• Haradinaj aims to bring back technical dialogue with Serbia (Koha)
• Scott: U.S. will not lead dialogue process, but it will help it (Fo-Net, RTK)
• Vucic: Remove the tariff, we will stop lobbying against recognitions (Koha)
• Dacic: Macron will not allow second failure (RTK)
• “Merkel, Macron have more urgent matters than Kosovo-Serbia relations” (Koha)
• Ahmeti ready to cooperate with LDK and VV to oust the government (media)
• Kosovo Assembly to discuss today on expulsion of Turkish nationals (media)
• European Parliament Vice-President to visit Kosovo today (Telegrafi)
• Canak: Kosovo is not part of Serbia (media)
• Dodik invites Thaçi at SEEP Summit (Klix.ba, RTK)
• Serbia’s plan for “humanitarian catastrophe” begins today (Zeri)
• AAK against Veseli’s idea to clean veterans’ list (RTK)

Haradinaj aims to bring back technical dialogue with Serbia (Koha)

The paper reports on its front page that the failure of the Paris Summit has deepened the gap in Kosovo’s political landscape and that political parties are failing to find a common position vis-à-vis dialogue with Serbia. The paper further notes that at a time of the final phase of dialogue with Serbia, the Haradinaj-led government has renewed efforts to revive the technical dialogue. Haradinaj’s associates, who met Serbian officials in Berlin last week without any announcement, denied that they discussed the next phase of talks. Although the issue of the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities was not mentioned, Avni Arifi, Kosovo’s Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and former coordinator of technical talks with Serbia, said that the Association is part of Kosovo’s obligations that need to be concluded in line with the ruling of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo.

Scott: U.S. will not lead dialogue process, but it will help it (Fo-Net, RTK)

The U.S. Ambassador to Serbia Kyle Scott said the U.S. government will not lead the dialogue process between Pristina and Belgrade, as it is EU’s matter, “but we will only be there to help as much as we can.”

He added however that to the U.S. Kosovo is an independent state. He stressed that this is the good time to negotiate, “but what would normalization or what would the agreements be, we do not know yet” scot said adding that U.S. supports EU on these efforts. According to him, any permanent solution should be coming from the negotiators.

“The solution should bring stability, not make the region unsustainable,” he stressed adding that the U.S, do not have any “red lines.” Scott finally said that ‘we are aware that there is no agreement without negotiations.”

Vucic: Remove the tariff, we will stop lobbying against recognitions (Koha)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday that Serbia is walking “a thin line” on the issue of Kosovo. “I am not happy that the Paris Summit has failed, and I am saddened to hear some U.S. circles saying that Kosovo Albanians were right to impose the tariffs on us because Serbia was engaged in retracting Kosovo’s international recognitions. This is our right, we haven’t recognized Kosovo, we haven’t signed a document or said that we won’t be doing this. I said that we would stop this lobbying … if they remove the tariffs but they don’t want to do this,” Vucic said. “Kosovo has realized that we want a fast economic development and that it can impede us by blackmailing us and by postponing the solution.”

Dacic: Macron will not allow second failure (RTK)

The initiative of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the French President Emanuel Macron for a meeting in Paris, in efforts to unblock the dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade, has failed. Serbia’s Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said the failure of the Paris meeting ‘is somebody’s loss, but not Serbia’s”. He added that it is too early to say when would the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue resume. Commenting on the statement of the Kosovo President Hashim Thaci that this was a loss as Kosovo was proclaimed guilty for the delay of this meeting, Dacic said “He said precisely what the situation was and attacked in this manner Haradinaj who would not lift the tariff … Haradinaj is stubborn and he does not listen to what Merkel and Macron proposed to him … Macron would not allow another failure, as the one in Berlin.”

“Merkel, Macron have more urgent matters than Kosovo-Serbia relations” (Koha)

The paper’s Brussels-based correspondent Augustin Palokaj argues in an opinion piece that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emanuel Macron are so busy with other pressing matters that they are relieved that meetings with Haradinaj, Thaci and Vucic are postponed. “After the failure to agree on a candidate for the President of the European Commission at the latest EU Summit, the leaders of these two great countries will attend another extraordinary summit on Sunday evening in Brussels. On July 2, they will be looking at Strasbourg where the new European Parliament will be constituted. Two days later, the Berlin Process Summit will be held in Poznan. On dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, we will have to wait for changes in the leading structures of EU institutions, and perhaps even in Kosovo. Vucic seems to have a safe hold on power in Belgrade,” Palokaj writes.

Ahmeti ready to cooperate with LDK and VV to oust the government (media)

Social Democratic Party (PSD) leader Shpend Ahmeti said on Sunday that the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) and the Vetevendosje Movement (VV) can count on their votes to bring down the Haradinaj-led government. Ahmeti said in an interview to Kosovapress news agency that they will discuss the issue with LDK and VV representatives and also government formulas for the period after the parliamentary elections.

Kosovo Assembly to discuss today on expulsion of Turkish nationals (media)

Several news websites report that the Kosovo Assembly will hold an extraordinary session today to discuss the expulsion of six Turkish nationals from Kosovo in 2018. The session, which will be held at 11:00, was requested by the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), supported by other opposition parties and several independent MPs.

European Parliament Vice-President to visit Kosovo today (Telegrafi)

The news website reports that a German delegation, led by European Parliament Vice-President, Rainer Wieland, will visit Kosovo today and meet with Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj.

Canak: Kosovo is not part of Serbia (media)

Nenad Canak, leader of the Social Democrats of Vojvodina, said in an interview to Belgrade-based Blic that Kosovo is not part of Serbia and that Serbia needs to accept this reality in order to reach a final solution to the issue. Canak said that by recognizing Kosovo, Serbia would get greater international guarantees its cultural and economic interests in Kosovo would be protected.

Dodik invites Thaçi at SEEP Summit (Klix.ba, RTK)

Klix.ba portal from Bosnia and Herzegovina reported that Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency Chairman Milorad Dodik has sent an official invitation to the President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci to participate at the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP). According to this portal, Thaci will decide next week if he would respond to the invitation, recalling that last month, Thaci refused to participate at EBRD annual conference due to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s non-recognition of Kosovo.

A separate article in RTK reports that the Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency Chairman Milorad Dodik, informed through a press release that as Kosovo is not recognized as a state, Kosovo was invited to participate with the footnote.

Serbia’s plan for “humanitarian catastrophe” begins today (Zeri)

The paper reports on page six that the mayors of the four mainly Serb-inhabited municipalities in the northern part of Kosovo are most probably the initiators of Serbia’s plan to create an artificial humanitarian crisis in that region. The plan, according to the paper, foresees to empty all food stores and pharmacies arguing that they cannot get supplies because of Pristina’s 100-percent import tariff on Serbian goods.

AAK against Veseli’s idea to clean veterans’ list (RTK)

Kosovo’s Assembly President Kadri Veseli said a few days ago that he will initiate an investigating parliamentary commission which would clean KLA veterans’ lists. However, Veseli cannot count on the support of his coalition partner, Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK). “We consider this initiative to be more a political game,” said Ahmet Isufi, AAK’s caucus Ahmet Isufi, adding that this is also an interference on the work of the Court.