• 11 new cases of coronavirus in last 24 hours (media)
• Hoti government lifts reciprocity measures towards Serbia (media)
• Thaci welcomes removal of reciprocity measures (media)
• Kurti: Lifting reciprocity does service to Serbia (media)
• Osmani criticises decision to lift reciprocity measures (media)
• Lajcak hails government’s decision to lift reciprocity measures (media)
• Kosovo’s Ex-PM Kurti Stands Firm On Demand For New Elections (RFE)
• Hoti meets Kosnett, briefs him on priorities of the new government (media)

Kosovo Media Highlights

11 new cases of coronavirus in last 24 hours (media)

Kosovo’s National Institute of Public Health announced on Friday evening that 11 new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the last 24 hours.

The new cases are from the municipalities of Prizren, Vushtrri, Pristina, and Fushe Kosova.

Media report that there are currently 282 active cases of coronavirus in Kosovo.

Hoti government lifts reciprocity measures towards Serbia (media)

The new government of Kosovo led by Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti has lifted the reciprocity measures towards Serbia in order to pave way for the resumption of the dialogue for normalisation of relations.

Hoti said in a news conference after the government meeting that the Kosovo side has eliminated all obstacles to dialogue and that it is now Serbia’s turn to do so. He also said that the decision was taken in cooperation with international partners.

Hoti noted that Kosovo is ready to resume dialogue underlining that the process will be led by the government not the presidency of Kosovo. “Based on constitutional competencies, the prime minister leads the dialogue. Even if I wanted to I cannot transfer my competencies to the president. The government leads the dialogue and reports to the Assembly,” Hoti is quoted as saying.

“If the dialogue does not produce expected results, we preserve the right to retake decisions,” he said.

Thaci welcomes removal of reciprocity measures (media)

President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci has welcomed the decision of the new Kosovo government to revoke reciprocity measures towards Serbia.

“I welcome today’s decision of the Republic of Kosovo Government to remove all barriers which Serbia has until now used a pretext for blocking of dialogue for normalisation of inter-state relations between Kosovo and Serbia,” Thaci wrote on Facebook.

He added: “International pressure should now be directed at Serbia so that the dialogue can resume without delays.”

Kurti: Lifting reciprocity does service to Serbia (media)

Former Kosovo prime minister and leader of Vetevendosje, Albin Kurti, reacted to the decision of the Kosovo government to revoke reciprocity measures towards Serbia.

“Hoti has declared he removed obstacles to the resumption of dialogue with Serbia. In this way he has attributed Kosovo with the blame for the absence of dialogue until now. Not even Belgrade could have devised such a good service to Serbia. Apart from the dialogue being asymmetric now due to the abandoned reciprocity on the part of Kosovo, the Kosovo side also enters it as being guilty for delays in renewal of dialogue,” Kurti wrote on Facebook.

Osmani criticises decision to lift reciprocity measures (media)

Kosovo Assembly Speaker Vjosa Osmani has criticised the decision of the new Kosovo Government to lift reciprocity measures to Serbia.

“Calling reciprocity ‘obstacle’ means that you consider equality to be an obstacle. It means you don’t want your country be treated equally with the others. Calling reciprocity an obstacle means you don’t believe you have sovereign, independent and equal rights are set out in the Declaration of Independence and the country’s Constitution. Renouncing the right to be treated as equal means renouncing the right to be treated as a sovereign Republic of Kosovo,” Osmani wrote on Facebook.

Lajcak hails government’s decision to lift reciprocity measures (media)

EU Special Representative for Kosovo-Serbia dialogue Miroslav Lajcak has commended the Kosovo Government’s decision on reciprocity measures towards Serbia.

“I welcome today’s decision of the government in Kosovo to remove the recent reciprocity measures. The swift removal of obstacles to the resumption of the EU-facilitated Dialogue shows a clear commitment of Kosovo to get back to the table without delay,” Lajcak wrote on Twitter.

Kosovo’s Ex-PM Kurti Stands Firm On Demand For New Elections (RFE)

Kosovo’s former Prime Minister Albin Kurti says his leftist-nationalist Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) party will continue to press for new general elections, after parliament approved this week a new government by a razor-thin majority following months of political turmoil.

“We will continue our fight inside and outside of parliament,” Kurti said in an interview with RFE/RL on June 5, warning that street protests against the “weak” government led by Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti are “inevitable.”

In the interview, Kurti reiterated his claim that Hoti’s government is “unlawful” because it came to power based on an “unconstitutional” court verdict.

Because Vetevendosje is the “main and most powerful” political force in Kosovo after it came in first place in elections in October 2019, ahead of the LDK, Hoti’s government will be “short-lived,” he predicted.

The new prime minister, an economics professor and former finance minister, has vowed to move Kosovo forward on stalled normalization talks with neighboring Serbia.

But Kurti claimed the new government “does not have the capacity to confront Serbia and does not have the legitimacy to dialogue with it.”

Any agreement between Pristina and Belgrade would be “invalid,” he added.

Hoti meets Kosnett, briefs him on priorities of the new government (media)

Prime Minister of Kosovo Avdullah Hoti met yesterday the U.S. Ambassador to Kosovo Philip Kosnett to whom he expressed the readiness of the government to work closely with the U.S. and spoke about the immediate priorities.

Hoti said that the government will focus its priorities at the moment on battling the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic recovery but that it will also work on strengthening the rule of law, advancing democracy, fight corruption, and take on responsibilities for dialogue with Serbia.