UNMIK Media Observer, Afternoon Edition, November 6, 2023

Albanian Language Media:

• President Osmani travelled for an official visit to Singapore (Reporteri)
• Lajcak today in Kosovo for meetings with Kurti and opposition (RFE)
• LDK MP expects Lajcak to present Association draft to opposition leaders (Express)
• Kurti to participate at Paris Summit on Friday (Reporteri)
• Serwer: Vucic’s ambitions are biggest threat to the region (media)
• Maqedonci promises increased cooperation with Turkish drone company (media)
• Survivor of sexual violence in war confesses, wants justice (RTK)

Serbian Language Media:

• Brnabic meets Xi Jinping in Beijing (RTS)
• Petkovic: Pristina refused invitation for dialogue that was supposed to happen on November 7 (Tanjug, RTV)
• Civic Initiative Serbian Survival to become political party (Radio KIM)
• Petkovic sends request to OSCE in relation to upcoming parliamentary elections (Radio KIM, Tanjug)
• SMS message to MTS d.o.o. numbers for switching to “RKS” plates; more than 470 vehicles re-registered since the deadline extension (KoSSev)
• Specialist Court extends detention of Isni Kilaj (Kosovo Online)
• Poll shows Kosovo Serbs fear Serbian List, don’t trust Pristina (N1, NMagazin, Beta)

Opinion:

• Ben-Meir: EU’s Serbia-Kosovo mediation has hit a brick wall (Weekly Blitz)
• Zoric: Peace has no alternative (KiM radio, Slobodno Srpski)

International:

• Media in Kosovo, Serbia, Focus too Much on Conflict – Report (Prishtina Insight)
• US Blacklists Former Kosovo Procurement Official for Corruption (BIRN)
• Kosovo University Offers First Master’s Course in Transitional Justice (BIRN)

Albanian Language Media:
• EU: New proposal on Association is balanced (RTK)
• Kryeziu: Kosovo did not accept or agree to any autonomy (RTK)
• Escobar firm on Kosovo-Serbia agreements; “Legally binding” (Sinjali)
• Svecla: Our citizens positively responded to decision to register vehicles (media)
• Kurti: We will surely win the new elections too (Kallxo)
• Osmani attends the U.S. Marine Corps Birthday Ball (media)
• Isufaj also enters race for Chief Prosecutor of Special Prosecution (Albanian Post)
Serbian Language Media:
• Vucic: The Brussels meeting was supposed to take place in a couple of days, but the other side did not accept it (Tanjug, RTS)
• Security Information Agency (BIA) chief Aleksandar Vulin resigns (Tanjug, media)
• “Since the SNS has been in power, the goal has been to turn the BIA into a party police” (N1)
• Petkovic: By announcing the increase of KSF and KP members, Kurti threatens the Serbs in Kosovo (Radio Mitrovica sever, Kosovo Online)
• Serbian List: And the world is silently watching it (Radio Mitrovica sever, Kosovo Online)
• Petkovic: A contingent with medicine enters Kosovo, to be delivered to hospitals (KoSSev)
• Serbian List representatives meet with CoE rapporteur (Tanjug)
• Politicians are allowed to lie; it is up to the media to not transmit those lies (KoSSev)

Albanian Language Media:

• Kurti: Draft statute for Association cuts off legacy of Kosovo’s non-recognition (RFE)
• Gervalla: We expect Serbia to declare itself about Serbia (Deutsche Welle)
• Special Intervention Unit to protest again on November 7 (Kallxo)
• EULEX arrests Kilaj; Kastrati: Special Court should stop persecuting liberators (KSP)
• Attackers of reporters in the north did not face justice (RFE)
• U.S. sanction former procurement director at Ministry of Trade, Nexhat Krasniqi (media)

Serbian Language Media:

• The safety of journalists: Reporting during crisis situations a serious risk (Radio Mitrovica sever, KiM radio, Kontakt plus radio, KoSSev)
• Rasic on the strategy for the protection of community interests: A long process, but the most important project (KiM radio)
• UNDP analysis: Basic expenditures in Kosovo have been growing for three years in a row (KoSSev)
• Vucic denies claims he will recognize Kosovo, silent on signing of Ohrid agreement (Beta, N1)
• Trajkovic: Vucic's policy towards Kosovo will be crowned with high betrayal of national interests (KiM radio, Beta, N1, NMagazin)
• Stojanovic and Bisevac gifted Gracanica municipality with “the construction tape for suspension of illegal construction” (KiM radio, Medija Centar Caglavica, KoSSev)
• Abbot Sava with Bakojani on the challenges of the Serbs and the SPC in Kosovo (Kosovo Online)

International:

• 'Let's Just Be Albanians': A New Movement In Kosovo Calls On Muslims To Abandon Islam (RFE)
• Miners at Kosovo’s Trepca Giant End Strike (Balkan Insight)
• Teachers, Parents Must Adapt to Address Peer Violence in Balkans (Balkan Insight)

Albanian Language Media:
• Agreement reached, Trepca mineworkers’ strike ends (RTK)
• Osmani: Proposal of draft statute of Association should be reviewed by court (media)
• Kurti to report to Assembly on latest meeting in Brussels and Association draft (media)
• SPO conducts operations in investigation of administration of justice offences (media)
• Kurti: Kosovo’s membership in CoE – a historic process (media)
• Hovenier welcomes minister’s decision to supply hospitals in north (media)
• Rama: Association’s draft statute is an EU draft (media)
• Serbia deletes 3,370 Albanians in Presevo Valley from voter lists (Koha)
Serbian Language Media:
• Dacic: Pristina more likely to open embassy on moon than in Belgrade (Tanjug)
• Bocan-Kharchenko: Vucic is clear - he will not recognize Kosovo (Kosovo Online, Politika, Tanjug)
• Ponos: Vucic and Kurti are the "yin and yang" of the Kosovo disaster (NMagazin, N1, Nova.rs)
• Petkovic: The opposition hopes that they will succeed in deceiving the citizens with falsehoods at the expense of Kosovo (Kosovo Online)
• The police in Zubin Potok complete the station, put up a sign and flags (RTS)
• Municipality of Strpce: Concern about firewood is increasing (Kontakt plus radio)
• NJSI protest in front of the government building with opposition support, media reports on success in Banjska, Svecla and Kurti on investments in special forces (KoSSev)
International Media:
• Kosovo Serb Testifies About Son’s Abduction by Guerrillas (Balkan Insight)
• Troubles Underground: Kosovo's Trepca Miners Strike For Better Conditions (RFE)
• High-level conference in Germany: There is consensus on EU enlargement and reform, roadmap needed (EWB)

Albanian Language Media:

• Kurti: In order to preserve community, discrimination must be fought (media)
• President Osmani meets Dora Bakojanis (RTK)
• EU: We will soon invite Bislimi and Petkovic to Brussels (Reporteri)
• Kryeziu: Discussions can only continue where they left off on October 26 (RTK)
• Rama announces "supportive visit" to Kosovo after acceptance of EU plan (media)
• Krasniqi: Government MPs with monthly income close to €2000, voted against miners and policemen (media)
• Queue in front of vehicle registration centre in the north of Kosovo (RFE)
• SPO raids house of Isni Kilaj (media)

Serbian Language Media:

• Vucic informed Bocan-Kharchenko about the difficult situation in Kosovo (RTS, Tanjug)
• Vucic: I will never sign the independence of Kosovo (Kosovo Online)
• Nova.rs: Kurti accepted the CSM, Vucic agreed to the agreement, asking to sign it after the elections (N1)
• Unclear when the population census will be held in Kosovo (KiM radio, Radio Gorazdevac)
• The house of the Dukic family from Suvi Do near Lipljan robbed (Kosovo Online)

Opinion:

• Hasani: Unveiling the Parallel: Serbia’s Failed Attempt to Imitate Russia’s Strategy with Neighbours (Prishtina Insight)

International:

• Why Ursula von der Leyen needs the Balkans to believe in EU membership (Financial Times)

Albanian Language Media:
• Kurti: Needs and desires are simpler than solutions (media)
• Svecla: Average monthly income of officers who protested is over €2,000 (media)
• Albanian PM’s proposal for Kosovo-Serbia agreement published (Klan)
• PDK: The Specialist Chambers must stop political persecution (media)
• Rasic: One third of Serbs fled Kosovo because of the Serbian List (media)
• Reuten: The West must draw a line on Serbia (media)
Serbian Language Media:
• Bilcik: Enlargement top priority, Von der Leyen clearly said EU wants Serbia (The Guardian, N1, Beta, Tanjug)
• Senator Shaheen: The relationship between Serbia and Kosovo worrying (VoA, KiM radio)
• Bishop Teodosije met with the British ambassadors from Belgrade and Pristina (KoSSev)
• The doctor arrested in April in Jarinje released (KoSSev)
• Those wanted for war crimes in Kosovo released in Montenegro (RFE, KoSSev)
• ANEM: 56 cases of threats, attacks on journalists, N1 and Danas targeted the most (FoNet, N1)
International Media:
• Western countries press for reform ahead of Ukraine decision (Politico)

Albanian Language Media:

• Government: Published document doesn’t correspond with EU-U.S. proposal (media)
• Kurti: A Republic of all, not only of the majority (Kosovapress)
• Special Intervention Unit protests: Don’t play with our dignity (Koha)
• SPO raids house of former advisor to Thaci (media)
• 63 attacks and threats against reporters and media reported in 10 months (Klan Kosova)
• KPC again sends proposal for Isufaj as state chief prosecutor to Osmani (media)
• Von Cramon: We need democratic Serbia, not further appeasement of Vucic (media)
• Forensic teams, international missions at site of damaging of Orthodox graves (Kallxo)
• Police stops a Serb, find emblems of Serbian army, baseball bat in the car (Klan)

Serbian Language Media:

• President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic announced parliamentary elections on December 17 (media)
• Serbian National Assembly President announced local elections in Serbia on December 17 (media)
• Surlic: European officials use the term "de facto recognition" to please Pristina, constructive ambiguity about the CSM (ZSO) (RTS)
• Pristina forensics opens an investigation at the dug-out cemetery in N. Mitrovica, numerous international organizations also at the scene (KoSSev)
• Office for KiM: School in Kamenica stoned (KiM radio)
• Ambassador says US not neutral on Kosovo (N1)
• Research: More than a third of Serbian citizens see the USA as an enemy (N1, FoNet, Beta, NMagazin)
• Neue Zurcher Zeitung: Vucic wants to control public opinion (N1)
• Borrell: Well-managed accession process will also strengthen EU (N1)

International:

• Trepca Miners in Mitrovica Demand Improved Working Conditions (BIRN)
• Serbia Schedules Early Elections for December 17 (Balkan Insight)

Albanian Language Media:
Von der Leyen in Belgrade demands 'de facto' recognition of Kosovo's independence (RTK)
Hovenier: Agreements are binding even without signatures (media)
AAK calls on government to implement dialogue obligations as soon as possible (Koha)
Paparaci claims to possess draft statute of Association agreed by Kurti (media)
Government approves Draft Law for Budget of 2024 (media)
Court of Appeal confirms Basic Court Decision on three Banjska attackers (media)
Rama surprised by EU's non-reaction to Dodik's statements (Koha)
Artan Behrami's lawyer calls SPO’s orders for raid unconstitutional (media)
Citaku: SPO conducting  "witch hunt" against anyone connected to KLA (media)
Serbian Language Media:
Von der Leyen from Belgrade: De facto recognition means documents, institutions, CSM (N1)
Von der Leyen, Brnabic discuss EU growth plan, reforms (Tanjug)
Search of the "Metal" store in Zvecan, Elshani says not related to Banjska (Radio Mitrovica sever)
The Court of Appeal rejected the appeal, the three detained for the Banjska case remain in custody (KiM radio)
Rada Trajkovic: Vucic will first recognize Kosovo documents and passports, and the rest after the election (Beta, Danas)
Petkovic: Rada Trajkovic has neither a moral nor a legitimate right to attack Vucic (Radio Mitrovica sever)
Serbia Names New Ambassadors to Vienna, Sarajevo, Riyadh, and UNESCO (Beta)
Dveri Movement: Statehood and patriotic opposition parties to join forces pre or post-election (Beta, media)
International Media:
EU Chief Demands Kosovo and Serbia Stick to Normalisation Deal (Balkan insight)
The best deal Kosovo and Serbia can get (EUobserver)

Albanian Language Media:

• An Explanatory Note on the Kosovo-Serbia agreement (Albanian Post)
• SPO raids apartment of Thaci’s former advisor, Artan Behrami (Koha)
• Palokaj: No sign that measures against Kosovo will be lifted (KTV)
• Rasic comments on decision for free registration of vehicles into RKS plates (media)
• Haradinaj: NATO membership guarantees more security and peace in the region (media)
• “I will get the Kosovo passport as soon as possible” (RFE)

Serbian Language Media:

• Hill: The proposals "on the table" for some time, Belgrade and Pristina should reach an agreement as soon as possible (Tanjug)
• Clinical Hospital Center Kosovska Mitrovica: The hospital pharmacy almost empty, patients sent to central Serbia (Beta, NMagazin, Politika, N1)
• Issuance of documents overshadowed by high-level politics (KoSSev)
• Brnabic on elections: If we lose, we will be a responsible opposition (N1, Beta)
• International law professor Milanovic: We don't know what exactly it means when they ask for de facto recognition (NMagazin, Beta)
• Momcilo Trajkovic: The Serbian List does not have the support of the people (KIM radio)

Opinion:

• Glenny: Same problems 20 years later (N1)

International:

• Leaked – Serbia signs lithium exploitation agreement with European Commission (balkangreenenergynews.com)

Albanian Language Media:
• Von der Leyen: Kosovo to accept Association, Serbia de facto recognition (media)
• Osmani: EU should open its doors to Kosovo, lift measures (RTK)
• Kurti pointed out to Von der Leyen the need for extradition of Radoicic to Kosovo (media)
• Haxhiu: Our reform journey in justice will continue (Klan)
• Specialized Chambers confiscate materials from Shala’s and Smakaj’s properties (media)
• CDHRF: Specialized Chambers causing psychological violence (media)
• Deadline for registration of cars with RKS license plates postponed until December 1 (media)
• Indictment for Bislimi, Beqa, Haxhiu and Lushtaku’s fight in the Assembly (media)
Serbian Language Media:
• Serbian gov't proposes dissolution of parliament, calling of elections (Tanjug, media)
• Vucic to receive von der Leyen in Belgrade Tuesday (media)
• Vucic says he will discuss all important issues with von der Leyen (RTS)
• Von der Leyen to Osmani: EU accession only after normalization with Belgrade (N1)
• Lawyer: Detention of Dusan Obrenovic extended for two more months (Kosovo Online, KoSsev, media)
• Montenegrin Minister of Justice refuses to extradite another Serb Pristina accuses of alleged war crimes (Kosovo Online, media)
• “State-building opposition” negotiations fall through (N1, media)
International Media:
• Faced with Growing Discontent, Kosovo’s Kurti Reinstates Police Hazard Pay (Balkan Insight)
• What of Inter-Ethnic Relations in Post-Banjska Kosovo? (Balkan Insight)
• Videos Show Kosovo Serb Politician Being Followed Before Murder (Balkan Insight)