Balkan interviews

After the elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which only cemented the ethnic lines between Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks, the key elections for the entire Balkans are just around the corner – early parliamentary elections in Serbia on October 25, 2026. The student movement, which has emerged from massive protests following the tragic events in Novi Sad, has turned into a political force that has th...

A country with the most complex political structure in Europe (and certainly among the top five globally) is bound to have at least a "unique" electoral system. And it sure does! In the general elections on October 4, citizens across two entities (Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina) and one self-governing district (Brčko) will elect three members of the joint p...

Despite being the largest ethnicity in the Western Balkans, the Serbs in Kosovo, their former province, make up only a small percentage of the population. Being effectively held hostage by the two hostile countries and run by two parallel systems, Kosovo Serbs have faced displacement, war and even a pogrom. Let´s explore together the history, the failed attempts at agreements and the infamous Banj...

The Serbs are not the only ones protesting for the well-being of their country and their environment. Albanians have taken to the streets repeatedly during the past year to express their anger at the corrupt elites and the threat to their unique environment. Join us in exploring the root causes of the protests, why they are labeled as the "flamingo revolution" and what does the Trump fam...

Serbia has been through one of the most serious challenges in the past decade. Years of environmental, anti-government and student protests have been difficult for the whole society and proved to be a first true challenge for the ruling SNS party and de-facto leader of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić. Why did Vučić announce his resignation, and how does it fit into the upcoming early elections? Learn mor...

Serbia, Bosnia, N. Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and Montenegro have all been struggling to manage the recent turbulent shifts in the energy sector, made all the more difficult by the lack of a single regulated marketplace and competing visions. Military conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East have added unpredictability to the issues that arose from the need to de-carbonize and incoming CBAM tax sy...

Balkan Interviews brings you an update on the political crisis in Kosovo, which has been impacting the stability and economic (mis)fortunes of the youngest state in Europe for more then 18 months. Our new guest Márton Nikowitz-Holló from the Balkans Institute of Hungarian Institute of International Affairs explains and explores the roots of the ongoing crises and paints a picture of what is to com...

Illegal drugs, weapons and people smuggling, that is just short list of the business portfolio of Balkans-based organized crime groups that came into prevalance after the Yugoslav war in the 1990s. How they came about, how are they operating and what are some of the most well-known cases that hit the news - we discuss all of these with our traditional expert on the Balkans from Hungary, Árpád Párd...

The new Hungarian prime minister Péter Magyár and his Tisza party are promising sweeping changes to Hungarian domestic and foreign policy. What was it to begin with in relation to the Western Balkans? Will Milorad Dodik and Aleksandar Vučić find new friends or foes in Budapest? What about Gruevski´s asylum? What about Beneš´s decrees? Filip Ilanković from Hungary´s Institute of International Affai...

(first aired 22.11.2025) For the latest episode in our expert interviews series we have invited Filip Ilanković to discuss the full implementation of US sanctions on key Serbian oil company NIS . Even though the sanctions had been in place since January 2025, periodic waivers have lured the Serbian government into a false sense of security. On October 9th, there would be, however, no further exemp...

(first aired 19.11.2026) Energy needs meet financial opportunities meet local and global politics in Bosnia and Hercegovina = a recipe for quagmire. This is the South Interconnection gas pipeline project that encapsulates the difficulty of implementing ideas in the country and perhaps, all the Balkans. Join our guest Árpád Párducz for a detailed discussion on the project´s background and the reaso...

(first aired 2.3.2026) In our latest interview with Filip Ilanković a Hungarian-based expert on Serbia, from Serbia, we discuss the very troubled path of Serbia towards EU membership. Serbia´s journey has begun in 2009 and peaked in late 2010s, but has been stalled since 2022, especially because of its reluctance to sanction Russia and harsh critique of EU institutions. Join us in our in- depth di...

(aired 8.10.2025 Albania, the new poster child of European accession and a staunch NATO ally definitely deserves a thorough look at its intriguing politics, which our recurring guest Árpad Párducz is happy to provide. The country faced a difficult start in the 1990s, with hundreds of thousands being robbed of their life savings by government-sponsored Ponzi schemes. The subsequent violent unrest a...

(aired 22.9.2025) Continuing our English language series, we take a thorough look at the ongoing political crises in Kosovo with Árpád Párdcz, a Budapest-based expert on the Western Balkans. Since Albin Kurti´s Vetëvendosje party had failed to secure a majority at the general elections this February none has been able (or willing) to form a government, fearing a possible backlash from working with...

(aired 8.9.2025) In our very first English interview, we are proud to discuss the current state of Serbian anti-government protests with Filip Ilanković, Serbian-born, Hungarian-based expert on the Balkans. Together, we will discuss the evolution of the current protest movement, from its roots in the canopy collapse in the city of Novi Sad, through the use of sound cannon in Belgrade to its curren...