Serbian authorities said Saturday their delegation has prevented Kosovo representatives from taking part in an international climate conference in Tirana.
The Serbian representatives insisted on the removal of Kosovo symbols from the conference, citing the UN Resolution 1244, which defines Kosovo as a United Nations territory and therefore it can only use the UN logo, not the Kosovo flag.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Ivica Dacic told Belgrade based daily Vecernje Novosti that the bearers of the former US administration for 20 years prevent the achievement of a compromise and mutually acceptable solution for Kosovo, quote Serbian media.
More than 170,000 people left Kosovo between 2013 and 2017, the Internal Affairs Ministry in Pristina said in its latest report, adding that the figure includes both legal and illegal immigrants, Radio Free Europe reported.
The ministry report said that most people from Kosovo move to EU member states but added that a percentage go to the United States and Canada.
Valdrin Lluka, Kosovo’s Minister of Economic Development, told N1 on Thursday he expected a final solution in Belgrade - Pristina dialogue on normalisation of relations to be reached this year and accused Serbia of not implementing deals agreed in Brussels.
Speaking at the sidelines of the “Challenges and perspectives of normalisation between Belgrade and Pristina” conference in Belgrade, Lluka said that Serbia’s refusal to implement the energy deal from 2013 caused 25 million Euros loss per year for Kosovo.
Serbia is considering possible arbitration because of Pristina violation of the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA), Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said on Thursday.
“At this moment, that is the only way to protect Serbia’s interests and have everyone who signed the agreement face the consequences in line with the contract they signed,” she told reporters at the 2nd Digital Summit in Belgrade.
The Facebook social platform said on Tuesday it deleted more accounts from Iran, Russia, North Macedonia and Kosovo because of “coordinated non-authentic behaviour,” the Bosnian Srna news agency reported.
It added that a total of 2,632 accounts were erased from the operations linked to those countries from Facebook and Instagram accounts.
Earlier this month, Facebook for the first time removed hundreds of fake accounts from Great Britain and Romania.
The US ambassador to Serbia Kyle Scott told reporters on Tuesday the situation regarding the European Union-mediated Belgrade – Pristina dialogue on normalisation of relations was extremely complicated, but that there was no benefit from the two sides blaming each other, the Beta news agency reported.
The ambassador said it was necessary for both sides to sit down and normalise the dialogue.
“The US and the EU are steering both sides in that direction,” Scoot said.
President of the Serbian List, Goran Rakic says that the biggest support to the Kosovo Serbs was “a clear message” of the President of Serbia President Aleksandar Vucic who said he would not allow the expulsion of Serbs (from Kosovo).
Goran Rakic told the Belgrade based daily Politika that with help from Serbia, Kosovo would not experience a humanitarian catastrophe.
We remember March 24 as the day when diplomacy failed and we sincerely regret the civilian casualties during the 1999 events, said the Joint Statement of Condolence of representatives of embassies of Canada, France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States of America State.
“We share the pain with all those who lost their loved ones in the wars from the 90s,” the embassies wrote on 20th anniversary of the NATO bombing of former Yugoslavia.
Kosovo has the highest unemployment rate in the Western Balkans, the World Bank and Vienna Institute for Internal Economic Studies said in a report published on Tuesday.
The report said that the overall unemployment rate in the region dropped from 16.2 to 15.3 percent. The unemployment rates range from 12 percent in Albania and Serbia to 29 percent in Kosovo.