Simic: Parallel institutions should be incorporated into Association

(RTK2)

Serb representatives expect that Belgrade and Prishtinë/Pristina will agree on the Statute of the Association of Serb Majority Municipalities, while Albanian MPs consider that Srpska List should return to the institutions first.

Association was not established on the Serbian Statehood Day as it was announced earlier; however, Srpska List caucus leader Slavko Simic insists that they will unilaterally establish this Association in case Prishtinë/Pristina does not do anything about it.

LDK MP, Sadri Ferati said that the biggest issue in establishing the Association is the boycott of Srpska List MPs.

Although the deadline for unilateral establishment of the Association was 15 February, this did not happen. Simic told RTK2 show “Poglavlje’ (Chapter) that unilateral establishment did not happen because Kosovo officials have shown interest for its establishment.

“Kosovo officials, namely central institutions want to start the process for establishment of the Association. Of course, for us is important that Belgrade and Prishtinë/Pristina delegations agree on the Management Team and resume the work on drafting  the Statute which it will be verified here in Prishtinë/Pristina and proceed with establishment of the Association. Our recent statements that today we will unilaterally establish the Association, were messages addressed to institutions who took over the responsibility to start the process,” he stressed.

On the other hand, Albanian MPs, consider the boycott of Srpska List MPs as the key issue in establishing the Association.

“I don’t know when the Serbs will return to the institutions; therefore I do not know when the Association will be established. Srpska List officials should return first to the institutions and then start it from there,” said MP Ferati.

When asked by the moderator of the show whether one of the conditions for the establishment of the Association is the dissolution of institutions that work according to the system of the Republic of Serbia, Simic said: “These institutions should certainly not be dissolved, and if the Association is established these, how they call them, parallel institutions, should be incorporated in it.”

Assembly adopts European Agenda

(Most monitored broadcasters, KTV)

MPs of the ruling and opposition parties blamed each other for Kosovo’s flounders toward the European integration.

Initially, the new Minister of Integration, Mimoza Ahmetaj, called on respective ministries to carry out work that belong to them. Among others, she also said that voting of Demarcation is important in this process. It was precisely this statement that provoked reaction of the opposition, which called on Minister Ahmetaj not to deal with such a major issue.

Statement of VV MP Glauk Konjufca, according to who, the auditor of Kosovo Intelligence Agency, Naim Ibrahimaj, was suspended from his duty because he disclosed that hundreds of thousands of euros were misused in Kosovo Intelligence Agency and people were employed without a vacancy triggered serious debates.

When the debate regarding Government’s promise for 200 thousand jobs was open, accusations between Minister of Trade and Economy Hykmete Bajrami and Vetëvendosje MP Donika Kadaj-Bujupi turned personal.

At the end of Wednesday’s session, with 63 votes in favour, the Assembly adopted the European Agenda.

Apostolova: Demarcation a condition for visa liberalisation in 2017

(TV21)

Head of the European Union Office in Kosovo, Nataliya Apostolova, in an interview with TV21 welcomed adoption of the European Reform Agenda, while she stressed that ratification of the Agreement on delineation of the border between Kosovo and Montenegro is an immediate condition for liberalisation of visas.

“It is not an easy procedure. We are not talking here only about passing of Demarcation at the Assembly. There is a good track record in the fight against corruption and Kosovo automatically gets liberalisation. The Commission should make a new proposal for the Council of Europe, for the member states, and member states will take the final decision. Procedurally, this can last for several months. On top of this, fight against organised crime and corruption where you have made some impressive steps which should be commended and President of the European Commission has also told this to your President in Brussels. This track record should be maintained and it should be a continuous process. We cannot have only several such cases and then stop and forget this thing. This is a broader issue. It has to do with political appointments, nepotism, financial statements of political parties and of course high profile cases, where we want to see not only initiation of the case, but also final verdicts of judiciary to be issued for these cases and expropriation of those who have illegal property,” Apostolova said.

Asked if Demarcation will be voted within February at the Assembly, would that be enough for meeting conditions, or there will be another assessment after Demarcation will be passed, Apostolova replied:

“As I said, the Commission is going to propose to member states for liberalisation. So, once the Demarcation will be finished and once this progress and track record in the fight against corruption will be presented to the Commission by our part, these two elements will be proposed to the member states and they will take the decision. I cannot respond if Demarcation will pass tomorrow and if a day after we will send it. All this will be sent to the member states and it is a done deal. However, I want to say that you have a good track record in the fight against corruption and now demarcation is an issue that has to be dealt very fast in order to abide the liberalisation procedures, so if they start now they might lead somewhere at the end of this year,” she concluded.

Rex Tillerson congratulates Kosovo on ninth anniversary of independence

(Most monitored broadcasters, TV21)

Speaking on behalf of President Donald Trump, the US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, congratulated citizens of Kosovo on the ninth anniversary of independence.

“The United States values its strong friendship with Kosovo based on mutual aspirations for stability, peace, and prosperity for all of our citizens,” Tillerson said in a press statement published at the website of US Department of State.

“We applaud the progress the people of Kosovo have made in developing democratic, multi-ethnic institutions over their nine years of independence,” Tillerson stressed.

He stressed that the United States remains committed to helping Kosovo.

Kosovo with many expensive and inefficient councils and committees

(KTV)

Kosovo institutions are known for many established councils and commissions, the activity and efficiency of which is very little.

National Council for European Integration, Consultative Council for Communities, National Council against Corruption and National Council on Survivors of Sexual Violence during the War are some of them.

Some of these national councils and commissions do not disclose their financial statements during their operation.

Consultative Council for Communities is the only one to which budget was divided for 2017.  For this year, around 100 thousand euros were allocated to this Council, 35 thousand and 500 euros for salaries and per diems, and 47 thousand and 200 euros for goods and services.

Civil society representatives consider all these mechanisms unnecessary. Driton Selmanaj of Democracy Plus NGO says that these mechanisms were rather established for promoting the work of certain leaders.

Arton Demhasaj of “Çohu” organisation also criticized the constant establishment of new councils and committees.

Resolution on KAF does not tell if Kosovo will have an Army

(KTV)

Assembly Resolution on establishment of Kosovo Armed Force (KAF) does not clearly define the time nor does it tell that Kosovo will have an Army. This at least not until votes of Serb minority will be secured, KTV reported.

At the end of the debate, MPs, on behalf of its harmonisation, modified point one of the Resolution, by removing 01 March as a time designation when the Government is obliged to submit the Law on advancement of the Force to the Assembly and they also removed the word Law, thus replacing it with the word strategy.

Point 2 was completely deleted from Committee’s resolution, which in fact spoke about the mission that the Force would need to have.

Rexhep Selimi says that with the removal of this point, Resolution adopted in the Assembly was only adopted to justify the debate held and that no step toward establishment of the Army was made.

The argument that parties in power are using for not moving forward with establishment of Army was that there are indications that NATO will not support Kosovo’s Army without the vote of Serbs.

Kosovo lost this chance in 2014, after LDK and Vetëvendosje did not accept extension of reserved seats in exchange for votes of Serbs.

Simic: KFOR, only legal army in Kosovo

(Klan Kosova)

Kosovo Assembly’s Resolution on transformation of Kosovo Security Force (KSF) into Kosovo Armed Force (KAF) has no legal effect. This was stated by Srpska List caucus leader, Slavko Simic in an interview for RTV KIM, Klan Kosova reported.

According to him, adoption of such a Resolution is an attempt of Prishtinë/Pristina to put pressure on transformation of KSF, adding that ‘Serbs will not take part in it.”

“I can say firmly say that Serbs have not entered into any arrangement regarding transformation of security forces into Kosovo Armed Force. Our position is clear. In general, we do not want to deal with this issue and we are excluded from any process when it comes to transformation of KSF,” said Simic.

Simic said that Srpska List considers KFOR as the only legal and valid army in Kosovo.

Hateful graffiti against Kosovo Serbs appear in Gjilan/Gnjilane

(RTK2)

Hateful graffiti in Gjilan/Gnijlane have disturbed the remaining Serbs in this municipality. The Church and Serb representatives condemned this incident, while at the Police said investigations were ongoing. In the early morning hours of Wednesday, hateful graffiti appeared in the vicinity of the Church and houses of a small numbers of Serbs that live in Gjilan/Gnijlane. After the Police carried out its investigations, these graffiti were painted over.

Although the graffiti were painted over, the remaining Serbs in Gjilan/Gnijlane, around 60 of them are distressed because this is not the first time that this sort of intimidation happens.

Archpriest Stevo Mitric said that threats were addressed to everyone, especially to those who were at the meeting, where, as he said, the idea was to call for reconciliation and unity among the people.

Graffiti reading “Kill the Serb,” and “UÇK,” along with a swastika sign were inscribed on the walls of a Serb house.

Kosovo Police spokesman for Gjilan /Gnjilane region, Ismet Hashani, said that police is carrying out investigations regarding this incident.

The incident was condemned by Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Branimir Stojanovic, Director of Kosovo Government’s Office for Communities Ivan Tomic, and Srpska List caucus leader Slavko Simic.

Activities of “AirSoft Vukovi” and “AirSoft Club Kodak” NGOs suspended

(RTK1)

Upon request of the competent security body, the Ministry of Public Administration (MPA) on Wednesday decided to suspend activity to two nongovernmental organisations – “AirSoft Vukovi” and “AirSoft Club Kodak.”

This decision was taken based on information of competent security bodies that there is grounded suspicion that activity of these two NGOs is in contradiction with security interests.

“Competent security body of Kosovo has filed a request for looking into the possibility of suspending the activity of this nongovernmental organisation. In compliance with this request, I have contacted the party based on contacts that we have in the dossier. The party responded to the invitation and he filed a request for suspension of activities of this organisation,” said Bajram Kosumi, Director of Department for NGOs at MPA.

This case was initially published in Radio Television of Kosovo as part of a research of “Udhëve” [On the roads] show, where this group, which is composed of former Serbian paramilitary unit members trained by Captain Arkan and Dragan, was investigated.