Balkans -- News and Features

'Berlin Wall's Lessons For Today'

In an op-ed for "USA Today," Jeffrey Gedmin discusses RFE and the role of free media in societies living under repressive regimes. More

Kosovo Coalition Government Collapses: Deputy PM

The biggest party in Kosovo's government has decided to end its coalition with the smaller Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Deputy Prime Minister Rame Manaj said today. More

No Changes For Bosnia's High Representative Office

The international body that oversees the peace process in Bosnia said today it will not change the status of the Office of the High Representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina, RFE/RL's Balkan Service reports. More

Brokering Bosnia's Future No Easy Task

In Sarajevo, international negotiators are meeting to discuss the future of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which suffered through three years of war in the 1990s and has struggled ever since to overcome ethnic divisions and establish a peaceful, unified government. At issue is whether the time has come to close the international post responsible for supervising the country's elected officials. More

Huge Crowds Mourn Serbian Orthodox Leader Pavle

Throngs from Serbia and neighboring countries paid final tribute today to Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Pavle, who presided over the revival of the faith after decades of communist rule. More

Key Council Meets In Sarajevo Over Fate Of OHR

The 55-member international body that supervises Bosnia's peace process is gathering in Sarajevo to discuss whether to extend the mandate of its main civilian overseer there. More

Monitors Praise Smooth Ballot in Kosovo Elections

(Intro) Preliminary results from Kosovo's November 15 elections have been delayed another day due to what election officials say are technical difficulties with the system designed to gather data from polling stations. Despite the delay, outside observers hailed the election as a success. RFE/RL's Central Newsroom reports. More

Kosovo PM Says Party Did Well In Local Elections

Prime Minister Hashim Thaci's Democratic Party of Kosovo has claimed to have won more votes than any other party in Kosovo's first local elections since it declared independence from Serbia last year. More

Vote Count Begins After First 'Sovereign' Ballot

Vote counting has begun in Kosovo's first elections since the territory declared independence from Serbia nearly two years ago. But officials were already grappling with apparent irregularities in the landmark voting. More

Serbian Patriarch Presided Over Stormy Times

The head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Pavle, has died after a lengthy battle with age-related illness. The 95-year-old patriarch's death ends nearly two decades of leadership that spanned one of the most painful chapters in modern Serbian history. More

Serbian Candidates Run In Landmark Kosovo Vote

Voters in Kosovo are at the polls for the first elections since the region declared independence from Serbia in February 2008. The municipal elections are seen as a critical opportunity to engage Kosovo's minority Serbs in the political process, despite objections from Belgrade. More