In the framework of the EU funded "Free Movement of Goods in Kosovo" project, the EU Office/EUSR marked World Consumer Rights Day today by organizing a round table to discuss "Consumer rights in practice". The project's objective is, among others, to reinforce the protection of Kosovo consumers. The main discussion was about the admission and handling of complaints as well as the cooperation of the relevant institutions on consumer protection.

We are currently witnessing the growth of right-wing populism and development of nationalist tendencies all over the EU, in which countries instead of united appear as distant from each other, says in an interview for Danas Hedvig Morvai, Executive Director of the European Fund for the Balkans, answering to the question whether the Western Balkans and the EU are able to cope with challenges relating to migrant crisis.

The former EU special envoy for Kosovo, Wolfgang Petritsch, who was also the chief negotiator for EU talks on Kosovo in Rambouillet and Paris in 1999, says that the image of Pristina in tear gas smoke creates the idea that there is no political stability in Kosovo.

Kosovo’s Minister for European Integration, Bekim Collaku, said today in Pristina that the non-enlargement of the European Union in the Western Balkans could lead to increased influence of Russia and ISIS in the region. During a round-table on EU enlargement, Collaku said he was aware of the latest crisis faced by the EU such as the refugee crisis and the growth of right-wing parties, “but crises in the past did not stop the enlargement of the Union”.

The EU will continue to offer assistance aimed at creation of the court chambers and Office of the Special Prosecutor, including necessary funds, so that the special court for crimes committed by the Kosovo Liberation Army can start its work this year, Tanjug learned in Brussels.

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Isa Mustafa, is participating in the Investment Summit, sponsored by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), in London.

This year's Summit is set to focus on the investment potential and business opportunities in the Western Balkan states. The development of new road corridors as well as renewable energy initiatives are also on the agenda.

The paper’s Brussels-based columnist Augustin Palokaj writes in an opinion piece that Bosnia-Herzegovina’s application for membership in the EU means that Kosovo is now the only isolated country in the region. According to Palokaj, Kosovo will remain isolated for a long time because chances of being recognized by all EU member states at present are not realistic.

The Director of Radio Belgrade Milivoje Mihajlovic told RTS that Kosovo is further from independence than it was eight years ago, when independence was unilaterally declared. According to Mihajlovic, the authorities in Pristina have spent their time diverting attention away from the economic situation by building animosity towards the Serbs, adding that at 50 percent, Kosovo has the highest unemployment rate in Europe, almost non-existent exports, with around 150,000 people having fled Kosovo.

Internally displaced Serbs, beneficiaries of the free legal aid projects, have been left without lawyers’ representation in front of Kosovo courts. The paper was contacted by several families with complicated cases in front of the courts in Kosovo towns and informed that there is no one to represent them at hearings in February and March. The irony is that funds for the free legal aid were approved long time ago by the European Union, but the money is still not used due to various procedures.

Minister for Communities and Return in the Kosovo government, Dalibor Jevtić, met today with the head of the EU Office and the EU Special Representative in Kosovo, Samuel Žbogar, and discussed return and security in Kosovo.