Although Ivica Dacic recently announced that Greek PM Alexis Tsipras will visit Serbia in the fall, two Belgrade based newspapers say this will not happen

Thus the daily Blic writes that the package of conditions that Greece must fulfill to receive financial assistance from the West includes recognizing Kosovo.

Greece is one of five EU countries that do not recognize the unilateral declaration of independence made by ethnic Albanians in 2008.

President of Kosovo, Atifete Jahjaga, was officially invited to take part in the Women’s World Summit that begins today in Sao Paolo, Brazil but Jahjaga canceled her participation after refusing conditions set by Brazilian authorities for granting her a visa. Jahjaga said the visa requirements were unacceptable. “President Jahjaga represents the state of Kosovo in any visit abroad, regardless of whether it is a summit, a conference, a multirateral or a bilateral meeting,” said Jahjaga’s advisor, Arber Vllahiu.

Kosovo’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Petrit Selimi, said that the recent decision of the Vatican to recognize Palestine cannot be compared to recognition of Kosovo. “The Kosovo diplomacy does not act by comparing our situation in any way to that of Palestine,” said Selimi. Several weeks ago, Foreign Minister Hashim Thaci paid an official visit to Vatican but there has been no movement of the Holy See towards recognition of Kosovo.

Bosniak Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bakir Izetbegovic, said that the presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is making efforts to reassess relations with Kosovo and considering steps to facilitate movement of B&H citizens to Kosovo and vice versa. Izetbegovic said that if it was up to him, he would recognise Kosovo tomorrow but this can only be done through a consensus between the tripartite presidency made of Bosniak, Serb, and Croat entities. “We are continuously working on this and we expect a more flexible and understanding position from the Kosovo side.

Asked to comment the release of website Koha.net, Spokesperson of EU High Representative Maja Kocijancic said: “The EU's position is very clear. The dialogue which EU is facilitating between Belgrade and Pristina is about normalisation of relations. The issue of recognition is for the member states. This was clearly explained to the media by the High Representative during her visit to Pristina and Belgrade.”

The Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, stated that his country would not recognize the independence of Kosovo. Fico met with his Serbian counterpart, Aleksandar Vucic in Bratislava. He stressed that he is following the developments on the relations between Belgrade and Pristina and that there is reason for his country to change its position. “We are not ready to recognize Kosovo and we will not do it,” said Fico. The Prime Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic made a similar statement.

Israel can be a chilly place for the politician of a fledgling nation who seeks statehood recognition.

So it was that Enver Hoxhaj of Kosovo was greeted with handshakes in Israel this week, but held no official governmental meetings and flew home after his three days without the one thing he dreamed of – a public pledge of formal diplomatic ties with Jerusalem.

The Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, visited today Romania, where he met with his counterpart, Victor Ponta. During the joint press conference Rama appealed to Romania to recognize Kosovo and become part of the process followed by Euro-Atlantic countries. “And the last, but not by importance, my reiterated request: my wish for Romania to finally recognize Kosovo and give Kosovo the chance to move forward in the process of the recognitions, including the process of those democratic countries  that have already recognized Kosovo.

The Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, told BIRN that Palestine would not recognise Kosovo as an independent state. “We have good relations [with Kosovo] but we don’t interfere in conflicts between countries. We distance ourselves and we stay away from all the conflicts, because we don’t want to be here or there,” he said. The President said he was happy to offer Kosovo his “moral support” but no more. “They are friends, they are our people. But, because we have our problems, we hope that they will find a solution for themselves, without our interference,” Abbas said.

The deputy leader of Austira’s Freedom Party, Johan Gudenus, stated that the wave of the emigrants from Kosovo that western Europe is facing is a proof that Kosovo’s independence and its recognition was a mistake. He added that the United States, as supporters of independence, should take over the responsibility. Gudenus stressed that despite the fact that Kosovo is not a war zone any more, thousands of people are at Austria’s borders. He said that the reason why so many people are leaving a state, which is claimed to be functional, should be considered.