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Pressure grows: EU also to raise Russian Center issue (Vecernje Novosti, B92)

The EU, too, intends to press Serbia over the Serbian-Russian Humanitarian Center (RSHC), Vecernje Novosti daily reported today. The Belgrade newspaper adds that the shutting down of the center, located in southern Serbia, could be made a condition for chapter 31 in Serbia's EU accession negotiations. According to the report, "Brussels could ask Serbia, as a condition to open chapter 31, that the center and its staff not be granted diplomatic status, while the possibility that the EU

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Balkans "not EU's backyard, it's our 4th priority" (B92, Beta)

The Balkans is "one of four priorities" of EU's foreign policy, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has said, Beta reported.

According to the EEAS website, Mogherini, speaking at the opening of the EU Ambassadors conference in Brussels, said that the Balkans was the organization's fourth priority.

"Still looking at our immediate neighborhood, but this is the file on which, as you know very well, we have more to lose and more to gain," she said.

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Serb-Albanian ties "better than ever" - says Serbian PM (Albanian Daily News)

"I think that the relations between Serbia and Albania are doing better than any time. This is a very positive sign. Certainly, it is really, first and foremost, thanks to Prime Minister Edi Rama and President Aleksandar Vucic," the Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabic, has said.

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Mogherini to meet Thaci and Vucic this week (Lajmi.net)

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy will be meeting the President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci and that of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, by the end of this week. “This week, I will meet again with President Vucic and President Thaci in order to move forward with the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina,” Mogherini said while addressing the EU ambassadors in Brussels. The meeting is expected to be held on 31 August.

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Ivanović: The deal with Pristina possible only when we enter the EU (N1, Kontakt plus radio)

Leader of the CI SDP Oliver Ivanović assesses for the regional TV N1 the internal dialogue on Kosovo as the most important issue for the Serbs.

Ivanović reminds that in 2006 he proposed the Cypriot model for Kosovo, not as a model of status, but as a model for resolving the conflict.

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The highway Merdare-Niš is strategically important for Kosovo (N1, KoSSev)

A key initiative in the region is infrastructure connectivity.

Pristina authorities have already begun preparations for building a 22 km long highway from Pristina to Merdare, which should be continued from Merdare to Niš. Pristina says that the road is of strategic importance because it links Pristina to the European highway network.

The project for the construction of the Pristina-Niš highway was officially made at the last Summit for the Western Balkans held this year in Trieste.

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"Terrorists can reach Europe from Balkans within hours" (B92)

A former chief of the Czech Army has warned that the EU is not paying attention to the Western Balkans - and is thus allow "terrorists to rest in the region." "We are dealing with an entirely different part of Europe, that is, Western and Central Europe, and we have stopped paying attention to the Balkans since the 1990s war, especially security-wise," Jiri Sedivy has told the Czech media, according to Beta agency. "The problem of the Balkans is that it creates a safe environment where terrorist cells can be established, they can prepare there, they can have their logistical centers and a ba

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EU Calls for Calm after Macedonia, Serbia Diplomatic Incident (Balkan Insight)

The EU has expressed hopes that Belgrade and Skopje will “deal with the issue calmly” after Serbia withdrew all diplomatic staff from the country. An EU Commission spokesperson told BIRN that the diplomatic incident in Skopje “is a bilateral issue between the two countries, which the EU is closely following” in a statement Tuesday. “We look to both sides to exercise restraint and deal with the issue calmly, in the spirit of good neighbourly relations,” the EU Commission said. The European Parliament’s Rapporteur for Serbia, David McAllister, issued same statement ahead of an impending visit

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"Bring W. Balkans into EU to keep Turkey and Russia at bay" (B92)

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz has called on the EU "to bring the Balkans into its orbit."

In an interview for Germany's Handelsblatt, quoted by Tanjug, Kurz "warned of the growing influence of Turkey and Saudi Arabia."

"In Sarajevo and Pristina, for example, women are paid to wear the full veil in public. We cannot look on and do nothing," the Austrian minister said.

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Djuric: Internal dialogue on Kosovo important for protecting Serbs and Serbian holy shrines (Blic)

“Internal dialogue could significantly strengthen the negotiation position of Serbia and is important for the future generations too, therefore it is needed to achieve the widest social cohesion and jointly respond to the challenges we face,” stated to Blic, Director of the Serbian Government Office for Kosovo, Marko Djuric.

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