Albanian Language Media:

• COVID-19: 68 new cases, one death (media)
• Kosovo Assembly adopts law on economic recovery (media)
• Pacolli: Talks on president’s post not to take place at this time (Klan)
• Kosovo minister complains over trade barriers by Serbia (Koha/RTK)
• VV calls for announcement of local elections in Podujeve, Mitrovica North (media)
• In Kosovo, 40 persons convicted for war crimes (RFE)

Serbian Language Media:

• Three new cases of Covid-19 registered in Serbian areas in Kosovo on Saturday (Radio kontakt plus)
• Lajcak: Vucic wonders whether the EU is offering a European perspective (FoNet, N1)
• RTS: Lajcak to visit Belgrade and Pristina
• Dacic: We are grateful to China for supporting sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia (Kosovo-online)
• 1,000 candles for Oliver Ivanovic for one thousand days of silence in Mitrovica North as well (KoSSev)
• Vucic: We’ll see if there will be extraordinary parliamentary elections in 2022 (BETA, N1)
• Petkovic: Once again Thaci has shown that he is essentially against dialogue (Kosovo Online, B92)
• Rakic and Szunyog visit northern municipalities (Radio Mitrovica sever)

Opinion:

• COVID-19 Crisis Could Slow Southeast Europe’s Economies for Years (Balkan Insight)
• In times like these anchored cooperation-bashkepunim-saradnja-suradnja-саработка-сарадња, takes on more importance (EWB)

International:

• ‘A Hero Returns’: How Freed War Criminals are Glorified in Kosovo (Balkan Insight)
• Serbia cultivates both US and China in Balkans tug of war (Financial Times)
• Why the Kosovo Conflict Remains a Problem for the EU (The Washington Post)

Humanitarian/Development:

• In pictures: Prishtina Pride Parade 2020 (Prishtina Insight)
• Pride Week: PM Hoti expresses government’s support for LGBTIQ+ members’ rights (media)

Albanian Language Media 

COVID-19: 68 new cases, one death (media)

Kosovo’s National Institute for Public Health said today that 68 new cases of COVID-19 and one death were recorded in the last 24 hours. 702 samples were tested for the virus.

Meanwhile, 33 persons have recovered from the virus during this time.

The highest number of new cases is from the municipality of Prishtina (21).

Kosovo Assembly adopts law on economic recovery (media)

The Kosovo Assembly managed to approve the law on economic recovery in its first reading.

In the seventh attempt to pass the law, 64 MPs voted in its favour.

Head of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) parliamentary group Arben Gashi thanked the MPs who supported the law and called on other parliamentary groups to present their proposals to add to the draft law and “call today a new session if there is will.”

Head of the EU Office in Kosovo, Tomas Szunyog, welcomed the move. “Pleased that the Kosovo Assembly finally succeeded in passing the draft Law on Economic Recovery in the first reading. I hope that the MPs will consider the comments made by the EU and other international actors in their work on finalising this necessary legislation,” he tweeted. 

Pacolli: Talks on president’s post not to take place at this time (Klan)

Leader of the New Kosovo Alliance (AKR) Behgjet Pacolli said that this is not the time to be discussing who the future president of Kosovo will be. 

“No talks about the President now, we have a President,” he declared.

“Now is the final time and I strongly hope that all political leaders will once and for all leave aside personal, clan, and party interests and contribute for the good of the country. Now more than ever Kosovo needs unity and sincere work from all.”

Kosovo minister complains over trade barriers by Serbia (Koha/RTK)

Kosovo’s Minister of Trade and Industry Vesel Krasniqi met the head of the EU Office in Kosovo Tomas Szunyog.

In the meeting Krasniqi is reported to have expressed concern over barriers Serbia is placing on products from Kosovo and urged the EU to use its authority to press Serbia into respecting agreements on free movement of goods as part of the Central Europe Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA).

Szunyog on his part expressed commitment to continue support for Kosovo and underlined in this respect the EU funds allocated to Kosovo to help it overcome the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

VV calls for announcement of local elections in Podujeve, Mitrovica North (media)

The Vetevendosje Movement has requested the Central Election Commission (CEC) announce the date for extraordinary mayoral elections in Podujeve which were put off due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

The party accused the CEC of denying the citizens the right to elect their own local representative. “The CEC is the institution that is preventing, through all possible ways, the right to vote,” said VV’s Sami Kurteshi at a press conference today. 

Kurteshi said local elections should also take place in Mitrovica North after its mayor Goran Rakic took on the post of Kosovo’s deputy prime minister. 

“These are two municipalities that have no mayors for seven months now because they resigned to take on government posts. Now, months after the unlawful postponement of elections by the president of Kosovo, this issue has been with the Constitutional Court for months,” he added. 

In Kosovo, 40 persons convicted for war crimes (RFE)

Two decades since the end of the war in Kosovo, 116 persons have been indicted by local courts and international missions on war crimes charges of which 40 have been convicted, RFE in Albanian reports. 

40 others have been acquitted while 28 persons, of whom 24 of Serb ethnic background, have fled Kosovo following the announcement of charges.

Until 2015, war crimes were tried and convicted by local courts, including international missions – UNMIK and EULEX. In 2015, the Department for War Crimes was established as part of Kosovo’s Special Prosecution but so far, it has only filed seven indictments. 

Amer Alija from the Humanitarian Law Centre in Pristina said Kosovo institutions need to make more efforts in serving justice for war crimes. “Institutions in Kosovo need to investigate and prepare as many cases as possible and try through Interpol to arrest individuals that do not reside in Kosovo and those that Kosovo judicial authorities cannot reach,” he said. 

Alija added that this process also requires cooperation between Kosovo and Serbia, particularly in exchanging information.  

Serbian Language Media

Three new cases of Covid-19 registered in Serbian areas in Kosovo on Saturday (Radio kontakt plus)

Three new cases of Covid-19 infection were registered in the Serb-populated areas in Kosovo, Crisis Committee of Mitrovica North announced on Saturday, Radio kontakt plus reports. At the same time nine people have recovered.  

Out of 46 tested samples, three were positive. Two cases were registered in Gnjilane and one in Mitrovica North. 

Out of nine recovered people, six are in Kamenica, and one each in Gnjilane, Strpce and Mitrovica North.  

At the moment, there are 41 persons in home-isolation, while three patients who tested positive for COVID-19 are hospitalized at the Clinical Health Centre in Mitrovica North.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, 5,438 people have been tested, of which 1030 people have tested positive on COVID-19. Currently, 44 cases are active, while 948 people have recovered.

To date, 38 people have died in the Serb-populated areas in Kosovo.

Lajcak: Vucic wonders whether the EU is offering a European perspective (FoNet, N1)

EU Special Envoy, Miroslav Lajcak, said that Brussels expected a “far-reaching decision” from Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on the Kosovo issue and that the Serbian president rightly wondered whether the EU, in turn, would offer a European perspective, Deutsche Welle reported.

“We expect him to make a far-reaching decision, and he asks himself: How can I explain to the citizens that it is good for them? This negotiation process was connected to the country’s European perspective from the beginning, and now Vucic wonders: how much of that European perspective will we get?” Lajcak told Austria’s Wiener Zeitung.

When asked whether there is a lack of motivation for the agreement because EU countries have not been interested in accepting new members for years, which Vucic criticized, Lajcak said that the Serbian president “asks a legitimate question”.

He said that the most difficult thing was to “restart the dialogue at all”, and reiterated that the goal was a binding comprehensive agreement.

“We are currently discussing very complex topics, including financial claims and property rights,” Lajcak said.

Lajcak said the proposal for the text on exiled and missing persons, as well as on economic cooperation, has already been completed but added that “the principle applies that nothing has been agreed until it is agreed.”

He pointed out the issue of the Community of Serbi Municipalities, which was already agreed upon in the agreements in 2013 and 2015, but those were not implemented.

“This is a very sensitive topic that was also addressed by the Kosovo Constitutional Court – that opinion must be taken into account. But I ask those who say that now is not the time for that: ‘When, if not now? You signed the agreement yourself”, said Lajcak.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic stated that Serbia is always ready to discuss various compromise solutions, but that it must be a compromise and not an ultimatum. “I hope that the EU will understand well that someone cannot sign the agreement in Brussels under the auspices of the Union and then pass a resolution denying the existence of the Community of Serb Municipalities and saying that it will never accept it or ask Serbia to recognize the independence (of Kosovo) and that then the Community of Serb Municipalities will be formed afterwards,” he said.

See at: https://bit.ly/33RsXpS

RTS: Lajcak to visit Belgrade and Pristina

Serbian national broadcaster RTS quoting diplomatic sources from Brussels reported late Friday that the EU Special Envoy for Belgrade-Pristina dialogue Miroslav Lajcak would visit Belgrade and Pristina this week in an attempt to “unblock” the issue of Community of Serb-majority Municipalities that had caused stalemate in the dialogue.

Prior to Lajcak’s visit, the EU foreign ministers in a meeting in Luxembourg on October 12 would discuss the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, the EU Council announced.

RTS’s diplomatic sources also said the meeting in Luxembourg would be the first political discussion on the dialogue at the level of ministers after a long time.

“The dialogue is tightly connected with the EU’s perspective of Serbia and Kosovo and a special envoy would wish to hear on Monday how the ministers understand this European perspective and how the EU could do something more than being an intermediary in the dialogue”, the source told RTS.

During current course of the dialogue, the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities was among the topics agreed upon, however, the Pristina side has lost the mandate to discuss it, while political situation there is rather unstable, the sources familiar with the dialogue said, adding the issue of Community of Serb-majority Municipalities must return on the agenda.

Dacic: We are grateful to China for supporting sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia (Kosovo-online)

Serbian Foreign Affairs Minister Ivica Dacic met today with a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Director of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission Yang Jiechi, Kosovo-online portal reports. During the meeting, Dacic also expressed gratitude for China’s stance towards territorial integrity and sovereignty of Serbia.  

Dacic also said Serbia is a great friend of China and wishes to foster even better strategic relations with this country in the upcoming period. Dacic said he is pleased with the development of the relations between Serbia and China, expressing hope that in the coming period, after formation of the new Serbian government, the work on fostering those relations would continue.  

Dacic also congratulated the 71 anniversary since establishment of the Communist Party of China. 

1,000 candles for Oliver Ivanovic for one thousand days of silence in Mitrovica North as well (KoSSev)

The United Opposition of Serbia (UOS) called on the citizens of Belgrade and Serbia to mark 1,000 days since the murder of Oliver Ivanovic this Monday, October 12th. The gathering and the lighting of 1,000 candles, is scheduled to take place at 7 pm in front of the Church of St. Mark in Belgrade, KoSSev portal reports.

In the meantime, citizens of Mitrovica North are also invited to gather on the same day but an hour earlier – at the site of the murder of the most famous post-war Kosovo Serb politician.

Ivanovic’s former Civic Initiative Freedom, Democracy, Justice (GI SDP) associate, Marko Jaksic announced on social networks that the symbolic gathering of “1,000 candles for 1,000 days of silence“ will also be held in Mitrovica North. Jaksic left the SDP in September last year when its current president Ksenija Bozovic decided to put the initiative on the joint electoral “Srpska Lista – Aleksandar Vucic“ list.

Jaksic called on admirers of the murdered politician to gather at 6 pm tomorrow in front of the GI SDP headquarters where Ivanovic worked – in Sutjeska Street in Mitrovica North, where he was also murdered with several shots to the back on the morning of January 16th, 2018.

See at: https://bit.ly/2SSLo7j

Vucic: We’ll see if there will be extraordinary parliamentary elections in 2022 (BETA, N1)

Serbian President, Aleksandar Vucic, said it remains to be seen whether extraordinary parliamentary elections will take place in addition to the regular presidential elections in 2022, N1 reports.

“Who will boycott them or not – we will also see that”, Vucic told reporters on Sunday, adding that research shows that no opposition party would enter parliament.

Vucic also said part of the opposition has been given more media space than him and his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).

“It is not the media’s fault, as they would claim, but their lack of work, lack of ideas and attacks on everything that is being done and said”, he added.

Speaking about the composition of the Assembly of Serbia, Vucic said it could include opposition representatives but it would have the role to show more responsible behavior “than the one where MPs were prevented from speaking for no reason” and where rocks could be brought into the building.

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

Petkovic: Once again Thaci has shown that he is essentially against dialogue (Kosovo Online, B92)

The director of the Office of the Government of Serbia for Kosovo and Metohija Petar Petkovic stated today that Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, by stating that “mutual recognition” should be the only point of dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, once again showed that he was essentially against dialogue, reported Serbian media..

In a press release, he added that Thaci thus confirmed that “his signature in before the EU, by which he committed himself to the formation of the Community of Serbian Municipalities” was not worth nothing.

Petkovic pointed out that the dialogue cannot, contrary to what Thaci imagined, have a predetermined outcome, and that both Washington and Brussels are aware of that.

“They cannot remove the unrealized obligation of seven and half years on the formation of the Community of Serbian Municipalities with maneuvers and evasiveness, and that is a topic that they will not be able to eliminate and remove from the table with any political and diplomatic gymnastics,” Petkovic said.

“The Community of Serbian municipalities and Pristina’s disrespect for the Brussels Agreement will be our first topic every time we go to Brussels, and let no one have unrealistic expectations about the progress of the dialogue until that obligation is fulfilled,” the director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija pointed out.

Rakic and Szunyog visit northern municipalities (Radio Mitrovica sever)

Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Local Government Administration Goran Rakic, together with the EU Special Representative and Head of the European Union Office in Kosovo Tomas Szunyog, visited the north of Kosovo today, Radio Mitrovica sever reports.

The two officials, accompanied by four northern mayors visited current projects supported by the European Union as well as projects funded by the Development Fund for the North.

During the visit, they talked about future cooperation and projects that will improve the quality of life of citizens and municipal services in accordance with European Union standards.

Opinion

COVID-19 Crisis Could Slow Southeast Europe’s Economies for Years (Balkan Insight)

The economic damage caused by lockdowns and sharp falls in exports, FDI and tourism is severe, and it may take years in some countries until the full recovery.

Like other regions in Europe and across the world, Southeast Europe, encompassing countries of the former Yugoslavia, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Cyprus and Turkey, has been severely affected by the COVID-19 crisis.

Strict lockdowns, drops in exports and weak tourist seasons weighed heavily on growth in 2020.

Fiscal support packages have alleviated some impacts of the crisis, particularly in EU member states in the region. But the European bank for Reconstruction and Development, EBRD, has forecast that GDP in the entire region will fall by an average of 4.6 per cent in 2020, albeit with an expected rebound of 4.3 per cent in 2021.

However, recovery in 2021 is conditional on a gradual resumption of normal activity in the region’s economies and in those of their trading partners, which could be threatened by a resurgence of the pandemic.

The EBRD’s newly published Regional Economic Prospects report describes how the COVID-19 crisis is affecting the economies in the region and the main transmission channels of this impact.

See at:https://bit.ly/3nJ5nUg

In times like these anchored cooperation-bashkepunim-saradnja-suradnja-саработка-сарадња, takes on more importance (EWB)

Op-ed by the Regional Cooperation Council’s Secretary General, Majlinda Bregu & Deputy Secretary General, Tanja Misčević

It’s not a custom for an op-ed to be signed by two persons. Except in one crucial respect. We are not the same. Actually, this is our biggest asset at RCC. We come from different countries, religions, backgrounds; we approach problems from different angles, but we all bring in certain identity perspective that enriches our daily pitching for regional cooperation. In a complex region cooperation is vital if breakthroughs are to be made. In other words, the flag we hoist is Togetherness.

It’s October 2020. We have all been living our lives in the slow lane for months now. Six months ago, we all thought that the COVID 19-caused pandemic would have been contained by the end of the summer and that we would return to our usual modes of living. Today, as we write this, working from homes in Tirana and Belgrade, it’s crystal clear that usual modes of living have changed, changing us as well, drastically.

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

International

‘A Hero Returns’: How Freed War Criminals are Glorified in Kosovo (Balkan Insight)

There is no legal obstacle to war criminals holding public office in Kosovo after they serve their sentences, and senior officials have repeatedly given them jobs, attended ceremonies in their honour and praised them as role models.

”A war hero has returned to freedom.”

This was how Kosovo’s then prime minister described the release from prison on probation of a convicted war criminal at the beginning of last year.

Just a few days after he was freed, the war criminal was then appointed as a political adviser to the prime minister.

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

Serbia cultivates both US and China in Balkans tug of war (Financial Times)

Belgrade is the subject of intense courtship by Beijing and, more recently, Washington

In March, as Europe was in the grip of the first outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic kissed the Chinese flag and hailed Beijing for its support in fighting the coronavirus. Six months later, he met Donald Trump at the White House — and publicly backed an idea to rename a lake after the US president. The endorsement came on the heels of a delegation of US officials representing six federal agencies as well as the president’s Balkans envoy Richard Grenell, who was the first to suggest a lake named after Trump.

See at: https://on.ft.com/2SSMMXz

Why the Kosovo Conflict Remains a Problem for the EU (The Washington Post)

The hostilities that ended the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia — Europe’s worst conflict since World War II — remain unresolved, with its adversaries still locked in a territorial dispute. More than two decades after they stopped fighting, Kosovo is demanding recognition as an independent state, while Serbia refuses to let it go. The disagreement has thwarted their progress toward European Union membership and opened space for a geopolitical tussle, where the U.S., Russia and China are grappling for influence on the bloc’s southeastern frontier.

See at:https://wapo.st/36ZIt58

Humanitarian/Development

In pictures: Prishtina Pride Parade 2020 (Prishtina Insight)

Measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 meant that Prishtina’s fourth Pride Parade took the form of a cavalcade of cars flying the rainbow flag across the city.

Prishtina held its fourth Pride Parade on Monday, with restrictions due to COVID-19 meaning that the parade took place from inside a cavalcade of 30 vehicles. 

Lend Mustafa, project manager at CEL – one of the organisers of the parade, told BIRN that it was important to mark Coming Out Day, and hold a parade in one form or another despite the crisis. He added that the idea to hold the parade in cars was inspired by activists from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

See more at: https://bit.ly/34Oe2MD

Pride Week: PM Hoti expresses government’s support for LGBTIQ+ members’ rights (media)

As the Pride Week kicks off today, Prime Minister of Kosovo Avdullah Hoti expressed the support of his government for the rights of the LGBTIQ+ community.

“The engagement of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo, with an immense support of international partners, has demonstrated a continuous increase of activities aimed at promoting the rights of the citizens of this community. As a result, multi-coloured flags have been put up in all government buildings today, as a symbolic gesture of the institutional support of the universality of human rights and the fundamental principle of equality and non-discrimination,” Hoti said.

He added that Kosovo has consolidated the legal framework for protection against discrimination which ensures protection of all marginalised groups in the society, including members of the LGBTIQ+ community.