• COVID-19: 47 new cases, two deaths (media)
• Borrell: Kosovo – Serbia dialogue to resume before end of June (media)
• “Debate on Western Balkans result of serious difficulties in region” (EWB)
• German Foreign Minister: If not careful, we will lose Western Balkans (media)
• “Shadows of nationalism hindering cooperation in Balkans” (media)
• Opening Pandora’s Box: The EU’s dangerous Bosnia game (euractiv.com)
• Dialogue, key issue to advance toward EU (Koha Ditore)
• Kurti government aims Kosovo to have candidate status by 2025 (Koha Ditore)
• Balkan migrant-smuggling business ‘worth €50m a year’: Report (BIRN)
• China increases its influence in Balkans through universities in Serbia (RFE)

COVID-19: 47 new cases, two deaths (media)

Kosovo has recorded in the last 24 hours 47 new cases of COVID-19 and two deaths. At the same time, 202 recoveries have been confirmed over the same time period. There are 6,854 active cases of coronavirus in Kosovo.

Media reported on Monday that over 62,000 doses of the Covid vaccine, manufactured by AstraZeneca, are expected to arrive in Kosovo on Wednesday as part of the WHO-led COVAX initiative. The news was announced on the UNICEF website which stated that 62,400 doses will be reaching Kosovo on 12 May.

The Ministry of Health however confirmed that the batch expected to arrive Wednesday will include 38,400 doses which, together with the first batch of 24,000, make a total of 62,400.

Koha meanwhile quotes sources saying that around 5,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, part of the EU assistance, are also expected to arrive in Kosovo later in the day.

Borrell: Kosovo – Serbia dialogue to resume before end of June (media)

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said on Monday that the new meeting between Kosovo and Serbia will be held before the end of June. He said the new government in Kosovo has asked for more time to get familiar with the rounds of the dialogue. “We cannot go on vacation without dialogue resuming. We agreed to have a new meeting before the end of June. I hope that by then they will have all the necessary information and that they will come to Brussels prepared,” Borrell said.

“Debate on Western Balkans result of serious difficulties in region” (EWB)

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell published a personal blog ahead of the EU Foreign Ministers’ meeting, stressing that the debate on the Western Balkans would be the result of serious difficulties currently facing the region.

He stressed that Western Balkan countries were currently facing the COVID-19 pandemic, the relations between Belgrade and Pristina, the lack of progress in the accession negotiations of Albania and North Macedonia and current problems in Montenegro.

Ahead of the meeting, Borell emphasized that the most important debate would be the one dedicated to the Western Balkans, Radio Free Europe reported.

“We meant to have an overview of the overall situation in the region and see how we can get more involved there. With this debate, we want to emphasize the importance of the Western Balkans for the EU”, Borell told adding that the EU wants to strengthen the European perspective for Western Balkans.

German Foreign Minister: If not careful, we will lose Western Balkans (media)

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas called on the European Union on Monday to keep its commitment to the countries of the Western Balkans. “If we are not careful, we will lose the WesternBalkans. That is exactly why we need to keep our commitments to the countries in the region. We need to explain our support on the ground, for example to overcome the COVID19-pandemic and its economic consequences,” Maas said.

“Shadows of nationalism hindering cooperation in Balkans” (media)

European Parliament Rapporteur for Kosovo, Viola von Cramon, said on Monday ahead of the meeting on Balkans of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, that shadows of nationalism are hindering cooperation in the Balkans. “Today EU Foreign Affairs Council discusses Western Balkans. Shadows of nationalism are still hindering cooperation; we cannot move forward without #reconciliation, justice and mutual respect. We sent a letter to Chancellor Merkel together with colleagues from EP and Bundestag to make sure Berlin process also includes reconciliation and aims at real progress,” she tweeted.

Opening Pandora’s Box: The EU’s dangerous Bosnia game (euractiv.com)

“EU leaders should reject any new talk of ethnic division and secession in the western Balkans and finally make good on their promises to the region’s nations,” write Tineke Strik and Viola von Cramon-Taubadel, members of the European Parliament, in an op-ed.

EU accession and the preceding process are intended to serve as a reliable path towards stability, democracy and prosperity, bringing peace and reconciliation to the Western Balkan countries after its tragic recent history in the 1990s. But in particular in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the past few months have been characterized by attempts to deepen ethnic division and exclusion.

Dangerously, the realistic prospects of joining the EU for the Western Balkans had already been seriously undermined for years, caused by a lack of strategy and disagreement among EU leaders in Council that led towards broken promises, a loss of the EU’s credibility and status as a reliable partner in the region and a huge political vacuum.

This vacuum offers an ideal playground for foreign actors such as Russia, which openly tries to prevent the Euro-Atlantic integration of all countries in the region and leaves an unstable territory open for manipulation and interference at the heart of Europe. And, it encourages those actors who had already pushed for new borders for their ethno-nationalistic concepts through waging wars. They now try their chance again to meet their war aims.

These were mainly the reasons for ethnical cleansing and genocide that occurred in the republics of former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

Read full piece here: https://bit.ly/2Rclaj9

Dialogue, key issue to advance toward EU (Koha Ditore)

The daily reports in its leading story that the dialogue with Serbia is being considered a key issue for Kosovo’s advancement toward integration into the European Union, which was also confirmed by a recent non-paper prepared by the European External Action Service (EEAS). Political commentators in Prishtina meanwhile argue that Kosovo must use the momentum to reach an agreement with Serbia and also to pressure the EU on the issue of visa liberalisation and membership in this mechanism.

Kurti government aims Kosovo to have candidate status by 2025 (Koha Ditore)

The Kurti-led government in its program adopted last week notes that it aims for Kosovo to get the candidate status for membership in the European Union, the paper reports on page three. However, commentators in Prishtina argue that this can be achieved only if by that time the five non-recognising countries recognise Kosovo’s statehood. Government officials meanwhile did not say when they plan to submit the request for a candidate status to the European Union.

Balkan migrant-smuggling business ‘worth €50m a year’: Report (BIRN)

The money to be made by ‘fixers’, ‘gatekeepers’ and ‘package dealers’ smuggling migrants across borders in the Western Balkans are detailed in a new report from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.

The migrant-smuggling business in Western Balkan countries is worth at least 50 million euros a year, the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime NGO said in a report published on Monday.

The report assesses the money being made by smugglers in the three key smuggling zones in the Western Balkans – the borders between Greece’s borders with North Macedonia and Albania; the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the EU in Croatia, and Serbia’s borders with Hungary and Romania.

However, it says that the amount being made could be even higher, as some migrants travel to the EU by other means, such as from Albania to Italy by boat.

According to the report, the first major smuggling zone is where most migrants and asylum-seekers enter the Western Balkans – from Greece, either around Gevgelija in North Macedonia or near Kakavia and Kapshtica in Albania.

“In total, in 2020 the migrant-smuggling business at the main entry points to the Western Balkans at the borders between Greece and neighbouring North Macedonia and Albania can be estimated to be in the range of €19.5 to €29 million,” the report says.

The second major smuggling zone is in Bosnia and Herzegovina, “particularly around the city of Bihac in Una-Sana canton”, it continues.

“Our estimate is that the market in this region was worth around €7 million to €10.5 million in 2020, the vast majority of which was generated in Una-Sana canton,” it says.

The main hotspots for migrant-smuggling in the third zone at the Serbian border are “Horgos, the area around Subotica, Sombor, tunnels in the Kelebija area and across the Tisza River for those people moving east towards Romania and then back into Hungary”.

“The estimated value of the market in this area ranges from €8.5 million to €10.5 million in 2020,” the report says.

Read full article here: https://bit.ly/33LB3jn

China increases its influence in Balkans through universities in Serbia (RFE)

With the project for the Chinese university in Hungary, which is sparking controversy due to a lack of transparency and concerns about academic freedom, Beijing's influence in higher education in Serbia continues to grow.

A strategic agreement signed in April between Hungary and the prestigious Shanghai University, Fudan University, became international news and sparked discontent in Hungary.

The decision to build the Budapest campus in 2024, using 1.5 billion loans from a Chinese bank, highlighted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's close relationship with China and raised concerns about the long-term impact a project could have. such in the higher education system.

But in Serbia - where China has close relations with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and in the last two decades the two countries have deepened relations - growing co-operation with Chinese schools and universities continues unhindered.

Currently, three Serbian universities - the University of Belgrade, the University of Novi Sad and the University of Nis - have signed co-operation agreements with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, paving the way for deepening educational and cultural ties between Serbia and China.

The agreements, which were signed in 2018, also include clauses in order for co-operation to increase over time. It includes student and staff exchange, as well as scholarships as well as financial support for Chinese language classes.

In addition to agreements with public universities, Serbia also hosts the Confucius Institute in Belgrade and Novi Sad. These state-run entities, which offer language and culture programs abroad, have been accused by critics of being used by Beijing to spread propaganda, hide behind teaching and interfere with free speech on university campuses.

Vucic has cemented relations with Beijing, co-operating in the fields of infrastructure, tourism and technology projects that have brought more than $ 10 billion in foreign direct investment to Serbia since 2005.