• Health Institute confirms 24 new cases with COVID-19 (media)
• Prishtina Mayor: Lack of caution may delay relaxation of measures (media)
• CEB approves €35 million to Kosovo to support emergency health care (Koha)
• “US could put pressure on Kosovo for Russia to join dialogue” (Koha)
• Le Figaro: Thaci and Vucic discussed land swap in Washington meeting (Kallxo)
• Osmani to Court: Declare Thaci’s decree as anti-constitutional (Express)
• Mustafa warns Osmani of consequences (media)
• Haziri: Osmani should have remained neutral to Thaci’s decree (Koha)
• Mustafa: Not up to Kurti to send complaints to internationals (RTK/Klan)
• Bajrami: I’d advise Thaci to announce new elections after pandemic (media)

Kosovo Media Highlights

Health Institute confirms 24 new cases with COVID-19 (media)

All media reported on Tuesday that Kosovo’s National Institute for Public Health confirmed 24 new cases with COVID-19. The new cases are from the municipalities of Gjilan, Prishtina, Vushtrri, Kamenica, Mitrovica and Ferizaj.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in Kosovo stands at 924, of which 193 are active cases.

Prishtina Mayor: Lack of caution may delay relaxation of measures (media)

Prishtina Mayor Shpend Ahmeti took to Facebook on Tuesday to warn that lack of caution by the citizens may postpone the further relaxation of measures against COVID-19.

“4 new cases in Prishtina and a total of 24 new cases in Kosovo. Lack of caution may delay the relaxation of measures. We are trying every way to limit the second wave of increased cases but we need everyone to cooperate. Otherwise, the National Institute for Public Health and the Ministry of Health may postpone the relaxation of measures,” Ahmeti wrote.

CEB approves €35 million to Kosovo to support emergency health care (Koha)

The Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) has approved a €35 million loan to support the authorities’ ongoing efforts to provide health care to those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CEB has also approved a grant of €1 million from the Social Dividend Account as an interest-rate subsidy for the loan.

“The CEB loan will cover a part of the emergency healthcare costs and will enable the establishment of specialised units in selected hospitals and the purchase of treatment and diagnostic equipment, such as oxygen delivery systems, ultrasound and tomography devices as well as protective and medical supplies, testing kits and diagnostic reagents. The loan will also provide for hardship incentives to healthcare and pharmacy employees, training of medical staff, and the mobilisation of additional healthcare personnel,” CEB said in a statement.

“US could put pressure on Kosovo for Russia to join dialogue” (Koha)

US analyst on the Balkans, Daniel Serwer, told the news website on Tuesday that Kosovo could face major pressure from the United States to allow Russia to join the process of dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia.

Serwer said Prishtina should be firmly against what he called disastrous proposal for partition.

“Russia should be involved only if Prishtina agrees to this, and this must not happen until Russia recognises Kosovo as an independent and sovereign country in its current borders. It is apparent that Russia wants a territorial solution that will help it justify the annexation of Crimea and the creation of puppet states in South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Transnistria,” Serwer said.

Le Figaro: Thaci and Vucic discussed land swap in Washington meeting (Kallxo)

The French paper Le Figaro wrote that the current global health crisis has not put an end to all diplomatic initiatives and that this is the case of the conflict between Kosovo and Serbia.

“In the midst of the coronavirus crisis in early April, the Kosovo government lifted the 100 percent customs tariffs on Serbian products, thereby eliminating one of the main obstacles to the resumption of negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina, which have remained in conflict since the war in the late 1990s. This decision was prepared during a discreet meeting in Washington on March 2, in the presence of Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his national security adviser, Robert O’Brien. During this meeting, the Serbian and Kosovar presidents, Aleksandar Vucic and Hashim Thaci, raised the idea of ​​an exchange of territories, an option being considered for two years as a means to achieve a final peaceful agreement,” the paper wrote.

The paper added that President Trump supports the idea of border changes as a way to reach an “acceptable” solution and that to this end he appointed special envoy Richard Grenell.

It also stressed that while the idea may suit both Thaci and Vucic, the project is facing strong rejections in Serbia and Kosovo. Furthermore, Berlin, even more so than the French President Emmanuel Macron, fears that a border change could awake Balkans’ “old demons” and open the “Pandora’s Box” in the region.

Osmani to Court: Declare Thaci’s decree as anti-constitutional (Express)

Kosovo Assembly President and deputy leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Vjosa Osmani, said in her comments to the Constitutional Court that they should rule as anti-constitutional President Hashim Thaci’s decree giving LDK’s Avdullah Hoti the mandate to form a new government.

“I respectfully call on this honorable Court to announce a ruling concluding that the President’s Decree Nr. 24/2020 is in violation with the Constitution, because with this Decree, the President went beyond his competencies and interfered in the competencies of other institutions and is thus in contravention with the constitutional principle of the division of powers,” Osmani said in her comments to the Court.

Mustafa warns Osmani of consequences (media)

Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) leader Isa Mustafa said on Tuesday commented on the opposition by LDK deputy leader Vjosa Osmani to a coalition with the AAK and NISMA.

Mustafa said that “such an aggressive position against the party that proposed and voted her for Assembly President, her own party, will be met with consequences in line with the rules and the statute of the Democratic League of Kosovo”.

Haziri: Osmani should have remained neutral to Thaci’s decree (Koha)

Deputy leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) Lutfi Haziri spoke to KTV about the remarks that Assembly Speaker Vjosa Osmani submitted to the Constitutional Court against the decree of the Kosovo President to give the mandate for forming new government to Avdullah Hoti from LDK.

Haziri said that Osmani should have kept a neutral position and whilst underlining that her making comments is a constitutional right, “the other part is political”.

“Knowing her political consistency as a position and being against the motion and the vote, I expected the Speaker to have a neutral position. Nevertheless, it is her decision as Assembly Speaker how to respond to a constitutional authority. It relates to the constitutional right and she reacted in this capacity. The other part is very much political,” Haziri said.

Mustafa: Not up to Kurti to send complaints to internationals (RTK/Klan)

Leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) Isa Mustafa criticised the acting Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti for sending letters to international officials outlining the position of the Kosovo government on the political developments.

Speaking to RTK, Mustafa said that he never badmouthed Kosovo politicians while in the post of prime minister. “Never a bad word about politicians of Kosovo came out of my mouth before internationals. It is not up to Kurti or others to write letters and complain about people of Kosovo.”

“If the prime minister writes letters to all institutions and asks them to save him while until yesterday he promoted self-determination policies, you see that he has changed,” Mustafa said.

Bajrami: I’d advise Thaci to announce new elections after pandemic (media)

Arsim Bajrami, former deputy leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) and one of the authors of the Constitution of Kosovo, said in an interview to Koha on Tuesday that if he were advisor to President Thaci, he would advise him to declare early parliamentary elections.

“I am confident that the Constitutional Court will resist any pressure and will be able to resolve the case in professional fashion. I am also confident that the parties will abide. The worst-case scenario would be if the parties dont abide … I personally prefer elections because I believe this would safeguard democracy from other precedents for years to come. If I were Thaci’s advisor, I would advise him to declare extraordinary elections after the pandemic,” Bajrami said.