Another Ten Balkan Tales

Here are all ten of the stories that I edited in 2013 for the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence. Our reporters honoured the annual theme of “integrity” by revealing its absence. So, we have some stories about corruption. We have some stories about migration. And we even have some stories about migration-because-of-corruption.

All very Balkan, you might say. But in fact, many of the problems our reporters uncovered can be traced to the heart of Western Europe, or to the unintended consequences of the EU’s policies in the east.

Other themes include the unsettled legacy of war – still very pertinent – and the troubling politicisation of civil society.

• Protesters in Skopje smashed up the mayor’s office because they thought he was planning to demolish a half-built church. He wasn’t. Meri Jordanovska reveals how Macedonian NGOs with loose links to the government are attacking its opponents.

• Serbia has more war veterans than any of its neighbours – but not a single law that defines what a war veteran is. Mirko Rudic reveals why his country’s soldiers have got such a bad deal, compared to the men whom they fought.

• If you want to skip a year of management studies in Bosnia, just pay €1,200 and no one will say anything. Dino Jahic discovers how bribes count for more than grades in Balkan universities.

• The mayor of the Romanian town of Navodari keeps two pet lions in his backyard. He was furious at our reporter, Vlad Odobescu, for revealing how politicians have turned corruption investigations to their advantage.

• Women activists used to report freely on human rights abuses in Kosovo, while their male colleagues were held up at Serbian checkpoints. Hana Marku tracks the fortunes of the women who fought for Kosovo’s liberation – from the idealism of resistance to their disillusionment today.

• Doctors pay higher bribes to get hired in Romanian cities than they do in small towns. Elena Stancu uncovers the rampant corruption driving doctors out of her country’s healthcare system.

• War crimes trials are being conducted in a Sarajevo building where war crimes are said to have been committed. Katarina Panic visits the sites of wartime prisons to reveal how little has been done to commemorate those who suffered there.

• Macedonians used to pay some of the highest mobile phone bills in Europe – and not just because they like to talk. Goran Rizaov unravels the murky saga of a telecoms deal that has been ignored in his country, despite leading to a massive corruption settlement in the US.

• Albania’s most famous youth activist once brought a couple of donkeys to a protest outside parliament. Now he works there. Erjona Rusi asks why so many activists end up running for political office, and what this means for civil society and its foreign sponsors.

• You don’t need to produce any original radio programmes to qualify for a state grant for original radio programming in Croatia. Melisa Skender plunges into the jungle of media regulation, where public money is propping up radio stations that shouldn’t be on air.