The German Ambassador to Kosovo, Angleika Viets, said on Thursday that Kosovo people who are migrating abroad will not receive asylum in Germany, because according to her,  economic situation is not a reason to get asylum. Viets said that Germany will refuse asylum applications, even though the number of applicants has increased.  Viets also added that Serbia and any other country that claims to enter the European Union has to normalize their neighborly relations.

The government of Kosovo sent an official note to the European Union on Monday about Serbia’s continuous illegal interventions in Kosovo and the violation of the Brussels Agreement with the decision to extend parallel structures in the municipality of Shterpce/Strpce. Kosovo’s Minister without portfolio, Edita Tahiri, sent a letter to EU official Fernando Gentilini, calling on the EU to take all measures to prevent Serbia from interfering through its parallel structures in Kosovo.

Disagreements persist about whether the Association of Serb-majority Municipalities in Kosovo should be a non-governmental organization aiming to facilitate cooperation between Serb-majority municipalities in specific areas, or whether it should be a political body with decision-making powers.

One individual was arrested yesterday by Kosovo Police (KP) in the northern border crossing point, Bernjak. RTK reports that the individual, of Serbian nationality from Kosovo, is suspected of smuggling of migrants.

RTK writes that according to sources within KP,  the suspect had in his car two Albanian men who were allegedly to be smuggled towards European countries. The suspect is taken into custody under the prosecutor’s order.

In a sign of growing tension between him and the government, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic on Sunday declared that any major decisions made on Kosovo must go to a referendum.

Serbia's President on Sunday said that if the government makes key decisions on future relations with the former province of Kosovo under pressure from the EU, the issue must be put to the public in a referendum.

The people have a right to decide on whether to accept the EU's conditions, Tomislav Nikolic told the TV show “Teska Rec” ("Hard Word") on TV Pink on December 28.

Even in case that Belgrade had implemented any other detail from the Brussels Agreement, I am not convinced that it would be enough for opening negotiations with the EU, said Laslo Varga, deputy chairperson of the Serbian parliament’s Committee for European integrations.

BELGRADE -- Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama sayst Serbia "should become an ally of Albania, in order for the people in the Balkans to find peace."

"We have had a very difficult past, a years-long break in communication and a very dramatic period because of the regime in Belgrade and the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, but we are absolutely certain that a completely new period is in our hands and that an immense number of opportunities lie before our countries," Rama told the N1 television, Beta reported.

Belgrade - Although from the signing of the Brussels Treaty (April 2013) the Government of Serbia has a liberal attitude on the participation of the self-proclaimed state of Kosovo in international conferences, Pristina has no representatives among the participants of the Third Summit of Heads of Government of China and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, held in Belgrade.

BRUSSELS -- The European Commission is asking Serbia to harmonize its foreign policy - "a possible hint of pressure on us to impose sanctions on Russia," writes a daily.

Apart from the Ukraine crisis, Belgrade is also expected to align its policy with that of the EU on Iraq and Syria, the Vecernje Novosti newspaper writes.

The European Commission will present a specific demand to this end, the article adds, and interprets this as "possibly meaning there will be increased pressure on Belgrade to impose sanctions on Russia."

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.