- All parties agreed for Assembly to be dissolved, VV opposes 22 August (KTV)
- Kosovo official concerned as threats from Serbia become frequent (GazetaExpress)
- Law on Government didn’t pass (KTV)
- Ramadani questions Mustafa’s seriousness regarding tariff on Serbian products (KTV)
- Time Kadrijaj in The Hague as a witness, not as a suspect (KTV)
- Skopje receives Belgrade’s extradition request for Kosovo veteran (N1)
News
All parties agreed for Assembly to be dissolved, VV opposes 22 August
(RTK, KTV)
As rarely before, the caucus leaders, excluding the one of Vetëvendosje Movement (VV), have agreed with each other and the Assembly Speaker Kadri Veseli.
They did so to dissolve the Assembly, which means that the country will enter early elections.
Before dissolving the Assembly, the political parties agreed that on August 22 they will ratify the financial agreement for IPA 2018 between Kosovo and the European Union, worth about 90.5 million euros.
Assembly Speaker Kadri Veseli said that elections are the only solution in situations like this created following the resignation of Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj.
But, according to Vetëvendosje Movement, the date set for dissolving the Assembly is distant.
MP Albulena Haxhiu said that this time gap creates opportunities for political entities, including LDK and PSD, to bargain for technical government or appointment of a new mandated person.
In the meantime, LDK chairman Isa Mustafa said he considers the decision of the Assembly Presidency to schedule a session on August 22nd to dissolve the Assembly reasonable and well-measured.
In a Facebook post he stressed that the session should not fail due to a lack of MPs or the two-third majority, RTK portal reported late on Monday evening.
Kosovo official concerned as threats from Serbia become frequent
(Klan Kosova, GazetaExpress)
Kosovo’s outgoing deputy Prime Minister, Enver Hoxhaj, has expressed his concerns after Chief of Staff of Serbian Armed Forces, Milan Mojsilovic, said Russian Army supports Serbia on Kosovo issue, Gazeta Express reports.
Hoxhaj said that messages and threats are becoming more frequent from Serbia. “Just today, General Mojsilovic says that they have Russian support about Kosovo. What do they want? To challenge NATO soldiers? So much for ‘European’ Serbia,” Hoxhaj wrote on Twitter.
Chief of Staff of Serbian Army, Mojsilovic, made the statements only days after Serbia bought new weapons from Russia.
Resigning Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj also responded to Chief of Staff of Serbian Armed Forces, Klan Kosova reported.
“The new Chief of Staff of the notorious old Serbian Army, Milan Mojsilovic, stated that they have the support of Russian army for challenges in Kosovo. We remind him that Milosevic thought the same way, but it did not turn out the way he expected. They must stop these provocations,” Haradinaj wrote on Facebook.
Law on Government didn’t pass
(KTV)
Draft Law on the Government has remained only on paper. The resigned government led by Ramush Haradinaj has failed to submit this draft law to the Assembly for approval.
The draft law in question would limit the number of ministers, deputy prime ministers, deputy ministers and political advisers.
At the Government say that Prime Minister’s resignation was the reason for its non-proceeding.
Besnik Tahiri, National Coordinator for State Reform at Government of Kosovo, denies that this draft law was not submitted for approval to the Assembly because of clashes within parties that were in the coalition.
On the other hand, civil society says that this is exactly the reason why this draft law was prolonged.
The Draft Law on Government envisaged reducing the number of ministries from 21 to no more than 15, from 80 deputy ministers to 30 and halving the number of political advisors to 90.
Until the Law on Government is adopted, the next government will again have free hands to decide on the composition of the cabinet.
The resigning government, led by the PAN coalition, has been repeatedly criticized for appointing more than 80 deputy ministers, as well as for a large number of political advisors and coordinators.
Ramadani questions Mustafa’s seriousness regarding tariff on Serbian products
(KTV)
AAK’s Burim Ramadani has questioned the seriousness of Democratic League of Kosovo chairman, Isa Mustafa, who said that the 100% tariff on goods from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina should remain.
In a Facebook post he wrote that today Isa Mustafa applauded Ramush Haradinaj for the tariff, and then added that he did not know how serious Mustafa and the LDK can be.
“Ramush Haradinaj did not rescind the tariff and he did not tremble for a second. Today, Isa Mustafa applauded Ramush, because he said that the tariff should not be rescinded. Very good! Exactly, that’s how it should be. But, I don’t know how serious he and the LDK can be?” he wondered.
Time Kadrijaj in The Hague as a witness, not as a suspect
(KTV)
Kosovo Assembly Member Time Kadrijaj has been summoned by the Specialist Chambers as a witness. This is what Koha.net portal learned. A source told the portal that she was not summoned as a suspect, but as a witness at the Specialist Chambers in The Hague.
On the first day of this month, it was Kadrijaj himself who indicated that she had received an invitation from the Specialist Chambers, without telling in what capacity she was summoned, expressing her concern over the Chambers’ summons to former KLA soldiers.
Skopje receives Belgrade’s extradition request for Kosovo veteran
(N1)
North Macedonia’s Justice Ministry passed on Serbia’s extradition request with accompanying documents to the country’s ‘Skopje 1’ court for Tomor Morina, a former member of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) wanted by Belgrade on suspicion of committing war crimes against civilians 20 years ago, the Beta news agency reported on Monday.
Morina was arrested in North Macedonia last month under an Interpol warrant issued by Serbia’s authorities. He is under the investigation by the country’s War Crimes Prosecution, suspected of war crimes during the 1998-1999 bloody conflict between the KLA and Belgrade police and military in the then Serbia’s province.
After the Skopje court’s ruling, the Justice Ministry will continue with the extradition procedure.
Skopje’s court allowed a five-member-strong delegation from Kosovo’s embassy in Skopje to visit Morina who has been in extradition custody since July 25.
