European Union High Representative Federica Mogherini unveiled a mural by Bosnian artist Rikardo Druskic which he dedicated to the peoples of the Western Balkans, BETA news agency reported. The EU along with the Balkan Trafik Festival and the City of Brussels supported Druskic's work.

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic spoke on Thursday in Belgrade at the opening of the Second Digital Summit of the Western Balkans.

Brnabic said that her government has set digitization and education as their absolute priorities in order to take advantage of all the chances that are being offered to us today.

Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon says the US is worried about "Russia's meddling in the Euro-Atlantic aspirations of the Western Balkans."

"Russia seeks to derail Euro-Atlantic perspective of the countries such as North Macedonia and Montenegro through the aggressive approach and deterrence," Pahon told Podgorica-based daily Pobjeda. He added that the US "see North Macedonia and Montenegro are willing to choose freedom and success and everything that the West can offer."

"The most recent addition to the regional power game is China; and the EU suspects that it may exploit its economic heft for political gains." This is stated in a report published ahead of this year's Munich Security Conference, dubbed, "The Great Puzzle: Who will pick up the pieces?" The segment of the report dedicated to this region is entitled, "Western Balkans: With friends like these...," and it states that EU leaders "recognize the strategic importance of this missing piece in the 'jigsaw of Europe'." "However, the lack of political and economic progress in the region as well as enlarg

Russia has tried to meddle and influence whether Balkan countries join NATO, the organization's Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, has told Euronews. He was speaking on the day the newly-named Republic of North Macedonia signed a pact that will pave the way for the country to join NATO, Euronews said in its report, cited by Tanjug on Thursday. "Russia tries to meddle, Russia tries to interfere in political processes in sovereign nations. And I think that's wrong.

Donald Trump's administration does not have much time for the Balkans.

A research carried out by the National Democratic Institute from Washington has found that most Serbian citizens have positive opinion about Russia and China, while the most negative opinion is about US and NATO, Vecernje Novosti reported. The research “Western Balkans between East and West” was carried out in Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and focused on stances of the citizens and media reporting on foreign states and organizations. Around 60 percent of respondents had positive opinion about Russia, while 11 percent had a negative stance.

The integration of the Western Balkans into Europe means fundamental not territorial changes, Regional Cooperation Council Secretary General Majlinda Bregu said on Tuesday, BETA news agency reports. “The European Union is the most important force in the region in the promotion of democracy, rule of law and respect for human and minority rights.

The European Parliament’s Committee for Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) has adopted a resolution on women’s rights in the Western Balkans, proposed by Croatian MEP Biljana Borzan, the EU’s Rapporteur for Women’s Rights.

See at: https://bit.ly/2CMLUeI

EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn said "the relationship between Serbia and Kosovo has improved." He added that there have been events in the past few weeks that would in the past would have lead to "both sides reaching for their weapons." "Today, the presidents reach for the phone and call each other," the EU official has been quoted as saying. According to him, these are some positive moves when observed over a longer period of time. "Of course, in the meantime, on the one side and on the other, there have been steps backwards, but we should not allow this to discourage us.