Southeastern European countries

BELGRADE - Serbian PM Ana Brnabic said on Monday diplomatic activities aimed at resolving the Kosovo-Metohija issue had been stepped up but that the same was the case with pressure, and noted that EU special envoy Miroslav Lajcak's visit to Belgrade this evening was an additional form of pressure.

BELGRADE - Serbia must engage in talks and dialogue about Kosovo-Metohija, otherwise it will be trampled underfoot, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said in the parliament on Thursday during a debate on a government report on the Belgrade-Pristina talks, and noted that Serbia must pursue a responsible policy and maintain its military neutrality.

PODGORICA/BELGRADE- The Montenegrin government recognised the so-called Kosovo's self-declared independence despite opposition from over 85 pct of citizens at the time, Serbian Defence Minister Milos Vucevic said on Wednesday, noting that, if it was up to the people of Montenegro, the decision would be withdrawn immediately.

BELGRADE - The Serbian government has tabled to MPs a Report on the Talks Process with Institutions of the Interim Self-Government Authorities in Pristina from September 1, 2022 to January 15, 2023, the Serbian parliament said on its official website.

As announced earlier, MPs will debate the report from February 2.

Turkey, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia got their worst corruption scores in ten years in the latest Global Perceptions Corruption Index, CPI, which the watchdog organisation Transparency International published on Tuesday.

The construction of the gas connection between Bulgaria and Serbia on Bulgarian territory will being on February 1, according to a press release from the presidency.

Demostat states, referring to its diplomatic sources, that the perspective of Serbia's membership in the EU, investments in the energy sector, meaning being independent from Russia in that area, the arrival of US and European companies, are part of what Serbia could expect if it agrees to the Western proposal.

BELGRADE - Serbian FM Ivica Dacic said on Friday Serbia's official position on a French-German proposal for solving the Kosovo issue was very clear and responsible - that Serbia wanted to continue dialogue and take part in it and that everything must be discussed based on that plan.

Will They, Won't They

North Macedonia's PM Dimitar Kovacevski (L) accompanied by ministers, leaves a press conference after announcing that his Government has accepted the so-called French proposal to resolve the dispute between North Macedonia and Bulgaria, July 16, 2022. Photo by EPA-EFE/GEORGI LICOVSKI

But, as he added for "Voice of America", there will be no progress in the negotiation process if there is no progress in the domain of the rule of law, the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina and the alignment of foreign policy with Brussels, primarily in the domain of sanctions against Russia.