The European Union countries consider a non-paper regarding the bloc's enlargement to include the Western Balkans as still a credible option, with 13 member states supporting the idea, Radio Free Europe (RFE) reported on Thursday.
RFE had insight into the document which, among other things, said that EU should confirm its explicit dedication to the Western Balkans integration and that there was no "a plan B" for the region.
Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said yesterday that the dialogue with Pristina was on resuscitation and that the continuation depends on the "reanimator", that was, those who should inhale a life into it, reported Belgrade based daily Blic.
At a news conference after meeting with Miroslav Lajcak, Dacic said that Pristina had the goal of obstructing dialogue and find a solution, as it assessed that it was not in their interest and the way, they drawn it.
In the meeting with Zahir Tanin, the UN Mission in Kosovo chief, Aleksandar Vucic, Serbia’s President, accused Pristina of making irrational and unilateral moves and of constantly provoking, showing that its leaders were making the dialogue with Belgrade impossible, the Beta news agency carried a statement from President's office on Tuesday.
The statement said Vucic also condemned the Kosovo police special unit attack on UN personnel, describing it as “an attempt to compromise the UN Mission in Kosovo.”
President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic told the Serbian state broadcaster on Monday that the next week’s UN Security Council session on Kosovo would be less important than a meeting in Paris with the same issue on the agenda in July “if it happens,” the FoNet news agency reported.
Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak told Serbia’s heads of state and government that his country, as chair of the OSCE, is carefully monitoring the situation in Kosovo and will continue providing assistance and support to Serbia on its path to the European Union.
A Kosovo Serb who has spent several months in jail has been charged with war crimes committed in 1999 in the town of Pec, the KoSSev news portal reported on Tuesday.
The Special Prosecution indicted Zoran Djokic of Pec for war crimes against the civilian population in March and April of 1999, a prosecution press release said.
Vyacheslav Volodin, the Speaker of the Russian Duma, lower house of the Federal Assembly, said in Belgrade on Monday that the “intrusion” of Kosovo’s special forces into the north aimed at frightening the Serbs, establishing control there by force, adding the Serbs could count on Russian help in future, N1 reported.
Volodin said that the UN Security Council Resolution 1244 (on Kosovo after the 1989-1999 war there) should be respected.
The leader of a Roma political party has called Serbia’s top officials to include the interests of the Roma national minority in the negotiations on Kosovo.
Roma Party leader Srdjan Sajn released an open letter prior to Monday’s parliament debate on Kosovo to President Aleksandar Vucic, Prime Minister Ana Brnabic and the heads of all parliament groups recalling that more than 100,000 Roma fled Kosovo.
Former Foreign Affairs Minister and leader of opposition People’s Party Vuk Jeremic said that Belgrade’s platform in talks with Pristina must be grounded on the UN’s Resolution 1244 and the Constitution of Serbia.
The Serbian government’s Office for Kosovo submitted its report on the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue under European Union auspices to parliament on Thursday.
The 80-page report covers the 2013-2019 period and will be debated at the parliament session on Kosovo on Monday, May 27. It was made available to all MPs and the public.