“It was a splendid PR move” this is how Tina Prelec, associate of the London School of Economics described messages sent from the European forum held over the weekend in Alpbach, Austria, where she also took part along with Kosovo and Serbian presidents Hashim Thaci and Aleksandar Vucic, Radio Free Europe reports.

In an interview for Radio Free Europe, Prelec said Serbian and Kosovo sides used this gathering to present an idea on change of borders at the highest level.

Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic confirmed in an official press release that he met with Kosovo president Hashim Thaci on Friday in Vienna.

The Serbian List announces that the delegation would have talks with the Serbian Diaspora and the Director of the Austrian Development Agency and discuss about possibilities of investment in the Serb majority areas in Kosovo, reports Belgrade based daily Vecernje Novosti.

A political storm in Vienna caused by the Austrian vice-chancellor's statement that Kosovo is a part of Serbia is not dying down, Tanjug is reporting.

Speaking ahead of Wednesday's session of his cabinet, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Austria was "a friend that supports the Western Balkans and is trying to contribute to the normalization of Belgrade-Pristina relations."

European Commission spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic today did not want to comment the statement by Austrian Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strahe regarding the status of Kosovo, stressing that the issue of recognition concerns only the member states, reports TV Most.

Kosovo is without a doubt a part of Serbia, says Austrian Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache.

In an interview for Belgrade-based daily Politika ahead of his visit to Serbia, Strache said it would be desirable if northern Kosovo had the right to "self-determination or autonomy" - and that it would be wrong to pressure Belgrade to recognize Kosovo.

"I think that recognition of Kosovo a matter for Serbia alone. To pressure on the country because of that would be wrong," he said.

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz has called on the EU "to bring the Balkans into its orbit."

In an interview for Germany's Handelsblatt, quoted by Tanjug, Kurz "warned of the growing influence of Turkey and Saudi Arabia."

"In Sarajevo and Pristina, for example, women are paid to wear the full veil in public. We cannot look on and do nothing," the Austrian minister said.

Austrian Defense Minister Hans Peter Doskozil warned on the expansion of influence from Turkey and Saudi Arabia in the states of the Western Balkans.

The EU influence in the states of the Western Balkans is declining, and at the same time Turkey and Saudi Arabia extend their influences in Albania, Kosovo and Serbia, stated Doskozil to the German based newspaper Welt.

He assessed it about hidden Islamization.

Kosovo’s Foreign Minister, Enver Hoxhaj, met today Austria’s Ambassador to Kosovo, Gernot Pfandler. Hoxhaj and Pfandler discussed the cooperation between Kosovo and Austria, with particular focus in the action plan 2017 where concrete joint activities were defined. “The focus of this plan is to intensify economic cooperation, Austria’s support for Kosovo in the path of Euro-Atlantic integration and support for Kosovo's membership in international organizations,” notes a press release issued by Foreign Ministry.

The former EU special envoy for Kosovo, Wolfgang Petritsch, who was also the chief negotiator for EU talks on Kosovo in Rambouillet and Paris in 1999, says that the image of Pristina in tear gas smoke creates the idea that there is no political stability in Kosovo.