The leader of the Civic Initiative ‘Serbia, Democracy, Justice’ (SDP) Oliver Ivanović stated that waiting on Pristina to accept the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities (A/CSM) is useless and that Serbs should make the first step and create bodies of the A/CSM.
Kosovo’s Minister without portfolio, engaged in the dialogue with Serbia, Edita Tahiri, said today that progress has been reached in many significant fields of the processes for establishment and consolidation of Kosovo institutions in the north. She said that preparations are being made for round up this process.
"Hardd work on Serbia's EU integration path continued" in the wake of Monday's opening of Chapters 23 and 24 in the country's accession talks.
Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and EU foreign policy and security chief Federica Mogherini made this conclusion on Tuesday, as they met in Brussels.
Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija says, in an interview with Dnevnik, daily based in Novi Sad, that the goal of the Brussels-based dialogue is a new climate in the region.
This indicates that the Albanian side will no longer be able to push certain issues under the rug such as property.
The Basic Court, Office of the Public Prosecutor, more than 23 ministries and agencies that did not operate in the north of Kosovo will soon become functional, said Minister without portfolio in the Kosovo government in charge for the dialogue with Belgrade, Edita Tahiri, reported Kosova pres daily.
The paper remarks that it is final time for the Kosovo political leadership to review the format of talks with Serbia because the current process is not doing the people of Kosovo any favours. If the Kosovo leaders had any moral integrity, writes the paper, they would change the entire negotiating team and restore the dignity to their country. The paper does not argue against negotiations with Serbia recognising that dialogue is the only way to resolve problems but it claims that the negotiations only resulted in concessions from the Kosovo side.
Director of the Serbian Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Marko Đurić said this evening that "the persistent aggressive rhetoric", which often is veiled and sometimes not even that, or anti-Serb, by individuals in Pristina, creates negative social climate in which is difficult to achieve normalization of relations between Serbs and Albanians.
The government of Kosovo has conditioned establishment of the Association/Community of Serb-majority Municipalities with removal of the barricade over the Mitrovica bridge and Serbia’s unblocking of international telephone code for Kosovo. Furthermore, Faton Abdullahu, adviser to the Prime Minister of Kosovo, said that with the current stance, Serbia is risking continuance of the dialogue. According to him, normalization of the relations between Kosovo and Serbia strengthens Kosovo’s towards European integration.
By Alex Young in Pristina
It was hailed as one of the shining achievements of EU diplomacy and soft power – a supposed reconciliation between two formerly warring parties. Baroness Ashton, then the EU’s high representative for foreign policy, was hailed for her negotiating prowess. Ivica Dacic (a former spokesman of Serbia’s dictator Slobodan Milosevic) and Hashim Thaci (former political leader of the opposing Kosovo Liberation Army) were even mentioned for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Office of Kosovo Prime Minister announced it has submitted to European Union the regular report on the dialogue with Serbia. In it, the government of Kosovo says that the dialogue contributes to peace and stability in the region, good neighbourly relations and regional cooperation, as well as to the advancement Euro-Atlantic integration of Kosovo. With regards to implementation of Brussels agreements, the government of Kosovo claims the reporting period has not marked any substantial progress.