Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic, commenting on Kosovo's withdrawal from the Brussels Dialogue, says that Pristina did not act independently, but with the tacit consent of Western partners.
"Where does this lead to? To not treat the dialogue seriously and to not form the Community of Serb Municipalities. Then it should be said," Stefanovic told in a press conference in the Palace of Serbia.
EU High Representative Federica Mogherini personally reports to the EU member states on the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue at the meetings of the Council of Ministers of the Union, and her team on information about the course of the dialogue gives to the representatives of EU member states and within the various working groups of the EU Council, said Mogherini's spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic.
Spain, one of the five European Union member states that have not recognised Kosovo independence, asked to take part in the EU mediated dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina aiming at normalization of relations between the two capitals, reports today Belgrade based daily Blic.
Madrid was not alone in requesting the participation, and some other states, namely the members of the so-called Visegrad Group, consisting of Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, joined in, a daily reported on Wednesday.
A possible meeting between Kosovo’s and Serbia’s presidents under the European Union’s auspices by June 25 could help Belgrade open new chapters in its accession talks with Brussels, a daily reported on Friday.
Serbia’s Minister for European Integration, Jadranka Joksimovic, told Danas daily she would present the country’s activities thus far regarding the chapters 23 and 24 related to the rule of law, next week.
Serbia’s Interior Ministry (MUP) said on Tuesday they had banned rallies that the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) planned during the “Mirëdita, dobar dan” festival, but the radicals said they would hold it, reports regional broadcaster N1.
Vojislav Seselj’s party scheduled the gatherings for May 30 and 31 and June 1, in central Belgrade, to protest the festival that has been held since 2014, with an aim to get Pristina and Belgrade closer to each other by getting to know their respective cultures better.
The editor-in-chief of the Novi Magazin, Nadezda Gace, assesses that engaging lobbyists is always an important activity, but that Ivica Dacic's statement that they should be engaged in representing Serbia's interests in resolving the Kosovo problem comes late and that it comes from the wrong man, reports regional broadcaster N1.
Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said that Serbia should hire a lobbyist to defend the interests of Serbia in resolving the Kosovo problem.
A Kosovo Serb, wanted by Belgrade and the Interpol was appointed a judge at the Constitutional Court in Pristina, the independent production Insajder has reported.
Radomir Laban, convicted of taking a bribe and sentenced to six years in jail by a Belgrade court disappeared from the grid before he was due to go to prison in 2013.
He was put on the Internet fugitive list upon the request by Serbia’s Justice Ministry in 2014.
Serbia and the Western Balkans have a clear European perspective and France will continue its support to the regional European path, Franch official has said on Tuesday.
Jean Bizet, a member of the Senat of France, also said that it was necessary for Belgrade and Pristina to continue the dialogue and, with the EU stronger support, to find a solution acceptable to both sides.
“I’m obsessed with Kosovo,” Serbian President Aleksnadar Vucic told the Financial Times adding that everything he has done to date depends on a solution to the Kosovo problem.
“Without resolving that problem everything I have achieved so far won’t be sustainable. The first crisis will kill us,” he said.
The forthcoming European Union Summit on Western Balkans in Sofia will be an incentive to linkage and enlargement, but the potential candidate countries still face a number of obstacles, a conference in Belgrade has been told on Monday.
The issue of enlargement was back on the EU’s agenda thanks to the Bulgarian presidency over the block, the country’s envoy to Belgrade Radko Vlajkov told the “EU Summit – Western Balkans: Where is the enlargement there?” conference.