Belgrade Media Report 29 January 2019
United Nations Office in Belgrade
Daily Media Highlights
Tuesday 29 January 2019
LOCAL PRESS
• Brnabic: Balanced US position on Kosovo important (RTS)
• Pahor addresses Serbian parliament; part of opposition MPs boycotts (Beta)
• Dacic: Gratitude to Myanmar for supporting Serbia’s territorial integrity (RTS/Tanjug/Beta)
• Djuric: Those setting conditions do not want compromise (RTS)
• Kosovo Serbs to join anti-government protests held across Serbia (N1/FoNet)
REGIONAL PRESS
Bosnia & Herzegovina
• B&H Presidency members to travel to official visit to Brussels on Tuesday; Komsic and Dzaferovic expect that talks in Brussels include EU candidate status of B&H as well (ATV)
• Dodik ahead of visit to Brussels: EU path is part of consensus of all political actors in B&H, it would not be good if someone undermines it (RTRS)
• Cvijanovic: Dodik will present in Brussels realistic picture of current situation in B&H (TV1)
• Dodik meets Ambassadors of Serbia and Russia in B&H (RTRS)
• Dodik on HNS’ Declaration: Nobody should be deprived of right to express legitimate political views (N1)
fYROM
• Kocijancic: The country has a clear path toward the EU (Nezavisen vesnik)
• Paris welcomes the Prespa Agreement ratification (Nezavisen vesnik)
• Stoltenberg replies to Dimitrov’s letter, preparation for NATO Accession Protocol underway (Meta)
• Mickoski: Zaev plans to rig the presidential elections but we will defeat him (Republika)
Albania
• Balla: Border correction – government will not intervene, Kosovo is a sovereign state (ADN)
• Albania supports Kosovo agreement supported by US and EU (ADN/Deutsche Welle)
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SOURCES
• China In The Balkans: Good Or Bad? (Forbes)
• US ambassador says Prespes accord will bring stability in Balkans (ekathimerini.com)
• NATO footprint in Albania to grow with construction projects at former Soviet air base (Stars and Stripes)
Vucic: Relations with China at highest level in history (Tanjug, B92)
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic welcomed the new Chinese Ambassador to Serbia Chen Bo, expressing belief she would add with her work a special mark on the iron friendship between the two countries, Tanjug news agency reported. Vucic added he is proud that relations between Serbia and China are at the highest level in history and […]
Read More →New Transparency Report Gives Balkan Countries Poor Scores (Balkan Insight)
The watchdog organisation Transparency International’s latest annual report on perceived corruption around the world has given the Balkan countries low scores. Transparency International’s new report on perceived levels of public-sector corruption says Balkan countries are seen as highly corrupt and all of them have below-average ratings. Albania has the worst score of the Balkan states, […]
Read More →“Women’s Right” implements project “Women for equality and peace in north of Kosovo” (Radio kontakt plus)
Non-governmental organization “Women’s Right” started implementation of a project “Women for equality and peace in the north of Kosovo,” supported by UNMIK, Radio kontakt plus reports today. The project aims to help establish a multi-ethnic advocacy group in the four northern municipalities, that would prepare action plans for gender equality. As their first activity, the […]
Read More →Bugajski: You cannot simply change borders (Tanjug, B92, RFE)
Analyst Janusz Bugajski from Washington Center for European Policy Analysis does not exclude a possibility that Kosovo issue is resolved by changing the borders, Tanjug news agency reports. “Let’s see if both sides are serious, and the way I understood it, in line with such agreement, Serbia should recognize Kosovo as an independent state. Serbia […]
Read More →Hard life of internally displaced persons in Gracanica container settlement (RTK2, KoSSev)
For almost two decades, nineteen socially vulnerable and displaced persons’ families live in container settlement in Gracanica. According to the inhabitants, they are facing different issues daily, while frequent thefts are the most concerning problem, RTK2 reports. One more inhabitant joined the settlement recently, the youngest baby-boy Ilija, born a few days ago. “On Monday, […]
Read More →Haradinaj: If government falls, tax remains in force until summer (media)
Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj told reporters in Pristina today that even if the government falls and new parliamentary elections are announced, the 100-percent tariff on Serbian and Bosnian goods will remain in force until summer. “As far as the breakup of the ruling coalition and eventual new elections are concerned, the tax will remain […]
Read More →NISMA backs Haradinaj: We don’t yield pressure to lift tariff (Indeksonline)
The news website reports that Bilall Sherifi, head of the NISMA parliamentary group, reacted today to the growing pressure on the Kosovo government to lift the 100-percent tariff on Serbian and Bosnian goods. Sherifi said lifting the tax without addressing the reasons why it was introduced in the first place, would encourage Serbia to continue […]
Read More →Haradinaj writes to world’s prime ministers, explaining nature of dialogue (media)
Prime Minister of Kosovo Ramush Haradinaj has written a letter to all the world’s prime ministers saying that dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia is between two independent and sovereign countries and that the status of Kosovo has been sealed on February 2008. In a Facebook post, Haradinaj said the letter is intended to end Serbian […]
Read More →TI corruption perception index ranks Kosovo lower than last year (RFE/Koha)
Transparency International has released its latest public perception of corruption index with Kosovo scoring 37 points and dropping from 85th place last year to 93rd presently. The index covered a total of 180 countries and territories using a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 being highly corrupt and 100 very clean. According to Kosovo […]
Read More →Vulin and Chepurin on Kosovo and military cooperation (RTV)
Serbian Minister of Defense, Aleksandar Vulin met today Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Chepurin, Radio Television of Vojvodina reports. Vulin thanked Russian Federation for supporting Serbia’s territorial integrity and efforts to finding a compromise solution for Kosovo and Metohija, as well as consistent and firm support to Serbia in the UN Security Council, whenever the […]
Read More →Greek and Macedonian PMs nominated for Nobel Peace Prize (B92)
Nobel Peace Prize Winner for 2015, Wided Bouchamaoui has officially nominated Greek and Macedonian prime ministers for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. According to the Greek City Times, Alexis Tsipras and Zoran Zaev are in the running for his prestigious award thanks to the signing of the Prespa Agreement. The agreement, signed in June 2018, […]
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