Belgrade Media Report 15 January 2018
United Nations Office in Belgrade
Daily Media Highlights
Monday 15 January 2018
LOCAL PRESS
• Vucic: I was personally struck by Amfilohije’s words (RTS)
• Vucic meets with Hahn in Belgrade (Politika)
• Dacic sums up 2017: Serbia had wise policy, EU had good message (Tanjug/B92)
• Djuric: Mitrovic should not have been in prison (Tanjug)
• Patriarch Irinej: No divisions in Serbian Orthodox Church on Kosovo issue (Novosti)
• Dodik: I chose to be arrogant and consistent (Politika)
• Crnadak: Not even Sarajevo will recognize Kosovo (Novosti)
• Local elections in Belgrade to be held on 4 March (B92/Tanjug/RTS)
• Tadic: SDS will support DS (Tanjug/RTV)
REGIONAL PRESS
Bosnia & Herzegovina
• The Guardian published report about paramilitary formation and mercenaries in RS, trained by Russia (Dnevni avaz)
• Covic meets Plenkovic in Split (Dnevni avaz)
• MEP Fajon: I fear that election year in B&H will additionally slow down progress towards EU (Dnevni list)
Croatia
• Croatian President attends informal lunch in Slovenia (HRT)
• PM says he doesn’t need Slovene laws to determine border demarcation (HRT)
Montenegro
• Ease tensions in Montenegro and return to political dialogue (Pobjeda)
• Rados: Parliament must not comply with DF’s requirements (Pobjeda)
fYROM
• Zaev to meet Tsipras in Davos on 24 January (MIA)
• Kammenos wants a referendum in Greece concerning the name issue (Meta)
• Parliament ratifies the Treaty of Good Neighborly Relations with Bulgaria (Meta)
• Lavrov: Russia will accept the name that Macedonia and Greece will agree upon (Meta)
Albania
• Rama message to Basha and Kryemadhi (ADN)
• Basha: Massive participation in opposition’s protest, clear political message (ADN)
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SOURCES
• U.N. mediator says ‘positive momentum’ in Macedonia name row (Reuters)
• Geopolitical poker in the Western Balkans (ekathimerini)
US urges caution, warns of possible terror attacks in Kosovo (Fox News, AP)
The United States is warning its citizens to “exercise increased caution in Kosovo due to terrorism” and listed some areas Washington thinks are at increased risk. The State Department warning issued Friday said that “terrorist groups continue plotting possible attacks in the Balkans region, including Kosovo.” It also advises that politically motivated violence occurs throughout […]
Read More →Hoxhaj: Crnadak’s statements, only to please Serbia (RTK)
Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo, Enver Hoxhaj, has reacted to the reiteration of statements of the Foreign Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Igor Crnadak, that Bosnia will not recognize independence of Kosovo. He took to Twitter to condemn “destructive statements” which according to Hoxhaj are being made to satisfy Serbia. “Destructive statements from Bosnia’s Minister […]
Read More →Office for KiM: In Brussels on reached agreements; Janjic: ZSO became the subject of election promises (KIM radio)
The Office for Kosovo and Metohija announces today that topics of three-day talks in Brussels will be implementation of the agreements reached on the Community/Association of Serb Municipalities (ZSO), freedom of movement, integrated management of administrative crossings, justice, energy and other open issues, reports KIM radio. In the continuation of the negotiation process with Pristina, […]
Read More →Vjosa Osmani ‘threatens’ Pacolli: If you do not come, we have other ways (Klan Kosova)
Head of Kosovo Assembly Committee for Foreign Affairs, Vjosa Osmani, has invited Kosovo’s Foreign Minister Behgjet Pacolli to report at this committee. By the end of the meeting on demarcation of the border with Montenegro, Osmani threatened Pacolli that if does not go to report, then “they happen to know other ways.” “It has been […]
Read More →Kosovo’s long, slow recovery (The Economist)
IN 1991 Armend Malazogu leapt off the back of an army lorry. Then aged 18, the Kosovo Albanian was escaping being drafted into Serbia’s fight with Croatia. The Yugoslav civil wars were just beginning and would eventually spread to Kosovo. Now, 18 years after the end of the Kosovo war and almost ten after the […]
Read More →Veseli: Special court an unavoidable but overcoming challenge (RTK)
The President of the Assembly of Kosovo and leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (PDK), Kadri Veseli, spoke today about the Special Court, saying that it is an unavoidable challenge, but it can be overcome. “There is no international justice where the aggressor and the victims are attempted to be equalized. There is no […]
Read More →Draft law on demarcation proceeded to the Assembly Presidency (Koha)
Kosovo’s Assembly committee for foreign affairs, Diaspora and Strategic Investments has preceded to the Assembly the draft law on demarcation of the border with Montenegro, without a recommendation on whether to vote for or against it. It remains to the presidency to decide when to put the demarcation issue in the agenda of Assembly sessions. […]
Read More →Hasani for exchange of territories with Kosovo (FoNet, Danas)
MP in the Assembly of Serbia, Fatmir Hasani, from the Democratic Action Party, that is running the Bujanovac municipality, believes the vast majority of Albanians in the south of Serbia would support exchange of territories with Kosovo, Serbian media reported. However, Deputy Mayor of Bujanovac municipality, Stojanca Arsic rejected such possibility as a bad and […]
Read More →Djuric: Stop terror against Serbian population (RTS, Tanjug)
Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Marko Djuric, strongly condemned “shameful and cowardly attacks” on the property of the Serbs in Kosovo, and said that it was highly irresponsible that the international community did not take more active steps to stop the “terror against the Serbian population”, reports RTS. Congratulating the Serbian New […]
Read More →Jevtic: Violence against Serb returnees (RTS)
On the occasion of another incident that took place on Saturday evening, when in a household of Snezana Dubljevic was set on fire hay, straw, barn and pigsty in the village of Suvi Lukavac, the deputy prime minister of Kosovo and the minister for communities and returns, Dalibor Jevtic, assessed that it was about, as […]
Read More →Witness from Kosovo: March violence organized by criminals supported by services and war parties (Insajder, KoSSev portal)
Kosovo Special Prosecution witness, Shkumbin Mehmeti claims that 2004 March violence was organized by a criminal group, supported by war parties, secret service and big families, Insajder reports referring to KoSSev portal. A criminal group was established by the end of 2001 and this group carried out numerous post-war killings including political ones, portal writes. […]
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