Ambassadors of all 28 EU member states, including Spain, approved a draft declaration that should be accepted at the summit EU - Western Balkans in Sofia, Tanjug learns in Brussels.
"The draft of the Declaration was approved by the ambassador of Spain to the EU, and it is up to the member states to accept it," Bulgaria's Permanent Representative to the EU Genoveva Cervenakova told Tanjug.
Chairperson of the Assembly Committee for Kosovo and Metohija, Milovan Drecun told TV N1, Serbs in Kosovo did not give up on ZSO, but decided to wait since Pristina made a political manoeuvre.
Management Team for ZSO Statute Pristina is establishing is not in accordance with Brussels agreement, Drecun said, therefore the ZSO Statute would be in contradiction to that agreement as well.
European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said on Monday the European Union would not accept new members who have open issues with neighbours, TV N1 reported.
Hahn told the European Parliament’s Foreign Policy Committee progress in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue is important and added that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is doing a brave job in the dialogue on normalization of Serbia-Kosovo relations.
Arne Sannes Bjørnstad, the Norwegian Ambassador to Belgrade, said that calling Presevo and Bujanovac “the eastern Kosovo” was the same as calling Kosovo Serbia, adding such statements were not helpful, TV N1 reported.
He commented on the Kosovo PM Ramush Haradinaj’s remark about the two southern regions in Serbia with predominantly ethnic Albanian population describing them as a part of Kosovo.
Serbian Academy of Science and Arts (SANU) Vice Director and Director of Byzantine Institute, Academic and Historian Ljubomir Maksimovic told RTS the Academy published the Collection of texts as a response to President Vucic’s call to take part in internal dialogue on Kosovo.
Maksimovic also refuted allegations SANU is not sufficiently involved in social and political life of the country saying that “SANU is not a political organization.”
Serbia would easier resolve the Kosovo issue, than to truly reform and harmonize itself with European liberal values, a journalist and foreign policy commentator, Bosko Jaksic told FoNet news agency, adding that Vojislav Seselj is one of Serbia’s EU “progress measure”.
Jaksic pointed out to “a paradox situation” in which the EU over the last months after “selfish insistence on Kosovo,” “thanks to Russians” increased its interest for other spheres as well.
Despite numerous statements and messages that Srpska Lista would independently initiate the establishment of the Association/Community of Serb-Majority Municipalities on April 20th, it has however decided to wait, KIM Radio reports today.
This is not first time that Srpska Lista announces and then pulls back from independent establishment of the ZSO. Although ZSO has been agreed in Brussels five years ago, it still remains “a dead letter on paper,” KIM Radio further said.
The entire region is at a crossroad and it is expected certain open issues to be closed. For Serbia it is the normalization of relations with Pristina, Centre for Foreign Policy Director, Aleksandra Joksimovic told RTS.
According to Joksimovic often visits of the EU High Representative Federica Mogherini to Serbia and other countries in the region speak about EU enlargement focus and attempt to give to the Western Balkans clear European perspective.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic spoke on Thursday afternoon in Belgrade with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, who on a tour of the region.
Vucic told a joint press conference that he talked with Mogherini about EU accession negotiations chapters, both those where Serbia has made progress, and those where the European Commission says no progress had been made.
The president said he and his guest "did not agree on everything."
Kosovo MP from Srpska Lista, Igor Simic told RTS that all Serb political representatives would meet today in Zvecan with Management Team for drafting the ZSO Statute.
Simic said he shares opinion of the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic that Pristina would not make steps necessary to establish the ZSO in the next three and a half months, adding it has been proven so far there is no sincere will in Pristina to establish the ZSO as it was agreed in Brussels.