Kosovo

Kosovar President Hashim Thaci says he will “immediately resign” if a judge in The Hague confirm war-crimes charges filed against him, including crimes against humanity, stemming from Kosovo’s war of independence in 1998-99.

With a planned meeting in the White House on Saturday derailed by the indictment of the Kosovo President, France and Germany have indicated their willingness to host a summit in Paris.

Kosovo's prime minister has canceled talks with Serbia in Washington after his president was indicted for crimes against humanity. The talks were meant to be the first dialogue in 19 months.

A ten-count indictment has been filed against Kosovo's President Hashim Thaci charging him with crimes allegedly committed in the independence war of the late-1990s, including murder and torture.

The U.S. special envoy for Serbia and Kosovo negotiations says he has received commitments from both countries to meet in Washington on June 27 for talks aimed at leading to a normalization of relations.

In a surprise announcement, Kosovo President Hashim Thaci on Thursday said that he will not be seeking a second term when his mandate expires next April, drawing a line under a political career that has lasted over two decades.

Miroslav Laj?ák, the EU's new envoy on Kosovo-Serbia peace talks, is travelling to Pristina for the first time in his mandate in the next few days. But Kosovo president Hashim Thaçi has refused to meet him in his official capacity. More than that, Thaçi has said he will only do peace talks with the White House instead.

Kosovo’s newly elected government has removed all trade barriers for goods produced in Serbia, paving the way for a resumption of talks with Belgrade on an agreement that could enable the tiny Balkan country to get United Nations membership. After just three days in office, Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti said his country had acted in accordance with demands from the United States and the European Union.

Restarting talks on Serbia relations will be the new Kosovo prime minister's top priority, he said, but will the EU or the US lead the process? "The priority [of the new government] will be taking the responsibility to move forward on the dialogue [with Serbia] in cooperation with the EU and the USA, but not allowing change of territory or territorial exchange," Avdullah Hoti, the new leader, said after MPs voted him into office on Wednesday (3 June).

Kosovo’s parliament on Wednesday confirmed in office a new government led by Avdullah Hoti, the deputy leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, the junior party in the last government that initiated the no-confidence motion in March that toppled it.