Balkans in March 2026: the most important developments in politics
Kosovo's political crisis was the main development in the Balkans in March 2026. On 6 March Kosovo's president dissolved parliament and called snap elections after the assembly failed to elect a new head of state. By 10 March a dispute between the president and the prime minister had escalated. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said boycott lists had been drawn up in seven municipalities in Kosovo, and on 19 March Serb representatives in northern Kosovo rejected integration into Kosovo's administrative and legal systems.
In Serbia, Vučić said on 13 March that the country is preparing for a possible attack by an alliance of Croatia, Albania and Kosovo, and separately said Serbia has no plans to join NATO and will remain neutral. Serbia and Albania issued a joint declaration on 11 March committing not to veto each other's EU accession. EU officials expressed concern over Serbian moves affecting judicial independence, and a German member of the European Parliament questioned whether Serbia should receive EU funds. A Serbian prosecutor filed a tenth indictment against the health minister.
EU enlargement ran through several countries. An EU delegation in Montenegro urged the opposition to engage constructively, while Montenegro's president called for a meeting to speed up accession. In North Macedonia, an official said EU accession talks remain the government's top priority, and VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski attended a summit of the European People's Party in Brussels. A report said the EU could have 30 members by 2028. The European Parliament approved Croatia's Boris Vujčić as vice-president of the European Central Bank.
In Slovenia, Prime Minister Robert Golob called on 19 March for an EU investigation as a corruption scandal deepened, and on 23 March he claimed victory in a close parliamentary election. Croatia held its first public ceremony granting citizenship in Serbia, and Rome's Court of Appeal raised doubts about the constitutionality of Italy's protocol with Albania on migrant processing centres.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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