Pristina will have to lift the import tariffs on goods from Serbia and Bosnia, and Belgrade will have to take some steps towards a compromise to resume the dialogue on the normalisation of relations, the US outgoing ambassador to Serbia Kayle Scott told N1 TV morning show on Tuesday.
Serbian opposition leader Dragan Djilas told reporters on Thursday that his Party of Freedom and Justice has a plan for Kosovo which does not include President Aleksandar Vucic and his partners in Pristina.
The Fatherland (Otazbina) People’s Movement of Kosovo Serbs says that it would boycott, as they say, “false elections” announced the beginning of 2020 and called the Kosovo Serbs and displaced persons not to turn out to vote.
The movement is a member of the Serbian opposition Alliance for Serbia (SzS).
The leader of the Party of Freedom and Justice (SSP) Dragan Djilas told Belgrade based daily Danas that Serbia’s opposition serves “as ikebana” to the international community which, according to him, supports President Aleksandar Vucic who is expected to recognise the independence of Kosovo.
He said the people would “win the fight for their freedom themselves as many times in history and when we win, we’ll know we don't owe anything to anyone.”
Boris Tadic, Serbia’s former President, said on Thursday he favoured the election boycott for now, but added that all aspects of the decision should be taken in account, the FoNet agency reported.
Tadic, who was former head of state, from 2004 to 2012, and now is the leader of the opposition Social-Democratic Party (SDS), said the mobilisation for the boycott demanded “higher level of organisation (within the opposition) than during election campaigns.”
Atlantic Council official Damon Wilson told Voice of America that the delivery of Russian armored vehicles to Serbia is harmful and irresponsible.
A country that is on its way to the European Union should not accept weapons from Moscow, the Atlantic Council Executive Vice President said, adding that the supply of Russian arms to Serbia is an attempt to obstruct the normalization of the situation in the region.
The Open Society Foundation and Belgrade University Political Sciences Faculty (FPN) said on Wednesday that they would continue organizing meetings between representatives of the Serbian authorities and opposition to discuss elections, TV N1 reports.
A press release said the next meetings would focus on the financing of election campaigns, access to the media, electoral rolls and election administration and securing the right to vote to all eligible citizens.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic claims that he will "step down" prior to opposition comes to a chance to get closer, underlying that something like this is hard to happen in a decade, B92 reports
When asked whether he will step down prior to opposition getting closer to him and when something like this will happen, Serbian President responded: "This would mean that I could pursue political career for another ten years, without them getting closer, but I do not intend to do that, it will happen much sooner".
Leader of the opposition People's Party Vuk Jeremic said, while visiting the village Pasjane on Saturday that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic must not be allowed to make a "demarcation" deal which would be equal to recognizing Kosovo as an independent state, reported Kontakt plus radio.
According to the party's press release, Jeremic made the statement while meeting with the residents of the village of Pasjane, Gnjilane region.
Belgrade based daily Danas reports that US diplomat Matthew Palmer called the Serbian opposition to participate in the next parliamentary elections, quoting unnamed diplomatic sources.
Danas reports that Palmer told the opposition leaders that Washington does not agree with a possible boycott of elections because that would violate democratic principles.