States with limited recognition

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Wednesday he had had a telephone call with the UK's special Western Balkans envoy Stuart Peach to discuss the latest developments in Kosovo-Metohija and the situation in the region.

BELGRADE - US special Western Balkans envoy Gabriel Escobar said on Wednesday he had made it clear during a discussion with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Tuesday that "turning your back on the process (of Belgrade-Pristina dialogue) would be turning your back on Europe, with all the consequences that it entails in the failure of closer integration and closer relationship with Europe." <

Last night, together with Miroslav Lajak, he met with the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vui, and the previous day he was in Pristina with the EU's special envoy for dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.

However, in what is seen as an attempt to make the proceedings more efficient and limit costs, because hundreds of victims are expected to participate in the trials at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, the court has not given the victims the right to choose their own legal representatives.

BELGRADE - Serbian Parliament Speaker Vladimir Orlic received the head of the Polish parliamentary committee on foreign affairs Radoslaw Fogiel on Tuesday.

Orlic noted that Serbia was committed to deepen its cooperation with Poland in the economy, infrastructure and other areas but that preserving peace and stability was the main precondition for that.

He also said that the only question is whether Kosovo wants to wait for Euro-Atlantic integration until Prime Minister Albin Kurti fulfills his obligation. Escobar emphasized that "Kosovo must now move as a matter of urgency", and indicated that the establishment of the CSM is an international, legal, undertaken obligation.

The EU special envoy for dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, Miroslav Lajak, said tonight that he and the US special envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, asked the prime minister of the temporary institutions of Pristina, Albin Kurti, to calm down the situation in northern Kosovo, hold new elections and return to dialogue.

He also asked the temporary Pristina institutions that the newly elected mayors perform their duties from alternative locations.
During today's debate on the situation in the north of Kosovo in the British Parliament, Mitchell pointed out that London is also working with international partners to calm tensions.

As stated in the announcement of the Prime Minister's Office, Kurti's meeting with Lajcak and Escobar will take place in the Kosovo Government building.
European Union Spokesman Peter Stano said that Lajcak and Escobar will be in Kosovo and Serbia on Monday and Tuesday, in order to engage in the de-escalation of tensions in the north of Kosovo.

The recent spike in tensions in northern Kosovo, where dozens of NATO peacekeepers were injured in attacks by ethnic Serbs during protests against the appointment of ethnic Albanian mayors, serves as a painful reminder that the deep-rooted conflict in the heart of the Balkans cannot be easily resolved.