Leo van Doesburg

The first round of Belgrade-Pristina talks, which the EU mediator called "friendly but also honest", ended in Brussels on Wednesday. The head of the Serbian negotiating team, Borko Stefanovic, said that the talks showed that there was both the capacity and readiness to solve issues. He also pointed out that the EU mediation of the dialogue was very positive and status-neutral. EU mediator Robert Cooper, meanwhile, said the talks opened in a "good atmosphere". He said that the two sides discussed improving the legal certainty of people living in Kosovo, including through improving civil and cadastral registers, and improving economic cooperation in the region. He explained that the dialogue touched on issues that will be discussed in greater detail later on, such as air traffic, telecommunications and customs stamps. The first meeting within the first round of talks was held late on Tuesday, after several hours' of uncertainty as to whether or not the Kosovo team...

Today it was a special day for many, because three years ago, Kosovo declared itself independent with a 'declaration for independence'. Therefore the city was full with different flags: even with American and German flags and also concerts were organized in the cities. This morning I had together with Jetmir an appointment with a representative of the UNDP in Mitrovica to discuss about a project that we want to develop in Kosovo. The representative of the UNDP was interested in our project and gave a good feedback and ideas concerning the project proposal and was willing to be involved and to help to put this project on it's feet. Jetmir gave good and professional information. For him it was also a good experience on how you discuss and negotiate with representatives of international institutions. When th e meeting was finished we were picked up again and I found out that Auke and Annechien also spend their time well with a friend of Ruzhdi (who drove us around) who got a f...

Today I wanted to learn more about Pristina and it's surroundings. During my visit in December I learned a lot about the political, social and economic situation of Kosovo by the meetings with politicians, youth leaders and representatives of international institutions. Now I wanted to learn more about Pristina and its surroundings. Ruzhdi and his friend Jetmir from Macedonia showed us the most beautiful places in Pristina. They t old more about the places and their opinion about the sights. Although Pristina is a nice city also you could see the consequences of the war. There are a lot of people still missing. They were taken away from their homes. They were transported to unknown places and no-one heard from then since then. The many pictures of the persons that were missed were put on a fence close to there assembly building. At the other side from the road and further on you find interesting places like the old mosque, the central library and the new cathedral that is being bu...

A few hours later than expected but still early enough the car was fixed and as new (in any case from the inside because from the outside it still had tons of sand and dust, imported from all the countries we were traveling to). Ready to go! Arber escorted us through the city to the road that would lead in the direction of Kosovo. The trip went smoothly. The big tunnel and the highway made it pleasant to travel to the border and due to the new start motor the car was like flying on the street. At the border, a friendly member of the Dutch police working for the EULEX was greeting us in our own language (i.e. Dutch) and helped Auke who tried to find the right way to pay a special car insurance for Kosovo (for some reason the green card is not valid in the northern part of Cyprus, Iran and Kosovo). The border procedures went smoothly. It was interesting to see police agents from different countries checking the functioning off the customs. On their costumes by a small flag you could fin...

EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Monday (25 October) will invite the European Commission to submit its opinion on Serbia's application for EU membership. But the ministers' conclusions, seen by WAZ.EUobserver, are to say bluntly that Serbia cannot go further toward EU accession without the arrest of war crimes suspects Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic and a constructive approach in the upcoming dialogue with Kosovo. Source: EU Observer: http://euobserver.com After two nights of long and tiring talks, the representatives of 26 EU countries and the Netherlands on Friday agreed the final text of the ministers' communique. The compromise consists of several elements: Ministers will voice strong support for Serbian president Boris Tadic; they will say Belgrade's attitude toward Kosovo is a key condition for further Serbian EU integration; and they will make clear Serbia cannot obtain official EU candidate status unless all EU member states, including the Netherland...