• Caretaker Prime Minister Kurti’s interview with Kanal 10 (media)
• Trial over attack on Iber Lepenci to begin on December 24 (Koha)
• Early elections: Second chance for Kurti and stabilization of Kosovo (Eurasiareview)
• OSCE regrets CEC decision not to certify Serbian List candidates (Kosovo Online)
• Guerot on non-certification of SL candidates: Disappointing. questionable (Kossev)
• ‘The deepest wound: Playing politics with the missing from the Kosovo war (BIRN)
• Ulutas: NATO engagement in the region as strong as always (Telegrafi)
• Two Kallxo journalists awarded for investigations into women’s empowerment and workers’ rights (PI)
• Hargreaves visits Pristina Mayor Rama, congratulates him on reelection (Gazeta 10)
• Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities with multicultural center in Pristina (Klan)

Caretaker Prime Minister Kurti’s interview with Kanal 10 (media)

The main news in the media on Thursday evening was Kosovo caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s interview with Kanal 10.

Kurti said Kosovo has very good relations with the United States and that the only disagreement he had with the US were about Serbia and its structures in Kosovo and never about bilateral issues. “When the United States asked us to host the refugees from Afghanistan we immediately said ‘yes’. We removed the 10 percent tariff. And we also hosted those that the US do not want in their territory. If I am not mistaken, one or two of them are already here, and we have agreed to receive 50 of them,” he said.

Kurti said that there were cases when the US considered that his stance vis-à-vis Serbia was very rigorous. “But I cannot expect the US to have the same stance toward Serbia that Kosovo has. The US have recognized Serbia, they have recognized Kosovo, and they are our friends and allies. In fact, they are our key and irreplaceable partner and our special friend,” he said.

Asked about the possible aftermath of the December 28 parliamentary elections, Kurti said that the Vetevendosje Movement does not intend to form a coalition with the other parties and that their goal is to have more than 48 MPs so that they can form a government on their own. He also said that “at a time when we needed a coalition, we saw that it was not possible, so our aim is a government without a coalition”.

Kurti said that in a letter sent to the President of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, he had asked for the former KLA trials who are in the Hague to be returned and kept in detention in Kosovo. “I have asked for two things. First, I offered my guarantees for them to come to Kosovo and to stay in prison here. To be close to their families, it would be a great alleviation. They said they should be kept in detention, but why should they stay in the Hague when they can do that in Kosovo. A prison is a prison,” he said. “The second thing I asked for was the possibility of the Specialist Chambers to try war crimes that Serbia committed in Kosovo. On the first issue, the president of the court said more or less that they cannot be returned to Kosovo, while on the second matter it was more of a yes than a no. I believe that they should publish the response to my letter”.

During the interview, Kurti distanced himself from the language that VV representative at the Central Election Commission, Sami Kurteshi, recently used against the media in Kosovo. “I am against any generalization, and I do not support such a language. But you should keep in mind that different people have different reactions, and they are responsible for themselves,” he said. Kurti also said that the Vetevendosje Movement is a political party and that the leader cannot take measures against party members. “We are a democratic political party, and the leader cannot take such measures. There is the party statute and a disciplinary statute where such matters are addressed,” he said.

Asked about the stalemate in the high-level dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Kurti said that when there is no dialogue between the two sides, life in Kosovo does not stop. “I am actively engaged for the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia. But when there are pauses in the process, and not because of me, then I work on the normalization of the state of Kosovo,” he said.

Trial over attack on Iber Lepenci to begin on December 24 (Koha)

The Basic Court in Pristina said on Thursday that the trial of three people for the attack on the Iber Lepenci water canal in the north of Kosovo will start on December 24. Among the accused are brothers Jovan and Dragisa Vicentijevic, and one of them told the prosecution that he was trained at the same Serbian military grounds as the group led by Milan Radoicic who carried out the attack in Banjska in September 2023. The three defendants are accused of illegal possession of weapons, while the two brothers are accused of committing the criminal offences of “endangering constitutional order by destroying or damaging public installations and equipment”, “commission of terrorist act” and “espionage”.

Kosovo caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in a Facebook post on Wednesday that intelligence data and the findings of the expertise showed that the three defendants “were closely linked to Serbia’s state structures”. “Evidence has been secured that the three defendants were on site on the critical night, and for this I thank the respective institutions of the Republic of Kosovo and the US FBI for their professional work in this case,” he said.

Early elections: Second chance for Kurti and stabilization of Kosovo (Eurasiareview)

Kosovo’s early parliamentary elections, the tenth since the introduction of the multiparty system, are set for 28 December 2025. They were called because the parliament failed to form a government after the 9 February 2025 elections, followed by a second, equally unsuccessful attempt. As a result, a new electoral cycle became unavoidable. A new president is also expected to be elected shortly after the elections. Local elections were held earlier, on 12 October 2025.

A total of 24 political entities have registered to participate: 18 political parties, three coalitions, two citizens’ initiatives and one independent candidate. The voter register lists 2,076,422 eligible voters, nearly 80,000 of whom are registered abroad. According to the population census conducted in April and May 2024, 1,586,659 people reside in Kosovo, with the gap between the number of registered voters and the actual population reflecting, among other factors, the presence of underage residents who do not yet have the right to vote.

According to a decision of the Central Election Commission (CEC), voting will be organised in 38 municipalities in Kosovo and in 36 states abroad, with the total cost of the elections estimated at 11.49 million euros.

The Assembly of Kosovo consists of 120 members, 20 of whom hold reserved seats allocated to minority communities: 10 to the Serb community, three to the Bosniak community, two to the Turkish community, four to the Roma and Egyptian (RAE) communities, and one to the Gorani community. The electoral threshold for representation in the Assembly is 5%, while 61 votes are required to secure a parliamentary majority.

The three main political rivals are: Albin Kurti’s Self-Determination Movement (Vetëvendosje – LVV), together with its partners Alternativa, Guxo and the Albanian Christian Democratic Party (PSD); the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) led by Lumir Abdixhiku; and the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) led by Bedri Hamza. The Serb List (SL), as the dominant political party of Kosovo Serbs with the support of Belgrade, and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) led by Ramush Haradinaj, have limited influence on Kosovo’s broader political dynamics.

Read more at: https://shorturl.at/TyadQ

OSCE regrets CEC decision not to certify Serbian List candidates (Kosovo Online)

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Mission in Kosovo expressed regret over the decision of the Central Election Commission (CEC) not to certify the candidates of the Serb List for the December 28 elections.

“The OSCE Mission in Kosovo regrets the CEC’s decision not to certify the candidates of the Serb List for the December 28 elections. Credible elections must be representative of all communities and political parties in Kosovo. The Mission recalls that independent, professional, and transparent election management is essential for maintaining public confidence in the electoral process,” the Mission stated in a comment to Kosovo Online.

The OSCE Mission noted that an appeal has been submitted to the Election Complaints and Appeals Panel and emphasized that it will continue to closely monitor developments.

The German Embassy in Pristina, in a response to Kosovo Online, underlined that the obstructive behavior of certain CEC members who refuse to verify the Serb List and its candidates negatively affects Kosovo’s international reputation and its path toward European integration.

Guerot on non-certification of SL candidates: Disappointing, questionable (Kossev)

French Ambassador to Kosovo, Olivier Guerot, said in a post on X on Thursday that “the decision taken yesterday by the CEC regarding the candidates to the upcoming elections is disappointing and questionable. It is not contributing to transparent and inclusive elections”.

‘The deepest wound: Playing politics with the missing from the Kosovo war (BIRN)

Arbenita Muhaxheri has spent most of her life wondering what happened to her mother after she was stopped at a Serbian checkpoint in 1999 during the Kosovo war. A deal agreed a year ago to expedite the search for 1,600 people still missing from the war is slowly gathering dust.

On an April day in 1999, Arbenita Muhaxheri’s mother, Sanije, went out for food. The trip would cost Sanije her life.

“I was 12,” said Arbenita. “Now, I’m 39, and I still don’t know where my mother’s body is.”

Sanije Selmani-Muhaxheri and a female cousin were stopped at a Serbian checkpoint at the entrance to Ferizaj/Urosevac, in the southeast of Kosovo, at the height of the 1998-99 war, three weeks into NATO air strikes that would eventually force the withdrawal of Belgrade’s forces.

Arbenita said the two women came home, but told their neighbours in the village of Dermjak that the police officers and soldiers manning the checkpoint had taken their IDs, told them to drop off their shopping, and then return. They went back, believing they would receive their IDs, and were never heard from again.

Sanije Selmani-Muhaxheri and her cousin are among 1,600 people – most of them Albanians – still unaccounted for more than a quarter of a century since the war in Kosovo ended and the then southern Serbian province, majority-populated by Albanians, became a ward of the United Nations.

A year ago in December 2024, in talks mediated by the European Union, Serbia and Kosovo agreed to implement a deal initially brokered in mid-2023 calling for unrestricted access to information that might shed light on the fate of the war missing, including classified data.

Today, the Joint Declaration on Missing Persons remains unimplemented; an EU-chaired commission, envisaged under the deal to steer implementation, has yet to be created amid a row over its terms of reference.

Read more at: https://shorturl.at/1ZT6O

Ulutas: NATO engagement in the region as strong as always (Telegrafi)

Commander of the NATO-led mission in Kosovo, KFOR, Ozkan Ulutas, said during a visit to Belgrade, that NATO’s engagement in the region is as strong and unwavering as always and that the security of the Western Balkans is closely tied with the security of Europe and the entire Euro-Atlantic zone. He said he was pleased to return to Belgrade and thanked Mojsilovic, the head of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces, for their open and fruitful cooperation during Ulutas’ first mandate as head of KFOR.

Ulutas said that regular and open communication between KFOR and the Serbian Armed Forces are crucial to address relevant developments and to prevent any possible security escalation in swift, transparent and constructive fashion. “In the coming weeks and months, I will do my part to ensure that we make best use of our regular communications. For over 25 years, KFOR has played an integral and crucial role in preserving peace and maintaining a safe environment for all people living in Kosovo,” he said.

Two Kallxo journalists awarded for investigations into women’s empowerment and workers’ rights (PI)

Kallxo.com journalists, Adelina Ahmeti and Egzon Dahsyla, were awarded by the Association of Journalists of Kosovo for their investigations into women’s empowerment and worker's rights.

At its annual journalism awards on December 10, the Association of Journalists of Kosovo, AJK, awarded Kallxo.com journalists for their Investigations exposing institutional negligence in domestic violence cases and dangerous construction practices.

Adelina Ahmeti received the award for Best Reporting on Women’s Empowerment for her investigation, “Judge and Prosecutor Caught Discussing With Domestic Violence Suspect How to Silence the Victim.”

The investigation was based on an audio recording obtained by Kallxo.com and published on September 5. The recording captured Judge Naime Krasniqi-Jashanica and former Prosecutor Edina Jupolli speaking with domestic violence defendant Arton Tullari, discussing ways to prevent the victim from speaking in the trial.

Rather than guaranteeing the victim’s rights, the judge and prosecutor were heard sympathising with the defendant and planning to stop the victim from testifying.

Read more at: https://shorturl.at/ZplrF

Hargreaves visits Pristina Mayor Rama, congratulates him on reelection (Gazeta 10)

UK Ambassador to Kosovo, Jonathan Hargreaves, visited Pristina Mayor Perparim Rama on Thursday and congratulated him on his reelection and discussed Rama’s plans for the municipality. “We looked forward to preparations for the 2030 Mediterranean Games in Pristina. I also presented the Embassy’s plans for connecting British and Kosovan tech businesses,” Hargreaves said in a Facebook post.

Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities with multicultural center in Pristina (Klan)

The news website reports that the Voice of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians (VORAE) has opened a cultural center in Pristina, KRAH, as a brave initiative uniting arts, education and diversity to empower these communities and to build new bridges with society. A press statement notes that KRAH is not just a cultural center but a vibrant space of creativity and a platform where the voice of different communities is heart, seen and respected. “Through exhibitions, artistic activities, trainings and workshops, KRAH aims to create new opportunities for personal and collective development,” the statement notes.