The European Union (EU) and UNICEF have broadened an important regional partnership that aims to protect children from violence and better include children with disabilities into society. Since 2011, UNICEF and the EU have been working together with countries currently in the process of joining the EU, such as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Turkey. This partnership is now expanding to include Kosovo, Montenegro, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. As of this year, the European Disability Forum (EDF) has joined the partnership.

Prime Minister of Kosovo, Isa Mustafa, in his address at the border demarcation debate today, said that it has not been proven until now that Kosovo is giving land to Montenegro through the demarcation agreement. Mustafa said that after the border demarcation agreement was signed a year ago, he made a call to all those who claimed to have land that would be affected in the deal to come forward and present relevant ownership documents.  Mustafa also said that the Ahtisaari status package obliges Kosovo to draw the border along the same lines decided in 1974.

Members of Vetëvendosje taking part in the roundtable on border demarcation agreement with Montenegro walked out of the room when President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, took the floor. Donika Kadaj-Bujupi said the decision was taken because Vetëvendosje considers Thaçi’s place is in behind bars and not at the roundtable. “He sold Kosovo and this is deplorable under Kosovo’s penal code. He has no place in this roundtable,” said Kadaj-Bujupi of Thaçi.

Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi during the debate on border-demarcation with Montenegro today said that this debate will be a contribution to transparency in the process of border-demarcation with Montenegro. According to him, the issue of demarcation is nonexistent. “Since the beginning, the issue of demarcation was nonexistent. Kosovo has not lost even one centimeter of its territory,” Thaçi said. He further recalled the importance of marking the border as evidence of independence and sovereignty of Kosovo.

The British Ambassador to Kosovo, Ruairi O’Connell, said on Tuesday that the process of border demarcation between Kosovo and Montengro is a bilateral issue. “Kosovo is a sovereign country; you decide for yourselves. But I strongly believe that your decision should be taken according to the facts,” O’Connell said. He also praised the idea of the demarcation debate which is being held today in Pristina. “It is a good idea to hold a public discussion today, so that deputies and citizens can be informed about the detail, and reality, of the process.

Belgrade media reported that the dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade at the level of experts will resume in Brussels today.  The two-day talks are expected to focus on the agreement on the establishment of Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities and on other deals reached by the parties last year. Kosovo institutions have not yet released any detail of the meeting.

In the meeting of the Kosovo Assembly’s internal affairs and overseeing of the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) commission, Vetëvendosje MP Rexhep Selimi accused the government for failing to submit two very important pieces of legislation: that on transformation of the KSF into armed force and the one on early retirement for the Kosovo Police officers.  “We are ready to do more if the government had been willing to process the laws,” said Selimi.

The President of the Assembly of Kosovo and leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Kadri Veseli, traveled to Philadelphia, the United States of America. “With the invitation of the Democratic Party, President Veseli will be present at the Congress of the U.S. Democratic Party, where Mrs. Hillary Clinton will be officially nominated as candidate for the President of the United States,” informed a press release. During his several-day stay in the U.S., Veseli is expected to meet U.S. senior officials and other personalities from the world.

Two weeks prior to the inter-party debate, between the coalition-government and opposition regarding on the border demarcation agreement between Kosovo and Montenegro, the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), as leader of the government, has already started with preparations for this debate.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kosovo, Enver Hoxhaj, hosted today a meeting with the recently appointed head of the Office of the Council of Europe in Pristina, Isabelle Galluci. Hoxha valued highly the constructive approach of the Office of the CoE in Pristina on significant projects and its assistance offered to Kosovo.  “Kosovo is interested to develop relations and benefit from  the Council of Europe expertize in order to improve its governing and respect the human rights in Kosovo,” Hoxhaj said.