Thaçi continues his battle for establishment of Kosovo Army

(All monitored broadcasters, KTV) 

Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi has compared the initiative for establishment of Kosovo Army and the situation developed around this process in relation to the internationals with the situation prior to declaration of independence.

He insisted that internationals support establishment of Kosovo Army. Furthermore, according to him, they support it to the extent of 100%.

He says that aspiration for the Army was made clear long time ago and that support of Kosovo allies was taken for this.

He sees the situation created now similar to the time of independence declaration and believes that Army establishment will have over 100 votes of MPs.

According to him, this initiative is in compliance with constitutional and legal demands of Kosovo, and even with the call of Trump administration that countries should strengthen their defence powers.

Thaçi said he cannot convince Belgrade to convince Kosovo Serbs, but he believes that the international community can do this. And, in case this happens few minutes before voting of the law, he says that it will be proceeded with voting of army establishment with constitutional changes.

He did not forget to blame Isa Mustafa for failure of KSF to become an Army in 2014, while he added that he is the most voted politician in the last ten years.

Veseli does not rule out extraordinary elections

(Klan Kosova)

Kosovo Assembly Speaker, Kadri Veseli, spent the entire Tuesday out of his offices. Listening to voices of Prizren citizens was on his agenda, since Veseli considers that politicians are dealing with their own and have forgotten the citizens.

The first place he stopped was Prizren University “Ukshin Hoti.” Following the meeting with them, Veseli spoke with Klan Kosova regarding the initiative of Kosovo President, Hashim Thaçi, for establishment of Kosovo Army.

“We will have the Kosovo Armed Force, the Kosovo Security Force as a military force. Let me assure you that our partnership with the United States and the European Union will be even more powerful. There should be no dilemma about this. There were unreasonable delays in transformation of KSF. It would have been ideal if we had transformation into Armed Force in 2014,” Veseli said.

He also supports the Assembly Resolution on suspension of talks with Serbia since, according to him, it is intolerable that Serbia files indictments for Kosovars having in mind that Kosovo is an example of cooperation with the Tribunal and EULEX.

Speaker Veseli did not rule out holding of extraordinary general elections.

“In the circumstances when there is no agreement to move forward, when we have flounders, we might even enter elections. But, this is an issue of a partnership that is a political agreement,” Veseli added.

Veseli, who also leads the Democratic Party of Kosovo, also told something that will happen in this political entity.

“There will be no room in PDK for all those people who do not love Kosovo, be sure about this,” he ended.

Kosovo youth not interested in Demarcation and Association

(KTV)

Demarcation and the Association are not topics that raise interest among the young people of Kosovo.

Their focus remains on unemployment, economic development and health. This is the conclusion of a poll carried out by Kosovo Democratic Institute, according to which, young people become members of political parties just for the sake of getting a job.

Questions that young people address to political representatives are mainly focused on transparency, communication with citizens, promises they have given to citizens, as well as education issues.

On the other hand, political representatives say that there is need to work on spheres where there are issues. Students mainly got interested to know how much the requests of citizens presented in public debates are taken into consideration.

However, everything that the panel members could say is that they often meet with citizens, but not also if they take their requests into consideration.

Ljubomir Maric joins Serbia’s Office for Kosovo

(RTK2) 

The Serbian Government has appointed Ljubomir Maric as Assistant Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Tanjug learned from this Office.

Maric will deal with issues related to the establishment of the Association of Serb Majority Municipalities (ASMM) in Kosovo, and with coordination of local self-governments in Kosovo. 

Government retracts draft law on salaries from Assembly

(KTV)

Government of Kosovo decided to retract the draft law on salaries from the Assembly until the other two laws, the one on civil servants and public administration, are harmonized.

This decision was taken after it was said that it was also requested by the EU Office in Kosovo to proceed these three laws together in the Assembly.

Nevertheless, according to Prime Minister Isa Mustafa, law on salaries will not be changed. 

RTK financing is Kosovo Assembly’s key obligation

(Summary of KTV Rubicon show)

To discuss the Radio and Television of Kosovo (RTK) and final amendments of the Law on this public broadcaster, on Tuesday evening KTV Rubicon show hosted RTK Deputy Director General Mufail Limani, Vetëvendosje Movement MP Shqipe Pantina, LDK MP Sadri Ferati, and the RTK Board Member Lirim Geci.

VV MP Shqipe Pantina said that problems in Radio and Television of Kosovo will not be solved with the new law because most of these problems were created by non-implementation of the earlier Law. However, according to her, some changes are necessary to lessen the interest of certain political groups within RTK. She said that changes that need to happen very soon are those related to RTK financing from incomes and not directly from the state budget. She believes that RTK should be financed through prepayment, as its main source of financing. She also noted that prepayment is not prohibited even with the current law. 

Pantina emphasised that RTK should not become a direct competition to private mediums, but that she is also against proposals for RTK not to have advertisements all. She believes that the manner how the Board is elected, in fact the manner how candidates are selected prior to sending them to Assembly is political, because the ad hoc committee in charge of their interviewing and selection is political.

On the other hand, Sadri Ferati said that Kosovo needs a strong and competitive public broadcaster. He said that key objective of the law is solution of sustainable financing of RTK. Ferai said that financing model that was discussed was prepayment as a process that will develop further. The model of financing envisaged was up to 0.4 per cent of Kosovo budget. Ferati said that RTK Board should be strengthened and given autonomy. He underlined that the Board should be held accountable if its work report is not approved twice in a row.

The main concern of RTK Deputy General Director, Mufail Limani, is sustainable financing of RTK.

“Financing is the key obligation of RTK founder, the Assembly of Kosovo,” he underlined.

“When we speak about the Kosovo public broadcaster we do not speak about one of Kosovo televisions, because it has a special legal and social mission,” he stressed.

According to him, the possibility for politicizing the discussion on RTK should be avoided. Limani also underlined that RTK has managed to include all communities, adding that all mediums in the world are subjected to pressure.

He said that in debates held in relation with the law they have noted that there is interest for RTK financing. He said that property issue of RTK should also be solved, because it impedes further development of RTK.

RTK Board Member Lirim Geci said that selection of the Board is done in compliance with Law. He said that the Board is professional and that he was never interfered or pushed to implement a particular policy.

Pantina considers that the property issue should have been solved long time ago by the Assembly and the politics is to be blamed for the property situation. She believes that problems in RTK are being created to keep it under pressure and to influence employments in it. She also said that there are people in RTK who get paid without working at all.

According to her, the wife of Klinë/Klina Mayor is one of those who get paid for the “Weekend” show.

“The case of Klinë/Klina Mayor’s wife, who gets paid 1.000 euro for the ‘Weekend’ show financed by RTK, and for which the Board is not aware of,” Pantina said.

Responding to Pantina’s statements regarding the RTK property issue, the LDK MP Ferati said that Municipality of Prishtinë/Pristina might help RTK and that not all the power is on Assembly of Kosovo. He told Pantina that the Municipality can get involved in identifying a property for Radio and Television of Kosovo. 

In the meantime, Limani said that RTK Management is worried about the manner of work report approval and the pressure that can be put on the public broadcaster through its approval.

Geci, on the other hand, agreed that Board should be held accountable and added that the Board is playing its role in communication with the Assembly.

Pantina said that RTK Board report is criticized and Assembly does not know how many people are employed in RTK, how much they get paid, and that there are RTK employees who get double salaries. According to her, RTK is most criticized institution in the country.

RTK Deputy General Director, Mufail Limani, said that all these expenses are made in line with the legal standards and are transparent. Limani considers accusations against RTK as political speeches. He also said that all Kosovo laws are implemented in RTK and that this institution has no tendency to turn the Assembly into its own enemy.