The vice-president of the Movement of Socialists (coalition partner of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party), Bratislav Jugović, who was presented as potential Serbian presidential candidate by the Russian web portal Sputnik, argues that negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina should shift to Moscow and explained that Russia is unavoidable geopolitical factor without which not a single problem can be settled.
Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Chepurin says it is "increasingly clear" the EU is lacks the strength to secure the implementation of Kosovo dialogue agreements.
"The European Union, with the consent of Belgrade, assumed the role of a mediator in resolving the conflict. But today it is increasingly clear that it lacks the strength to ensure the implementation of even the first (Brussels) agreement," the diplomat told TV Most from Zvecan, a town in northern Kosovo.
Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Marko Đurić calls on the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Isa Mustafa, not to invent new conditions for the formation of the Community/Association of Serb Municipalities and stresses that he expects from the EU to put pressure on Pristina to implement the signed agreements.
Serbian general public already speculates a lot about the EU condition referring to dropping the preamble from the Serbian Constitution, which defines Kosovo and Metohija as a part of Serbia. This has been assessed as unacceptable by legal and political experts.
The paper’s opinion writer, Enver Robelli, recalls the European Summit held in Porto Carras, Greece in 2003, with the countries of the Western Balkans. He quotes the statement made from the Summit that “The EU stresses that it supports without any reservation the European orientation of the Western Balkans countries. The Future of the Balkans states is in the European Union.” He also mentions the appeals made at that time for reforms, arrests of the suspects for war crimes, and return of refugees.
The Western Balkan region will face a certain delay in the EU accession process post-Brexit because a number of institutions that would have dealt with it will now have to deal with other matters, Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) Secretary General Goran Svilanović said Wednesday.
The paper runs an editorial by Anders Åslund is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, and the author, most recently, of Ukraine: What Went Wrong and How to Fix It.
The United Kingdom’s Brexit vote is arguably the greatest disaster ever to hit the European Union. Now, the EU must act fast – not least by ending the post-referendum market turmoil – if it is to survive.