The French Ambassador to Serbia Christine Moro said that Chapter 35 does not have anything that was not included in the Brussels agreement, and that they want Belgrade and Pristina to normalise relations.
Moro said that it would be good now to open Chapter 35 as it would prove that the dialogue has produced results and that Serbia was making progress in the accession talks.
Bishop of Ras and Prizren Teodosije said that claims of Kosovo Deputy Foreign Minister, Petrit Selimi, given in an interview to Danas, are unacceptable. Selimi said that "the question of Serbian Orthodox heritage will not be discussed in Brussels, since it was already discussed in Vienna, within the Ahtisaari plan."
Serbian Justice Minister Nikola Selakovic said that he is convinced that amendment on particular positions related to the negotiation chapter 35, which became public, are subject to the correction. "We heard one side, but didn’t hear the other. Germany and United Kingdom are serious countries, as well our neighbour Croatia, and I think that it is realistic to withdraw the amendment. There is such a possibility, given the seriousness and responsibility of Serbia," said Selakovic.
Leader of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPO) Heinz-Christian Strache said that UN Security Council Resolution 1244 would be violated if Kosovo joins UNESCO.
Europe should show whether it wants Serbia in the European family, what values it promotes if it makes possible the so-called state of Kosovo, which unfortunately was in charge of protecting Serbian monasteries and churches, but in fact watched them in flame, to join UNESCO, Strache said.
Kosovo’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Petrit Selimi, is visiting Thailand where he met senior state officials, including Deputy Foreign Minister, Virasadaki Futrakul. The latter hailed Kosovo’s progress in the last couple of years and said that Thailand would vote in favor of Kosovo’s accession bid to the UNESCO. The UNESCO General Assembly is expected to vote on Kosovo’s accession in early November.
The countries that have not recognized Kosovo are facing major pressures so as to agree to the admission of Kosovo into UNESCO, Serbia's Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said on Tuesday.
On the other hand, several big countries have already voiced their principled opposition to the non-principled stands of the leading western countries that are co-sponsoring Kosovo's UNESCO membership request, Dacic said in a live broadcast on Radio-Television of Serbia (RTS).
President of the Serbian List Aleksandar Jablanovic, who does not recognize the decision on his removal, yesterday could not say whether the representatives of this List would prevent the eventual ratification of the Kosovo membership in UNESCO, in the Assembly of Kosovo.
The UNESCO Executive Board has included today in its agenda the proposal to recommend Kosovo’s membership at this organization.
Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hashim Thaci, hailed through a posting on Facebook, inclusion of Kosovo’s membership in the agenda of the UNESCO Executive Council.
“ A few minutes ago, the Executive Board of the UNESCO approved in Paris the final agenda, where the point of Kosovo’s membership, sponsored by 47 states, was included. It is a small procedural victory but it is important because now we can focus on voting next week,” Thaci wrote.
UNESCO spokesperson George Papagiannis told Tanjug that the UNESCO Executive Council decided today to add on the agenda a draft recommendation for Kosovo's admission.
Asked whether the Executive Council has adopted the agenda and whether it included the Kosovo's request, he said that the agenda was adopted, and added that the issue would be discussed at the meeting of the UNESCO Executive Council on October 21.