Kosovo

Serbian and Kosovar officials have signed a deal to restore a railway link between Belgrade and Pristina and to connect the two capitals with a highway in a step toward normalizing bilateral relations.

Kosovo’s new prime minister (Albin Kurti) says he intends to abolish punitive tariffs on Serbian goods, as the two countries struggle amid an international push for them to establish diplomatic relations.

Kosovo's parliament has voted to support a new government under Albin Kurti following four months of coalition talks between the Balkan country's two main parties.

The European Union’s top diplomat said on January 31 in Belgrade that the bloc was not competing with the United States in facilitating dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell reiterated that Brussels and Washington are “working together to achieve a result.”

While Washington obsesses about tensions with Iran and the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, a pair of high-ranking administration officials has been crisscrossing Europe and the Western Balkans in pursuit of a solution to a dispute that most Americans have barely noticed.

Kosovar President Hashim Thaci has mandated Albin Kurti, the leader of Kosovo's Self-Determination Movement (Vetevendosje), to form a government. Vetevendosje and the second-place finisher, center-right opposition Democratic League (LDK), which won 28 seats, have been negotiating for months to form a government.

The two main parties’ repeated shifts of the goal posts is being blamed for the almost endless delays in forming a new government since the October 2019 snap elections. … International representatives who have been continuously calling for speedier talks feel increasingly frustrated.

Kosovo faces political paralysis, and possible new elections, after talks between the two biggest parties appeared to hit a brick wall on Wednesday evening.

Marathon talks between the two parties that polled most votes in the October legislative elections look set to end soon, with a final agreement on a new coalition government.

A report by the OSCE Mission in Kosovo says the number of people returning to their homes after being displaced by the Kosovo war has been declining, with security fears continuing to deter them.