Western Balkans
For almost three decades (1992), the Friedrich Naumann Foundation has been active for freedom in the Western Balkans and supports the countries on their way to a united Europe. From her project office in Belgrade she coordinates her political education work and advice in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo. Together with her partners from politics, science and civil society, she works primarily on the topics of human and civil rights, digital and open society, democracy and the rule of law as well as communicating political strategies and market-economy structures.
News
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From independence to Europe. What comes next?
In recent years, the Foundation for Freedom has commemorated the "peaceful revolutions of freedom" thirty years ago in numerous events and publications, which found perhaps their most emblematic expression in German reunification. However, this revolutionary democratic change did not extend to the entire continent. Particularly the countries of the former Yugoslavia suffered from excesses of violence.
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Regular Economic Report
This is the first edition of the tri-monthly economic report by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Successive reports will follow economic trends in BiH within a three months period. The aim is to document the economic reality of BiH and based on the conclusion recommend a course of actions to improve the economic situation in BiH.
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Mladić’s final verdict
Lifelong sentence for war crimes for Ratko Mladić, the military commander of the Army of Republika Srpska was confirmed yesterday in courthouse of the International Residual Mechanism for War Crimes in Hague.
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Women-Power-Politics
In our new series of interviews, we ask women from different professional and political perspectives how they categorize and evaluate topics that essentially revolve around equal rights, equality and self-determination. This time we asked Milena Marić, a master sociologist, longtime activist and documentary filmmaker to comment on feminism, women's political participation and women’s quota.
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Rise of the New Left, Breakthrough of Liberals in Country’s Second Largest City...
On 16 May, Croatians elected their representatives in 555 cities and municipalities, 21 regions and the capital Zagreb. Where candidates fell short of an absolute majority (regional presidency, mayoralty or municipal presidency), run-off elections will be held on 30 May.
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Smart Cities of Serbia
The publication Smart Cities of Serbia – Innovation and Resilience of Local Communities in Serbia in 2021 deals with the Smart City concept that transcends mere technological innovations in urban areas and addresses many challenges of the cities of the future.
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The impact of COVID-19 on the economy of Kosovo
In Kosovo, too, the Corona crisis has led to deep and far-reaching restrictions in the economy and society. This paper, "The Impact of COVID-19 on the Economy of Kosovo", by the former Minister of Economy, Valdrin Lluka, provides a detailed overview of the development of the Kosovar economy during the pandemic, the measures taken by the government to contain or overcome the crisis, and a clear as well as differentiated assessment from a liberal perspective.
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Regional Analysis on Disinformation during Covid-19 Pandemic
In cooperation with regional network of fact checkers FNF WB attempted to identify and analyze general dis-, mis- and mal-information trends during Covid-19 pandemic in the region as the unprecedented global crisis we found ourselves in only exaggerated the extremely negative societal impact of these phenomena.
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A practical guide to the role of journalists in society
We journalists often forget why we write articles. Do we care about what readers are interested in? Have we given enough information or have we misled them? Thomas Brey, a journalist and editor with extensive experience in the Balkans, offers us specific advice in this handbook with an important message – that every journalist writes for the reader.
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Women - Power - Politics
In our new series of interviews, we ask women from different professional and political perspectives how they categorize and evaluate topics that essentially revolve around equal rights, equality and self-determination.
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New President of Kosovo
The popular lawyer Vjosa Osmani was elected as Kosovo's new president on Easter Sunday by a narrow but ultimately clear vote. She had previously held the presidency on a provisional basis for several months.
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The Impact of COVID-19 on the Serbian Economy in 2020
The Corona crisis has kept the world on tenterhooks for well over a year now. This poses great challenges for states and societies. This paper, "The Impact of COVID-19 on the Serbian Economy in 2020", by the well-known economist Mihailo Gajić, examines and describes the effects in Serbia and offers recommendations from a liberal perspective.
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Albin Kurti: Act Two!
Now Kosovo's "eternal rebel" has once again taken over the reins of power in the country, which was badly shaken by the Corona crisis, after a brilliant election victory and thus a much better chance than a year ago. It is the first time in Kosovo's post-war parliamentary period that a political party has won almost half of the seats in parliament: 58 out of 120 parliamentary mandates.
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Smart Local Communities in BiH
As part of a regional project, a team of experts led by Dr. Nasiha Pozder undertook a comprehensive analysis of smart solutions in local communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is fist such attempt and the results will serve as an excellent basis for future projects in this domain.
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How open data can create more resilient cities
"Smart beyond Cities: Innovation - Resilience - Sustainability" was the motto of the Smart City Festival in October 2020 in Belgrade. At this event, digital expert Victoria Boeck from the Technology Foundation Berlin gave a very interesting keynote, which is now available in an expanded form as a paper. It is an introduction to the concept of urban resilience and underlines the importance of Open Data.
Social Media
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Still no effective dialogue in sight The second meeting in the Serb-Kosovar dialogue also ends without results. After the meeting between Prime Minister Albin Kurti and President Aleksandar Vucic last Monday, the Kosovar government published a document it presented at the meeting under the title "Peace Declaration". It contains six articles. It states that the parties should refrain from any threats and violence, respect borders, protect and promote the rights of minorities, settle differences peacefully and support each other in the European integration process. The document is available at: https://bit.ly/3x4oVWV President Vucic immediately rejected the document as it would have meant the recognition of Kosovo, Serbian media reported afterwards. Parliament Speaker Ivica Dacic, in an interview with Serbian television a day later, even spoke of a possible breakdown of dialogue, adding that he had spoken to EU Special representative Miroslav Lajcak and he had said that he would not organise further meetings if no results were to be expected, but that he was patient. "Kosovo and Serbia should close the chapter of the past and move forward," Josep Borrell, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said before the meeting. He said he hoped both sides would discuss steps that led forward in a constructive and pragmatic way: "Kosovo and Serbia must definitely close the chapter of the painful past with a comprehensive, legally binding agreement on the normalisation of relations and look to the EU future of their citizens. The past is important, but the future is even more important," Borrell continued. But it was the past that caused the Kosovar prime minister and the Serbian president to clash again. That is why the meeting turned out to be shorter than planned and again resulted in mutual insults: "The Kosovar prime minister refuses to sign the document on stability and security," Vucic said. "The Serbian president is lying," was Kurti's prompt reply. Nevertheless, in the end both agreed to continue the dialogue. The next meeting at delegation level is scheduled for the end of August, the third Kurti-Vucic round for September. Foto: CC Euronews.Albania
