European Fund for the Balkans

28/07/2026

📚 Exploring our shared history to strengthen dialogue and cooperation

🌍As part of the Joint History Project 2.0, hosted by the European Fund for the Balkans (EFB), students explored the history of Balkan cities and the stories that shaped them over time.

❓What can the cities around us tell us about our shared heritage? How do places, memories, and stories connect communities across Southeast Europe?

🤝By encouraging young people to approach the past with curiosity, critical thinking, and openness to different perspectives, this initiative contributes to EFB’s broader mission of strengthening democratic culture, promoting regional cooperation, and fostering respect for diversity and shared European values.

🎬 Watch the video series and discover what Balkan cities can tell us about our shared heritage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdnqsNTcybk&t=222s

23/07/2026

⛏️ Mining, rule of law and EU enlargement

🌍 In a new interview with The New Union Post, BiEPAG experts Marko Kmezić and Vedran Džihić discuss the links between mining, critical raw materials, EU enlargement, and democratic governance in the Western Balkans.

📄Drawing on the BiEPAG study “Mining in the Western Balkans”, they highlight the importance of transparency, environmental protection, public participation, and the rule of law in shaping sustainable resource governance.

🔎BiEPAG is an EFB flagship programme bringing together experts and researchers to promote evidence-based policy discussions on the future of the Western Balkans.

🔗Read the interview: https://newunionpost.eu/2026/07/22/mining-western-balkans-eu-enlargement/

📚Read the study: https://www.biepag.eu/publication/mining-in-the-western-balkans

Including accession conditionality within the framework of critical raw materials mining would be "beneficial" for both sides, say BiEPAG's Kmezić and Džihić

21/07/2026

⛏️Mining in the Western Balkans
One region. One study. Many perspectives.

🌍Discover one of EFB’s most comprehensive analyses, developed within the BiEPAG programme, on the future of mining, democracy, and EU enlargement in the Western Balkans.
The study explores the growing tension between the EU’s demand for critical raw materials and the need to protect democratic governance, environmental standards, and citizens’ participation in the region.

📖It brings together:

👥 14 authors (Florian Bieber, Jovan Rajić, Darjana Macanović, Mirko Popović, Jovan Cvijetinović, Ivana Milicevic, Hristina Vojvodić, Ljubica Vukčević, Biljana Jovanović, Kristijan Fidanovski, Branimir Jovanovic, Jelena Vasiljević, Vedran Dzihic, and Marko Kmezic)
📚6 thematic chapters
🌐 2 language editions
🗣️250+ voices from academia, civil society, institutions, EU actors, and communities across the region and the EU
🏙️4 launch events in Belgrade, Sarajevo, Berlin, and Brussels

🤝With the support of Stiftung Mercator GmbH, this work contributes to informed debate and evidence-based policy on the future of the Western Balkans.

🔎Explore the full study on our website: https://lnkd.in/dKx3UCCp

16/07/2026

We are pleased to share this new BiEPAG Policy Brief, produced within the framework of EFB’s work supporting informed policy dialogue on European integration and the future of the Western Balkans.

📢 New BiEPAG Policy Brief

From Periphery to Power: The Geo-Economic Case for Southeast Europe

Geo-economic competition in the Western Balkans is no longer a peripheral issue — it is increasingly shaping the EU accession process and the region’s strategic position.

✍️ Authored by Frauke Seebass (BiEPAG member) and Philipp Lamprecht, this new Policy Brief examines how growing competition among external actors affects EU enlargement and the EU’s strategic interests in the region, while offering policy recommendations to address emerging challenges.

📄 The publication is available on our website here: https://www.biepag.eu/publication/from-periphery-to-power-the-geoeconomic-case-for-southeast-europe

The Policy Brief is produced on behalf of ECIPE and the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG) with the kind support of the Open Society Foundations – Western Balkans.

13/07/2026

📢 Open Call: Opportunity & Innovation Grants under the Common Ground Program (CGP)

The European Fund for the Balkans (EFB) is inviting civil society organizations, grassroots initiatives, and informal groups across the Western Balkans to apply for Opportunity & Innovation Grants.

The grants support innovative ideas and local initiatives that foster dialogue, strengthen social cohesion, and help bridge divides within communities. They are designed to provide flexible support for promising approaches, including pilot projects, feasibility studies, and initiatives responding to emerging opportunities and local challenges.

💶 Grant amount: Up to €4,500
🌍 Eligible countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia
📅 Applications: Open on a rolling basis

If your organization or initiative is working to build trust, encourage dialogue, and connect communities, we encourage you to apply.

Find out more about the call and application documents: https://www.balkanfund.org/applications/cgp-opportunity-innovation-grants

Connecting People, Ideas, and Institutions for a Democratic Western Balkans.

11/07/2026

We are deeply saddened and alarmed by the news that Serbian writer and activist Vladimir Arsenijević was attacked today in Belgrade by a group of more than 20 people while preparing a memorial event for the victims of the Srebrenica genocide. The event was subsequently cancelled.

Commemorating the Srebrenica genocide should not require exceptional civic courage. It should be an opportunity for all of us to come together, honour the victims, confront the past with honesty, and reaffirm our shared responsibility to ensure that such crimes are never repeated.

The European Fund for the Balkans stands in solidarity with Vladimir Arsenijević and all those who continue to defend remembrance, truth, and human dignity.

08/07/2026

🔎 Reporting facts. Revealing realities.

The European Fund for the Balkans is now accepting applications for the Regional Investigative Journalism Grant 2026!

Through the Engaged Democracy Initiative (EDI), we support investigative journalists from and reporting on the Western Balkans to pursue stories that matter—stories that uncover systemic problems, follow the money, and help citizens hold those in power accountable.

We are especially proud that one of the investigations supported through a previous edition of this grant—"From South Banat to Demir Kapija: Local Communities under the Burden of Wind Farms and Global Capital" by Vladimíra Dorčová Valtnerová and Bojan Blaževski (Storyteller)—has been nominated for the 2026 Dejan Anastasijević Investigative Journalism Award, presented by the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS).

💶 Up to seven grants of EUR 2,000 are available for investigations covering:
• Environment
• Public Space
• Civic Rights and the Rights of Activists
• Decent Work
• Media

📍 Eligible applicants: Individual journalists and teams from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia.

📅 Application deadline: 15 August 2026 (midnight)

👉 Apply here: https://www.balkanfund.org/applications/regional-investigative-journalism-grants-2026

If you have a story that deserves to be told, we encourage you to apply.

23/04/2026

Over the past weeks, we have been presenting the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG) study "Mining in the Western Balkans: How to counter authoritarian extractivism?" in Sarajevo and Belgrade.

📍On 15 April in Sarajevo, the discussion was organised together with the Fondacija Atelje za društvene promjene - ACT and focused on environmental protection, governance gaps, and the growing resistance of local communities to large-scale mining projects.

📍In Belgrade, on 17 April, in cooperation with Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju (IFDT), the debate addressed the political and institutional context in which critical raw material projects are unfolding, and what this means for rule of law, democratic accountability, and EU enlargement credibility.

As the European Union advances its Critical Raw Materials strategy, the Western Balkans are increasingly positioned as a near-shore supplier. The key question on the study remains: can resource extraction strengthen governance, or will it deepen existing structural weaknesses?

📖 The full study will be published in May. Until then, download the policy paper authored by BiEPAG members Vedran Džihić and Marko Kmezić, which summarises the main findings and key arguments of the forthcoming publication.

🔗 Download here: https://www.biepag.eu/publication/mining-in-the-western-balkans-how-to-counter-authoritarian-extractivism

21/04/2026

Join us tomorrow in Berlin and online to discuss how critical raw materials are reshaping the European Union’s green and digital transitions, and what this means for governance, environmental standards, and enlargement in the Western Balkans.

The conversation builds on the BiEPAG publication Mining in the Western Balkans: How to counter authoritarian extractivism?

📅 22 April 2026 | Berlin & Online
🔗 Registration and details in the post below

Critical raw materials (CRM) seem central to the EU’s green, digital, and defence transitions but remain in short supply. To reduce dependencies, the European Commission launched the Critical...