Independence of Kosovo

Bolton said Washington would not oppose an exchange of territory provided that Belgrade and Pristina worked out a "mutually satisfactory settlement".

An instruction issued by the Kosovo Central Election Commission, CEC - which says people can only vote in the elections on October 6 using personal documents issued by Kosovo institutions - has drawn a furious reaction from non-Albanian community representatives.

"I would prefer debates on this subject on our foreign relations meeting, that is, on the meeting attended by the President, the Speakers of both Houses of Parliament, the Prime Minister, the Head of Diplomacy and the Minister of Police. Our positions do not match. I will wait for the debate, and then take some stance on it", the prime minister told reporters.

Czech President Milos Zeman delighted his Serbian hosts at a joint press conference on Wednesday with his Serbian counterpart, Aleksandar Vucic, when he promised to push for the Czech Republic to withdraw its 2008 recognition of Kosovo at a counseling on the constitution expected to happen in one month.

The family of the murdered Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic have asked the Kosovo Election Commission to forbid the main Kosovo Serb party, Srpska Lista, SL, from using his name in the October elections after a senior official of his party defected to the SL.

The Special Representative

The news this week that veteran US diplomat Matthew Palmer had been appointed as his country's Special Representative for the Western Balkans has generated a great deal of excitement and expectation in the Balkans.

As web portal Kosovo online reports, such reactions of the officials from Pristina were provoked as certain representatives of Belgrade authorities had announced that they will visit Kosovo in the course of pre-election campaign for the parliamentary elections to be held on October 6, Radio Free Europe reports.

Palmer, in his first interview since the appointment for the US Special Envoy for the Western Balkans, points out that he accepted this post as he is confident that he could contribute to reaching agreement on normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, which would in turn transform Balkan in general, opening up EU path of Serbia and so-called Kosovo, and present "a positive thing

Miroslav Lajk, Slovakia's Diplomacy, reacted to the announced Serbia's signing of the free trade agreement with Eurasian Union (EAEU), supported by Russia.
"If you are sure in your European orientation, don't make decisions which are not in line with it, as this one isn't", Lajk concluded.

"The abolition of the imposed tariffs is crucial", Hahn said.
He underlined the importance of reaching agreement between Belgrade and Pristina on the meeting of the Foreign Affairs ministers of EU and Western Balkans.
"Reaching solution, and a positive outcome of the Serbia-Kosovo dialogue is a key element for the future European perspective of the whole region", Hahn said.