A new rapporteur for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, a Catalan, a member of the Spanish delegation, Jordi Roca was elected as the new rapporteur for Kosovo, after the Serbian delegation managed to challenge the candidacy of Mogens Jensen (Denmark), says the head of the Serbian delegation, Marija Obradović.

The National Co-ordinator for Cooperation with the UNESCO for Cultural Heritage Vladimir Džamić told RTS that the US decision to withdraw from UNESCO was not too surprising and that he does not expect other countries to follow their move.

Vladimir Džamić says that the US had a turbulent relationship with the UNESCO since 1974 when they protested over UNESCO's relations towards Israel, and then in 1984, when they left UNESCO, which lasted until 2001.

The leader of the Democratic Union for Integration (BDI) in Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Ali Ahmeti, told Kosovapress that statements of senior politicians in Serbia to redesign borders of Kosovo, are dangerous and with a domino effect for Western Balkans. He added that these matters should be considered seriously and with a cold blood, because if borders start to change, then they would have a domino effect for the other countries as well.

Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesperson for the Turkish president, has told a Belgrade daily that Recep Erdogan's visit to Serbia went in "an extraordinary atmosphere."

Kalin, whom Blic says is the only politician authorized to speak on behalf of Erdogan, assessed that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic was well prepared for the visit of the Turkish delegation, and showed warmth and hospitality - pointing out as very important that the two presidents visited Novi Pazar and met with the Muslim community there.

The Finnish Foreign Minister, Timo Soini, said in Pristina today after meeting President Hashim Thaci that his country would continue support for Kosovo. Thaci on his part thanked FM Soini for the continuous support Finland has provided to Kosovo. “We should look into ways of deepening our cooperation also in economy, security, and education,” Thaci said.

Czech President, Milos Zeman assessed Russian annexation of Crimea as completed act and proposed that Russia pays compensation to Ukraine for the lost territory, either financially or with raw material, BETA news agency reported.

Zeman again said Kosovo is an example of double standards, Serbian media reported.

During debate in the Parliamentary Assembly of the European Council. Zeman quoted former German President, Joachim Gauck who said that giving Crimea back to Ukraine would cause a war in Europe.

“Spain is grateful to the Government of Serbia because it did not bring up that issue, as the President Aleksandar Vucic already explained,” stated Spanish Ambassador to Serbia, Miguel Fuertes Suarez.

The Spanish Ambassador made these remarks while commenting the information that Belgrade, following the plea of his country, postponed sending the letter to Brussels, asking for further explanation on the EU stance that Kosovo and Catalonia are incomparable, daily writes further.

Executive Director of the European Fund for the Balkans Hedvig Morvai believes that in the case of Kosovo and Catalonia there may be parallels and similarities, but that the context and power relations are different, reports today Radio Television of Serbia (RTS).

Villages of Orcusa, Globocica, Zli Potok, Krusevo and Restelica are without electricity for four days due to the failure of electrical supply system, caused by the snow in Gora Mountain, Kontakt plus radio reported today.

Nazim Mehmedi, coordinator for the co-operation with the media stated to Kontakt plus radio that inhabitants of these villages are disturbed as the breakdown of the electricity supply has caused damage.

He added that food prepared for the wintertime is rotten as well as items they had in their freezers.

*Op-ed by Filip Ejdus, speaker at the panel “The EU as a crisis management actor: CSDP in the neighbourhood” on the Belgrade Security Forum 2017.

In June 2016, the EU extended the mandate of the Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) until June 2018. While the fate of the mission after that date is still uncertain, the coming end of the current mandate provides an excellent opportunity to take stock of a decade long and over a billion € worth of EU investment in Kosovo’s rule of law.