Germany "supports Serbia's European Union membership and there are no new conditions for the country on the path towards the EU."

However, it is expected to coordinate its foreign policy with EU positions, German Ambassador to Serbia Axel Dittmann said Thursday.

Serbia needs to declare itself in accordance with the foreign policy positions of the EU; a country that wants to join cannot have a neutral position.

Minister of State for Europe at the German Federal Foreign Office Michael Roth told this to Belgrade-based newspaper Vecernje Novosti.

Director of the Serbian Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Marko Đurić said this evening that "the persistent aggressive rhetoric", which often is veiled and sometimes not even that, or anti-Serb, by individuals in Pristina, creates negative social climate in which is difficult to achieve normalization of relations between Serbs and Albanians.

 The government of Kosovo has conditioned establishment of the Association/Community of Serb-majority Municipalities with removal of the barricade over the Mitrovica bridge and Serbia’s unblocking of international telephone code for Kosovo. Furthermore, Faton Abdullahu, adviser to the Prime Minister of Kosovo, said that with the current stance, Serbia is risking continuance of the dialogue. According to him, normalization of the relations between Kosovo and Serbia strengthens Kosovo’s towards European integration.

EU Office in Kosovo/EUSR and Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) organized a one-day fair for recipients of their grants today in Pristina. The fair will showcase the innovations and products of the enterprises that were awarded grants through the joint EU-MTI programme "Support to Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises in Kosovo".

The Office of Kosovo Prime Minister announced it has submitted to European Union the regular report on the dialogue with Serbia. In it, the government of Kosovo says that the dialogue contributes to peace and stability in the region, good neighbourly relations and regional cooperation, as well as to the advancement Euro-Atlantic integration of Kosovo. With regards to implementation of Brussels agreements, the government of Kosovo claims the reporting period has not marked any substantial progress.

The European Western Balkans portal carries the peace below, which was originally published on the Ifri  (French Institute for International Relations) web page.

German’s policy towards the Western Balkans is marked by continuous commitment that put different emphasis in different phases: reconstruction, stabilisation, consolidation of rule of law and market economy as well as member-state building.

President of the Serbian List Slavko Simić met with outgoing Head of the EU Office in Kosovo SamueI Žbogar. The talks focused on support of the EU office to the Serbian community, when it comes to economic and infrastructure development, as well as the activities of MPs of the Serbian List, the current draft of the Law on the Census of the population in the north of Kosovo and the process of dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.

Even though the Kosovo institutions have done all that was necessary for the creation of Special War Crimes Court, its start is still pending because Council of the EU still did not adopt the budget of the court, and ratification of the agreement is still pending with the Netherlands.

Both papers carry the following editorial by Timothy Less, director of the Nova Europa political risk consultancy, published initially in NewStatesman.