Serbia and Montenegro

Vrhelyi arrived to Belgrade a day after a new methodology for the EU accession process was presented in Brussels.
For the first time of his visit to Serbia, President Vucic welcomed Vrhelyi in front of the Presidency building.

Namely, Minister for European Integration Jadranka Joksimovic told the Serbian state RTS that Serbia will not have to continue its accession to the European Union under the new methodology adopted by the European Commission. Joksimovic added that the new methodology was drawn up for North Macedonia and Albania, which last year did not get the green light to start accession negotiations.

A shortage of border guards may be hampering Bosnia's ability to stop migrants from illegally entering the country, officials say.

The rulebook on its internal organisation says the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina should have 2,426 officers, but currently has only 2,038, which is 388 less, Franka Vican, a spokeswoman for the state border police, told BIRN.

Bakir Izetbegovic, the leader of the Party of Democratic Action, SDA and a member of the upper house of Bosnia's parliament, said on Tuesday that the leadership of the Bosnian Serbs will ultimately see the security value in joining NATO.

According to him, President of the European Council Charles Michel announced the gathering of Western Balkans leaders in February.
"I expect Michel to soon organize some kind of rally in February that will bring together all the leaders in the Western Balkans, so that we can continue dialogue", Vucic told Television Pink.

Both declined from last year, when Bosnia was ranked in 89th place, with 38 points, and North Macedonia came in 93rd place, with 37 points.

Bosnia shares its 106th place with Albania, which also declined in the rankings. It came in 99th place last year.

The two presidents also spoke about establishing better coordination in future appearances before the European institutions.
Vucic said that their positions and standpoints are very remote and that it is not possible to reach a common position on these issues. He added that the conversation was long, rather difficult and complex.

After collecting signatures, they would ask the state of Serbia to file a lawsuit with the European Court of Human Rights against Montenegro.

Following mass protests by ethnic Serbs in Montenegro against the recently adopted Law on Religious Freedom, which they say targets the assets of the Serbian Orthodox Church, agitation against the law has spread to neighbouring Serbia.

According to the Pristina newspaper, the main argument is that they believe that the initiative would isolate Kosovo and, if implemented, create conflicts in the Balkans.