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My Europe Series

With new elections, can Moldova's Maia Sandu finish what she started?

Her landslide election win in November left her with a hostile, pro-Moscow parliament. Elections on July 11 are a chance to change that.

My Europe Series

The UK's local elections could have a profound effect. Here's why.

Sturgeon has made her key election pledge the future of Scotland in the European Union, hoping that an independent Scottish state could rejoin the bloc after the UK left earlier this year. She has promised to hold a new referendum on independence if the SNP wins on Thursday.

Albania

Edi Rama claims ‘beautiful victory' in Albanian election

Albania’s prime minister Edi Rama claimed “the most beautiful victory” in parliamentary elections, which would make him the country’s first prime minister to win three terms.

My Europe Series

Albania's EU dream is on hold. Its leaders may like it that way

It hasn't escaped attention in the Western Balkans that it is Muslim-majority states such as Albania and Kosovo that have struggled to find a welcome in Brussels.

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Kosovo

President Biden says 'mutual recognition' key to Kosovo, Serbia talks

The US leader stressed his personal connection to Kosovo in a letter to the country's new president.

My Europe Series

How EU enlargement apathy could push Kosovo and Albania to join forces

If Albania and Kosovo both find the doors of Europe slammed shut, they may both conclude that a federation is the next best option.

My Europe Series

In Belarus, a punk rock singer faces 1.5 years hard labour for dancing

As singer of Belarussian street punk band, Mister X, Igor Bancer is well-known for his antics both on and off stage. Now he faces being sent to labour camp.

Kosovo

Kosovo's parliament votes in Vjosa Osmani as president

Osmani, allied with Albin Kurti's Vetevendosje! movement, is Kosovo's second female leader in 13 years.

Kosovo

Kosovo's EU-backed war crimes court 'has full US backing'

The State Department urged the new government in Pristina to support the unpopular court 'unambiguously'

My Europe Series

A decade after talks began, is Romania any closer to joining Schengen?

A European Union member since 2007, Romania still isn't a member of Europe's borderless zone. Why not?

Europe News

EU leaders back tightening vaccine exports at Brussels summit

European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said that the EU needed pharmaceutical companies to match Europe's openness to exports.

My Europe Series

Montenegro urges EU not to tie its hands in anti-corruption fight

Dritan Abazovic says that the EU-backed court is holding up investigations into Montenegro's president, Milo Djukanovic, and his allies.

Kosovo

President Biden urged to move EU-backed war crimes court to Kosovo

A Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) veteran and diaspora figure has accused the Hague-based Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC) of attempting a revision of history.

Kosovo

Albania begins vaccinating Kosovo medics against COVID-19

New leader Albin Kurti has refused to source COVID-19 vaccines from countries that do not recognise Kosovo as an independent state, like Russia and China.

World News

Sputnik V: Has Russia won the battle in global vaccine diplomacy?

As the EU has struggled to make available European-manufactured vaccines, Russia has already sent its Sputnik V to Hungary and Slovakia and offered to supply 50 million more doses to Europe.

My Europe Series

Can Hungary survive Viktor Orban?

Historian and journalist Paul Lendvai lived through Hungary's Nazi occupation and witnessed the brutal suppression of the 1956 revolution by the Soviet Union. `Now he warns that Orban could be the next Alexander Lukashenko or Vladimir Putin.

Europe News

Hungary PM Orban’s party quits largest group in European Parliament

Orban announced the decision in a letter to the chairman of the EPP, Manfred Weber, on Wednesday, making good on his threat to leave the grouping over changes to its rules.

My Europe Series

20 years on, the disappeared still cast shadows in northern Kosovo

Tens of thousands of ethnic-Albanians, Serbs and other minorities disappeared during the 1998-99 war in Kosovo. Two decades later, thousands are still unaccounted for.

Hungary

How Hungary’s great lakes threaten fresh Budapest-Brussels conflict

Activists say Hungary's government is changing the law to make it easier for private and state-run development on the shores of some of Europe's most unique freshwater habitats.

My Europe Series

In Kosovo, an uncertain future for the war crimes court nobody wanted

Kosovars hate it and its president has warned EU diplomats of a plot to undermine it. But Kosovo's new leader-in-waiting Albin Kurti might just choose to ignore it.

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