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Latest Blog

Love Hurts

05 February 2010 |

Simon Cottrell It's a shame that the internet is a virtual medium, because there are a lot of people out there that I'd like to express my deep feelings of friendship to, and having spent the last two years here in Serbia, I'd like to do it in a truly Serbian way.


Feith: 'New Beginning' for Mitrovica
05 February 2010 | Lawrence Marzouk

The International Civilian Representative in Kosovo, Pieter Feith, has said the appointment of a team to create a new Serb-majority municipality in the divided city of Mitrovica could herald a 'new beginning'.

Georgieva, Ciolos Approved with New Commission
09 February 2010 |

The European Parliament has approved the new European Commission at its session in Strasbourg. Kristalina Georgieva and Dacian Ciolos are the new commissioners from Bulgaria and Romania, respectively.

Koricanske stijene: Awareness of Security
09 February 2010 |

A member of the Intelligence-Security Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina says he spoke to Milorad Skrbic while investigating the murder at Koricanske stijene and "determined that he did not have any operational data about this event".



Kosovo NGOs Protest Perceived Visa Snub

Pristina | 22 July 2009 |
 
Veton Surroi
Veton Surroi
Several Kosovo civil society organisations have sent a letter to the EU calling for a review of the “impalpable and discriminatory”decision to exclude Kosovo from the current visa-liberalisation process. 

Of the five regional states involved in the visa-liberalisation process, Serbia, Macedonia, and Montenegro have been approved for visa-free travel within the EU, as of January 2010. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania have been told that they might receive EU visa-free status later.

Kosovo, on the other hand, has not been included in the process, as five of the 27 members of the EU have not recognised Kosovo’s independence.   

In the letter to the EU, the NGOs state that Kosovo`s exclusion from the visa-liberalisation process threatens to transform Kosovo "into a ghetto without any way out”.

The head of the Club for Foreign Policy and co-signatory of the letter, Veton Surroi said that  Kosovo's citizens would be further isolated by the EU’s decision, hindering the integration of the country.

“Today, one of the [factors] which impinge on the dignity of Kosovo’s citizens [...] is the issue of visas. Go to any embassy in Kosovo or in Skopje today and you will see how degrading the approach towards Kosovo’s citizens has become. And today we are worse off than we were 15-20 years ago”, Surroi said in a press conference on Tuesday.

Surroi also accused the government for not doing their part in ensuring Kosovo would participate in the visa-liberalisation process, given that one of the prerequisites is the issuing of biometric passports, which the government did not do.

Rada Trajkovic, a Kosovo Serb politician, also signed the letter. She said that Kosovo’s exclusion from the process causes division, and can be viewed as offensive by the Kosovo population, particularly Serbs.

“The European Commission’s proposition devalues our efforts to develop an open and multiethnic Kosovo,” she said.

(Reported by Shega A’Mula)



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Comments:
:D
2009-07-23 17:45:09
Pseudoindependent state will be a ghetto :) Are You happy Mr Thaci??

Coming to Kosova
2009-07-23 20:53:19
Coming to Kosova

unbelievable
2009-07-24 03:43:16
Astonishing, these Kosovar Albanians. They feel offended about being left out of an exclusive club. One day it will dawn on these people that promoting bigger families as a means of taking over a territory demographically leaves the powers that be without a choice. Earning respect and dignity, the fundamental criteria for being in Europe's economic free zone/free travel is a whole different matter, folks. Maybe they should start returning stolen territory and compensate to the various minorities that were subject to violence and revenge attacks that accompanied NATO's successful offensive against the Serbian army. This will show the western powers that they(intend to) play by the same rules that everyone else in the Balkans is now rapidly adopting.

read!
2009-07-27 23:40:47
Veton, maybe u should just read Vjosa's blog! Very well written text.

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