Kosovo

Tourism in the Balkans: An increasingly popular destination

Where new developments in European tourism are concerned, the substantial and steady growth of the Balkans as a destination for vacations and travel is one of the most significant trends in recent years.

25 August 2017 – Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa (Trento) 2

Protests in former Yugoslavia republics: Balkan indignados

The last few months have seen massive citizen movements in the Balkans against the political elite. A report from the ground.

17 July 2016 – Ahora Semanal (Madrid) 13

Kosovo: Something rotten in the state of EULEX

EULEX, the European mission to establish the rule of law in Kosovo, has been shaken by a huge corruption scandal. Pristina daily Koha Ditore has […]

5 November 2014 – VoxEurop Koha Ditore, Politika, EUobserver.com 4

Balkans: ‘EU talks with Serbia scheduled for January 21’

The opening of negotiations with Serbia, which hopes to join the EU, was approved by EU Foreign Affairs ministers on December 17. An intergovernmental conference […]

18 December 2013 – Presseurop Politika 2

Kosovo: ‘Electoral earthquake. Authorities punished’

The second round of municipal elections on December 1 amounted to an “earthquake in Kosovo”, writes Koha Ditore. According to initial results, the opposition Democratic League […]

2 December 2013 – Presseurop Koha Ditore

Kosovo: ‘Elections without incident in north Mitrovica’

Five thousand two hundred thirty-one people turned out to vote in municipal elections, held November 17, in the northern section of Mitrovica which is mostly […]

18 November 2013 – Presseurop Koha Ditore

Serbia: Fording the river

At the start of next year, Belgrade will begin negotiations to join the EU. While Serbian authorities are intent on achieving this objective, it is not yet the subject of a consensus in Serbian society. However, it does stand to benefit from a strong economic argument.

7 November 2013 – Libération (Paris) 8

Kosovo municipal elections: Violence in the north, fireworks in Pristina

”Incidents prevented voting in Kosovo-Metohija,” splashes Belgrade's Politika daily, using the traditional name still in use in Serbia to describe its former province. Regarded as a […]

4 November 2013 – Presseurop Politika, Koha Ditore

Kosovo: ‘Deadly roads in the North and EU officials’

On September 19, a Lithuanian customs officer working for the EU mission to Kosovo (EULEX) was killed, and his Czech colleague was wounded, when unknown […]

20 September 2013 – Presseurop Koha Ditore

Kosovo: A bridge for the Balkans

Kosovo is also for Serbs. This is the conclusion of the decision reached by the Belgrade and Pristina leaders. Indeed, for the Balkans, this deal may prove even more important than Croatia’s EU accession, argues a Polish journalist.

7 August 2013 – Polityka (Warsaw) 9

Jobs: ‘Grim future for young Europeans’

Svenska Dagbladet has begun publication of a series of articles on the “lost generation” of jobless young people in southern Europe. Along with the much […]

6 August 2013 – Presseurop Svenska Dagbladet 6

Balkans: ‘Serbia waits for Germany’

At a meeting of EU foreign ministers on June 25, “all of the member states agreed to open accession negotiations with Serbia”, reports Politika. Talks are […]

26 June 2013 – Presseurop Politika 2

Article: Balkan hopes

The scars are still far from healed, but Gazeta Wyborcza has aptly summed up what we’re seeing these days, namely “an end to the 24-year […]

26 April 2013 – Presseurop 7

EU-Serbia: EU accession, but not overnight

“Berlin and Paris put the brakes on Serbian accession to the EU,” headlines Die Presse, in the wake of a European Commission decision to recommend […]

23 April 2013 – Presseurop Die Presse, EUobserver.com 2

Serbia-Kosovo : Everyone’s a winner

In Belgrade and Pristina, the press has hailed the agreement on the normalisation of relations between Serbia and its former province, which was concluded on April 19 under the auspices of the EU, as a historic step forward.

22 April 2013 – Presseurop 15

Balkans: ‘Serbs in Kosovo courts and police’

Negotiations between the Serbian and Kosovar heads of government, Ivica Dačić and Hashim Thaçi, concluded in Brussels on April 17 without agreement on the status […]

18 April 2013 – Presseurop Blic

Serbia-Kosovo: ‘Dačić: Urgent need for dialogue! Thaçi: I will accept the invitation’

Serbia refused to accept the outline agreement on relations with Kosovo on April 8 – the day before a deadline set by the EU – […]

9 April 2013 – Presseurop Blic

Kosovo: ‘Government adopts Ashton Plan for North’

On March 27, Pristina adopted an eight-point plan, proposed by European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Catherine Ashton, which is designed to regulate collaboration […]

28 March 2013 – Presseurop Koha Ditore 1

Balkans: ‘Government condemns, Brussels stays quiet’

The Kosovar government has rejected and described as “unofficial” the planned agreement negotiated with the European Union to resolve the ongoing dispute with Belgrade over […]

18 March 2013 – Presseurop Koha Ditore

Balkans: ‘Belgrade and Pristina reach agreement’

Citing EU sources, the daily reports that Serbia and Kosovo have reached agreement on the powers to be given to a group of Serbian-majority municipalities […]

14 March 2013 – Presseurop Blic

Serbia-Kosovo : ‘The North edges closer to Pristina'

The fifth round of negotiations between Serbian premier Ivica Dačić, and Kosovar Hashim Thaci was held in Brussels on February 19 and 20 under the […]

22 February 2013 – Presseurop Danas 3

Kosovo: Europe and the challenge of state-building

On February 17, Kosovo will celebrate five years of independence. However, corruption among local political elites has yet to be eradicated at a time when the mandate for the European civil mission to the the former Serbian province has less than 18 months left to run. Questions are now are being asked about the reality of the rule of law in Pristina.

15 February 2013 – Le Monde (Paris) 50

Serbia-Kosovo: ‘Dačić: provisional agreement on customs taxes’

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dačić has met with his Kosovar counterpart Hashim Thaci in Brussels, under the auspices of the EU’s High Representative for Foreign […]

18 January 2013 – Presseurop Politika

Serbia: ‘Serbia softens its attitude to Kosovo’

On January 12, the Serbian parliament approved a government resolution (by 175 votes to 19) that will provide the basis for future talks with Pristina. […]

14 January 2013 – Presseurop Blic

Balkans: Milorad Dodik offers asylum to Kosovo Serbs

“I am offering Kosovo Serbs a place in Republika Srpska (RS)." Milorad Dodik's announcement was thought so important that Blic gave it a bigger headline […]

7 January 2013 – Presseurop Blic 3

Balkans: Hague verdicts stoke old war feud

The acquittal of two Croat generals and a Kosovar ex-prime minister has reignited the dispute over a much-contested subject in the former Yugoslavia: who was the victim and who the aggressor in the war nearly 20 years ago?

3 December 2012 – Tygodnik Powszechny (Cracow) 5

Article: The front page

The Commission is proposing to create a “treasury” for the Economic and Monetary Union to control and manage European bonds under its authority. Several well-known […]

30 November 2012 – Presseurop

Kosovo: EU mission too expensive and inefficient

"EU brought to task over Kosovo mission," comments French daily Le Figaro, regarding a report published by the European Court of Auditors concerning the European […]

31 October 2012 – Presseurop Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Le Figaro 7

Turkey-Balkans: EU candidates still don’t make the grade

Turkey was singled out as needing improvement in the areas of individual and press freedom during the presentation of the European Commission's Final 2012 Report […]

11 October 2012 – Presseurop Zaman, Hürriyet, EUobserver.com 8

Kosovo: Not quite independent yet

On September 10, formal international monitoring of Kosovo will end and the newest state in Europe will take a further step forward towards true and full sovereignty. But as the European press has noted, Kosovo is far from being totally free of the supervision to which it has been subjected since birth.

10 September 2012 – Presseurop 16

Serbia: Tomislav Nikolić, the Balkan loudmouth

Barely installed in his presidential office, Serbia's nationalist leader proceeded to rub salt into the wounds of the former Yugoslavia. But on the crucial Kosovo issue, Tomislav Nikolić soon discovered that reality is more powerful than rhetoric.

7 June 2012 – Jutarnji List (Zagreb) 1

Balkans: Kosovo’s demographic time-bomb

The continent’s youngest state has the highest unemployment rate. With no chances to travel and few opportunities at home, is Kosovo's burgeoning youth generation ripe for revolt?

11 April 2012 – The Irish Times (Dublin) 14

Central Europe: Democracy in decline

“A setback for democracy in Eastern Europe,” leads Die Presse, using terms like “dramatic” and “explosive” to describe the results of the latest Transformation Index […]

26 March 2012 – Presseurop Die Presse 3

Balkans: Beware European humble-pie

Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia... As candidates for accession to the EU, all of these states have had to bow to pressure for sacrifices and compromises from Brussels. A Macedonian columnist notes that the more they have waited, the more the concessions demanded have proved to be exacting.

14 March 2012 – Utrinski Vesnik (Skopje) 3

Serbia: One step closer to the EU

On February 28, the EU foreign ministers came out in favour of approving Serbia for candidate membership. The statement follows the regional cooperation agreement reached […]

28 February 2012 – Presseurop Koha Ditore 3

Kosovo: Mitrovica Serbs turn to Moscow

Afraid they will at the mercy of the Albanian majority once Serbia is forced to recognize Kosovo in exchange for EU members, a growing number of Kosovar Serbs have requested Russian citizenship. But "Slav solidarity" is a myth.

30 November 2011 – Gazeta Wyborcza (Warsaw) 7

Serbia-Kosovo: Border tension growing

For the Serbian daily Danas, it’s “escalation". On 20 October the forces of NATO and EULEX, the EU Rule of Law Mission, began to take […]

21 October 2011 – Presseurop Danas

European Union: An enlargement of illusions

In opening up the prospect of accession to several candidate countries, the European Commissioner for Enlargement means to put on a show of optimism. But it only reinforces the impression that Europe doesn’t know where it’s going, writes the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter.

13 October 2011 – Dagens Nyheter (Stockholm) 3

Serbia: Merkel: “Choose between Kosovo or EU"

“Kosovo [first], then Europe,” sums up Danasin its coverage of the meeting between Angela Merkel and Boris Tadic in Belgrade on August 23. The German […]

24 August 2011 – Presseurop Danas

Balkans: Smalltime smugglers’ war in Kosovo

As the border post went up in flames, NATO troops moved in to prevent an escalation of hostilities. The tension on the border between Kosovo and Serbia, a smuggling flashpoint, has once again reached fever pitch. A Dutch columnist argues that the solution should be more talks and subsidies for legal businesses.

29 July 2011 – NRC Handelsblad (Amsterdam) 2

Libyan War: How much longer?

“The West should realise that Libya is not Kosovo,” runs the front page headline in Dutch daily De Volksrant following a NATO meeting on the […]

9 June 2011 – Presseurop De Volkskrant

Article: Balkan blues

They say it takes 20 years for a new generation to emerge, and perhaps this is also the amount of time that has been needed […]

27 May 2011 – Presseurop 1

Belgium: Refugees prompt "humanitarian crisis"

“Asylum applications up by 30% per month,”headlines Le Soir, which reports that the Belgian Secretary of State for Social Integration, Philippe Courard, has voiced concern […]

25 March 2011 – Presseurop Le Soir 1

LIBYA: A just war – but just what kind?

The primary objective of Operation Odyssey Dawn – to protect Libyan civilians – is a just one, says the European press. But the other issues – oil, the fall of Gaddafi and the image of Nicolas Sarkozy – are not neglected.

21 March 2011 – Presseurop () 4