Articles on Balkans

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Supporters of Kosovan leader Hashim Thaçi ahead of the guilty verdict in his trial for war crimes, Pristina, Kosovo, September 2026. EPA/Arben Llapashtica

Prosecution of Kosovan leader Hashim Thaçi illustrates the challenges of bringing war criminals to justice

It took 27 years after the end of hostilities in Kosovo to bring the leader of the KLA to book for his war crimes.
World leaders clap as, from left, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, Croat President Franjo Tudjman and Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic sign the Dayton Peace Agreement. Peter Turnley/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images

The Dayton Peace Accords at 30: An ugly peace that has prevented a return to war over Bosnia

More than 100,000 people were killed in the Bosnian war. But the peace that ended it in 1995 sowed the seeds for ethnonationalism.
A Kosovo police officer guards a road near the village of Banjska in northern Kosovo in September 2023 following an attack on police officers by Serbian militants. (AP Photo/Bojan Slavkovic)

How Serbia‑Kosovo tensions hang like a spectre over the European Union

The U.S. and the EU have neglected the Balkans, hoping that the allure of EU integration would be enough to placate Serbia and other countries. It was not.
A view of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France. Ludovic Marin/AFP

War in Ukraine: has the time for EU enlargement arrived?

The war in Ukraine has added new momentum to the argument of expanding the EU eastward. However, institutional and political obstacles to making this dream reality abound.

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