Democracy

In a time when democracy is experiencing a crisis worldwide, the citizens of North Macedonia enjoy the privilege of electing their political representatives fairly, freely and democratically for the third time in less than a year and a half. 

The Dayton Peace Agreement defined Bosnia and Herzegovina as a state of three constituent peoples, linking political participation to ethnic affiliation. How did we arrive at this point—an ethno-political reality with three peoples instead of citizens, and three sides instead of one state?

The visit to Berlin by members of the Western Balkans 6 Strategy Group (November 12–14) focused on how Germany and the region can move beyond a stability-first approach toward democratic resilience and credible EU enlargement.

 Although the NAP’s focus was gender it excluded intersecting variables, such as ethnicity, religion, age, sexual orientation and disability. It treated women as a homogeneous group, and failed to address categories of women who are differently impacted by conflict, insecurity, and peace-building.

It is important to point out that women were engaged in non-governmental organizations, working on the implementation of the Resolution even before it was adopted. They did not wait for international confirmation that they could begin working on peace-building.

In 2025, we mark the thirtieth anniversary of the end of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. That same year also marks the thirtieth anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica — the first genocide in Europe to be legally recognized after the Second World War.

The fate of the countries of the Western Balkans and the candidates states further East (Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia) is intertwined in the current geopolitical battle between the authoritarian countries to the East and Western democracies. 

Riga/Tallin, October 10th 2025 -The need for a more active engagement of the Baltic states in pursuing a merit-based EU enlargement was underlined by members of the Western Balkans 6 Strategy Group and their Latvian counterparts during a panel at the 2025 Riga Conference. 

A high-ranking official’s conviction sparked efforts to relativize the judiciary’s role. By blurring lines between legal and illegal, powerholders sought to ideologize justice, deny responsibility, and reshape the rule of law—further entrenching hybrid-regime dynamics.

In November 2024, the collapse of a railway station canopy in Novi Sad killed 16 people and sparked the largest student-led protests in Serbia's modern history. Initial grief gave way to a decentralised movement that is demanding accountability, far-reaching reforms and new elections, despite brutal repression by the regime. The protests have exposed the failure of 'stabilitocracy' and brought Serbia's democratic future — and the EU's role in it — to the forefront of political debate.