• COVID-19: 112 new cases, six deaths (media)
• WHO official: Kosovo to increase PCR testing (Telegrafi)
• Hoti: No agreement in Brussels without mutual recognition (media)
• O’Brien looking forward to welcoming Vucic and Hoti to Washington (media)
• Serwer: “Trepca” and Gazivoda could be part of table of talks in Washington (Koha)
• Non-majority community arrangements, property to be discussed in Brussels meeting (media)
• Osmani: No peace possible without apology for crimes in Kosovo (media)
• Isufi: Dialogue will be interrupted if issues of Trepca and Ujman open (media)
• Hoxhaj: Basic principles determine if Washngton meeting is in accordance with Kosovo’s interest (Kallxo)
• Tahiri: First steps of recognition will be made in Washington (RTK)
• Nitaj: If there is no consensus on president’s post, new elections (media)
• North Macedonia Albanian Leader Testifies to Kosovo War Prosecutors (Balkan Insight)

Kosovo Media Highlights

COVID-19: 112 new cases, six deaths (media)

112 new cases of coronavirus and six deaths have been recorded in Kosovo over the last 24 hours, the National Institute for Public Health announced yesterday.

Meanwhile, 131 recoveries were confirmed over the same time period.

There are currently 3,512 active cases of COVID-19 in Kosovo.

WHO official: Kosovo to increase PCR testing (Telegrafi)

Skender Syla, head of the WHO office in Bulgaria, said that in order to manage the COVID-19 pandemic as best as possible, Kosovo needs to increase testing through the PCR method.

Syla said serological testing has no diagnostic value for either the individual concerned or for country’s efforts to control the epidemiological situation. “The focus should therefore be on increasing PCR testing at regional level,” Syla underscored.

Hoti: No agreement in Brussels without mutual recognition (media)

Prime Minister of Kosovo Avdullah Hoti insisted that mutual recognition between Kosovo and Serbia is the only solution for a final agreement between the parties.

“There will be no discussion on border changes. We are ready for agreement but the only solution is recognition under international guarantees,” Hoti told T7.

He also spoke about the next meeting in Brussels on September 7 which he said will be based on assurances from the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the French President Emmanuel Macron at the Paris summit concerning mutual recognition. “There can be no agreement in Brussels without mutual recognition being the first item on the agenda,” Hoti said.

O’Brien looking forward to welcoming Vucic and Hoti to Washington (media)

National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said he was looking forward to welcoming President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic and Prime Minister of Kosovo Avdullah Hoti to Washington.

“These important discussions will advance peace through economic cooperation. Both leaders’ commitment to dialogue will benefit Serbia and Kosovo,” O’Brien is quoted in a tweet posted by the National Security Council.

Serwer: “Trepca” and Gazivoda could be part of table of talks in Washington (Koha)

Koha Ditore reports that agreement on railway, airline and highway connecting Kosovo and Serbia are topics that will start off the meetings at the White House while the mutual recognition which has been continuously proclaimed by Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti although not on the agenda, it could be added to the discussion if the two parties agree.

Balkans analyst, Daniel Serwer, said that a special economic settlement around the border strip could be up for discussion and this, he said, includes “Trepca” and Gazivoda. “However, it is difficult to see this being achieved as they implicate sovregnity issues,” he added.

Serwer further said that Serbia is not ready to discuss Kosovo status therefore mutual recognition is unlikely to be tackled in the formal settings but could perhaps be raised during lunch or dinner meetings. “The only possibility is economic arrangement or agreement with Vucic to accept exchange of ambassadors with Kosovo. However, Vucic has given signals he is not ready for this.”

With regards to the idea of parties moving into territory talks, Serwer said this ‘bad idea’ always risks coming back but that “I would be very surprised if this idea reappears in Washington as Hoti has made it clear there will be no such discussions. What remains to be seen is if he will be ready to achieve an agreement on ‘Trepca’ or Gazivoda, or both, because Serbs want a part of ‘Trepca’ while Kosovo controls Gazivoda. There could be movement in this respect.”

Non-majority community arrangements, property to be discussed in Brussels meeting (media)

On Monday 7 September, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell, and the EU Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue and other Western Balkan regional issues, Miroslav Lajcak, will host the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, and the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Avdullah Hoti, for another high-level meeting of the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue in Brussels, European Union External Service confirmed in a statement.

It added that the meeting will address non-majority community arrangements, and the settlement of mutual financial claims/property while this weekend, ahead of the high-level meeting, EU Special Representative Lajcak will host the fourth expert-level meeting on the topics previously discussed, namely missing and displaced persons and economic cooperation.

Osmani: No peace possible without apology for crimes in Kosovo (media)

Kosovo Assembly Speaker Vjosa Osmani said in a Facebook post that there can be no peace between Kosovo and Serbia without the latter seeking forgiveness for the crimes it committed in Kosovo.

“In two days, prime minister of Kosovo will meet in Washington President Vucic to negotiate reaching of an agreement between Kosovo and Serbia. This meeting will be followed by more negotiations in Brussels.

The agreement, some say, will bring sustainable peace between our peoples.

But how can there be peace with people who don’t call to their conscience and apologise for victims they caused?! The conscience cannot be ‘purified’ or ‘sanitised’. The conscience requires remorse, forgiveness, reparation!

Apart from recognition, Hoti should ask from Vucic the missing flower on the mass grave with Abanians in Batajnica,” Osmani wrote.

Isufi: Dialogue will be interrupted if issues of Trepca and Ujman open (media)

Deputy leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) Ahmet Isufi commented on the proposal of the deputy leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) Lutfi Haziri, on exchange of the territories between Serbia and Kosovo. He said there are some people who for a few votes are capable to issue different formulas as this one.

“This can open the dilemma of how long the dialogue about the territories would last and countries which have recognized us could have reserves about this,” Ahmeti said.

He further rejected the possibility of opening the issues of Trepca and Ujman/Gazivode in Washington and Brussels saying that Kosovo delegation should leave the meeting the moment such issues come up at the table of negotiations.

Hoxhaj: Basic principles determine if Washngton meeting is in accordance with Kosovo’s interest (Kallxo)

Enver Hoxhaj, deputy leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) said there are basic principles which determine if the 4 September meeting between Kosovo and Serbia at the White House is in accordance with the interests of Kosovo.

“The first principle has to do with whether it will be a bilateral agreement of international character, even if its content is economic. This has to do with the introductory part of the agreement and how it will be signed by Kosovo and Serbia, if something like that happens. Since the Americans are mediators and the U.S. has not only recognized Kosovo, but is a guarantee of its statehood, Kosovo must insist on its bilateral character and in accordance with the Constitution of Kosovo,” Hoxhaj said.

He also criticized the composition of the Kosovo delegation saying that it would be better if it was composed of good economists.

Tahiri: First steps of recognition will be made in Washington (RTK)

Kosovo’s former Minister for Dialogue Edita Tahiri said the fact that the meeting is being held in Washington, shows a U.S. has a strategy for Balkans, because each time the U.S. were involved, there were results and success for peace in the region.

“I believe that the first steps towards the recognition of the independence of Kosovo and its sovereignty, within the existing borders, will be made, as it appears that exchange of territories is abandoned,” Tahiri said.

“It would have been good if the opposition participated, but the delegation has legitimacy for these discussions,” she added. According to her, Kosovo would appear more serious if the opposition was part of the delegation.

According to her, government and opposition were not sincere and did not tell basic conditions for the participation in the discussions in Washington.

Nitaj: If there is no consensus on president’s post, new elections (media)

Deputy leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) Muharrem Nitaj that Ramush Haradinaj’s running for president does not mean that AAK does not trust the coalition partner.

Nitaj said the issue of the post of the president is currently delicate, due to the indictment proposal of the Specialist Chambers for Hashim Thaci, and end of his mandate by the end of March.

“If the political parties does not reach consensus on the president, our country goes for new elections. AAK has chosen their candidate for president and do not expect that MPs of this political entity, as long as they have their candidate, would vote another one,” Nitaj said.

North Macedonia Albanian Leader Testifies to Kosovo War Prosecutors (Balkan Insight)

Ali Ahmeti, the veteran head of North Macedonia’s Democratic Union for Integration, DUI party who was a guerrilla fighter during the Kosovo conflict, began speaking to prosecutors from the Kosovo Specialist Chambers on Wednesday morning in Pristina, Kosovo media reported.

Ahmeti’s close party associate, North Macedonia’s recently-elected First Deputy Prime Minister, Artan Grubi, who accompanied Ahmeti to Pristina, told Kosovo’s TV21 that Ahmeti is expected to continue giving evidence on Thursday.

Another of Ahmeti’s close party associates, North Macedonia’s new Foreign Minister, Bujar Osmani, told a press conference in Skopje on Tuesday that the DUI leader has been summoned to testify “in the capacity of a witness” about what happened during the Kosovo conflict.

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