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Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group

The Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG) is a group of policy analysts, scholars and rese

02/06/2026

📢 This month, we continue presenting chapters from our forthcoming study on mining and critical raw materials in the Western Balkans.

In "Recasting the Civil Society Landscape: Civic Mobilization against Mining Projects in the Western Balkans", BiEPAG member Jelena Vasiljević explores how environmental activism has transformed the civic landscape of the region.

From local campaigns against lithium mining and hydropower projects to broader regional networks, these movements have become important voices for transparency, accountability, environmental protection, and citizen participation.

The chapter shows that debates about mining are increasingly also debates about democratic governance and the future of civic space in the Western Balkans.

📖 Read more ⬇️
https://tinyurl.com/ahawckpr

01/06/2026

🇷🇸 Serbia's Growth Plan funding is in limbo. The Commission froze payments over judicial independence concerns, yet still hasn't made a final decision. Only six of 34 reforms were implemented by March 2026.

🇪🇺 But the deeper problem is structural. Civil society was excluded from reform design. The EU approves agendas while signaling they lack ambition. And EU officials continue high-level talks with Belgrade, sending mixed messages about conditionality.

⚖️ BiEPAG Fellow Ivana Miličević analyzes why this decision matters for the EU's future credibility on rule of law and democratic values.

🔗 Read the full blog here: https://tinyurl.com/28vyasen

29/05/2026

This month, BiEPAG continues presenting chapters from our forthcoming study on mining and critical raw materials in the Western Balkans.

Today we publish "Mining in the Western Balkans: Who Really Profits?" by Biljana Jovanović, Kristijan Fidanovski, and Branimir Jovanović.

The chapter examines the economic significance of mining across the region and asks a central question: who actually benefits from the current mining boom?

Through data analysis and case studies covering projects such as Jadar, Bor, Lopare, and Rupice, the authors explore the distribution of profits, wages, taxes, and public revenues generated by large-scale mining investments.

The study also highlights broader debates around foreign ownership, environmental risks, democratic accountability, and the long-term socioeconomic impact of extraction projects in the Western Balkans.

📖 Read more: https://tinyurl.com/296j73hj

26/05/2026

🇪🇺 New Blog Post: "Europe+ Needs to Ensure Security in the Western Balkans. Including Its Own"

Western Balkans leaders operate comfortably in ambiguity, claiming EU partnership without accepting responsibility. Meanwhile, regional instability becomes a tool for extraction and coercion.

In our new BiEPAG Blog, Kurt Bassuener from the Democratization Policy Council examines how Europe+ can seize the initiative through military deterrence, strategic clarity, and a unified vision of a European Defense Area.

The regional peace cartel has had its turn. Now it's Europe's move, argues Bassuener.

🔗 Read the full piece: https://tinyurl.com/yzbw2akw

25/05/2026

Why did the Serbian students’ new “Memorandum on Kosovo” spark outrage at home and abroad — and does it actually matter?

In a new BiEPAG blog, Nikola Burazer argues it’s regrettable, but largely irrelevant: the nationalist rhetoric is what shocks, while the position itself sits squarely in Serbia’s political mainstream.

The bigger danger is that divisive identity issues could undermine the broad coalition needed to defeat Aleksandar Vučić on his own home turf.

📖 Read the full piece ⬇️
https://tinyurl.com/2m2fredz

22/05/2026

📢 Today BiEPAG publishes another chapter from its regional mining study: Legal and Environmental Aspects of Mining in the Western Balkans.

The publication explores the environmental and legal dimensions of mining projects throughout the region, including environmental standards, institutional accountability, public participation, and the increasing tensions between resource extraction and local communities.

At a time when the Western Balkans is becoming increasingly important in discussions on critical raw materials and the European green transition, the chapter raises important questions about sustainability, transparency, and democratic governance.

Authors: Jovan Rajić, Darjana Macanović, Mirko Popović, Jovan Cvijetinović, Ivana Milićević, Hristina Vojvodić, and Ljubica Vukčević.

📖 Read more:
https://www.biepag.eu/publication/legal-and-environmental-aspects-of-mining-in-the-western-balkans

18/05/2026

🔔 New BiEPAG blog

✍️ Gresa Hasa
🔹 Edi Rama is Offended by Corruption

Can GDP growth be used as proof that corruption is declining?

The article examines how GDP growth driven by construction, real estate, and public spending can coexist with systemic governance problems, weak accountability, and corruption risks.

It also highlights how debates about corruption cannot be reduced to macroeconomic indicators alone, but must be assessed through rule of law, institutional independence, transparency, and democratic accountability.

📖 Read here ⬇️
https://tinyurl.com/48a83956

15/05/2026

🔔 This month, BiEPAG will present chapters from its forthcoming study on mining and critical raw materials in the Western Balkans.

We begin with Florian Bieber’s contribution on the geopolitical aspects of mining projects in the region, focusing on critical raw materials, EU enlargement, governance challenges, and global strategic competition.

📘 Geopolitical Aspects of Mining Projects in the Western Balkans

📖 Read here ⬇️
https://tinyurl.com/y699t978

14/05/2026

🔔 New BiEPAG Podcast #24

⛏️ Mining & Real Estate in the Balkans: Is Corrosive Capital Western now?

🏗️ This episode examines projects such as Rio Tinto’s lithium venture in Serbia, the Vareš mining project in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgrade Waterfront, and Velika Plaža in Montenegro, asking how these developments reshape governance, democratic accountability, and public trust.

The discussion also challenges a longstanding assumption: are corrosive forms of capital still associated primarily with non-Western actors?

🎙️ Featuring Vedran Džihić, Barbara Frey, and Iliriana Gjoni, moderated by Tena Prelec.

🎧 Listen here ⬇️
https://tinyurl.com/hb2884f8

13/05/2026

During our recent policy visit in Paris, the BiEPAG+ delegation held high-level meetings at the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and the Élysée Palace, engaging directly with senior advisors and officials on the future of EU enlargement.

In cooperation with the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) and Austro-French Centre for Rapprochement in Europe, we hosted a public panel titled “The Enlargement of the European Union: A Strategic Choice?”. The event brought together policymakers and experts to debate the geopolitical implications of enlargement, EU reform, and France’s domestic decision-making framework.

Our Paris mission reinforced the importance of strategic dialogue between France and the Western Balkans at a moment when the enlargement agenda has regained urgency.

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