• Thaci: Vucic, difficult person to negotiate with (The Independent)
• Haradinaj: Those acting ‘unfairly’ towards Kosovo will be put to shame (media)
• Veseli: Political parties to come together to conclude agreement with Serbia (KP)
• Hoxhaj: I believe leaders will go with a joint position in Berlin (RTK)
• Serbia threatens with countermeasures (RTK)
• Analysts: Berlin meeting, opportunity for Kosovo and Serbia (RFE)
• EU reignites political ‘battle’ in Kosovo (Zeri)
• Serbia Sentences Ex-Officer to 15 Years for Kosovo Massacre (media)
• CEC appoints members of election municipal commissions (media)

Kosovo Media Highlights

Thaci: Vucic, difficult person to negotiate with (The Independent)

Online media outlets carry an interview President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci gave to the The Independent where he spoke about dialogue with Serbia and Kosovo’s Euro-Atlantic integration. Thaci said that President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic has changed, “mainly because he has gone through difficult times because of his own mistakes.”

“The regime he belonged to once was evil, a regime that did a lot of harm not only to Kosovo, Bosnia and Croatia, but even to Serbia itself. In 1998 and ’99, Vucic and I were in opposition. We won, he lost. Nevertheless, he is a legitimate leader, in Kosovo and Serbia, leaders that were voted by the citizens. We have all changed in a positive way, we’ve had to evolve. Now we don’t speak of war and conflict but speak of how to reach peace. There have been recent demonstrations in Serbia, and there is a danger they might scare Vucic away from reaching an agreement, but we hope not. Unfortunately, there will always be those who are opposed to peace. Vucic is a very difficult person to negotiate with, to have dialogue with. But I did not choose him as my counterpart, he didn’t choose me as his own counterpart, it’s the reality of these two sovereign countries.”

Speaking about Specialist Chambers, Thaci said he has nothing to fear. “As always, we will not run away, we will not shy away, we will face it and I am convinced we will overcome it with dignity and integrity,” he said.

The British paper reported that there is general agreement from both sides that membership of the European Union is pivotal to achieving long-term peace and, in the case of Kosovo, joining NATO too. “The circumstances we face in Kosovo, the only future, the only way forward, is membership of the European Union, there is no doubt about that,” maintained Thaci during his recent visit to London.

See the interview: https://ind.pn/2IAcBYF

Haradinaj: Those acting ‘unfairly’ towards Kosovo will be put to shame (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj said yesterday in his home-village of Gllogjan during a commemoration event for KLA fighters that Albanians are people of sacrifice and respect but will not allow someone offending their pride and deny their pain. “We are respectful people but a line should be crossed with us. Those who think they can deny and insult our pain, our war, and our pride, are wrong. This is not a pride that we got for granted but a pride won with the lives of the best sons and daughters of the country,” Haradinaj said.

Haradinaj said he would not allow borders of Kosovo being changed and that those who are acting “unfairly” at a time when Kosovo is facing Serbia, will be put to shame. “We will not allow partition of Kosovo, nor territories and borders being touched. Whoever goes towards that path, be it our brother or anyone else for that matter, is mistaken…  a day will come when those who are making unfair actions at a time when we are facing Serbia will blush with shame,” he said.

Veseli: Political parties to come together to conclude agreement with Serbia (KP)

Kosovo Assembly Speaker Kadri Veseli said in a visit to Kacanik yesterday that Kosovo’s political spectrum needs to come together to conclude an agreement with Serbia but added that territory of Kosovo is nonnegotiable.

“I believe that we will come together, government and opposition, leave grudges aside and directly engage in concluding the issue with Serbia. Kosovo is undoubtedly an independent and sovereign country, there is no more dilemma about this. We are only discussing Kosovo-Serbia relations towards the European Union,” Veseli said.

“The future of Kosovo will not be opened up for discussion for the fact that its territory and institutions are one and inviolable and belong to the citizens of Kosovo who are majority Albanian, 92 percent,” he added.

Hoxhaj: I believe leaders will go with a joint position in Berlin (RTK)

Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister Enver Hoxhaj said the President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci and the Prime Minister of Kosovo Ramush Haradinaj, will have harmonized positions in Berlin.

“Of course, it is not good if there are different positions in a delegation. But I am certain that positions will be harmonized. Dialogue is in interest of Kosovo, if we want to conclude the state-building process. There cannot be major differences in opinions at such meetings,” Hoxhaj said and added that the most important thing for Kosovo in Berlin is to be committed.

Serbia threatens with countermeasures (RTK)

The President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic, said that if Kosovo does not lift the tariff on Serbian goods by 6 May, the main committee of the Serbian Progressive Party will hold a special session to decide on the measures against Pristina. He said that date marks six month since Pristina imposed the tariff on Serbian products.

Analysts: Berlin meeting, opportunity for Kosovo and Serbia (RFE)

The upcoming informal meeting of Western Balkans leaders in Berlin hosted by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the French President Emmanuel Macron is seen by political commentators as an opportunity for resolving open issues in the Balkans, especially concerning relations between Kosovo and Serbia.

Ramush Tahiri, political analyst, told RFE that the agreement between Kosovo and Serbia will be central topic in the meeting. “I expect the Berlin meeting to bear symbolism in the future political architecture of the Balkans, to strike a blow to ethnic divisions and creation of great states as well as to set the balance straight and create society of European values and cooperation between the countries,” Tahiri said. “I expect a great deal from this conference because it will not provide an opportunity for the status quo to continue and will not enable nationalist political from continuing in the Balkans,” he noted.

Dusan Janjic from the Belgrade-based Forum for Ethnic Relations said that the Western Balkans meeting in Berlin is very important as the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina is currently in crisis. “This meeting at the level it has been announced shows that the European Union, with the knowledge and coordination of the United States of America, has decided to request institutional leaders to clarify whether they will remain on the path towards European Union. Secondly, when it comes to the Kosovo status issue, I think the harmonised positions of the Contact Group will be underlined, of which that of territorial integrity has been ruled out in recent months through propaganda and other ways,” Janjic said adding: “The border issue is a topic but not exchange of territories and of population.”

EU reignites political ‘battle’ in Kosovo (Zeri)

The paper reports on the front page that the statement of the European Commissioner Johannes Hahn that exchange of territories could be an option if both Kosovo and Serbia agree to it has “reignited political battlefront in Kosovo.”

The first to react was Prime Minister of Kosovo Ramush Haradinaj who strongly rejected the possibility and called Hahn’s statement “destructive” and “hopeless”. At the same time, Ahmet Isufi from the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) said the border changes idea is a call to war. He said not only the idea is unacceptable for the government of Kosovo but for all political parties, including President Hashim Thaci’s former Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK).

Avdullah Hoti from the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) said that Kosovo’s territorial integrity is nonnegotiable. He said negotiations with Serbia should be aimed at normalisation of relations but Serbia should beforehand apologise for war crimes in Kosovo.

Serbia Sentences Ex-Officer to 15 Years for Kosovo Massacre (media)

Belgrade Higher Court sentenced on Tuesday former Yugoslav Army officer Rajko Kozlina to 15 years in prison for the murders of Kosovo Albanian civilians in the village of Trnje/Terrne on March 25, 1999, while acquitting his superior, Pavle Gavrilovic.

Judge Mirjana Ilic said at the sentencing that Kozlina led his unit into the village, where at least 31 Albanian civilians were killed, but added that it was not proven that Gavrilovic issued an order that “there should be no survivors”.

Kozlina was sentenced for shooting civilians Maliq Voci and Nexhat Bytyqi, who survived, and of ordering his soldiers to fire on other civilians in the village, causing the deaths of 15 people. Among the victims in Trnje/Terrne were elderly people and a four-year-old boy. 

CEC appoints members of election municipal commissions (media)

The Central Elections Commission (CEC) appointed in its last meeting members to the Municipal Elections Commissions for extraordinary elections in four northern municipalities of Kosovo.

In the meeting, head of CEC Valdete Daka, said that a letter was sent to the OSCE regarding the engagement of the mission in an advisory role in the upcoming elections scheduled to take place on 19 May. “Members of the CEC agreed for the OSCE Mission in Kosovo to have a technical advisory role,” a statement issued by CEC states.