UNMIK Media Observer, Afternoon Edition, January 5, 2021

Albanian Language Media:

• COVID – 19: 199 new cases, four new deaths (media)
• Kosovo ensures 500 thousand anti-COVID vaccines from Pfizer (media)
• Mustafa ironizes with Osmani’s statement on her eventual return to LDK (RTK)
• Osmani outlines political future (Prishtina Insight)
• Dialogue with Serbia on 2020 Seen as Failure in Kosovo (Exit.al)
• Assembly extraordinary session for sending KSF on missions with Iowa National Guard, today (media)
• Hoxhaj: Presevo Valley will be the main issue in the dialogue with Serbia (media)
• AKR to compete in elections with LDK? (media)

Serbian Language Media:

• 19 new cases of Covid-19, one death registered in Serbian areas in Kosovo (Radio KIM)
• Vucic: Forthcoming not an easy year of fight with coronavirus, pressures on the issues related to Kosovo and Republika Srpska (Tanjug, Radio Mitrovica sever)
• Selakovic: Belgrade for the continuation of a serious and effective dialogue (Tanjug, Kosovo Online, TV Pink)
• Stano: The dialogue continues despite the elections in Kosovo; Belgrade and Pristina to cooperate on vaccines (Kontakt plus radio, Tanjug)
• Tanaskovic: It would be no surprise that Pristina bypasses Washington agreement (N1, Sputnik)
• “Diary of a Decani monk 1903-1906“ published – original records and documents from the monastery archives (KoSSev)
• Sava Janjic: To reconstruct shrines destroyed after the war (Kosovo-online)
• Yet another complaint filed on decision to ban Arlov from entering Kosovo (Radio KIM)

Opinion:

• EU cannot ignore history in Balkans enlargement (euobserver.com)

International:

• Flawed Cybersecurity Is a Ticking Time Bomb for the Balkans (foreignpolicy.com)

Humanitarian/Development:

• Year in Pictures: 2020 in the Balkans and Central Europe (Balkan Insight)
• Heartwarming harmony as Balkan tensions set aside in Croatia’s hour of need after deadly earthquake (euronews.com)

• COVID – 19: 169 new cases, 7 new deaths (media)
• EU calls on Kosovo, Serbia to cooperate on vaccination (RFE)
• Albania to donate 1,900 vaccines for doctors in Kosovo (Gazeta Express)
• “COVID destroyed Kosovo’s economy; recovery will take 2 years” (media)
• Osmani: LDK presidency must leave before we can talk about my return (media)
• Kuci: Press release by SPO for Thaci was purely political (media)
• Serbia-affiliated power company eyes supplying north Kosovo (Balkan Insight)

• COVID-19: 260 new cases, seven deaths (media)
• Zemaj: COVID-19 vaccines to reach Kosovo in February (RTK)
• Hoti: If Serbia pursued legal ways, vaccines would be allowed into Kosovo (Klan)
• Di Maio: EU should buy vaccines for Balkans (ANSA/Koha)
• LDK announces Avdullah Hoti as candidate for prime minister (media)
• Hoti: LDK is main favourite to win elections (media)
• Hoxhaj: Kurti and Hoti governments brought degradation in Kosovo (Telegrafi)
• Konjufca: Hoti and Hoxhaj together have fewer votes than LVV's Haxhiu (T7/Telegrafi)
• Osmani's initiative in coalition talks with Vetevendosje (Klan)
• Rama: KLA leaders being kept hostage (media)
• UK Embassy sends protest note to Ministry of Education over €1.8 million bid (Koha)

Albanian Language Media:

• COVID – 19: 234 new cases, seven deaths (media)
• Kosovo requests from Italy help to ensure anti-COVID-19 vaccines (media)
• Osmani and Kurti discussed political situation with Viola Von Cramon (media)
• Osmani: Time has come for our soldiers to contribute to foreign peacekeeping forces (media)
• Hoxhaj: I am certain PDK will lead with future government (RTK)
• Musliu: PDK does not have any red lines even for LVV (media)
• AAK will run on its own in the elections (media)
• Ramadani expects anti-COVID vaccines to arrive in Kosovo by March (media)

Serbian Language Media:

• In Serbian communities in Kosovo 26 newly infected (KoSSev)
• Jevtic not satisfied with the return process, 273 people returned this year (KoSSev)
• KLI report: There is a culture of impunity in Kosovo, most of the accused politicians belong to PDK (KoSSev)
• Ambassador Djuric: We want the United States to be a part of Serbia's recovery (B92, Politika)
• Office for KiM: Pristina is creating a climate in which attacks on Serbs are permissible (Kosovo-online)
• Russian Ambassador says vaccine to arrive in Serbia soon (N1, B92)
• Vucic offers help to Croatia following earthquake (BETA, N1)
• Arts, entertainment, and recreation industry suffer the most damage during the pandemic, the IT sector the least (KoSSev)
• Trajkovic: Veton Surroi, Kosovo's new leader (Kosovo Online)

International:

• Kosovo Is Losing Its Biggest Supporter In Congress; But It May Be Too Early For Serbia To Celebrate (RFE)

Humanitarian/Development:

• Two police officers suspended after video of an assault (Prishtina Insight)
• Unequal Damage, Fair Recovery? (Kosovo 2.0)

• COVID – 19: 139 new cases, 9 deaths (media)
• Kosovo Assembly adopts 2021 budget (media)
• Daka: These elections will be more costly (Koha)
• Kurti on new elections: People have already decided who to vote for (media)
• LDK meets today, to decide on its candidate for Prime Minister (media)
• Acting PDK leader Enver Hoxhaj to visit Albania today (media)
• “Biden will push for Association and Mini-Schengen in the dialogue” (Telegrafi)
• Pacolli’s advisor: We need to know exact date when vaccines will arrive (media)
• Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio to visit Kosovo today (media)
• Haradinaj: KSF Search and rescue unit to be deployed to Croatia (media)
• In Muslim region of Serbia, Ottoman-era mosques perish (Balkan Insight)

UNMIK Media Observer, Afternoon Edition, December 29, 2020

Albanian Language Media:

• COVID-19: 109 new cases, eight deaths (media)
• Osmani: Anti-COVID vaccines, only after April (Radio Free Europe)
• NISMA in coalition talks with PDK (media)
• Abrashi: We paid special attention to implementation of Washington agreement (KP/Klan)
• Weber: Thaci’s departure from politics to be seen as collapse of post-war political elite (Koha)
• Following resignation, Cakaj denies joining election race in Kosovo (Indeksonline)

Serbian Language Media:

• In Serbian communities in Kosovo 30 new cases of Covid-19, one death (Kontakt plus radio)
• European Commission aid package to help Western Balkans with vaccination (N1)
• Serbian government pandemic Crisis Staff bans New Year celebrations (N1, FoNet)
• Jevtic: Repanovic family house in Osojane robbed for the seventh time (Kosovo-online)
• Vucic on Serwer: I do not play with meaningless statements (Kosovo-online)

Opinion:

• COVID-19 only exacerbated Kosovo education’s preexisting conditions (Prishtina Insight)

Humanitarian/Development:

• Strong magnitude 6.3 earthquake hits Croatia (aljazeera.com)

• COVID – 19: 181 new cases, 8 deaths (media)
• Government doesn’t want Serbia’s help for anti-COVID vaccine (Lajmi)
• Serb doctors in the north refused vaccines from Serbia (Kallxo)
• Vaccines with a political dose in the north (Radio Free Europe)
• Kosovo Assembly adopts 2021 draft budget in first reading (media)
• PDK MP: We voted in favor of 2021 budget, although it’s not the best (media)
• “Kurti 2 government in February, we will have majority in parliament” (media)
• Hoti: LDK candidates for PM not chosen in TV studios (media)
• Osmani aims President, Assembly President posts from coalition with VV (Koha)
• LDK, VV clash over diaspora voters in CEC meeting (Express)
• COVID – 19 vaccination kicks off in Central, Eastern Europe (Balkan Insight)
• Engel: Kosovo, Albania will always have a special place in my heart (media)

Albanian Language Media:

• COVID – 19: 181 new cases, eight deaths (media)
• Hoti discusses with Varhelyi Serbia’s illegal smuggling of anti-COVID vaccines (Koha)
• Loncar: Vucic proposed to bring Covid-19 vaccines to all communities in Kosovo at beginning of January (Indeksonline)
• Kosovo Parliament to decide on Budget 2021 today (Express)
• Recica: PDK does not have special requests for approval of the budget (RTK)
• Haradinaj-Stublla travels to Turkey (RTK)
• Quni: We will soon become members of the Adriatic Charter (Koha)
• Hoti: There are several candidates for PM in LDK, each, better than the other (RTK)
• Daka: Organising elections, a challenge (RTK)

Serbian Language Media:

• 48 new cases of Covid-19 registered in Serbian areas in Kosovo on Saturday (Kontakt plus radio)
• Vucic: Did anyone ask Ms. Haradinaj which provision of the Brussels agreement we violated with the vaccines? (Kosovo-online)
• Petkovic: Politics has no place in preserving the health of citizens (KiM radio, Kontakt plus radio, RTS, Politika)
• Petkovic: Season of hunt for Serbs is not closed even at time of pandemics (Kosovo Online)
• Loncar for Indeksonline – Vucic proposed to bring Covid-19 vaccines to all communities in Kosovo at beginning of January (KoSSev)
• Fr. Ilarion: Let us not strive for imaginary happiness because it lies in our hearts (KoSSev)
• Serbia to send Covid-19 vaccines to BiH's Republika Srpska entity (N1)
• NATO-led KFOR: Security in Kosovo stable (BETA, N1, KIM Radio)
• Permission of “Hortikultura” needed for Serb funerals at Pristina Orthodox cemetery? (Radio KIM, Gracanica-online)
• Milorad Arlov banned to enter Kosovo (Radio KIM)
• Halimi: How to trust the Kosovo judiciary after the embarrassment with the trial for the murder of Ivanovic? (Kosovo Online, Politika)
• HLC: On Nenad Arsic’s sentence after insight and analysis of the first-instance verdict (Radio KIM)

International:

• Kosovo Protests ‘Illegal’ Arrival of COVID-19 Vaccines in North (Balkan Insight)

COVID – 19: 215 new cases, 4 deaths (media)
No Kosovo-Serbia agreement without status discussion, Lajcak tells Klan Kosova
Assembly expected to vote on 2021 budget today (media)
PDK to support 2021 budget bill (media)
PDK: Governments allowed Serbia undermining Kosovo's sovereignty (media)
Kosovo Government: No information vaccines entered by legal channels (media)
Haradinaj-Stublla: Serbia threatening Kosovo’s national security (media)
Selimi calls on judiciary to investigate vaccine delivery in the north (media)
Reshitaj questions vaccines being used in the north (media)
Kurti: Vetevendosje aims to have over 65 seats after new elections (Koha)
Police stop Serbian official from entering Kosovo (media)
Kosovo: Top politicians sent to Hague to face war charges (Balkan Insight)
2020 showed that Kosovo’s social contract needs rethinking (Prishtina Insight)

UNMIK Media Observer, Afternoon Edition, December 24, 2020

Albanian Language Media:

• COVID – 19: 331 new cases, 9 deaths (media)
• “Healthcare workers, people with chronic illnesses to get first vaccines” (media)
• Mustafa: Court’s ruling was unjust and unprofessional (media)
• Vetevendosje’s Haxhiu: We don’t plan to talk about coalitions (media)
• PDK’s Haliti does not rule out coalition with Vetevendosje (media)
• Serwer: Fall of Hoti-led government doesn’t produce political instability (Koha)
• Pause in the Kosovo – Serbia dialogue (Radio Free Europe)

Serbian Language Media:

22 new cases of Covid-19, three deaths registered in Serbian areas in Kosovo (KoSSev)
Brnabic first European PM vaccinated against coronavirus (KoSSev, N1)
Vasic: I expect verdict of acquittal in Arsic’s case (Radio KIM)
Dusan Janjic: I would not exclude possibility of Serb being Kosovo Prime Minister (Kosovo-online)
Viola von Cramon: Vučić’s statement on independence of Kosovo is not his final say (Kosovo-online)
Petković reacts to latest statement of von Cramon (Radio Mitrovica sever)
Majority of Serbian citizens support EU membership (N1)

Opinion:

• Kosovo can’t allow the dialogue to continue in this form (Prishtina Insight)

International:

• Kosovo pins U.N. membership hopes on Biden presidency (Reuters)
• Switzerland, Serbia set to vaccinate before EU (Politico)

Humanitarian/Development:

• Kosovo Opera and Ballet Law Dances Around Hall Issue (Balkan Insight)