United Nations Office in Belgrade

Daily Media Highlights

Tuesday 23 March 2021

LOCAL PRESS

Petkovic: Kurti undermining Belgrade-Pristina dialogue (Tanjug/Novosti/RTV)
Stefanovic: Serbia deeply worried over participation of so-called Kosovo in military exercise (RTS)
Vulin: Belgrade will work on preventing Kosovo from joining Interpol (Beta/FoNet)
Borrell: Debate on Western Balkans at next meeting of EU FMs (Beta)

REGIONAL PRESS

Bosnia & Herzegovina

RS, Croat officials react to Izetbegovic’s statement on need to arrange B&H as civic state (RTRS)
Field describes benefits of cooperation with NATO (Oslobodjenje)
Croatia

Minister says EU must help Bosnia and Herzegovina become politically stable (HRT)
Establishing of Commission for Cooperation with NATO will intensify dialogue between B&H and Alliance (Vecernji list)
Croatian FM says non-paper on B&H was ‘well accepted’ among EU ministers (Hina)
Montenegro

DF putting huge pressure on Krivokapic (CdM)
Stoltenberg: NATO data must be protected, we’ll check all members, especially new ones (CdM)
Albania

Rama discloses some of the topics discussed with Macron (Radio Tirana)
Ruci congratulates his new counterpart from Kosovo Konjufca (Radio Tirana)
Varhelyi: Accession of Albania and North Macedonia to EU as soon as possible (Radio Tirana)

LOCAL PRESS

Opposition to EP: Serbia’s regime undermines inter-party dialogue (N1)
Schieb: Normalization of relations with Pristina would significantly draw Serbia closer to EU membership (Blic)
Palmer: Euro-skepticism in Serbia understandable, road to EU tough (FoNet/N1)

REGIONAL PRESS

Bosnia & Herzegovina

Russian Embassy’s statement on NATO cooperation with B&H sparks reactions (Nova BH)
Dodik: Everyone in B&H must decide on NATO membership (Srna)
Lungescu on Russian Embassy’s statement on NATO path of B&H: Every state has sovereign right to choose its own security arrangement (Nova BH)
US Embassy to B&H reacts to statement by Russian Embassy to B&H: NATO’s relationship with B&H is centered on reforms (AJB)
Nelson surprised and pretty disturbed with statement of Russian Embassy (O kanal)
Changes to Law on Elections of B&H again in the spotlight; German government: Third entity is not option (FTV)
Izetbegovic: Unitary B&H has never been suffocating identity of ethnic groups in this county; HDZ B&H and SDA have not been able to bring our positions closer (N1)
Trial in case ‘Novalic et al.’ continues, prosecution witness Salcin: UNDP’s assistance in purchase of respirators rejected by FB&H Civil Protection Administration (FTV)
Montenegro

Krivokapic: Vuksic falsely accused, prosecutor’s office must react (CdM)
Konjevic: Scandal – Vuksic revealed secret data of NATO member (CdM)
Boskovic: Security sector humiliated, national security endangered, Vuksic should resign (CdM)
Markovic: Government harms intelligence service and state reputation (CdM)
Venice Commission issues adverse opinion on prosecutorial laws (Pobjeda)
Knezevic: DF not giving up on prosecutorial laws; Mandic: Great parliamentary and government crisis (CdM)
Picula: Meeting benchmarks of Chapters 23 and 24 a condition for progress towards EU (Gradski radio)
Republic of North Macedonia

Zaev reelected as SDSM leader (Republika)
Hundred Macedonian journalists to get vaccinated in Serbia organized by MAN (Republika)
Albania

Elections, criminal groups entering the stage (Tirana Times)
Basha: With our help, Kosovo will be in NATO and EU (ADN)
Rama: Vucic's map of Kosovo is made of spiderweb (Radio Tirana)
Dozens of doctors, nurses of Kosovo get Covid-19 vaccine in Albania (ADN)

United Nations Office in Belgrade

Daily Media Highlights

Friday 19 March 2021

LOCAL PRESS

We are looking for a compromise with Kosovo Albanians, I am not sure they are ready for that (RTS)
Vucic thanks Nigeria for its respect of international law by upholding Serbia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty (RTS)
US Embassy concerned over attacks on civil society organizations (N1)

REGIONAL PRESS

Bosnia & Herzegovina

B&H Presidency members and Serbian FM Selakovic emphasize need to establish better coordination of B&H and Serbia when it comes to issue of migrants (Nova BH)
SDA, HDZ B&H and SNSD hold meeting to discuss B&H’s path to EU (O kanal)
Sattler and Radoncic discuss constitutional/electoral reform (Dnevni avaz)
Conference on transformation potential of Euro-Atlantic process of B&H takes place in Neum (BHT1)
DF argues Croatian officials cannot be ones to decide on defining of Law on Elections of B&H (Oslobodjenje)
Russian Embassy to B&H: If B&H and NATO start becoming closer we will react to this hostile move (RTRS)
Session of PIC SB was postponed because there is no consensus on appointment of new High Representative (Glas Srpske)
Komsic meets Kalabughov who reiterates that OHR needs to be closed (Glas Srpske)
Croatia

Croatia will continue to support Bosnia and Herzegovina (Hina)
Population census delayed until autumn (Hina)
Montenegro

Krivokapic: Issue of founding party in these circumstances logical, I share only same state with DPS (Dan)
Abazovic meets with Sinkevicius and Lajcak: Government will work hard on reforms (RTCG)
Abazovic meets with NATO Quint Ambassadors in Brussels (RTCG)
Republic of North Macedonia

Siljanovska: VMRO-DPMNE calls for an expert government with real experts that will bring knowledge (TV Alfa)
Albanian members of the Macedonian government are exclusively advancing Albanian national interests (Republika)
Ahmeti announces that a deal with Bulgaria is “not far” (Republika)

LOCAL PRESS

Petkovic attends memorial service for victims of March pogrom (Politika)
Vucic meets with Fabrizi (Tanjug)
Fabrizi to Vucic: Secure ambience for media freedom (FoNet/N1)
Non-paper, the EU has new rules for Serbia (Tanjug/B92)
Joksimovic: Serbia ready for resuming EU integration process (RTS)
Bilcik: Serbia has to turn words into deeds (FoNet)
US Ambassador pleased with talks with Serbian MPs (Beta)
Mihajlovic: Serbia committed to achieving goals of sustainable development (Tanjug)
Krivokapic wants better relations with Serbia (N1)

REGIONAL PRESS

Bosnia & Herzegovina

Selakovic meets Turkovic: Serbia and B&H have problems from the past, but the economy can connect us (BHT1)
Selakovic, Turkovic criticize COVAX mechanism during Selakovic’s visit to B&H (Nova BH)
Selakovic and Tegeltija discuss regional cooperation (ATV)
Cvijanovic and Selakovic discuss improvement of cooperation between RS and Serbia (ATV)
Vaccination of employees of B&H CC and their families in Serbia causes reactions (N1)
B&H’s Commission for Cooperation with NATO: B&H could adopt 2021 Program of Reforms by mid-April (BN TV)
Inter-Agency Working Group for amendments to B&H Election Law formed (FTV)
B&H CoM fails again to appoint supervisory body for implementation of National Strategy for War Crimes Processing; EU Delegation wars that all institutions must implement Strategy (Glas Srpske)
Croatia

Covic: We are looking for solutions for stabilization of relations in B&H (Vecernji list)
Montenegro

Three coalitions reach agreement on swift government formation in Niksic (RTCG)
Krivokapic: DPS result in Niksic an inflated balloon (Pobjeda.me/H1 TV)
USA: Political leaders should support Montenegro in which everyone feels safe (CdM/VoA)
Abazovic: Montenegro's government not pro-Russian (RTCG)
Abazovic begs EU for understanding (Pobjeda.me)
Abazovic meets Varhelyi: Montenegro committed to strong reforms in rule of law (RTCG)
Abazovic meets with Picula and Castaldo: We are determined to follow the EU path (RTCG)
Stoltenberg: 50% of Montenegrin citizens support staying in NATO (CdM)
Albania

Palmer: US expects high standards for 4/25 Elections (Tirana Times/VoA)

United Nations Office in Belgrade

Daily Media Highlights

Wednesday 17 March 2021

LOCAL PRESS

Vucic: There can be no reason for liquidation of entire nation (Tanjug/RTV)
March pogrom engraved in people’s lives (RTS)
Seventeen years since the pogrom in Kosovo and Metohija – obvious planned ethnic cleansing (RTS)
Seventeen years ago 28 people were killed, 4,000 expelled from homes in Kosovo (Beta)

REGIONAL PRESS

Bosnia & Herzegovina

B&H CC enables all its employees to get vaccinated against coronavirus in Serbia; Reactions (N1)
Three agreements signed during visit of B&H Presidency members to Ankara; Turkey to donate 30,000 COVID-19 vaccines to B&H; Dodik comments RS parliament conclusions for Turkish media (ATV)
Dodik: Despite fact that Turkey is bit more inclined towards Bosniak political elites, in official talks, it wants to show that it is for cooperation in whole of B&H (RTRS)
Sattler, Nelson, Kavalec meet B&H MPs and discuss electoral reform (Dnevni avaz)
HDZ B&H, SDA delegations meet in Mostar, agree it is necessary to create positive atmosphere in FB&H (Dnevni list)
Mehmedagic pays official visit to NATO HQ in Brussels, confirms continuity of cooperation between OSA and NATO (Oslobodjenje)
Croatia

Parliament Committee endorses bill on Civilian War Victims (Hina)
Montenegro

Djukanovic: Now is the time to define pro-European platform more clearly (CdM)
Radulovic: Our mission is EU membership, credible alliance in NATO and improvement of regional cooperation (CdM)
Abazovic at NATO headquarters: Support for Alliance has never been greater (CdM)
Albania

New poll: Opposition ahead of Socialist Party (Tirana Times/Gazeta Express/TV 7)