Although the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said earlier if Pristina does not revoke the tariffs on goods from Serbia by May 6, a special session of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) Main Board would take place, after which Belgrade would present countermeasures against Pristina, there are yet no announcements as when this session might happen, Danas daily reports.
Serbian Foreign Affairs Minister Ivica Dacic does not expect significant progress in resolving the Kosovo issue at the Paris summit that will be held on July 1. The meeting will be organized by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Dacic expects pressure on Serbia to continue, but says his country has become accustomed to pressure, and that "nothing will come out that" - when it comes to recognizing Kosovo - its southern province - as independent.
Serbian Foreign Affairs Minister Ivica Dacic said North Macedonia recognized unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo in order to get closer to the West, adding the argumentation of newly elected Macedonian President Stevo Pendarovski who said it was done because of Albanians living in the country “does not stand.”
Srpska Lista member, Slavko Simic told RTS that the draft resolution proposal by which Pristina accuses Serbia of genocide is an act against the dialogue and normalization of relations. The absence of reaction from the international community, Simic perceives as a sort of support to Pristina, adding no one wishes to build better relations between Serbs and Albanians.
After Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj dismissed Deputy Minister of Justice Vesna Mikic, and Minister of Administration and Local Government Ivan Todosijevic because – as it was interpreted in Pristina – they “insulted the Racak victims“ and referred to the 1999 bombing of the-then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as “NATO aggression,“ Kosovo Foreign Minister Behgjet Pacolli decided to declare anyone who “denies war crimes in Kosovo persona non grata in Kosovo,“ KoSSev portal reports.
Belgrade based portal B92 reports, quoting Radio Television of Kosovo in Serbian language (RTK2), that the president of the Kosovo Assembly, Kadri Veseli claimed that on Monday formally started formation of an international tribunal for crimes committed by Serbia in Kosovo.
The portal reports that Veseli at the same time threatened with arrest of "cowards that are now free in Serbia".
Serbian Foreign Affairs Minster Ivica Dacic said he doesn't believe an initiative to establish a court for crimes allegedly committed by Serbs in Kosovo will receive international support.
Dacic added that Pristina's announcements of the initiative to form such a tribunal is viewed in light of the attempts to find a balance with the work of a specialist court dealing with the KLA crimes.
The KLA is a former armed formation of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, considered by Serbia to be a terrorist organization.
Serbian Foreign Affairs Minister Ivica Dacic has warned that in the two months after the summit in Berlin, pressure on Serbia will be fiercer than ever before.
"The Berlin summit did not bring a solution, but a step has been made, given that Germany and France insist on the unblocking of the dialogue and the resumption of talks between Belgrade and Pristina," Dacic said in op-ed published by Srpski Telegraf.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic would meet in Rome on May 8 with the Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, Tanjug news agency reports quoting diplomatic sources.
Kosovo and Metohija would be the topic of their conversation, Tanjug added.
The Washington John Hopkins University’s panel “Western Balkans (WB): Managing the Challenges” dealt with the regional leaders’ real readiness to get closer to the West, adding it should more clearly criticise the WB’s regimes, the Voice of America (VOA) reported on Thursday, as carried by the FoNet news agency.