PM Mustafa against early elections

(Most monitored broadcasters, KTV&RTK1)

Commenting the no confidence motion initiative launched by Nisma për Kosovën, Prime Minister Isa Mustafa said that he is not afraid of elections. Through a post in his personal Facebook profile, PM Mustafa said that he knows that it is far more difficult to fulfil the promises made to citizens then to have elections, but as Prime Minister he is not afraid of challenges, Klan Kosova reported.

“Someone wants to forget damages worth millions caused to Kosovo and instead deal with elections. Escaping responsibility is not the way-out; we should not be slaves to polls, because when we took this duty we agreed to complete it until the end. We will do the polls when we complete all the works and when the time for regular elections comes,” wrote PM Mustafa.

PM Mustafa considered as paradox the fact that all are stating that they are ready to establish the Army while, according to him, at the same time a petition for elections is launched which puts aside the promise for the establishment Army.

Mustafa expressed his hope that the Assembly of Kosovo and its members will support demarcation, because as he said the truth always comes out.

On the other hand, the head of Nisma për Kosovën National Council, Jakup Krasniqi reacted against PM Mustafa’s statement that it is not the time for early elections.

According to Krasniqi these statements are made by someone who never made any courageous or good decision for Kosovo.

Vetëvendosje Movement is not a civil initiative anymore

(All monitored broadcasters, KTV)

Vetëvendosje Movement (VV) is not a civil initiative anymore.  VV, which was founded by Albin Kurti, applied for registration as a political party.  This change rejects earlier statements of VV officials that they are different from other political entities. Such a statement was frequently emphasized by VV former leader, Albin Kurti.

But, VV has changed its opinion and applied at Kosovo Central Election Commission (CEC) to register as a political entity.

Its registration as a political entity enables to VV to have pre-electoral coalitions with other political entities.

Adnan Rrustemi, VV representative in CEC, says that this transformation happened because the Law restricts civil initiatives from entering into pre-electoral coalitions.  Rrustemi considers this action as practical and technical, while emphasized that VV will not undergo any substantial changes.

But political commentators consider VV’s registration as a political entity in CEC as a tactical action.

Qosja: Serb MPs should not decide the fate of the Army

(RTK1&KTV)

Commenting the request of the U.S and the EU that Kosovo Army should not be established with votes of MPs but with consent of all ethnic groups in Kosovo, academic Rexhep Qosja, said that he hopes U.S and the EU, in compliance with their constitution, will remove this undemocratic condition to Kosovo Assembly, thus not leaving to the Serb MPs to decide the fate of Kosovo’s Army.

Qosja, though an opinion piece published in his Facebook page, considered that the condition to establish the Army only through agreement and consent of Serb MPs is against democratic principles and against the ethic of the American and European democracies.

Blakaj: Kosovo and Serbia to cooperate in prosecuting war crime suspects

(KTV)

Despite the fact that many suspects are wanted through international arrest warrants for war crimes committed in Kosovo, the intensity of prosecution has notably fallen, KTV reported.

46 year-old Zoran Vukotic, against whom the Special Prosecution has filed criminal charges for crimes committed against civilian population in in Studime village of Vushtrri/Vucitrn, has not acted alone, KTV reported.

Gorolub Paunovic from Vushtrri/Vucitrn, who also has an arrest warrant in Interpol, is suspected to have acted with Vukotic, but Paunovic is supposed to be living in Serbia. More suspects continue to be wanted.

However, Bekim Blakaj from Humanitarian Law Centre (HLC) considers as the main obstacle the lack of cooperation between Kosovo and Serbia in prosecuting war crime suspects.  He says that both prosecutions should exchange evidences about these cases in order for the respective prosecution to be able to file indictments.

The intensity of criminal prosecution of suspects in recent years according to Blakaj has fallen because of the time that has passed since crimes were committed and the inability of witnesses to recall the details of the suspects.

Blakaj also blames Kosovo prosecutors, who, according to him, at the time when international had the competencies to deal with war crimes, did not express interests at all to get involved in these cases.

On the other hand, representatives of families of missing persons, hope that the indictment against Vukotic will not be the last one.

GAP:  Government again failed to address EC recommendations

(All monitored broadcasters, KTV)

On Sunday, GAP Institute presented its analysis of Kosovo Budget for 2017 and the recommendations of the European Commission (EC). GAP pointed out that the Government of Kosovo again failed to implement EC’s recommendations requested in Kosovo Progress Report. GAP notes the Government of Kosovo did not allocate sufficient funds to Special Prosecution, an institution which fights corruption and organized crime. EC in its Kosovo Progress Report requested increase of prosecutors in Special Prosecution but the Ministry of Finance did allocate funds at all for 11 special prosecutors who would be recruited according to EC’s request.

In its analysis, GAP highlights several other failures in budget allocations.

“In the rule of law field, there is some progress concerning the increase of the budget of Kosovo Prosecutorial  and Judicial Councils’ however,  positions required and allowed by the Law have not been approved by the Ministry of Finance,” said Berat Thaçi of GAP.

According to this report, Kosovo Assembly is not achieving to monitor institutions which report to the Assembly, noting that no additional funds have been allocated to increase its capacity.

Financing of public broadcaster by Kosovo budget was also criticized, noting that the legal deadline for this way of financing is long due.