BELGRADE - Head of the opposition Democratic Party (DS) group in the Serbian parliament Borislav Stefanovic said that a new political community should be formed in Western Balkans, organized as a loose confederation with a minimum of common bodies, which would enhance the EU accession prospects for countries in the region.
A group of ethnic Albanians attacked Pavic Gojkovic, a 61-year-old Serb, on Wednesday in Pec/Peja, northwestern Kosovo, and members of the Kosovo police saved him from being lynched.
Gojkovic told Tanjug that a group of Albanians attacked him after he walked out of a lawyer's office onto the street, together with his mother and a close friend who drove them to Pec/Peja.
Minister for Communities and Return in the Kosovo government, Aleksandar Jablanovic, says that more than 2000 displaced from Kosovo wish to return and that strategy for return should be significantly amended.
Jabalnovic said to Radio Kosovo program in Serbian language that current strategy should undergo changes in order to enable sustainable return and that returnees could return to settlements with developed institutions.
Unknown boys, for whom Serbs suppose are of Albanian nationality, have entered the Holy Virgin Mary Church in Orahovac/Rahovec and rang the church bells. Monks from Zočište Monastery have also reported that their property has been jeopardized.
BRUSSELS - The Council of the European Union commended on Tuesday the progress Serbia made in internal reforms and in the normalization of Belgrade-Pristina relations, noting, however, that there is still work to be done.
“The Council welcomes the progress made by Serbia in the past year, including in public administration reform, judicial reform and the fight against corruption and organized crime,” reads the document adopted on Tuesday at the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
GRACANICA – The Association/Community of Serb municipalities (ZSO) cannot survive without property and it is therefore necessary to revise privatization in Kosovo, Ljubomir Maric, Minister of Administration and Local Government in the new Kosovo government, has said.
“Privatization is the most important issue for the Serb community, because it cannot develop if it cannot use its property,” Maric told Tanjug.
BELGRADE - The constitution of the community of Serb municipalities (ZSO) is a priority, Director of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija (KiM) Marko Djuric said in the talks with Ambassador of Britain Denis Keefe on Thursday and added that other priorities are embodied in ensuring the conditions for sustainable return of Serbs, protection of property, economic development and better living standards in the province.
BELGRADE - The Olympic Committee of Serbia (OKS) on Thursday condemned in the strongest terms the decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to grant full membership to the unilaterally declared Republic of Kosovo, thus setting a precedent as this is not a member of the United Nations.
MOSCOW -- Russia considers Kosovo to be a part of Serbia, the Russia Federation's Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich said in Moscow on Thursday.
He was commenting on the decision earlier this week of the International Olympic Committee to allow Kosovo to join as a member.
Serbia earlier "condemned the decision in the harshest terms."
BELGRADE - Germany will give its consent for the opening of Chapter 35 only after the obligations deriving from the Brussels agreement are fulfilled and after Serbia clearly demonstrates its willingness to continue the dialogue with Pristina, the German Embassy in Belgrade released on Thursday.
The Serbian government has been well-aware of these expectations for a good while now, states the Embassy's release filed to Tanjug.