• COVID-19: 601 new cases, five deaths (media)
• New anti-COVID measures to be proposed in face of growing new cases (media)
• CEC: Election results to be announced Thursday (media)
• VV thanks diaspora members, claims to have overwhelmingly won their votes (media)
• Daka says recent elections were the most difficult to organise (Klan Kosova)
• Kurti: Specialist Chambers were imposed, KLA led just war (Telegrafi)
• In Switzerland, Osmani meets diaspora, chairman of National Council (media)
• EU-U.S. coordination, guarantee there will be no imposed solutions on Kosovo (Koha)
• EU envoy tells Serbia, Kosovo dialogue key for entry talks (AP/RFE)
• Grenell: Kurti and VV believe Israel was built by crimes (media)
• DFC dismisses head of Belgrade office – report (SeeNews/Tanjug)
• Twenty years on, the disappeared still cast shadows in northern Kosovo (euronews)

COVID-19: 601 new cases, five deaths (media)

Kosovo has recorded 601 new cases of COVID-19 and five deaths in the last 24 hours. 331 persons have recovered from the virus during this time.

There are 9,256 active cases of COVID-19 in Kosovo.

New anti-COVID measures to be proposed in face of growing new cases (media)

Koha quotes sources saying that new measures against COVID-19 are expected to be proposed by the committee tasked with assessment of the pandemic situation in Kosovo.

The committee is scheduled to meet today in face of the increasing number of new coronavirus cases recorded in the recent period.

Meanwhile, representatives of the hospitality industry opposed any new measures that would further restrict their activity. They said the recent spike of new infections is due to the election campaign and that they will protest next week to demand full lifting of restrictions regarding their operating hours.

At the same time, RTK quotes the chairman of the Kosovo’s Chamber of Commerce, Berat Rukiqi, warning of protests if the authorities decided to impose tighter measures against coronavirus.

In a Facebook post, Rukiqi said that the hospitality sector will not be the only one protesting possible new measures. “The businesses cannot continue to pay for the pandemics’ ‘bill’, especially now when the number of new cases has risen as a result of the election campaign,” he wrote.

CEC: Election results to be announced Thursday (media)

Spokesperson of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Valmir Elezi stated that the votes from the diaspora have been counted and that the final election results are expected to be announced today.

“The CEC will announce the final results on Thursday, 18 days after they took place, just as it did in 2014 and 2017. Despite this, this is a record time for the fact that, unlike the past, this time more polling stations (564) were recounted and more than 32,000 conditional votes and around 57,000 mailed ballots were counted,” Elezi wrote on Facebook.

With all the votes counted, media report that the Vetevendosje Movement (VV) is expected to have 58 seats in the new Assembly, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) 19, the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) 15, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) 8.

VV thanks diaspora members, claims to have overwhelmingly won their votes (media)

The Vetevendosje Movement (VV) has thanked the members of the Kosovo diaspora saying that their votes were overwhelmingly for VV.

“78.51 percent of the diaspora votes are for the Vetevendosje Movement! In a plebiscitary way our fellow countrymen with trust and dedication declared in favour of changes in the country at the February 14 referendum. Heartfelt thanks to the diaspora and to all those that applied but did not manage to register, those who despite the short timeframe sent in their ballots, those that despite difficulties voted for us and gave us support,” the Vetevendosje said in a statement.

Daka says recent elections were the most difficult to organise (Klan Kosova)

Head of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Valdete Daka said in an interview with Klan Kosova that the February 14 elections were the most difficult to organise and not just because of the pandemic but also due to the atmosphere at the CEC meetings “which I don’t know why it was created but for the mere fact that it was given a direction different to what it should have taken.”

The CEC meetings have been characterised by fiery disagreements between Daka and the Vetevendosje representative Sami Kurteshi.

Daka further said that the CEC was unfairly being accused of delaying the announcement of the final election results but argued that these elections had the highest turnout and also an extraordinarily high number of conditional and mailed ballots.

Kurti: Specialist Chambers were imposed, KLA led just war (Telegrafi)

Leader of the Vetevendosje Movement (VV) Albin Kurti said the Specialist Chambers are imposed from the outside.

Speaking from Tirana, Kurti said: “The Specialist Chambers at The Hague is a mono-ethnic court imposed from the outside. We want to have normal courts in Kosovo and not special courts outside of Kosovo.”

He said that the KLA has led a just and pure war and if there are allegations from the international community against certain individuals from the KLA, “we will have a new, reformed justice system that will treat with priority and seriously all those cases.”

In Switzerland, Osmani meets diaspora, chairman of National Council (media)

Acting President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani met the Chairman of the Swiss National Council Andreas Aebi and also members of the Kosovo diaspora in Switzerland during a visit to the country.

Osmani and Aebi discussed about the deepening of relations between Kosovo and Switzerland. “The priorities of the future institutions, the pandemic management and the provision of vaccines, the extraordinary potential of our diaspora as well as the inter-parliamentary and economic cooperation, were just some of the topics we discussed during our very substantive meeting”, said Osmani.

In a meeting with diaspora members, Osmani said as quoted in a press release issued by her cabinet: “I can not describe in words what an honor, privilege and pride it is to be among lawyers, doctors, scientists, researchers, entrepreneurs, artists, architects and professionals of various fields who are excelling in the professions they have selected and are making extraordinary and substantial contribution to the Swiss society. We had so much to talk about, but naturally, we kept the focus on discussing the ways of cooperating where our diaspora is no longer seen only as a source of remittances, but as a source of ideas, competence and professionalism, being these values which our country needs now more than ever.”

Osmani also met the President of the Swiss Senate, Alex Kuprecht, and discussed strengthening of cooperation.

EU-U.S. coordination, guarantee there will be no imposed solutions on Kosovo (Koha)

The confirmation that the European Union and the United States  are jointly engaged in achieving a final agreement that does not undermine Kosovo’s territorial integrity is being seen as a guarantee that there will be no imposed solutions on Kosovo, Koha Ditore writes on the front page.

The paper highlights that in a joint interview, the EU and U.S. envoys, Miroslav Lajcak and Matthew Palmer, confirmed that they are working together to achieve a final agreement between Kosovo and Serbia. While for the U.S. this agreement implies mutual recognition, the EU considers it crucial for opening of the path to European perspective.

European integration expert Demush Shasha told the paper that Lajcak’s recent visit and the messages he conveyed together with Palmer confirm there is an alliance between the EU and the U.S. when it comes to facilitating normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia. “In addition, Lajcak offered guarantees that Kosovo has been seeking, in that the Constitution of Kosovo and the territorial integrity are the red lines that the EU respects and in this context, the establishment of the Association will not be done by violating the Constitution,” Shasha said.

EU envoy tells Serbia, Kosovo dialogue key for entry talks (AP/RFE)

The European Union’s special envoy on Wednesday said that Serbia and Kosovo must resume talks on normalizing their relations if they want to advance toward bloc membership.

Miroslav Lajcak arrived in Belgrade after previously visiting Pristina at the start of his tour in the region.

Lajcak said after a meeting with Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic that EU member states expect the two sides to move on.

“Dialogue is key for both sides to advance on their European path,” said Lajcak. “We have no interest to preserve a status quo and we are ready to bring the process to a successful end as fast as the two sides are ready to go.”

Lajcak added that the EU is working closely with the United States with a common goal for Serbia and Kosovo in sight, which is membership in the EU.

Vucic said after his meeting with Lajcak that Serbia is ready to return to the talks and insists on reaching a compromise solution.

“We believe that a compromise agreement means no one gets everything and everyone gets enough,” Vucic said.

See more at: https://bit.ly/3rjBqLS; https://bit.ly/3e8LNhN

Grenell: Kurti and VV believe Israel was built by crimes (media)

The former U.S. envoy for Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Richard Grenell, continued accusations against the Vetevendosje Movement and its leader Albin Kurti.

In a most recent post on Twitter, he wrote: “Albin Kurti and his party VV believe Israel was built by committing crimes. And says the U.S. and the U.K. support this crime.”

“This is dangerous talk for a US ally,” continued Grenell and tagged in the post Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor to the U.S. President Joe Biden.

Grenell posted the comment underneath of what is now described as a deleted social media post of the Vetevendosje claiming that the country of Israel was constructed on the foundation of the crimes committed against the Palestinians.

DFC dismisses head of Belgrade office – report (SeeNews/Tanjug)

The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has dismissed John Jovanovic, the director of its regional office for the Western Balkans in Belgrade, Serbian media reported.

“There is a new management of the office in Washington that will continue working in the Western Balkans. I am honoured that by opening an office in Belgrade, we have laid the foundations for serious economic engagement of the U.S. in Serbia and the region of the Western Balkans,” news agency Tanjug quoted Jovanovic as saying on Tuesday.

Twenty years on, the disappeared still cast shadows in northern Kosovo  (euronews)

Twenty-three years ago this June, Miroljub Ađančić’s brother was working at the Belaćevac mine near Obilic, not far from Priština, when uniformed men wearing the insignia of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) came and took him and nine of his colleagues hostage.

It was June 22, 1998, the first day of the so-called Battle of Belaćevac Mine during the Kosovo War between the KLA and the forces of Slobodan Milosevic’s Yugoslavia.

The KLA had seized the facility, which provided most of Kosovo’s electricity. A week later, the mine was retaken by units of the Yugoslav Army and Serbian police, which killed ten KLA fighters.

But no trace of the hostages was ever found.

See more at: https://bit.ly/2OmcGUV