Yet because the election system is designed to favour strong parties, a two-thirds parliamentary majority seems to have become the norm in Hungary, which contains its own dangers.

Our selection of Premium stories this week takes a look at future goals as well as lost opportunities from the past. Vjosa Osmani answers questions after delivering a speech in Berlin, October 2025.

President Erdogan’s ruling party has taken control of the important municipality of Bursa following the arrest of its opposition mayor on April 4, along with 30 others. Bursa Municipality headquarters ...

Is a decline in Freedom of Information requests last year in Albania a result of greater institutional transparency or the increasing pointlessness of the process? Journalists claim it could be a ...

One man was killed, two others were captured and two police officers were wounded after a gunfight erupted near a building housing the Israeli consulate in Istanbul. The building that houses the ...

The two countries’ failure to maintain liaisons to the EU’s criminal justice agency – partly for political reasons – is a setback to vital cooperation against cross-border organised crime groups. In ...

Viktor Orban toured military units near the Serbian border the day after the Belgrade authorities said they found explosives near a gas pipeline to Hungary – and denied the incident was staged to ...

The Greek government will ban children under 15 years old from using TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, saying the goal is 'to push the EU in this direction as well'. Photo illustration: ...

Kosovo will face a much more hostile international environment if far-right parties gain more power in core EU states like France and Germany, while the US under Trump remains indifferent to the ...

EU politicians celebrate spring in Hungary and prospects for Ukraine improve, but Serbia’s Aleksandar Vucic contemplates a lonelier future without Budapest’s architect of ‘illiberal democracy’ at his ...

A perfect storm of a child abuse scandal, the poor state of the economy and services, and a charismatic former insider with a well-organised party and a huge, diverse voter base were the necessary ...

Catch up on the weekend’s most important developments with Balkan Insight’s digest of news from countries across the region.