Former presidential candidate and two-term mayor of Bucharest Sorin Oprescu took to the airwaves in September to right a few wrongs about how local officials are perceived in Romania. “Everyone believes that everybody in local administration are thieves, that they all take 10-15 percent,” he told a local television journalist. “We are not all thieves […]

Parliament withdraws controversial bill banning publication of material related to mass surveillance claims, as anti-government protesters rally in Skopje. The Macedonian Parliament has confirmed a controversial government-backed bill that would have criminalised the publication of material related to allegations of mass unlawful wiretapping has been withdrawn. Parliament announced the bill had been withdrawn in a […]

Opposition politicians and activists pledge to continue protests across Montenegro, despite a police ban on ‘unauthorised’ demonstrations outside the capital. Hundreds of protesters in several major towns demonstrated on Monday against Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic’s administration, which they accuse of widespread corruption, undemocratic practices and election fraud. The main opposition party alliance, the Democratic Front, […]

Macedonia’s ruling parties have proposed outlawing the publication of any materials related to the illegal surveillance claims that have shaken Nikola Gruevski’s government.   Macedonia’s main ruling VMRO DPMNE party and its junior partner, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, on Tuesday submitted a draft law that aims to outlaw the publication and re-publication of […]

Austrian prosecutors are reviewing evidence uncovered by BIRN about a mysterious offshore company suspected of involvement in bribing an Albanian official.   Dietmar Aluta-Oltyan Photo by: Michel Heidi / Verlagsgruppe News / picturedesk.com   Austrian prosecutors allege that Dietmar Aluta-Oltyan, arguably the most powerful figure at the now bankrupt Austrian construction company Alpine Bau, was […]

While the dust is still settling on news that millions were wasted on a failed collaboration with Czechs in Gacko, the Republika Srpska government announces a new power project involving a Chinese firm. Nearly ten years ago a new power plant in Gacko in collaboration with Czechs was announced. It has never got off the […]

Bulgaria’s alleged ‘Cocaine King’ Evelin Banev, alias Brendo, has made a surprising appearance in a Sofia courtroom, dispelling media reports that he had left the country. After going missing for a year and a half, Brendo arrived in Sofia Appellate Court on Sept. 28 for the restart of the € 12.5 million (US$ 14 million) […]

Has the white swallow of enlargement turned black? This is a question that perhaps many are pondering both in the former Yugoslavia region and in Brussels, who saw Croatia as a guiding light for the rather murky process of enlargement towards South-East European countries. After the EU accepted Bulgaria and Romania unprepared and with a […]

In a tense debate in parliament on the CEZ-DIA corruption allegations, Meta attacked BIRN, the law firm Clifford Chance and many others in what he called a ‘mafioso operation’ against him. Albania’s Speaker of Parliament, Ilir Meta, on Thursday angrily denied allegations of taking bribes following BIRN’s investigations into corrupt dealings involving the electricity distributor […]

Macedonia’s Secreteriat for implementing the Framework Agreement had once again selected a company named “Tag Komunikacii” to develop qualitative study for implementing the framework agreement. The value of the deal is 100,000 euros. This is the same company that received 100,000 euros for the same analysis two years ago. For two years, Tag Komunikacii has […]