Week in Review: Leaping into the Unknown

Political life in Kosovo seems to be all about elections these days. With parliament unable to constitute itself nine months since the holding of the last elections, a snap poll looks increasingly on the cards. In the meantime, political parties and movements will have a chance to take the pulse of voters this weekend, as they head to the polls to vote in local elections. For local Serbs in the north, it will also be a chance to elect their own local governments after a disastrous experiment with boycotting Kosovo’s institutions. Read more: Kosovo Election to End Albanian Parties’ Rule in Serb-Majority North (October 6, 2025) Former Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras this week announced his resignation as an MP for Syriza, the left-wing party he founded more than a decade ago. Yet he also made it clear that he is not withdrawing from politics. The move may be a blow to Syriza, but it has fuelled speculation that Tsipras might be planning a political comeback via a new political party. Tsipras has been coy, but our analysis takes a look at what impact such a development could have on Greek politics. Read more: Greece’s Leftist Ex-PM Alexis Tsipras Leaps into Political Unknown (October 8, 2025) Three years after his appointment, the mandate of Altin Dumani, head of Albania’s anti-corruption and organised crime prosecution service, SPAK, is coming to an end. During his time in office, Dumani has demonstrated that it is possible to investigate and prosecute current and former politicians, including presidents and prime ministers. These kinds of prosecutions would have been taboo in Albania in the past. SPAK has certainly moved the goalposts of what is possible when it comes to the rule of law in Albania. Attention is now turning to who will replace Dumani and whether they will be able to fill his big shoes. Read more: ‘No One’s Above the Law’: Albania’s Anti-Graft Prosecutor Leaves Formidable Legacy (October 8, 2025) In October 2020, the first Stolpersteine was installed in the Croatian capital Zagreb. The “stumbling stone” was dedicated to the memory of Jewish child actress Lea Deutsch, who died while on a transport to Auschwitz. Since then, more than 160 Stolpersteine have been installed across the country, some dedicated to the memory of Serbs, Roma and others killed by the puppet Independent State of Croatia. Yet a worrying 23 have been damaged or destroyed. Our report takes a look at what is going on and why. Read more: Emotional Damage: Croatia’s Holocaust Memorial Stones Fall Victim to Vandalism (October 6, 2025) North Macedonia’s capital Skopje recently saw the opening of a gleaming new Orthodox church dedicated to Sts Constantine and Helena. It opened 13 years after construction began and replaces an older temple heavily damaged in the devastating 1963 earthquake, which was finally demolished by the Communist authorities in 1970. Yet controversy has dogged the building of the new church. Aside from disagreements over its location, it was also unfortunate enough to be the brainchild of the country’s fugitive former prime minister, Nikola Gruevski. Read more: North Macedonia Church Doubles as Monument to a Fugitive Politician (October 9, 2025) The ghosts of history are once again causing a commotion in Albania. The administration of the country’s parliament set off a modest storm by referring to the country’s brutal Communist dictator Enver Hoxha as a “Hero of Socialist Labour”. To most Albanians, whether historians or ordinary citizens, he was anything but a hero – his repressive rule holds few good memories. Our report takes a look at how this blunder seemingly happened and why it has generated so much anger. Read more: Praise for ‘Hero’ Dictator Hoxha Sparks Outrage in Albania (October 7, 2025)