Belgrade Media Report 16 January 2019
United Nations Office in Belgrade
Daily Media Highlights
Wednesday 16 January 2019
LOCAL PRESS
• Putin says Russia views Balkans as space for constructive cooperation (Novosti/Politika)
• Vucic: Remove taxes and talks can continue (Beta)
• Fabrizi: EU to continue to mediate Belgrade-Pristina dialogue (Beta)
• Dacic: KFOR remains only legal and legitimate military formation in Kosovo (Beta/RTS)
• Drecun: Kosovo most important issue during Putin’s visit (RTS)
REGIONAL PRESS
Bosnia & Herzegovina
• B&H CoM fails to discuss Annual National Program of B&H due to lack of support of Serb Ministers (BHT1)
• Dodik’s advisor Perisic: B&H membership in NATO without agreement can cause new conflict (Dnevni list)
• SNSD requests postponing sessions of B&H HoR until Presidency appoints B&H CoM Chairman-Designate (TV1/EuroBlic)
• Dodik meets Ivantsov; Two officials discuss upcoming visit of Russian President to Belgrade (ATV)
• Vucic: I want B&H to be Serbia’s partner (ATV/Dnevni list)
• Reactions to Vucic’s comparison of B&H Croats and Kosovo Serbs (Dnevni avaz)
fYROM
• Presidential elections will be held on 21 April, Xhaferi to announce them on 8 February (Meta)
• Mickoski sees big VMRO win in the coming elections (Republika)
• Law on Use of Languages published in Official Gazette (Meta)
• Ivanov: The laws on languages and its ratification were published unconstitutionally (Meta)
• Xhaferi: Impeachment could be launched against Ivanov (Nezavisen vesnik)
• VMRO warns the Official Gazette Director: This is a punishable violation of the law (Nezavisen vesnik)
• MFA tell Moscow, the future will confirm the correctness of the Prespa Agreement (Meta)
• Lavrov: Moscow does not oppose the new name for Macedonia, but there is the issue of legitimacy (Nezavisen vesnik)
Albania
• Kosovo customs in Durres, Rama: Greater Albania does not exist (ADN)
• Border controls, Lleshaj meeting with Macedonian counterpart (ADN)
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SOURCES
• Serbia’s president says he always asks Putin for advice (TASS)
Read More →PDK denies having offered LDK support to bring down Haradinaj-led government (Telegrafi)
The Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) has denied it has offered the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) its support to bring down the government of Kosovo led by Ramush Haradinaj. PDK deputy leader and head of the party’s parliamentary group, Memli Krasniqi, said no PDK official discussed any such thing with LDK. “We lead the […]
Read More →Haradinaj responds to U.S. once again: Tax is not related to you but to Serbia and Russia (Express)
The Prime Minister of Kosovo Ramush Haradinaj reiterated that the 100 percent tax on Serbian goods will not be lifted without recognition of Kosovo by this neighboring country. During his visit at Privatisation Agency of Kosovo, Haradinaj said the tax is not related to the U.S. but to Serbia and Russia. “We will remove it […]
Read More →Kosovo’s EU Visa Liberalisation Hopes Dwindle in 2019 (Balkan Insight)
The challenges that await the European Union in 2019 will likely again delay Kosovo’s hopes of obtaining a visa-free regime, and keep its citizens waiting in long lines at embassies’ doors, experts warn. They add that yet another delay in getting visa liberalisation will further damage the EU’s battered reputation in Kosovo – once the […]
Read More →Thaci: A liberator is unjustly being interviewed in The Hague (media)
President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci said today that the former KLA commander Sami Lushtaku was “unjustly” being interviewed by the Specialist Prosecutor in The Hague. In a Facebook post, Thaci listed war crimes Serbian forces committed in the region of Drenica saying: “Serbian police and military forces killed and massacred hundreds of other innocent civilians […]
Read More →Negotiating Team says dialogue platform will soon reach Assembly (Koha)
Kosovo negotiating team for dialogue with Serbia met today at the offices of the Social Democratic Initiative for Kosovo (NISMA) whose leader and co-chair of the team, Fatmir Limaj, said a platform for dialogue will soon reach the Assembly. Limaj said they are waiting for President Hashim Thaci to pass on all relevant documents relating […]
Read More →NGOs on the anniversary of Ivanovic’s assassination seek of international community an independent investigation (Facebook, Kontakt plus radio)
Members of the advocacy platform Empirika – civil society organizations, issued a statement on the anniversary of the murder of CI SDP, Oliver Ivanovic, reports Kontakt plus radio. ”On the anniversary of the assassination of our fellow citizen, friend, neighbor and a leading political figure among Kosovo Serbs, Oliver Ivanovic, a group of NGOs, members […]
Read More →Putin: Unlike the West, we’re not making Serbia choose (Tanjug, B92, Vecernje Novosti, Politika)
Russian President Vladimir Putin says his country respect the Serbian leadership’s decision to join the EU. “Unlike our Western partners, we do not try to pose an artificial dilemma for Belgrade and make Serbia choose whether to be with Russia or with the European Union,” Putin said in an interview for Serbian dailies Politika and […]
Read More →Bahtiri submits petition for unification of Mitrovica to Kosovo institutions (media)
Mitrovica Mayor Agim Bahtiri submitted to the Kosovo Assembly Speaker Kadri Veseli petition calling for unification of two Mitrovica municipalities signed by 16,000 citizens. On the occasion, Bahtiri said that over 15,000 citizens continue to live as displaced and cannot go back to their homes in the north of Kosovo. Bahtiri said he was forced […]
Read More →Bombs and Bullets: Fear and Loathing in North Kosovo (BIRN)
A year after the murder of Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic, a slew of gun and bomb attacks in Kosovo’s lawless north remain unsolved. First, they blew up his car. They torched his party’s headquarters. Someone broke into his home and threatened his wife. Then they blew up his car again. “They did everything they […]
Read More →Hague Prosecution Grills Ex-KLA Commander as ‘Suspect Witness’ (Balkan Insight)
Former Kosovo Liberation Army commander Rrustem Mustafa said after being interviewed in The Hague that he had been asked ‘very serious questions’ after being invited as a ‘suspect witness’. After a nine-hour interview at the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office in The Hague, former Kosovo Liberation Army commander Rrustem Mustafa told the media on Tuesday that he […]
Read More →Pacolli: We cannot say “no” to the U.S. (RTK)
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Kosovo Begjet Pacolli told RTK that Kosovo cannot reject the U.S. request to remove the 100 percent tax on Serbian goods. He said he will discuss today with the Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj to advise him to take the U.S. request into consideration. Speaking about Kosovo’s diplomacy, Pacolli […]
Read More →LINKS
UNMIK
Peacekeeping
UN News Center
From Google News- Foreign remittances to Kosovo up 5% y/y in Q1 - SeeNews 26/04/2024Foreign remittances to Kosovo up 5% y/y in Q1 SeeNews
- The Meeting of the chief Negotiators of Kosovo and Serbia ended without concrete Results - Sarajevo Times 26/04/2024The Meeting of the chief Negotiators of Kosovo and Serbia ended without concrete Results Sarajevo Times
- War in Kosovo and sexual violence, a painful legacy - Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso 26/04/2024War in Kosovo and sexual violence, a painful legacy Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso
- Foreign remittances to Kosovo up 5% y/y in Q1 - SeeNews 26/04/2024
Office of the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General
Media Sources
