- Over 200 OSCE officers will be involved in north elections (TV21, RTK)
- Veseli: A Tribunal for crimes of Serbs in Kosovo will be established (RTK)
- Assembly’s Ad Hoc Commission for resolution on genocide starts work (KTV)
- Mustafa: We will not vote any agreement on dialogue if it is not the opposition’s, too (KTV)
- Veseli to discuss dialogue with leaders and Negotiating Team on Friday (Klan Kosova)
- Cakaj: What Rama said in his clarification is 100% true (RTK)
- Pacolli clashes with MPs for his links with businessman he made honorary consul in El Salvador (KTV)
- Djuric: Vulin’s position on delimitation is rational (Kossev)
News
Over 200 OSCE officers will be involved in north elections
(TV21, RTK)
Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, Ambassador Jan Braathu, visited the Central Election Commission (CEC), where he met with the CEC chairperson Valdete Daka.
Braathu said that the OSCE responded positively to the CEC request to assist with the necessary technical advice during the election process in the four northern municipalities, RTK portal reported.
“I congratulate new CEC members for the appointment. I want to tell you that the OSCE is here to support you in your work. We appreciate the long cooperation of CEC with the OSCE, and I hope to continue this way,” Ambassador Braathu stated.
“Based on preliminary experiences, the OSCE was asked to provide technical advice to northern municipalities, and based on exchanged letters with CEC; we are ready to provide our assistance to CEC and to voters. I assure you that the OSCE Mission is willing to provide the requested technical advice and assistance to polling station committees for elections in north municipalities,” he added.
He said that the OSCE has already started preparations for providing technical advice, and so far the cooperation has been good.
“The OSCE has continued preparations for the Election Day, and we have started with implementation of the role for technical advice to CEC in the north,” he continued.
“The team has been established, it is led by Bujar Basha. It consists of regional experts, those are experts demanded by OSCE missions in the region. We have deployed OSCE support teams to northern municipalities, and I am happy that communication between CEC and the Secretariat has happened well,” Braathu explained.
Braathu said that the OSCE will provide about 215 officers to assist in the extraordinary elections in north.
“The Mission will deploy 215 officers, who will be ready to provide technical advice. We will be present at 44 polling centres, two officers will be deployed at polling stations, and the rest will operate at polling centres,” he went on.
Braathu pointed out that the Mission is not here to substitute the CEC role, but to assist CEC in this process.
“We have called for support the OSCE missions in the region to provide us with the necessary support staff, while this operation will be implemented with staff of the OSCE in Kosovo. We have cooperation with Kosovo Police, EULEX, and KFOR”.
“I call on political parties to run fair and transparent campaigns, and I want to assure you that we as a mission will inform CEC about any relevant activity. We will do everything to keep CEC informed. I emphasise that we are here not to replace CEC, we are here to support you,” he concluded.
CEC chairperson Valdete Daka said that cooperation with the OSCE is going on, and this cooperation has made this institution to be sustainable and professional.
“CEC has a two-decade long cooperation with the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, which was in charge of organising elections in Kosovo until the declaration of independence. Ever since, CEC has organised elections in Kosovo, it has had cooperation with the OSCE for many years, and this cooperation had made this institution to be sustainable and professional”.
“As far as CEC is concerned, I can say that the preparations have been made as planned, and we have not encountered issues. The cooperation will be even better,” Daka stated.
She called upon all eligible voter citizens in northern municipalities to use this opportunity, RTK quoted Ekonomia Online as reporting.
“I call on eligible voter citizens in those municipalities to use their right, and I call on candidates to comply with the Constitution, laws, and the Code of Conduct in this election process,” she ended.
Veseli: A Tribunal for crimes of Serbs in Kosovo will be established
(RTK)
Kosovo Assembly Speaker Kadri Veseli says that establishment of a Tribunal, where crimes committed by Serbia during the last war in Kosovo will be tried, shall be initiated soon.
He made these comments on the 20th anniversary of the massacre in Studime of Vushtrri/Vucitrn.
“Today, I already started meetings in the Assembly, with our judicial bodies, the prosecution, the judiciary, the associations of missing persons and victims of war, to go to the end by issuing a decision by the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo to have a Tribunal, which should be either Kosovo’s, in the best case, but if there is hesitation, then it will be an International Tribunal for the crimes committed by Serbia against the Albanian population,” Veseli said.
According to Speaker Veseli, 186 massacres were committed by Serbian military, police and paramilitary forces during the last war in Kosovo.
On May 2, 1999, Serb forces killed 117 people in Studime.
Assembly’s Ad Hoc Commission for resolution on genocide starts work
(KTV)
January 15th, the day when 45 civilian Albanians were massacred in Reçak, was proposed as the official date for commemorating genocide against Albanians in Kosovo.
Most of the Ad Hoc Commission members for compiling a draft resolution condemning Serbia’s crimes committed in Kosovo have agreed with the proposal, saying that this massacre has internationalized genocide in Kosovo.
However, the AAK MP Muharem Nitaj opposed this.
While this draft resolution is still being compiled, MPs gave their proposals for the document, which will go for voting in the Assembly.
The Assembly created this commission last month to draft a resolution condemning Serbia’s crimes in Kosovo.
Mustafa: We will not vote any agreement on dialogue if it is not the opposition’s, too
(KTV)
The Democratic League of Kosovo leader Isa Mustafa said he will not vote any agreement on the Kosovo-Serbia Dialogue, if it is not the opposition’s, too.
Talking to KTV’s “Rubikon” show, Mustafa said that LDK remains firm in its stance regarding talks with Serbia.
Mustafa said that the party he leads would not vote any agreement on the dialogue, without having a prior consent.
According to him, the Berlin Summit made the President to start correcting his idea of border changing.
Veseli to discuss dialogue with leaders and Negotiating Team on Friday
(Klan Kosova)
The Kosovo Assembly Speaker Kadri Veseli will host another meeting with the Kosovo institutional and political leaders.
On Friday, Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi, Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, and the Negotiating Team members Fatmir Limaj and Shpend Ahmeti, will attend a meeting in Kadri Veseli’s office at the Kosovo Assembly.
Sources inside the Assembly said to Klan Kosova that at the meeting, they will talk about the discussions that happened at the Berlin summit regarding the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia.
The same source stated that Veseli is aiming to coordinate all institutional stakeholders for the next phases of Kosovo’s behaviour in relation with the dialogue, and for its representation at the Paris summit, which will take place in July.
Cakaj: What Rama said in his clarification is 100% true
(RTK)
Albanian Acting Foreign Minister Gent Cakaj explained what was discussed at the Berlin Summit regarding Kosovo’s tariff against Serbia, and clarified the recent debate between Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama and Kosovo’s PM Ramush Haradinaj.
“What Rama said in his clarification is 100% true. In Berlin there was no request for tariff revocation, but for tariff suspension. Suspension was discussed under special conditions. To be removed for 4-6 months in order to give you a chance to resume dialogue. This request has not even been formally addressed yet. It was an informal exchange of views,” Cakaj said, RTK portal quoted Top Channel as reporting.
Pacolli clashes with MPs for his links with businessman he made honorary consul in El Salvador
(KTV)
Glauk Konjufca’s questions about the controversial businessman Enrique Rais from El Salvador angered Foreign Minister Behgjet Pacolli.
Pacolli, in front of the Foreign Affairs Committee, was asked about his links with Rais, and if he is familiar with the problems with the law that this businessman faces.
At the same time, Deputy Prime Minister Pacolli probably forgot that he had named Rais since August 2012 as honorary consul in Honduras, since he denied this in front of the commission.
Rais’s name was among the six honorary consuls that Pacolli had appointed, while KTV two years ago reported for one of them Olivier Nutsuga in Benin, also a businessman.
Pacolli informed the commission that Rais had bought an apartment in his hotel in Switzerland and that Pacolli had used one of his private planes for several months.
With angriness, he explained before the commission that he had known Rais through the former US Ambassador to El Salvador, William Walker, known to Kosovars as Head of the OSCE Verification Mission.
But, he was even harsher with the MP Fitore Pacolli.
Pacolli was also asked the list of honorary consuls, for what he agreed.
The name of Enrique Rais in last August was among six people for whom a group of US Congressmen had asked the Trump Administration to abolish visas and freeze assets as suspected of crimes and corruption.
While the media in his country report that there was also an international arrest warrant for him.
Djuric: Vulin’s position on delimitation is rational
(Kossev)
The head of the Kosovo Office, Marko Djuric assessed today that the Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin’s statement that a delimitation between Serbs and Albanians should occur as soon as possible is not “an attack on Serbia’s constitution.” Djuric stated that Vulin had the courage to express his position, adding that everyone „within the internal dialogue“ has the right to say how the Kosovo issue should be resolved.
„I do not think that Vulin’s position on the issue of Kosovo and Metohija is an attack on the constitutional order or anything like it,“ Djuric said.
He put forward his position, which I may consider as rational, but I can also say that this is a position that is part of the Internal Dialogue, if you will. When it comes to Kosovo and Metohija I look at it in this way because, I will remind you that, if I’m not mistaken, a debate is finally being led in Serbia for more than two years now – at the initiative of President Vucic – on how to approach solving the issue of Kosovo and Metohija as a state and society. Everyone has the opportunity to express their views within the framework of this discussion and debate.
He said that the fate of Kosovo will be „decided by citizens,” adding that they have nothing to decide about now “because of some irresponsible people in the international community and Pristina who leave no room to talk about the rational solution of this problem.“
Speaking about the state top meetings in Berlin, Djuric said that a clear picture was created of what the people in the region are thinking and in what way they intend to deal with Serbia and its interests, as well as the rights and position of Serbs in the region.
The head of the Kosovo Office also announced that talks will be held in the coming days with Kosovo Serb political representatives – most likely in the presence of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic – when decisions on the taxes on import of goods from Serbia will be made.
He said that these taxes are damaging the Serbian economy by more than €500 million annually. Furthermore, Djuric claimed that Serbian goods are being smuggled into Kosovo and asked Pristina who was responsible for that smuggling and whose companies are profiting from it.
When asked about the investigation into the murder of the President of the SDP Initiative, Oliver Ivanovic, Djuric said that the attempts by individuals to implicitly accuse the authorities in Belgrade for his murder are “shameful” because of different attitudes during the campaign for local elections in Kosovo in 2017.
Djuric also said that Oliver Ivanovic was in prison for three and a half years and that during that time, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and the Kosovo Office called for his release in the „most explicit way.“
