Albanian Language Media:

• Statement by the Embassies of France, Germany, Italy, UK, and the U.S. (media)
• Quint, LVV and LDK to meet at 17:00 (Indeksonline)
• Maliqi has a proposal for LVV and LDK (media)
• LVV’s Abazi hopes power-sharing agreement with LDK will happen (media)
• AAK deputy leader Ardian Gjini’s interview to Telegrafi 
• LVV does not give up Assembly Speaker’s post (ekonomiaonline)

Serbian Language Media:

• President of Montenegro: “There can be neither Great Serbia nor Great Albania, it can only be great tragedy” (Tanjug, B92)
• Stefanovic: Vucic to meet Djukanovic soon, the attack might be ethnically motivated (B92, RTS, Tanjug)
• Jeremic: ”If the Law on SPC passes in Montenegro, this will happen in Kosovo also” (Danas, KoSSev) 
• US envoy Grenell satisfied with efforts to resume Serbia-Kosovo rail services (FoNet, N1)
• Ahmeti: It doesn’t cross my mind to allow construction in Badovac (KIM radio, Kosovo Online, Koha Ditore)
• ”KRIK out loud”: Behind the yacht photo (KIM radio)

Opinion: 

• China Buying Balkans Influence, Competing with West (Balkan Insight)

International:

• Belgrade – Pristina Eurowings Service Will Begin In Summer 2020 (simpleflying.com)
• BIRN Fact-check: Has the Import Tax Aided Kosovo’s Economy? (Balkan Insight)
• Kosovo, Serbia Make ‘Good Progress’ In Working Out Railway Deal Details (RFE)
• The Brief – Is Mini Schengen all it’s cracked up to be? (Euractiv)
• Fighting Words: Journalism Under Assault in Central and Eastern Europe (reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk)

Humanitarian/Development: 

• Plemetina: Windows of local football club’s changing room broken (Radio KIM)

Albanian Language Media

Statement by the Embassies of France, Germany, Italy, UK, and the U.S. (media)

Embassies of the Quint states in Kosovo issued a press release which says that they would not engage in mediation of the discussions to form the government. 

“In light of recent speculation, we would like to clarify our position with regard to the process of government formation in Kosovo.  As noted in our statement of August 30 2019, “We represent nations deeply committed to a democratic and independent Kosovo. Any suggestion that our governments support a particular party or candidate in the election is incorrect… the responsibility for Kosovo’s future, for Kosovo’s leaders, and for Kosovo itself lies only with you, the people of Kosovo.”   We will not engage in mediation. We encourage all political actors in Kosovo to focus on the aspirations of the people of Kosovo,” reads the press release.

Quint, LVV and LDK to meet at 17:00 (Indeksonline)

The news website reports that leaders of the Vetevendosje Movement (LVV) and the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) will meet today with the Quint ambassadors and the head of the European Union Office in Kosovo. According to Indeksonline, the meeting will be held at 17:00 in the premises of the Kosovo Assembly. “The engagement of internationals is ‘the last train’ for the two parties to sign a coalition government agreement,” the news website adds.

Maliqi has a proposal for LVV and LDK (media)

Political analyst Shkelzen Maliqi said that if the post of the Assembly Speaker is really blocking the reach of coalition between the Vetevendosje Movement (LVV) and the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Albin Kurti and Isa Mustafa should show a bit of creativity on resolving the stalemate.

“Rotation in the Assembly Presidency could become a political pact: Kujtim Shala should lead the first for a year and a few months, Glauk remains the second. If the Assembly agrees with this, there is no need for resignation, simply a timed rotation is voted, as the Assembly leadership is anyways more collective structure than the others. With this, Glauk would not be humiliated, he remains part of the decision-making in the legislation in coalition with Kujtim, as the decisions there are anyways coordinated,” Maliqi wrote. 

LVV’s Abazi hopes power-sharing agreement with LDK will happen (media)

MP from the Vetevendosje Movement Haki Abazi said he was hopeful that a power-sharing agreement with the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) is possible. 

“I hope the final stage of the agreement will be reached,” Abazi told Telegrafi news website.

At the same time, Abazi accused President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci for, as he said, trying to prevent and LVV-LDK agreement being reached. On social media, Abazi wrote that Thaci and his associates are working to “prevent the forming of an LVV-LDK government” and  to “accomplish partition of Kosovo.” 

AAK deputy leader Ardian Gjini’s interview to Telegrafi 

Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) deputy leader, Ardian Gjini, said in an interview to the news website today that Kosovo could be faced with serious problems if there are added delays to the formation of new institutions.

“I don’t believe anyone expected that such a long time would pass without having new institutions after the October 6 elections … I think the party that won the elections must find a way to form the new institutions, because we could face very serious problems if this is further delayed. We could have problems not only this year but next year too, especially in terms of the budget, procurement, capital investments, and also problems in the municipalities and the central government,” he said.

Asked to comment on recent political developments, Gjini argued that the Vetevendosje Movement (LVV) is acting as if it won all the votes in the parliamentary elections. “The Vetevendosje Movement has won the elections, but it won the quarter of the votes, it didn’t win all the votes. Around 3⁄4 of the citizens of Kosovo did not vote for the LVV. At the same time, the Democratic League of Kosovo won almost the same number of votes as they did. Together they can form the government, but they should not act as if every citizen voted for Albin Kurti as Prime Minister,” he said.

On U.S. Presidential Envoy Richard Grenell’s request to lift the 100 percent import tariff on Serbian products, Gjini said the tariff should be lifted only when there is a specific timeline for talks between Kosovo and Serbia, which according to him should conclude with mutual recognition.

LVV does not give up Assembly Speaker’s post (ekonomiaonline)

Vetevendosje Movement (LVV) MP Shpejtim Bulliqi spoke about the recent developments with regards to the sought agreement for the reach of governing coalition between LVV and the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK).

“Our positions are already known: the issue of the election of the Assembly Speaker was a regular democratic process, therefore we do not see any reason to return at point zero, for the fact that we are witnesses of the difficulties on forming institutions of the country. Therefore, LVV is making maximal efforts for this agreement to be reached and I very much consider that there is enough space within the governing cabinet to compensate the post of the Assembly Speaker. Also, the manner and mentality of the LDK, requesting the Assembly Speaker’s post for a short period of time, so for one year, and then return this post again is not very healthy for the institution of the Assembly,” Bulliqi said. 

Serbian Language Media

President of Montenegro: “There can be neither Great Serbia nor Great Albania, it can only be great tragedy” (Tanjug, B92)

Djukanovic estimates on the Law on Freedom of Religion that the religious freedom of citizens is being abused in order to bring down Montenegro.

“Don’t allow your religious freedom to be abused the way it is being abused these days in Montenegro, and it is being abused to bring down Montenegro”, President of Montenegro and the Socialist Democratic Party said Monday at a session of the municipal committee of that party in Tivat.

He also told the citizens that they should not allow to become “part of this insane project,” the Municipal Committee of DPS Tivat said.

“We have a very clear intention to ensure the unconditional implementation of constitutional provisions within the Constitution of Montenegro, which is separation of church and state and guaranteed freedom of religion,” Djukanovic said.

Djukanovic emphasized that the Law on Freedom of Religion is a legal solution that has been thoroughly prepared for more than four years, with public hearings.

He emphasized that this legal act changes the 1977 law, which is obsolete and a relic of the ancient past.

Media claims, he said, that something wants to be stolen from the Serbian Orthodox Church are absolutely false.

“For anyone familiar with historic facts, there is no dilemma, as long as the Montenegrin state lasted, so did the Montenegrin Orthodox Church,” said Djukanovic, noting that from the time the Pec Patriarchate disappeared, in 1766 until 1918, there was no other authority over the Orthodox church in Montenegro.

“So, the Orthodox Church in Montenegro is independent and has all the attributes of independence. Since Montenegro was annexed to Serbia, it was logical for the church to be annexed to the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC). The decision was political – the state disappeared. If it was logical for the church to disappear in 1918, when the state disappeared, what about 2006, when the state was restored? We will rebuild the church, of course,” Djukanovic pointed out.

“This is an attempt to give back to the state what belongs to it, which has been unlawfully alienated from it and this is where lies and manipulations are used, that something has been stolen from and that it has been plundered,” Djukanovic said.

Djukanovic also noted that, as he said, “Greater Serbian nationalism must have subsided after 2006, but never reconciled with Montenegrin independence and continued to dream of recomposing the Balkans, to make Greater Serbia, Albania, Croatia, and for the rest to disappear”.

This is roughly the plan that has always existed back in the 1990s and has cost our region a large number of casualties. So, neither can there be Great Serbia, nor Great Albania, there can only be great tragedy. And instead of having learned those lessons well into the 1990s, instead of giving up and digging deep, as we can see, some 30 years after, old ideas are coming back to the table, and integral part of those ideas is Greater Serbian nationalism, which by using the SPC, tries to continue to represent Montenegro, to influence life in Montenegro as the life of another Serbian state. It is something that we disagree with and that we show, I would say, very unwavering and firm resistance towards it, and it is something that we will never allow to happen in Montenegro”, Djukanovic concluded.

See at: https://bit.ly/2U4EiP0

Stefanovic: Vucic to meet Djukanovic soon, the attack might be ethnically motivated (B92, RTS, Tanjug)

Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic says he expects President Vucic to speak with Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic soon

According to him, this is in order to protect the Serbian people in that country and to calm tensions.

Stefanovic told RTS, after Vucic held an emergency meeting with security officials last night due to the deterioration of the situation in the region, there was work to be done to restore peace and reduce tensions.

“These talks are necessary and we expect that Vucic will speak with Djukanovic to that end in order to protect the interests of the Serbian people in Montenegro. I expect that conversation very soon,” Stefanovic said.

He said Serbia was not happy about yesterday’s clashes, when the young man was beaten up in Podgorica, adding that they wanted to speak with the authorities in Montenegro to determine what happened and to ease the tensions.

See at: https://bit.ly/36vaCgr

Jeremic: ”If the Law on SPC passes in Montenegro, this will happen in Kosovo also” (Danas, KoSSev) 

Belgrade based daily Danas reports that People’s Party Chairman Vuk Jeremic said last night that if the Law on Freedom of Religion passes in Montenegro, which threatens the Serbian Orthodox Church, soon this would happen in Kosovo. 

“If the state of Serbia remains passive about the events in Montenegro, the authorities in Pristina will take the same path as those in Podgorica, even before the eventual signing of a ‘demarcation’ agreement, by which Serbia would permanently renounce Kosovo and Metohija,” Jeremic said at the panel discussion “Freedom and Identity: Montenegro and Serbia” held in the Stari grad municipality in Belgrade.

Danas reports that Jeremic said that events in Montenegro were very dangerous for the preservation of Serbian identity not only in that neighbouring country, but in the entire region. According to the president of the People’s Party, the presidents of Serbia-Montenegro, Aleksandar Vucic and Milo Djukanovic were “accomplices” with a common interest – ”close partnership in organized crime in the Balkans and beyond, as well as with a common enemy – the Metropolitan of the Montenegrin-coastal Serbian Orthodox Church Amfilohije”, who proved to be very influential, the daily wrote.

Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology, University of Belgrade, Vukasin Milicevic, said that ”any other form of protest would compromise what we are fighting for. It is not Christian to behave violently, and peaceful protests have proven to be most effective, because if there were incidents, they would be quickly quelled. Yesterday there were 200,000 people on the streets of cities in Montenegro and 40,000 in Podgorica. It is as if between 300,000 and 400,000 people would take to the streets in Belgrade”. 

Milicevic called for dialogue in Montenegro because “there is an ongoing crisis that is shaking the foundations of society”, adding that the solution could be a withdrawal of the disputed law and a public hearing, which was not the case before the enactment of the act.

US envoy Grenell satisfied with efforts to resume Serbia-Kosovo rail services (FoNet, N1)

The US President’s Special Envoy for Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, Ambassador Richard Grenell told the Associated Press on Monday that good progress had been made in the efforts to re-establish the railway line between Serbia and Kosovo, FoNet news agency reports.

“We made good progress this morning on issuing a letter of intent on railway cooperation,” Grenell said following the meeting in Berlin between delegations from Belgrade and Pristina.

“The discussions went well enough that we also discussed other issues,” he said and added: “we will work to finish the railway letter of intent over email and over the next week or so.”

Xheme Veseli from Pristina’s delegation also said they were having “good talks” on resuming the railway line and had already agreed to “successfully end the talks in the next days”.

The Serbian Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija issued a statement saying that its chief Marko Djuric agreed that the meeting had been productive and expressed the hope that concrete solutions would be found to ease the movement of people and goods to the benefit of the economy and the public.

See at: https://bit.ly/2RWPn24

Ahmeti: It doesn’t cross my mind to allow construction in Badovac (KIM radio, Kosovo Online, Koha Ditore)

KIM Radio reports that Pristina Mayor Shpend Ahmeti said that the biggest pressure on the Badovac settlement construction came from the Self-Determination Movement and that if they lose the case in court and a permission was given, it would be a disaster.

“My greatest joy would be if we make the decision not to build a settlement. It’s okay to stop them, but today we have laws and a regulatory plan. If this case goes to the court, and if we lose the case and give a permission, it will be a disaster,” Ahmeti told Koha.

In his view, the decisions of the Self-Determination Movement should be comprehensive.

“It would be good to know what we are building, if it is for water protection, the Municipality is not responsible, because it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Environment. It does not cross my mind to allow construction in Badovac. If my proposal is accepted, I will tell you that you should vote. We need to be unique,” Ahmeti said.

”KRIK out loud”: Behind the yacht photo (KIM radio)

The first episode of the ”KRIK out loud” podcast discusses the power gained by controversial businessmen in northern Kosovo, and how KRIK journalist Bojana Pavlovic came up with crucial evidence that there is no division between Serbs and Albanians when it comes to crime, reports Radio KiM.

Bojana Pavlovic explained what was behind the photo from Budva and how she was investigating this case for “KRIK out loud” in an interview with Jelena Radivojevic.

You can listen to the complete podcast of “North Kosovo: A Pocket of Lawlessness” in Serbian language here: https://bit.ly/2uFWofs

Opinion

China Buying Balkans Influence, Competing with West (Balkan Insight)

From debt-trap diplomacy to kickbacks, facial recognition to fossil fuels, China is buying influence in the Western Balkans. The Western Balkans has witnessed a massive increase in Chinese investment, Visar Xhambazi writes for Balkan Insight.

China has been using easy money to gain influence rapidly, taking advantage of the poor investment climate in the region by providing loans and consequently ensuring long-term political dependency.

While Russia has some influence in Orthodox Christian populations in the Western Balkans and Turkey has influence among Muslims, China’s influence is arguably the more effective.

China promotes itself as a neutral power and focuses on what the region desperately needs the most: capital investments.

Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the “Belt and Road Initiative” in 2013 as a $900 billion global project that would attempt to connect international trade routes.

It started with the purchase of the Greek port of Piraeus, which was transformed into the second largest port in the Mediterranean. Piraeus sits at an important geostrategic location allowing China to transport goods into the Balkans.

Under Xi, China is emerging as a significant actor in the Balkans.

See at: https://bit.ly/38IcpAr

International

Belgrade – Pristina Eurowings Service Will Begin In Summer 2020 (simpleflying.com)

Earlier this week Lufthansa was part of a historic agreement between Serbia and Belgrade to re-establish flights between Kosovo and Belgrade. Now, details have emerged that Eurowings will begin operating the route this summer – and there is a codeshare agreement involved.

The letters of intent

The letters of intent signed in the US Embassy in Berlin on Monday formed an agreement by Serbia and Kosovo to remove all barriers currently preventing any airline from launching flights between Pristina and Belgrade.

Together with representatives of Serbia and Kosovo, the letters were signed by the Managing Director of Eurowings Michael Knitter and the US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell.

From the start, it was clear that Eurowings would be the airline to operate the first flights between Kosovo and Serbia in over 20 years. But it was not known that flights will be launching as soon as summer 2020, as reported by Ex-Yu Aviation News.

See at: https://bit.ly/38Mmsoe

BIRN Fact-check: Has the Import Tax Aided Kosovo’s Economy? (Balkan Insight)

While a new report claims the 100-per-cent tax imposed on goods from Serbia and Bosnia has benefited the economy, experts say it is far from clear that the tax is behind recent modest improvements.

At a round table on January 22, the Kosovo Manufacturing Club claimed that the 100-per-cent tariff imposed on products from Serbia and Bosnia in 2018 has had a positive impact on Kosovo’s economy.

Astrit Panxha, CEO of the club, said they had analysed the effects of the tariff from data drawn from the customs office, the statistics agency and the central bank, and for over one year, “because the current three monthly studies do not give adequate results.”

See at: https://bit.ly/3aNo5DR

Kosovo, Serbia Make ‘Good Progress’ In Working Out Railway Deal Details (RFE)

Kosovo and Serbia have made progress in working out the details of a deal on restoring railway traffic between their capitals, according to the special U.S. envoy to the Balkan nations, a week after the former war foes reached an agreement to resume commercial flights.

“We made good progress this morning on issuing a Letter of Intent on railway cooperation,” Richard Grenell said after a meeting between the Serbian and Kosovar delegations on January 27.

“The discussions went well enough that we also discussed other issues,” he said in a statement.

Grenell, who also serves as U.S. ambassador to Germany, hosted the talks at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin. He has conducted separate meetings with officials in Belgrade and Pristina in recent days to discuss the railway agreement.

See at: https://bit.ly/37ujlAW

The Brief – Is Mini Schengen all it’s cracked up to be? (Euractiv)

Diplomats are still wondering what’s behind the initiative of Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia, who last October decided to advance regional cooperation by forming a so-called “mini-Schengen” in the Western Balkans.

At first sight, the initiative is good: it aims to lift travel restrictions along the EU model and introduce a common working permit. Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo, all EU hopefuls, are also welcome to join in on the action.

But if the initiative is good, why is it criticised in the region itself?

See at: https://bit.ly/2RWgydm 

Fighting Words: Journalism Under Assault in Central and Eastern Europe (reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk)

In this report we identify the pressures currently being applied to independent journalists working in central and eastern Europe. We show that the autonomy and independence of the media across much of Europe is under threat from politicians, who launch verbal attacks on journalists, but also from other journalists, who discredit and smear colleagues working for rival publications.

See the full report at: https://bit.ly/2RWk4nV

Humanitarian/Development 

Plemetina: Windows of local football club’s changing room broken (Radio KIM)

All windows of the changing room belonging to the local football club in the village of Plemetina have been broken last night, Radio KIM reports.

The president of the football club Slobodan Vasic noticed the damage this morning and reported the case to Kosovo police.

Plemetina is ethnically mixed village in Obilic municipality. In addition to the Serbs, Roma and Albanians also live there.