The opposition bloc in Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity, Republika Srpska, says it has new proof that the entity premier was involved in a bribery scandal and will seek her dismissal. Dragan Cavic, an opposition leader in Republika Srpska, on Friday said the opposition parties will launch an initiative to dismiss Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic, after foreign […]

The government prefers not to call them bribes. Romania is moving toward legalizing a widespread practice in many Eastern European countries, where medical staff is underpaid and quality can be dodgy: bribes for better service. The government is expected to introduce criteria by which informal payments patients make to doctors, nurses and other public health […]

Index’s project Mapping Media Freedom has recorded an alarming increase in media freedom violations in Croatia. Correspondent Ilcho Cvetanoski talks to Sasa Lekovic, the head of the Croatian Journalists’ Association, about the situation.   Over the past few months, death threats, physical assaults and intimidation have plagued the Croatian media. This drastic deterioration of media […]

Bulgaria has registered progress in many spheres over the past 25 years, yet there are also worrying trends, including the economic development and the fight against corruption, according to Roderick W. Moore, interim Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Sofia.In a Wednesday interview for Nova TV, he specified that he was not expressing his […]

Most of the high-level corruption cases in Romania are related to public procurement, a EUR 15 million market, said Marius Bulucea, advisor to the Chief Prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA). Corruption often occurs when there is a large margin of discretion for civil servants, who are at liberty to choose without some very […]

In June 4, 2015, Danko Bogdanović was reinstated as of Chief of Customs office of Brcko, BiH, after a two-year suspension for reporting corruption in the Indirect Taxation Authority. Bogdanović, reported corruption to the Agency for prevention and coordination of fight against corruption (IPAK). The Center for Responsible Democracy LUNA assisted Bogdanović in filing an application […]

New Governor Dimitar Radev ended Iskrov’s omerta and promised review of media investigations in the banking system. The new Governor of the Bulgarian central bank (Bulgarian National Bank, BNB) Dimitar Radev responded to the numerous letters, alerts and official inquiries Bivol sent them over the years. Radev also finally granted us access to the original […]

The new trial of former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader will be far from straightforward, says the presiding judge. President of the County Court in Zagreb Ivan Turudić said that the trial of former prime minister Ivo Sanader is very difficult in many ways. Asked whether it was the most difficult case of his entire career, […]

On Thursday, in Vienna, starts the annual summit of the Western Balkans that was initiated last year in Berlin and became famous as the Berlin Process. Lead subjects on the agenda of the prime ministers of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Albania, and also Croatia, Slovenia, Germany, France, Italy and Austria will be the […]

A growing protest movement is demanding strong controls on international investors and logging companies buying up Romania’s forests, writes Raluca Besliu. In its sights is Austria-based Schweighofer, which stands accused of criminal malpractice and accepting illegal timber shipments. The popular outrage stirred up by corporate misdeeds is now stimulating a wider democratic revival. Since the […]