During its chairmanship of the OSCE in 2015, Serbia's experience and position can be very important in resolving the Ukrainian crisis, says Sebastian Kurz.

 The Austrian foreign minister told Tanjug that Serbia under Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic had been contributing to resolving old conflicts in the Balkans for a while.

In 2015, Serbian officials will travel to Pristina and meet with representatives of the Kosovo provisional institutions, but Belgrade officials claim that these will not be bilateral meetings.

Despite the fact that the newly elected Kosovo Foreign Minister, Hashim Thaci, said that he had already invited both Serbia’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister to visit Kosovo, and that there is willingness for this to happen, a necessary condition would be for the meetings to adopt a status-neutral format.

Fourteen women representing parliaments, academia, civil society and media from Belgrade and Pristina gathered for the first time in Belgrade on 15 and 16 December 2014 as part of the so-called “Budva Process” aimed at enabling these women to engage in a direct dialogue.  Citing a press release issued by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Indeksonline writes that the participants discussed the role of women in politics and the issue of economic empowerment.

Interview: Michael Kirby, US Ambassador to Serbia

How do you comment on the various statements of Serbian officials related to the connection between EU accession talks and Kosovo? President Nikolic says that we cannot join the EU until we recognize Kosovo, while Foreign Minister Dacic and Prime Minister Vucic insist that such a requirement (to choose between Kosovo and the EU) no one had set.

Group of Community Affairs (GCA) held its last meeting this year. The meeting was chaired by the Director of the Office of Community Affairs, Srdjan Popovic.

As stated in the press release, other than members of the GCA, the meeting was attended by representatives of the embassies of the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland and Croatia, as well as representatives of the Council of Europe, the Office of the EU Special Representative in Kosovo, UNMIK, OSCE and the Community Consultative Council.

PRISTINA - As many as 15 years after the Kosovo conflict, there are still no lasting solutions for the return or integration of around 220,000 people displaced outside Kosovo and the 17,000 internally displaced living in Kosovo, shows the latest report of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

According to the report, the number of returnees is declining every year, although Kosovo's ministry for communities and return has undertaken significant measures to help the displaced population.

The OSCE Mission in Kosovo is hosting a two-day conference in Pristina, on youth empowerment and participation in public life, Radio Kosova reports. Representatives of civil society and central and local level institutions from Kosovo and  Balkan region, as well as international partners, will discuss ways to best engage young people in decision - and policy-making, within the existing legal frameworks, as well as through volunteerism and social media.

SKOPJE - A very small number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) returned to the southern Serbian province in the past 15 years, Director of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Marko Djuric warned during the two-day regional conference in Skopje.

During the conflicts in Kosovo, around 230,000 people were displaced, while 23,000 more Serbs, Roma and other non-Albanians were internally displaced in the province itself. Several thousand IDPs returned to the province until now.

The return of displaced persons to Kosovo as a main theme was discussed at the first regional conference in Skopje, organized by the International Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). A large number of senior officials from Belgrade, Pristina, Podgorica and Skopje attended the conference.

Press release of the Ministry for Return announced that the OSCE representatives, who organized the meeting, have said that the aim of the conference is finding lasting solutions for the sensitive issues of return.

The campaign, on the occasion of 16 Days of Activism against Violence Against Women aims to support the efforts of the Victim Advocacy and Protection Office, to prevent domestic violence and motivate the public to report any case to the Victim Advocates helpline: 0800 11 11 2.