conditions deterring most people from returning.

See at:https://bit.ly/2o6bVCh

The remains of two Kosovo Serbs who went missing in 1999 – and were exhumed from the ‘Bunker Djakovica’ in 2018 – have been given to a Serbian government commission.

See at: https://bit.ly/2m7DTwo

‘Trump’s blessing’ and vulgar postcards... Recommended reading on the state of democracy in Central and Southeast Europe

From walls and bridges to the politics of memory, here are 10 things we learned this week about democratic developments in Visegrad Group countries and the Balkans.

See at: https://bit.ly/2ZvOd3u

Twenty-one years ago, radio journalist Djuro Slavuj and driver Ranko Perenic were seized by armed men while on assignment in western Kosovo - but the investigation was halted before the perpetrators were identified or their bodies found.

See at: https://bit.ly/2Zj5CYS

At an environmental panel at the West Balkans summit in Poland, speakers including outgoing Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn voiced concern about the way Western Balkan countries are still building coal power plants.

See at:https://bit.ly/2YyVBHx

With the old ‘Berlin process’ and EU enlargement in the Balkans dead in the water, Brussels should forget the doomed Poznan summit and work fast on a new, more realistic, approach towards the region.

See at: https://bit.ly/2XnefR9

Kosovo Albanians and Serbs protested together against the construction of hydropower plants in Shterpce on Monday, claiming that their life, agriculture and tourism will be affected by the plans if construction continues.

See at: https://bit.ly/2RQuNQd

Kosovo has not increased its domestic production at all as a result of the steep import tax imposed on Serbian and Bosnian goods, a new report from the GAP think tank says.

The food processing industry in Kosovo did not increase production or employment as a result of the 100-per-cent tariff applied to goods from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina last November, a study by the GAP Institute think tank, published on Sunday, shows.

See at: https://bit.ly/2JhuMn7

In ominous resemblance to the times leading up to World War I – or to the breakup of former Yugoslavia – the Balkans has again become an arena for conflicting global power plays.

Germany and France, reinforced by top EU leaders, are convening a Western Balkan summit in Berlin on April 29, in yet another attempt to stabilize the increasingly tense region and reaffirm its EU perspective.

See at: https://bit.ly/2UG7loN