• Vetevendosje appeals ECAP decision on Diaspora ballots (media)
• Kurti: SL not a party, Kosovo Serbs to stop fearing Belgrade (Bota Sot, RTK)
• Haziri: Post of president needs to be clarified before coalition with LVV (Telegrafi)
• Hoti: LDK-LVV agreement, immediately after certification of elections (Epoka)
• Kim: Border changes not a useful option (Telegrafi)
• Pendarovski: In principle, I am against border shift idea (Zeri)
• Serwer: Pristina and Tirana to forget “Great Albania” idea (Zeri)
• Presevo Valley insists on reciprocity with the rights of Kosovo Serbs (RFE, Epoka)
• Cakaj: Joint platform, with Kosovo on dialogue with Serbia (Klan)
• Djuric’s deputy not allowed entry to Kosovo (RTK)
• Civil society calls for halt in construction of hydropower plants (media)
• Pacolli fills embassies with militants and brings back experienced diplomats (Koha)
• Pal Lekaj hid report that would save €39 million from state budget (Koha)

Vetevendosje appeals ECAP decision on Diaspora ballots (media)

Vetevendosje Movement has addressed the Supreme Court in appealing the decision of the Election Complaints and Appeals Panel (ECAP) not to count ballots that have arrived from Diaspora after the expiration of deadline.

“We expect the Supreme Court in as short a timeframe as possible to decide in enabling the fulfillment of the right to elect in counting ballots of our citizens residing outside Kosovo,” Vetevendosje said adding: “We reiterate once again that the ballot packages were mailed within the deadline by fellow-citizens and as such they should be counted and added to the final result of elections in the Republic of Kosovo.”

The Supreme Court has 72 hours to deliberate on the matter. Florent Spahija from the Kosovo Democratic Institute (KDI) told Zeri that the Supreme Court’s ruling will be final.

Kurti: SL not a party, Kosovo Serbs to stop fearing Belgrade (Bota Sot, RTK)

Vetevendosje leader Albin Kurti said in an interview with the Janusz Bugajski aired on RTK that the central part of the new ruling coalition in Kosovo will consist of Vetevendosje Movement and the Democratic League of Kosovo but that the Serb community should also be involved. “We want to have a comprehensive government. We don’t want our Government to depend on the Serbian List as was the case in the past,” he said.

Kurti said the Serbian List is not a political party in the true sense of the word but rather Belgrade’s tool. “My problem with the Serbian List is that it is not a party but has always been an instrument of Belgrade.”

He also accused the Serbian List of intimidating Serb citizens in Kosovo during the election process. “International organisations know better than me what happened in October’s elections with vote theft by the Serbian List and this needs to be addressed by international organisations,” Kurti noted.

“Currently in Kosovo there are 130,000 Serbs. Over two-thirds of them live south of River Iber, in Kosovo. But apart from this, a moment in time which made me realise that perhaps we have extremely neglected the issue of local Serbs bears a special date, 23 December 2015. The decision of the Constitutional Court stating that the Association of Serb-majority Municipalities in unconstitutional. The next day, there were no protests whatsoever by Kosovo Serbs. So, it was not that they wanted this, but Belgrade did. They were simply afraid,” Kurti said. He added that the majority Albanian community and the new government of Kosovo are responsible for protecting Serbs “so that they end this fear of Belgrade.”

Asked about his plan to make the judiciary independent from political interests, Kurti said he would initiate a vetting process in the security and judiciary sectors. “First we will remove the pressure of the government on the judiciary and the prosecution. We will launch a vetting process in the security and judiciary sectors, so not only for prosecutors and judges but also for the intelligence and the police. I don’t think we should do this for all positions, only leading positions, namely high-ranking officials,” he said.

Kurti said prosecutors should be more prominent than the Prime Minister. “We need more prosecutors to become very prominent in Kosovo. I think it is very important to have a prosecutor in Kosovo that is more famous than the Prime Minister. When this happens I will consider I have done my job as Prime Minister, when a prosecutor is more famous than I am,” he added.

Haziri: Post of president needs to be clarified before coalition with LVV (Telegrafi)

Deputy leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) Lutfi Haziri said in an interview with RTV Dukagjini that the post of Kosovo’s president needs to be clarified before the coalition with Vetevendosje is reached.

He said is this issue is not resolved now, it could become a cause of dispute when the time to elect the new president comes. “In order for the agreement to be functional, all posts need to be clarified now. If we don’t clarify the post of the president now, there is going to be a crisis in 2021,” he said.

Haziri said the LDK leader Isa Mustafa meets all criteria to become the future president of Kosovo. “In Kosovo when parties did not agree on a consensual name, the name came from an envelope,” Haziri said.

Hoti: LDK-LVV agreement, immediately after certification of elections (Epoka)

Avdullah Hoti, senior member of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), said on Tuesday that there will be no delays on the agreement for co-governance between LDK and Vetevendosje Movement (LVV). He said the agreement will be reached immediately after certification of elections. He said that so far, the two political parties have agreed on organizing the government, which will have 12 ministries and will save millions of Euros and increase governing efficiency. “We have discussed the program for economic development and employment and agreed in majority of issues. At the next meetings we will continue discussions for order, law and security, education and health, then for foreign policy. I am convinced that we will conclude the agreement as soon as election results are certified,” Hoti wrote on his Facebook account.

Kim: Border changes not a useful option (Telegrafi)

Yuri Kim, appointed by President Trump to be the new U.S. Ambassador to Albania, said before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing that there is no doubt the U.S. can play a significant role in resolving the conflict between Kosovo and Serbia. “The U.S. has invested a great deal in the region by bringing peace and is working with the countries to stay independent, in peace and work as a team,” she said.

“Border change is not useful. We have not one but two envoys for this issue and I think there is no doubt this Administration is working in resolving the issue,” Kim said.

Pendarovski: In principle, I am against border shift idea (Zeri)

North Macedonian President Stevo Pendarovski said that in principle he is against the idea of border changes in the Balkans region but also noted that Skopje would accept any agreement that is reached by Kosovo and Serbia which is internationally vouched for and which would be a solution only valid for that specific case.

Speaking to Al Jazeera Balkans, Pendarovski said that he considers border changes can only bring problems considering the troubling history of the region. “In principle, any attempt to redraw borders in the world, be it in America or Canada, is bound to cause political turmoil. In principle, I am against the idea of shifting borders along ethnic lines. Such a practice in the Balkans is a specific field,” he said.

Koha Ditore reports that in an interview to Tirana-based RTSH, Pendarovski said that “the dangerous idea” of a potential land swap between Kosovo and Serbia has not died. “No, it has not died. You know that the idea came from the highest political levels. It was raised by John Bolton, former U.S. National Security Advisor. He is no longer part of the U.S. administration for other reasons, but I still hear people in the region, politicians and experts, talking about the idea,” he said.

Serwer: Pristina and Tirana to forget “Great Albania” idea (Zeri)

The U.S. Balkans analyst Daniel Serwer said nothing could be more damaging to Albania’s European integration process than border changes or encouraging of positions he said are irredentist.

Serwer said both Washington and Brussels should jointly oppose the creation of a “Great Albania”. “Such a thing would be a step towards catastrophic movement of populations and a huge increase of instability,” he warned.

Presevo Valley insists on reciprocity with the rights of Kosovo Serbs (RFE, Epoka)

Shaip Kamberi, mayor of Bujanovc municipality told Radio Free Europe that immediately after the establishment of the new government of Kosovo, representatives of Presevo Valley will request a meeting with the new Prime Minister in order to submit their requests and inform with the problems that Albanian population is facing there. According to him, Albin Kurti, who is expected to be the new Prime Minister, pledged for the change of the situation in the Valley. “We expect the new government to be much more active on concrete help to Presevo Valley because we are currently facing one of the most difficult situations of our history. In mass exodus of people due many to political and economic problems is weakening the national core. It is the prime time for official Pristina and Tirana to understand this and to have concrete projects of direct help for Presevo Valley,” he said.

Cakaj: Joint platform, with Kosovo on dialogue with Serbia (Klan)

Albania’s Acting Foreign Minister Gent Cakaj said Albania has three key positions on Kosovo-Serbia dialogue. “The first, that Kosovo has to set its political platform and Albania will of course support it unconditionally. The second one is that Albania considers that recognition of the Republic of Kosovo by Serbia is necessary for a sustainable agreement. The third: we consider that such agreement should naturally have the blessing of the U.S. and the EU,” Cakaj said. “The Republic of Albania cannot have a position on Kosovo-Serbia dialogue by overpassing Kosovo. It is also important to create with the future government of Kosovo a joint platform on dialogue with Serbia,” Cakaj concluded.

Djuric’s deputy not allowed entry to Kosovo (RTK)

Dusica Nikolic, deputy director of the Serbian Government’s Office for Kosovo, has not been allowed entry into Kosovo yesterday through the border crossing point of Jarinje, RTK reports quoting Tanjug.

In a statement, the Office for Kosovo said that Belgrade officials have been exposed to systematic provocations by the Kosovo Police in the last few months and that these moves are in violation to the Brussels agreements.

Civil society calls for halt in construction of hydropower plants (media)

Most media report that, starting from Tuesday, Kosovo’s citizens can sign a petition calling on the highest institutions to stop further degradation of the environment from hydropower plants. Civil society organisations issued a press release on Tuesday noting that “the continuous destruction of our natural resources by all those that abuse or use the country’s resources for individual profit, be they decision-makers or investors, force us to protest and promise that we will not stop. The arguments that have been collected show that if we don’t act NOW and immediately, Kosovo’s rivers and the people living nearby, will be destroyed and degraded beyond repair”. The petition will last two weeks and will be organised in the seven biggest municipalities of Kosovo, including the surrounding municipalities.

Koha Ditore quotes Diana Metushi – Krasniqi, from the Kosovo Democratic Institute as saying, “Our government and the Ministry of Environment are allowing the destruction of rivers over interests and the gains of certain businesses … As the Ministry of Environment has failed to take into consideration the demands of the citizens and civil society, we a coalition of eight organisations, have decided to start a Kosovo-wide petition today. We have put up tents in the biggest cities and we want to let the government know that this does not affect only some villagers but all of Kosovo.”

Pacolli fills embassies with militants and brings back experienced diplomats (Koha)

The paper reports in one of its front-page stories that after overpopulating the Foreign Service with party militants, Kosovo’s outgoing Foreign Minister Behgjet Pacolli decided on Monday to bring back to Pristina a number of experienced diplomats. By the end of the year, five diplomats will be called back from respective diplomatic missions. Kosovo’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not disclose the reasons behind Pacolli’s decision. The paper contacted the Ministry to get a comment on why Pacolli decided to bring back the experienced diplomats and appoint other people in their instead, but they were not available for comment.

Pal Lekaj hid report that would save €39 million from state budget (Koha)

Citing unnamed sources, the paper reports in its leading front-page story that the contents of an opinion by “Hill International”, which rejected the demand of Bechtel-Enka consortium for the payment of an additional €53 million for the construction of Pristina – Hani i Elezit highway, were never made available to the inter-ministerial committee. Kosovo’s outgoing Deputy Minister of Finance, Fatmir Gashi, who is also member of the inter-ministerial committee, said they never officially received the report drafted by the company that oversaw the highway construction. The paper also claims that the Ministry of Infrastructure led Pal Lekaj did not provide the report even to the investigating authorities when they requested it.