Why it’s time for the Kosovo Security Force (EUObserver)
Op-ed by Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Behgjet Pacolli. Like any sovereign, independent country, Kosovo requires an army to protect its territorial integrity and the citizens of all its communities. That is why we are beginning the process of transforming the mandate of the Kosovo Security Force (KSF). This will consist of the disciplined and […]
Read More →LDK rejects Veseli’s offer to join negotiating team (media)
Avdullah Hoti, head of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) parliamentary group, told a press conference in Pristina today that his party has rejected Assembly President Kadri Veseli’s invitation to join the negotiating team for the final talks with Serbia. Hoti argued that “legitimacy cannot be won at political roundtables” and that Veseli’s invitation “is […]
Read More →Belgrade Media Report 21 December
LOCAL PRESS
• Trump to Vucic: We value your leadership, seize this moment (Tanjug/B92)
• Serbian president thanks Putin for stance on Kosovo (Tanjug/B92)
• Dacic: Trump’s letters are support, but also slap to those who are stopping (TV Prva/RTV)
• Odalovic: Pristina endangered dialogue, important to use the following days (RTS)
REGIONAL PRESS
Bosnia & Herzegovina
• Thaci: Customs tariffs are consequence of behavior of official Sarajevo towards Kosovo (Dnevni avaz)
• Bosniak political factor obstructs formation of B&H CoM (RTRS)
• Wigemark meets B&H HoR Collegium; Radmanovic criticizes Mogherini (Hayat)
• Radoncic with Wigemark (Dnevni avaz)
• Cristian Dan Preda: B&H must earn EU candidate status (BHT1)
• European Commission publishes report on fulfillment of visa-free requirements by Western Balkans countries (Nezavisne novine)
• B&H’s Commission for NATO Integration holds session, no quorum for adoption of decisions (ATV)
• Dodik: RS citizens will decide about NATO integration of B&H (ATV)
• Zvizdic: Those who are against NATO membership base their conclusions on decisions of bodies which are not competent for international policies or NATO integration (FTV)
• Zvizdic: Croatia is not B&H mentor (FTV)
Croatia
• Plenkovic rejects proposals to ban Serb minority political party (Hina)
• Croatia announces another round of aid for Croats in B&H (HRT)
fYROM
• Maslov: Russia doesn’t oppose Macedonia’s new name, it opposes NATO membership (Meta)
Albania
• Islamic Republic of Iran responds to expulsion of diplomats from Albania (ADN)
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SOURCES
• Balkans in 2019: Change Must Come from Within (BIRN)
Read More →Mustafa writes to international community over CEC appointments (media)
Leader of the opposition Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) Isa Mustafa has written a letter to ambassadors of Quint countries, the OSCE and the EU Office in Kosovo about the failure of the President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci to appoint new members to the Central Election Commission (CEC). Mustafa said the CEC has been ‘dysfunctional’ […]
Read More →Three BIRN-supported articles receive prizes for human rights reporting (Prishtina Insight)
A number of articles supported by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network were awarded for covering human rights issues in Kosovo, focusing on the field children’s rights. Three journalistic articles produced by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, were awarded with prizes in a competition by the NGO Coalition for the Protection of Children, KOMF. See […]
Read More →Vladislav Jovanovic: US has plan “B” for Kosovo (Srna, Tanjug, Blic)
A retired Yugoslav diplomat Vladislav Jovanovic assessed that Serbia’s right to sovereignty over Kosovo and Metohija is stronger than the right of self-declared Kosovo to its own sovereignty, saying other countries that have interests in the Balkans would decide on the resolution of Kosovo issue, and not only the US, Blic daily reported. Commenting on […]
Read More →“US wants Kosovo agreement to be signed like Israel-Egypt” (BETA, Tanjug, Prva TV)
The US is ready to organize the signing of a Belgrade-Pristina agreement modeled on the signing of the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt in 1978. Serbia’s First Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic told this to Prva TV in Belgrade on Friday. Dacic added that everything that has been happening lately shows the […]
Read More →LDK rejects Veseli’s invitation for dialogue (RTK)
The Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) has rejected the invitation of the President of the Assembly Kadri Veseli to discuss about the dialogue. LDK Caucus Avdullah Hoti said the governing coalition has not accepted earlier resolve the blockade of the dialogue matter. “The dialogue team has gained only 59 votes which makes the simple majority,” […]
Read More →Vetevendosje: Thaci is planning to ruin CEC (RTK)
Kosovo Assembly MPs from the Vetevendosje Movement Xhelal Svecla and Albulena Haxhiu, held today a press conference to announce that their political party has proposed Adnan Rrustemi and Nazlie Bala for Central Election Commission (CEC) members. They criticized the President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci saying that he has kept CEC hostage in different manners, for […]
Read More →Odalovic: Washington may bring Pristina to its senses (RTS, BETA, TV N1)
Secretary General in the Serbian Foreign Affairs Ministry, Veljko Odalovic said on Friday the US President Donald Trump’s letters to Pristina and Belgrade were a message with the best intention to help empower dialogue and the search for a compromise and sustainable solution, BETA news agency reports. Odalovic added the European Union facilitated talks in […]
Read More →Bahtiri: My efforts for unification of Mitrovica have been relentless (Klan Kosova)
Mitrovica Mayor Agim Bahtiri said at a conference today that all his decisions are taken in cooperation with the citizens he represents and vowed not to allow an ‘ethnically-pure’ Mitrovica North. “Serbs that got elected in 2013 to lead Mitrovica North and ten municipalities had their bodies in Kosovo but their heads in Belgrade. Their […]
Read More →Bekim Jashari: Kosovo War Hero’s Son Plans Political Party (Balkan Insight)
Son of a war hero and an independent mayor in the influential Drenica region, Bekim Jashari is now threatening to shake up Kosovo’s political scene on a national level. Jashari’s father, Hamez, was among 58 members of the Jashari family killed in a three-day siege by Serb forces on the family compound in Prekaz in […]
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