Pristina position exclusively depends on Belgrade, Serbia’s Vucic says (FoNet, Beta, N1)
Aleksandar Vucic, Serbia’s President, said in Berlin on Tuesday Kosovo could not consolidate itself as a state without Serbia, the Belgrade-based news agency reported. He said Serbia had been internationally recognised country and a UN member state, so it did not need Kosovo’s recognition. “You (Kosovo) cannot become anything without Serbia… Their position entirely depends […]
Read More →Belgrade Media Report 30 April
LOCAL PRESS
• Vucic in Berlin: Media campaign, arguing with Albanians (Tanjug)
• Vucic after the meeting with Mogherini: Serbia is ready – but it’s not up to us (Tanjug)
• Macron: Serbian-Kosovo relationship is summit priority, but no solution to be tabled (Beta)
• Merkel: Resolving Serbia-Kosovo issues progressing worse than before (Beta)
• Proposed Berlin summit statement does not mention redrawing of borders, lifting taxes (Beta)
• Vucic: No Progress, no failure; new talks in Paris in July (RTS, Tanjug)
REGIONAL PRESS
Bosnia & Herzegovina
• Mogherini holds separate meetings with B&H CoM Chairman Zvizdic, Serbian President Vucic (BN TV)
• Izetbegovic: We know how to negotiate with Dodik (BN TV)
Croatia
• Croatian Prime Minister attends summit on Western Balkans in Berlin (HRT)
Montenegro
• Djukanovic: An important moment for Serbia-Kosovo relations (CDM)
Republic of North Macedonia
• Zaev holds meetings with Merkel and Macron in Berlin (Nezavisen vesnik, Republika)
Albania
• Berlin Summit, PM Rama Received by Chancellor Merkel (AND)
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SOURCES
• Push for deal between Kosovo and Serbia puts national divisions on display (New York Times)
• Bosnian-Serb Politician Dodik on UK’s ‘Malign’ Influence in Balkans (Sputnik)
Djukanovic: An important moment for Serbia-Kosovo relations (RTK2, Tanjug, CdM)
A Balkan summit in Berlin contributed to settling the ongoing conflict between Belgrade and Prishtina and this was the perfect moment for resolving the complicated relations between the two countries, said the President of Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic, following the Western Balkans Summit. It was agreed that the dialogue would continue to be backed by the […]
Read More →Prime Minister of Croatia Plenkovic: Belgrade and Pristina positions are quite distant (RTK2, Hina)
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic says that key messages from the Berlin meeting yesterday focused on an attempt to unblock the stalemate in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, reports RTK2 quoting Croatian news agency Hina. He added that the views of Belgrade and Pristina are quite distant “There were a few ideas, however, at this point, no […]
Read More →Elections in Kosovo north: Ballot order to be decided on Tuesday (Vecernje Novosti)
Ballot order of candidates for mayors of four municipalities in the north of Kosovo will be determined on Tuesday, followed by the creation of a voter’s list and campaign that will last from May 13 to 17. Stevan Veselinovic, a Serbian member of the Central Election Commission, confirmed to Belgrade based daily Vecernje Novosti and […]
Read More →Berlin summit – pompous, and hollow (N1)
Journalist and sociologist Zoran Panovic told N1, referring to yesterday’s Brussels summit, that it turned out pompous, and hollow – with a lot of phrases. Obviously, the pressure was there, Panovic said. Panovic estimates that there is a paradox concerning the relations between Serbia and Germany – personal, Vucic’s and other links are best with […]
Read More →Serbian FM Dacic: Berlin Summit isn’t format for Belgrade – Pristina talks (RTS, Beta, N1)
Ivica Dacic, Serbia’s Foreign Minister, said on Tuesday the mini-summit of the Western Balkans’ leaders held in Berlin was not an adequate format for the Belgrade – Pristina dialogue on normalisation of relations, the Beta news agency reported. He told Serbia’s state RTS television the Berlin meeting had been chosen as a “preparation” for the […]
Read More →German MPs continue to strongly oppose border correction idea (Express)
The Pristina-based news website reports that members of the German Bundestag, same as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, continue to strongly oppose the idea of correcting the border between Kosovo and Serbia. Following the Berlin Summit on Monday, CDU’s Michael Brand was very critical of EU High Representative Federica Mogherini’s support of the border correction idea. […]
Read More →Mustafa: Thaci’s and Haradinaj’s statements for internal consumption vanished immediately (Koha)
“Despite the spectacular expectations, the Berlin meeting gave normal results for such a content. It sent messages that Europe needs a Western Balkans which does not generate conflicts and crisis but peace. It did not offer patterns and it did not exclude them. Both German Chancellor Merkel and French President Macron, reiterated their well-known positions […]
Read More →Macron explained why France is opposing visa liberalization for Kosovo (media)
Most news websites in Kosovo are covering a report by Deutsche Welle on the Berlin Summit, highlighting France’s position against visa liberalization for Kosovo. Citing unnamed sources, the German news agency reported that French President Macron argued that France had a bad experience following visa liberalization for Albania and Georgia, which resulted in an increased […]
Read More →Knaus: Macron against ethnic change of borders (Koha)
Gerald Knaus, the founding chairman of the European Stability Initiative (ESI), a think tank with offices in Berlin, Brussels, and Vienna working on South East Europe and the Caucasus, European enlargement and the future of EU foreign policy, took to Twitter to write about the position of French President Emanuel Macron during the Berlin Summit. […]
Read More →Merkel and Macron “must first mediate in Pristina” (The New York Times, B92, Blic)
The New York Times writes that German Chancellor Merkel and French President Macron should first mediate between Thaci and Haradinaj. The daily says that Merkel and Macron are to have “any hope of easing tensions between Kosovo and Serbia, and breaking a deadlock in talks on the normalization of relations” – then “analysts say they […]
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