#28 Inside the Balkan Route: 30 Years of Migration, Smuggling, and EU Policy – With Donatella Bradić (IOM)

Get the enhanced episode transcript here 👉🏻 www.emmanuel-comte.eu/product/enhanced-transcript-28/.Why does the Balkan Route remain a strategic corridor for migrants entering the EU? In this interview, Emmanuel Comte speaks with Donatella Bradić, Senior Program Coordinator at IOM, who reflects on three decades managing migration in the Western Balkans. From the Yugoslav wars to digital smuggling networks and EU border reforms, this episode explores the evolution of the route, the role of the IOM, and the future of EU migration governance. Topics include regional diplomacy, unaccompanied minors, biometric registration, externalization of asylum, and the rise of labor migration in the Balkans.This interview was arranged by Lisa Sottanelli and edited by Andriana Lagoudes. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No 101034403.