The Belgrade office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation reflects on its 25-year presence in Serbia, Montenegro, and Kosovo through a documentary series that explores peace- and state-building, environmental activism, gender rights, and urban commons. Confronting political challenges and state accusations, the Foundation offers a look at progressive change in the Balkan region through the lens of strategic "meddling".

In our text on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Kumanovo Agreement, which brought some kind of peace to Kosovo, we were able to speak about some kind of status quo, a situation in which Kosovo could not round out its statehood, yet  Serbia did not try too hard to bring Kosovo back under its authority, settling for influence in the north of Kosovo. However, it could be said that the events of the next five years — on several occasions almost to the point of war — almost completely reversed any progress made in the previous twenty. 

From socialist monuments to war memorials, Kosovo's memory landscape reveals a complex web of competing narratives. Through Prishtina's city center, history unfolds in statues and squares, where "politics of memory and oblivion" shape identity—but civilian voices remain silent, and some stories are deliberately erased from public spaces.

The lithium deal brings a new quality to Serbia’s foreign policy zigzagging. At one stroke, Serbia became a strategic partner and the guarantor for the future of the European Green Deal.

The Belgrade office of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung welcomes applications for the new position of Communications Coordinator starting on October 1st, 2024. The deadline for applications is August 26, 2024.

Serbia's lithium mining project in Jadar has been on hold because of mass protests against feared environmental damage. Now the EU wants to secure this lithium access for Europe - despite the political and legal conditions in Serbia. Interview with Mirko Popović and Jovan Rajić.