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EU leaders will discuss the bloc's enlargement policy during a two-day summit on March 21-22, taking stock of candidate countries' progress toward meeting accession criteria, Euractiv reported on March 20.

EU: Brussels To Propose New, More Gradual Accession Process for New Members

The National Assembly of Bosnia-Herzegovina's autonomous Serb-dominated Republika Srpska passed a law suspending recognition of the country's constitutional court's rulings, Reuters reported on June 27. 

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Republika Srpska's Lawmakers Pass Law Suspending Rulings From Central Constitutional Court

Finland

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Croatia

Croatian President Zoran Milanovic said he will instruct the country's permanent representative to NATO, ambassador Mario Nobilo, to vote against Finland and Sweden's accession at the June NATO summit in Madrid until an electoral law in Bosnia-Herzegovina is amended in favor of Bosnian Croats, Total Croatia News reported May 18.

Croatia: President Threatens to Veto Finland and Sweden's NATO Membership

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Russia-Ukraine Conflict

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The Fight for Russia’s Borderlands

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The European Union announced it is almost doubling the size of its peacekeeping force in Bosnia and Herzegovina in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported Feb. 24.

Bosnia and Herzegovina: EU Doubles Peacekeeping Force Amid Rising Separatist Sentiment

The Fate of the Eurozone

The parliament of Republika Srpska, one of the two entities that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina, voted on Feb. 10 to set up an independent judicial system outside of the Bosnia and Herzegovina legal system, with 45 votes in favor out of 63 votes cast in the 83-seat parliament, Reuters reported Feb. 10.

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Republika Srpska's Parliament Votes to Form Parallel Legal System

Bosnian Serb nationalist leader Milorad Dodik is expected to be elected to Bosnia-Herzegovina's presidency with about 55 percent of the vote as counting continues following Oct. 7 elections, Euractiv reported.

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Serb Nationalist to Win Election to Presidency

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Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov announced that Sofia will host the 2018 16+1 summit of Central and Eastern European countries and China, Euractiv reported Nov. 28.

Hungary: Bulgaria Announces It Will Host 2018 '16+1' Trade Summit

Bosnian Serbs have voted overwhelmingly to keep Jan. 9 as a national holiday in defiance of Bosnia-Herzegovina's Constitutional Court, BBC reported Sept. 25.

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Serbs Vote To Keep Statehood Day In Referendum

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Turkey

Kosovo

Demonstrators in Belgrade, Serbia, hold up Serbian flags and a photo of Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 24, 2022, during a rally in support of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

In the second part of this series, we explore China and Russia's interests in the Balkans and what their activities may mean for the region's long-term stability.

The Risk of Another Balkans War, Part 2: Russian and Chinese Influence

Greece

NATO soldiers patrol a roadblock set up by ethnic Serbs near Zubin Potok, a town in northern Kosovo, on Aug. 1, 2022. 

Social Issues

Despite ethnically-tinged tensions between Kosovo and Serbia that most recently made the news, there appear to be numerous restraints on a potential return to widespread regional conflict. 

The Risk of Another Balkans War, Part 1: Placing Recent Flashpoints in Context

Assessments

United States

An external view of the building of the European Union in Brussels, Belgium. 

COVID-19

The New Silk Road

Divided EU Foreign Policies

Environment, Science & Technology

Science & Technology

As COVID-19 forces the EU to remain focused on recovering (and not enlarging) its economy, candidate countries such as Serbia risk veering away from the reforms they had been pursuing to earn their place in the bloc.

What the Fading Promise of EU Accession Means for the Balkans

In the Western Balkans, two trigger points have the potential to set off widespread unrest: negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo to normalize their relations and a deal between Macedonia and Greece for the former to change its name.

Negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo and a Macedonian effort to appease Greece both could provide a spark that ignites political instability and ethnic violence in the region.

Why Efforts to Build Bridges Could Threaten Peace in the Western Balkans

Snapshots

The European Commission has a strategy to offer EU membership to a half-dozen countries in the Western Balkans, but it won't happen anytime soon. 

EU: Brussels Promises Membership To Six Countries, Someday

The 1992-95 Bosnian civil war left about 100,000 people dead.

The ghosts of the Bosnian conflict will remain long after the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has run its course.

The Bosnian War: A Visual Anthology 

Global Perspectives

Contributor Perspectives

Many of the underlying problems plaguing the Balkans are still unsolved. 

Tensions are bubbling to the surface in the Balkans once again, perhaps to the region's peril. But will global leaders take notice and step up in time?  

As Crisis Brews in the Balkans, the West Looks On

France

Germany

United Kingdom

Italy

Leaders from the Western Balkans and the European Union are assembling in Italy to continue talks aimed at forging closer relations. But for some Balkan states targeted in the latest round of courting, the promise of EU membership may hold less sway than the charms of actual Russian investment.

Europe: Nations Courted With Funds and Promises in Show of Soft Power

Portugal

Netherlands

Spain

Supply Chains

Despite its goal to foster integration throughout Eurasia, Beijing has so far emphasized bilateral or subregional agreements with its Belt and Road projects in Europe, an approach that has raised the suspicions of the bloc's central powers.

For China, All Roads (and Belts) Lead to Europe

China's Belt and Road Initiative

On the Road

Cameroon

Central African Republic

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Vietnam

Switzerland

Lebanon

India

The Beau-Rivage Palace hotel in Lausanne, Switzerland. The politically neutral space hotels provide can make them ideal spaces for leaders to convene for consultation in times of crisis.

Old Leaders in a New Africa

Any place elite barons of authority convene can, at least temporarily, join the ranks of the world's important spaces. In countries where power is contested, a hotel's neutral space might be the only option for political or military rivals to engage in talks or to trade information, though this can also attract intelligence agency surveillance.

The Temporary Halls of Power

Introducing Liberland, Europe's Newest Country

Self-proclaimed microstates raise questions about the meaning of statehood.

Media

Graphics

Bosnia's Frozen Conflict Heats Up Ahead of a Controversial Referendum

Resolving the Statehood Day debate will not heal the country's underlying ethnic rifts, making it likely that similar disputes will emerge in the future.

<p>Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country in the Western Balkans surrounded by Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro. A small strip of land gives the country access to the Adriatic Sea. The capital and most populated city is Sarajevo. The country&#39;s mountainous geography and centuries of invasions have made it home to several ethnic and religious groups. After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, waves of early Slavs, including Croats and Serbs, raided the Western Balkans in the sixth and early seventh centuries. A semi-independent state, the Banate of Bosnia, emerged in the mid-12th century, followed by a Bosnian kingdom in the late 14th century. The arrival of the Ottoman Empire in the mid-15th century was a turning point for Bosnia, because the Muslim population grew significantly. During this period, Bosnia was often a battleground between the Ottomans and the Habsburg Empire. Bosnia finally fell into Habsburg hands in the late 19th century, but its dominance would last only until the end of World War I. After World War II, Bosnia became a republic within the socialist Yugoslavia. The collapse of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s was followed by severe violence among Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats; that conflict ended only after NATO intervention. The Dayton Accords of 1995 put an end to the violence, but they also created a complex political system. The agreements split Bosnia into two autonomous entities: the Republika Srpska, predominantly Serb, and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, eminently Bosniak. At the federal level, the Bosniak, Serb and Croat communities share power through a rotating presidency. Bosnia&#39;s main challenge is to manage the internal forces that lead to fragmentation, but it also needs to develop efficient political and economic structures that allow the country to generate growth and create jobs.</p>

SITUATION REPORTS

EU: Brussels To Propose New, More Gradual Accession Process for New Members

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Republika Srpska's Lawmakers Pass Law Suspending Rulings From Central Constitutional Court

Croatia: President Threatens to Veto Finland and Sweden's NATO Membership

Bosnia and Herzegovina: EU Doubles Peacekeeping Force Amid Rising Separatist Sentiment

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Republika Srpska's Parliament Votes to Form Parallel Legal System

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Serb Nationalist to Win Election to Presidency

Hungary: Bulgaria Announces It Will Host 2018 '16+1' Trade Summit

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Serbs Vote To Keep Statehood Day In Referendum

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