Seriously Balkans - The BiEPAG Talks

The episode discusses the mass protests in Albania against the development of Sazan Island and the cost in Southern Albania by Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. Since, the protest movement has turned to demand the resignation of the Prime Minister Edi Rama and the opposition leader Sali Berisha. It explores the causes, the Prime Minister's response, and the potential role of the EU. Quickly, the mov...

There are growing tensions around mining, environmental justice, and large-scale investment projects in the Western Balkans. As the region becomes increasingly important for Europe’s green transition and real estate development, local communities are raising concerns about environmental degradation, opaque decision-making, and the weakening of democratic safeguards. The episode explores cases rang...

On April 12th, 2026, parliamentary elections in Hungary resulted in a landslide victory for the opposition Tisza party of Peter Magyar, ousting the incumbent Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party after 16 years in government. The Hungarian elections were closely followed by media outlets throughout Southeast Europe. The change in government will greatly impact all countries of the region, especially i...

More than a year of protests, resistance and demonstrations have confronted the authoritarian rule of Aleksandar Vučić. This episode of Seriously Balkans reflects on the status of the resistance, the prospects for democratic change and the options for the European Union. While the main protests have subsided, Serbia remains in a permanent state of emergency. This is no longer controlled by the reg...

In 2025 we saw fractures emerging in the transatlantic alliance as the second Trump administration pushed a new foreign policy vision focused on a sovereigntist understanding of spheres of influence. Repeatedly Europe, and foremost the European Union, have been sidelined as partners and often depicted as adversaries. We explore the implications of this emerging transatlantic rift on the countries...

Dayton at 30: Bosnia’s Post-War Generation This year marks the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement. Since then, a whole generational change has happened, but in terms of constitutional arrangements they have remained frozen for three decades. 2025 has seen a lot of reflections on this topic, but we are going to explore it from a different angle. Today we’re talking about...

The Predicament of Media and Press Freedom in the Balkans During 2025, press freedom and independent journalism have come under sustained attack. The war in Ukraine, the genocide in Western Asia, and the political rise of extremist parties have all contributed to the erosion of one of the core pillars of democratic societies. In the Balkans, governments with increasingly authoritarian tendencies h...

 A Change in Republika Srpska? Host: Damir Kapidžić, BiEPAG member Guests: Dženeta Karabegović , Associate Professor at the University of Salzburg, and  Vedran Džihić , a member of BiEPAG This episode reflects on developments that have been keeping Bosnia and Herzegovina on edge. In the past year, the longtime leader of Bosnian Serbs and president of th...

Kosovo on the Edge: Democracy, Deadlock, and Geopolitics It’s been an eventful year in Kosovo. New general elections are a possible scenario while the country is still navigating local elections, with the first round on 12 October and the second round expected on 9 November. In this episode, we unpack what’s at stake: ·      Can Kosovo’s institutions hold under pressu...

The Evolving Role of the European Political Community Host: Donika Emini, BiEPAG Member Guests: Odeta Barbullushi, Resident Professor at the College of Europe, Tirana Campus, and BiEPAG member Tristan Aureau, Director, Centre for Analysis, Planning and Strategy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, France. Donika Emini, BiEPAG member and co-host of this episode, discusses the evolving role of the Eur...

What the new German Government means for the Balkans? Host: Florian Bieber, BiEPAG Coordinator Guests: Frauke Seebass,Visiting Fellow, SWP & Associate Researcher, DGAP and Adi Ćeramagić, Senior Analyst, ESI The new German government of Friedrich Merz announced in its coalition agreement that it would prioritize reforms over enlargement. What this means for the Western Balkans and how the new g...

Kosovo’s 2025 Parliamentary Elections and the Shifting Geopolitical Landscape Host: Damir Kapidžić, member of BiEPAG Guests: Donika Emini, member of BiEPAG and Gëzim Krasniqi, Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh On February 9th, 2025, Kosovo held Parliamentary elections, the first after a full government term since independence. Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s party, which previously won a landsl...

Student Protests in Serbia Host: Florian Bieber, BiEPAG Coordinator Guests: Danica (anonymous based on the request of the student plenum), Faculty of Chemistry, University of Belgrade Student (anonymous based on the request of the student plenum), Philosophical Faculty, University of Belgrade We want to change the country, so we don’t have to leave the country, is a central theme of the thousands...

Croatia’s Role in the Region: Continuity or Change?   Host: Tena Prelec, BiEPAG Member Guests: First part: Oliver Kannenberg (Research associate at IParl, Berlin) and Željko Poljak (PhD researcher and a member of the M²P, University of Antwerp) Second part: Damir Kapidžić and Jovana Marović, BiEPAG Members Croatia often distances itself from the Western Balkans label, yet its political weight...

How do geopolitical interests impact democracy in the Balkans? Discussing how geopolitical interest shape the democracy in the Balkans, specifically the role of economic and informal political linkages of the countries of the region and EU, but also Russia and China. Host: Damir Kapidžić Guests: Milica Uvalić (Visiting Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies RSC at the European Un...

BiEPAG's Coordinator Florian Bieber is hosting his guests Majda Ruge (Senior Policy Fellow, ECFR Berlin) and Milan Krstić (Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences, Belgrade) to discuss the possible implications of the results of the U.S. Elections 2024 and the incoming Donald Trump presidency for the Western Balkans, with special focus to his first nominations for key foreign post...

What do the results of the 2024 EU elections mean for the Western Balkans? Host: Damir Kapidžić, BiEPAG Member Guests: Dušan Reljić, Independent consultant and former Head of Brussels office for SWP and Corina Stratulat, BiEPAG Member and Associate Director and Head of the European Politics and Institutions Programme at the European Policy Centre, Brussels. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy f...

The 8th podcast episode of Seriously Balkans - The BiEPAG Talks is all about the recent repeated local and municipal elections in Serbia. BiEPAG's Member Tena Prelec discusses the topic from different aspects with two experts that have followed the situation on the ground - Tamara Branković, Deputy Programme Director at the Serbian NGO CRTA and Aleksandar Ivković, Journalist at European Western Ba...

The 7th episode of our BiEPAG's podcast "Seriously Balkans - The BiEPAG Talks" is all about the analysis of the elections in North Macedonia  BiEPAG's Coordinator Florian Bieber is hosting the discussion on the recent presidential and parliamentary elections North Macedonia with Simonida Kacarska,Director of the European Policy Institute (EPI) - Skopje / Member of the EFB Steering Committee a...

The last episode for 2023 of the BiEPAG's podcast Seriously Balkans - The BiEPAG Talks focuses on: The results of the Serbian parliamentary, local, and provincial elections Host: Florian Bieber Guests: Tara Tepavac, Researcher at Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory at the University of Belgrade, and Nikola Burazer, Programme Director at Centre for Contemporary Politics and Executive Editor...

Every winter the same? Air pollution in the cities of the Western Balkans Host: Florian Bieber Guests: Gorjan Jovanovski, EarthCare.ai - North Macedonia and Denis Žiško, Aarhus Centre - BiH   Every winter we have the same picture – heating, traffic, heavy industry and coal fueled power plants are having harmful effects and causing increased air pollution, which is directly connected with many...

The fourth episode of BiEPAG Podcast is on #Ukraine. BiEPAG's Coordinator Florian Bieber and BiEPAG's Member Damir Kapidžić are hosting important interlocutors on this subject: Ukrainian Perspectives on the Enlargement and Synergies with the Western Balkans Host: Florian Bieber Guests: Ivan Nagornyak , Deputy Director of the Government Office for Coordination on European and Euro-Atlantic Integrat...

Hosts: Florian Bieber and Tena Prelec, BiEPAG   Part 1 The position of Serbs in Northern Kosovo in the light of tensions between Serbia and Kosovo Guests: Marina Vulović (SWP) and Milica Andrić Rakić (New Social Initiative)   Part 2 20 years since the Thessaloniki promise Guests: Nikola Dimitrov and Milica Delević  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Seriously Balkans - The BiEPAG Talks, Episode 2 The second episode looks into two very sensitive topics, but also important ones. The first segment tackles the mass shootings in Serbia, and the social and political implications of this events.  In continuation the discussion is related to the recent works that look into the issue of foreign fighters going to Ukraine. 🔹The Mass Shootings in S...

The premiere of the first podcast episode of the BiEPAG podcast series is hosted by Florian Bieber (BiEPAG's Coordinator, Director of Centre for Southeast European Studies, Graz) and Tena Prelec (BiEPAG Member, Research Associate at the Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR), University of Oxford). 🔎Part 1 BiEPAG's Coordinator Florian Bieber is leading the discussing on the aft...