Over the past year, from increasing the budget of the Ministry of Defense by 30 percent, through transferring all men under 30 of age to passive military reserve, the procurement of helicopters and missile systems, followed by a Russian donation of armored vehicles, Serbia has reached the point of announcing the adoption of the Declaration on Political Independence and Military Neutrality in February next year. Taking into consideration that none of these steps had been undertaken based on existing strategies and without completing any needs assessments prior to procurements, the experts European Western Balkans spoke to warn that the lack of transparency in managing the defense system could be detrimental not only to national security and Serbian citizens but also for relations in the region.

The Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies from Belgrade (CEAS) hopes that despite Christmas and New Year holidays on the one hand, and complex developments in the Middle East on the other, the Western international community will find the resources to pay adequate attention and to the growing tensions in relations between the Republic of Serbia and Montenegro. They have been provoked by the adoption of the controversial Law on Freedom of Religion or Belief and the Legal Status of Religious Communities, which will take effect in Montenegro on January 8, 2020.

COMMENTARY ON THE US AIR STRIKE AGAINST THE IRANIAN TERROR GENERAL

A conversation with Francis Fukuyama, professor, writer and public intellectual. Interviewer: Maciej Makulski

Activist Albin Kurti promises radical change if he becomes Kosovo’s prime minister.