Region: European Union

Political temperature rises in Romania

Summers regularly reach 40 degrees in Bucharest. Tempers are also heating up in politics just as cucumber time is approaching.

President Putin's re-election

In Russia, the eight final candidates who will compete in the 18 March elections have been known for a few weeks now. There is something for everyone: from communist to liberal, from nationalist to ultra-nationalist, from ideological candidates to those with no ideology at all. However, it will not matter much, as the outcome is a foregone conclusion: a fourth term for President Vladimir Putin. And yet it takes quite a lot of effort to register as a candidate at all: you have to collect hundreds of thousands of signatures and comply with all sorts of strict rules, and if you are in opposition, you generally have little or no financial resources to do so. So who are these people who nevertheless try so eagerly and hard to stay in the race, and why do they do it?

Will Chameria be the next Balkan conflict?

On Tuesday, 6 February 2018, the European Commission presented the European Union's enlargement strategy with the Western Balkan countries. The Commission has now prepared an outline with a directive for possible accession of these six countries.

Back to the '90s: Serbian politician assassinated in Kosovo

On 16 January, Oliver Ivanović, the main Serbian opposition leader in Kosovo, was shot dead in front of his office. Contrary to reports in some media, this murder most likely had nothing to do with ethnic divisions in Kosovo. Three months ago, I was part of a small European Forum delegation visiting Kosovo and we spoke to Ivanović at his office about the challenges facing Kosovo in the run-up to local elections. How can such an assassination take place in a de facto EU protectorate where European military, judges and officials are supposed to provide security and help build democracy and the rule of law?