Contracting parties of the Energy Community from the Western Balkans rely mostly on coal and oil for their primary energy supply. Renewables also take part in the energy mix primarily through traditional use of biomass in inefficient domestic devices followed by large hydro. Modern sources of renewable energy are at an early stage of development. Energy and carbon intensity of the region is comparatively high both to the EU and the World average values.

Our world is facing one of its greatest challenges: the race to zero (emissions) and climate-neutrality. Science tells us almost everything we need to know about the rules of this race. Moreover, most countries have read these and signed-up to enter the race years ago, in Paris, in 2015. The Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change, was adopted by 196 countries at COP 21 in Paris, on 12 December 2015 and entered into force on 4 November 2016. Its main goal is to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels. To achieve this long-term temperature goal, countries aim to reach global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible to achieve a climate neutral world by mid-century.

Albania is a country in Southeastern Europe, bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, North Macedonia to the east, and Greece to the south and southeast. The western side of the country is a coastline to the Adriatic Sea, and the southern side has a coastline onto the Ionian Sea. In terms of electricity generation, around 99% of the electricity is generated from hydropower with still less than 1% of primary energy supply from solar power plants. With the ongoing climate change, energy security could become a critical concern in Albania.

Recent developments in Southeastern Europe are diminishing the image of the European Union and its perspective of the region. The long history of the dispute over the history of the region of Macedonia, the identity of ethnic Macedonians and the question of the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria is threatening the EU integration of North Macedonia, but also the entire Western Balkan 6.

“Srebrenica is turning into a vaste slaughterhouse.  The killed and wounded are being brought to the hospital continuously. It is impossible to describe it. Each second, three deadly projectiles are falling on this town. Seventeen casualties have just been brought to the hospital, as well as 57 severely and lightly wounded people. Will anyone in the world come and witness the tragedy that is befalling Srebrenica and its residents? This is an outrageous crime against the bosniac inhabitants of Srebrencia. The population of the city dissapears. Whether Akashi or Boutros-Ghali or someone else is behind it - I'm afraid it doesn't matter anymore for Srebrenica..“ S r e b r e n i c a , J u l y  10, 1 9 9 5, N i h a d  Ć a t i ć

The feminist edition of Perspectives Magazine, a regional publication published annually by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, aims to present the perspectives of Southeastern Europe to an international audience, to analyze global and regional trends and to provide insights into developments and political debates. The theme of this year's issue is gender and feminism in the Western Balkans, which is presented through four thematic units (State of the Art, Gender in Transitions: Revolution is Female?, Interventions and Resistance), which gives an overview of the context, perception of gender and the state of women's rights, and opens the issue of gender by social (re-)evolution and conflicts, initiatives and practices that contribute to the dismantling of patriarchy and very concrete practices of resistance in our countries. Through the issues of gender violence, political participation, economic relations, ecology, activism, physicality and from the perspective of female scientists, activists, journalists and writers, we focus on a kind of strategy for women's rights in the Balkans: is it based on the premise that we do not get tired and give up. This issue of Balkan Perspectives was written by women and describes the rights and fights for gender equality which last for generations in the Western Balkans.

Rarely, if ever, has a genocide been as normalized as the genocide against the Bosniaks. It is a process which began simultaneously with the genocide itself—not only with the expansive cover-up campaign of its perpetrators, but with the rhetorical onslaught of minimization undertaken by the international community.

Thus far, BiH political leaders have not demonstrated substantial progress in fulfilling the integration’s requirements, nor in joint efforts of prioritizing EU integration and putting it before particular ethnic interests. In case of Mr. Čović and the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ BiH), it is necessary to keep in mind the type of EU-BiH perspective they advocate for, as well what their policies imply for BiH.

Is EU (un)intentionally uses a so-called ‘pseudoconditionality’ action pattern and discourse in supporting the migration crisis management in BiH.

The “Strategy Group for a political, societal and economic European integration of the Western Balkans Six” is a group of legal, historical and political researches from all WB6 countries organized by Heinrich Böll Stiftung’s Belgrade, Sarajevo and Berlin offices. Its aim is to credibly advocate for a more effective European integration of the Balkans in European as well as Balkan capitals.