Albanian Language Media:

• COVID-19: 553 new cases, eight deaths (media)
• Hoti: No new anti-Covid measures, stable trend of cases  (media)
• Rohde: New elections are the last thing Kosovo needs (Koha)
• Turkish community leaders join discussions on formation of new government (media)
• Rexhepi: We will vote for Kurti government, Osmani president (media)
• Krasniqi: Our vote will be in support of Kurti, Osmani (media)
• VAKAT: Our position on new government to be clarified later (media)
• Petkovic granted permission to visit Kosovo (Koha/Klan)

Serbian Language Media:

• Serbian communities: 55 new Covid-19 cases, two deaths (KoSSev)
• Church in Donja Gusterica broken into last night (KiM radio)
• US’s Palmer & Godfrey worried about journalists’ safety in Serbia (Beta, N1)
• Manaj: The identification of remains found in nine sites in Kosovo and Kizevak is underway (KoSSev)
• Daimel: Hard times could come for Vucic soon (Danas, FoNet, VoA)
• Hungarian FM says Belgrade, Budapest did not allow vaccine to become political (N1, Beta)
• Protest due to the outcome of the competition for the admission of medical staff in Gracanica (RTV Puls, KiM radio, RTK2)

Opinion:

• Central Europe’s Media-Capture Epidemic (Balkan Insight)

International:

• WHO meets to discuss AstraZeneca vaccine as more EU countries halt rollout (CNN)

Humanitarian/Development:

• Bosnian Film “Quo Vadis, Aida?” officially nominated for the Oscar (N1, KoSSev)

Albanian Language Media  

COVID-19: 553 new cases, eight deaths (media)

Kosovo’s National Institute for Public Health announced the recent COVID-19 figures showing that 553 new cases and eight deaths have been recorded in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, 534 persons have recovered from the virus during this time.

Hoti: No new anti-Covid measures, stable trend of cases  (media)

Outgoing Prime Minister of Kosovo Avdullah Hoti had a meeting today with Health Minister Armend Zemaj and representatives of health institutions to discuss the situation with the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It has been decided that the same current anti-Covid measures remain in place as it was concluded that the trends are stable. At the same time, the possibilities for beginning online classes for all levels of education, for the coming two weeks, starting on 22 March, are being looked into,” the Government of Kosovo said in a statement. 

It added that the decision on whether school lessons will go online is expected to be taken later today following a meeting with representatives of all groups of interest.

Rohde: New elections are the last thing Kosovo needs (Koha)

The German ambassador to Kosovo, Jorn Rohde, said political instability in Kosovo needs to end.

Rohde made the comments in a response to a Twitter post by Koha’s editor-in-chief Agron Bajrami who said that the Kosovo opposition faces huge dilemmas: “▪︎They don’t want to help election of President Osmani ▪︎Failure to elect President leads to new elections ▪︎New elections can sink them further Feels like standing between the rock and the hard place!”

“My take: the prolonged political instability has to end – Kosovo and its people deserve stability now! Another election would be the last thing Kosovo needs right now,” the German ambassador said.

Turkish community leaders join discussions on formation of new government (media)

Fikrim Damka, leader of the Kosovo Turkish Democratic Party (KDTP), met today election winners Albin Kurti and Vjosa Osmani to discuss steps towards the formation of new Kosovo institutions. 

Damka, whose party has two MP seats, said they will be present at the Assembly session during the president election vote. “We have not yet decided whether he will vote in favour of a Kurti government or not,” he added.

Damka said the discussions with Kurti and Osmani will continue in the coming days. “We have not placed any conditions so far but we do have demands.” 

He said that the new government of Kosovo will have to tackle the challenge concerning the opening of the embassy in Jerusalem, a move which has been strongly opposed by Turkey. “We will convey this challenge to the Government but it is up to their will to decide what steps they will take. We as two MPs support a joint solution with the EU, UN, and Turkey.”

Several media outlets also report that Damka insisted at the meeting of one ministry in the new government be led by a Turkish community representative.

Rexhepi: We will vote for Kurti government, Osmani president (media)

Emilija Rexhepi, Bosniak MP representing the New Democratic Party (NDS), met today the leader of the Vetevendosje Movement Albin Kurti and acting President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Rexhepi said she will support a government led by Kurti and will also vote for Osmani as the new president of Kosovo. She said her work will continue to focus on the protection of interests of the Bosniak community in Kosovo.

Krasniqi: Our vote will be in support of Kurti, Osmani (media)

Elbert Krasniqi, MP representing the Egyptian community and leader of the Kosovo’s New Democratic Initiative, said that he would support a government led by Albin Kurti and that he would also vote in favour of Vjosa Osmani becoming the new president of Kosovo.

“We met with Osmani and Kurti to discuss further steps for formation of institutions. We are represented at the Assembly with one MP and our vote will be in support of a Kurti government and Osmani president,” Krasniqi told reporters.

VAKAT: Our position on new government to be clarified later (media)

Rasim Demiri from the Bosniak VAKAT coalition said after a meeting with acting President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani and Vetevendosje leader Albin Kurti that their position on the formation of the new government will be clarified at a later stage. 

“We as VAKAT coalition have scheduled another meeting with Kurti. We did not speak about votes but about programme,” he said.

Petkovic granted permission to visit Kosovo (Koha/Klan)

Kosovo’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora has issued permission to the head of the Serbian Government’s Office for Kosovo, Petar Petkovic, to visit Kosovo for 16-17 March.

In a statement, the Ministry said the visit was approved based on the Brussels Agreement signed in Brussels on 2014. The Ministry called on Petkovic to respect the protocol during his visit and refrain from making political statements and rhetoric against Kosovo. “Failure to adhere to the agenda and political statement against the statehood of the Republic of Kosovo will lead to the rejection of other visits from Serbia.”

Serbian Language Media

Serbian communities: 55 new Covid-19 cases, two deaths (KoSSev)

According to the latest data, two people died in Serbian communities in Kosovo, reported portal KoSSev. 

Out of a total of 149 tested samples, 55 are positive for coronavirus, the city Crisis Staff of Kosovska Mitrovica announced.

Of the total number of newly infected, 48 are from northern Kosovo, while 7 are from central Kosovo.

The new cases by municipalities: North Mitrovica – 23, Leposavic and Zubin Potok 9 each, Zvecan – 7, Strpce – 3, Gnjilane and Priluzje 2 each.

The number of active cases is 732.

So far, a total of 4,989 coronavirus-positive people have been registered in Serb areas in Kosovo, out of 16,608 tested samples.

Gracanica: 12 new Covid-19 cases

Radio KiM reports that 12 new cases of coronavirus have been registered in the last two days on the territory of the municipality of Gracanica.

There are currently 45 Covid patients in hospital, while the total number of positive patients in the municipality of Gracanica since the beginning of the pandemic is 661.

“The municipal inspection is intensively controlling the observance of protection measures against the Covid 19 virus, and anyone who violates them will be punished,” the Municipality of Gracanica warns again.

Church in Donja Gusterica village broken into last night (KiM radio)

The church of St. Sunday (Sveta nedelja) was broken into in Gornja Gusterica village last night, several residents of this village in the municipality of Gracanica confirmed for RTV Kim.

Unknown thieves took money from this Orthodox church. It is unknown whether any other damage was done. 

Members of Kosovo Police are on the scene, investigating in presence of the local parish priest, Archpriest Zoran Filipovic. 

KiM radio recalled that this was the fifth Orthodox church in Serbian communities that was broken into in the past ten days. The churches of St. Peter and Paul in Klokot and the Holy Trinity in Partes were broken into on All Souls’ Day, and last weekend the Church of Forty Sebastian martyrs in the village of Drajkovce and the church of St. Dimitrije in Donja Bitinja village in the municipality of Strpce. 

US’s Palmer & Godfrey worried about journalists’ safety in Serbia (Beta, N1)

Matthew Palmer, US State Department special envoy for the Western Balkans and Anthony Godfrey, the US ambassador to Serbia, said on Monday media freedom was one of the fundamental components of a democratic society, adding they were worried about the journalists’ safety in Serbia.

“The road to the European Union implies the role of media and investigative journalism,” Palmer said, adding reforms needed transparency.

The two also said they hoped an agreement between Belgrade and Pristina would open the EU road to Serbia and Kosovo.

“The US wants both sides as its partners,” Palmer said after his video link meeting on Facebook with Godfrey, during which they answered people’s questions.

“Our national view is that the process of normalisation ends in mutual recognition,” Palmer said, adding Serbia and Kosovo should recognise each other as partners.

The two said that the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) continued its work in Belgrade.

Godfrey told Palmer Serbia was doing well in fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

Palmer added Belgrade was his favourite city in Europe and that he couldn’t wait to visit Serbia.

Earlier on Monday, Palmer and Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic had a video link meeting during which they discussed key topics and their different views.

See at: https://bit.ly/3lm6Ij1

Manaj: The identification of remains found in nine sites in Kosovo and Kizevak is underway (KoSSev)

The identification process of – as it is presumed – 16 sets of remains found last year at ten locations as part of the search for missing persons from Kosovo is underway. Apart from the site in Kizevak, the remains from the other nine locations were exhumed on the territory of Kosovo. The samples were sent for DNA analysis to the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) immediately after the exhumation, but no answers have arrived so far, the chairman of the Kosovo government’s Commission on Missing Persons, Rame Manaj, confirmed for KoSSev yesterday. 

Pristina media reported that the remains found on November 17th last year in Kizevak near Raska were sent to the International Commission on Missing Persons and that analysis results are expected to arrive soon.

However, samples of the remains, both those found in Kizevak and nine other locations on the territory of Kosovo, which were also found last year, were sent to this commission. The identification of all sets of remains is now pending.

According to Manaj, this is a standard procedure immediately after the exhumation, regardless of whether the remains were found in Belgrade or Pristina.

”Samples are immediately sent to the International Commission on Missing Persons, and then there is a possibility for them to be returned for identification and verification in Belgrade or Pristina. They perform bone analyzes, then those analyzes are compared with blood analyzes, and then the identity is determined,” Manaj told KoSSev.

The remains found in Kizevak are still in Belgrade, and only samples were sent to the international commission, confirmed Manaj.

Manaj was still unable to confirm exactly how many sets of remains were found in Kizevak last year. It is suspected that approximately 5 to 6 sets of remains have been found.

New excavations will be carried out at this location this year as well, once the weather conditions improve.

”This will be determined jointly by experts from Kosovo and Serbia,” Manaj added.

Apart from Kizevak, the Pristina Commission on Missing Persons expects excavations in other parts of Serbia as well – namely in the village of Stavalj, near Sjenica.

Pristina expressed suspicion that the remains of people who went missing during the Kosovo conflict are also hidden at this location. Manaj revealed that they are waiting for the approval of the Commission on Missing Persons from Belgrade.

”We visited that site together, we are expecting some more data and we will see if the excavations will be allowed and when,” he said.

In addition to excavations on the territory of central Serbia, excavations were also carried out on the territory of Kosovo.

In 2020, nine locations in Kosovo were excavated, including North Mitrovica and locations near Istok, and it is presumed that 11 sets of remains were exhumed on those occasions.

These samples were also sent to the International Commission on Missing Persons, and DNA analyzes are pending, Manaj confirmed.

In February this year, excavations were launched at the city cemetery in Djakovica/ Gjakova, where remains were also found. New excavations are expected to be carried out at this location.

When asked whether the Government of Serbia sent requests to Pristina for excavations on the territory of Kosovo and whether they were approved, Manaj revealed that the action plan for 2021 is being prepared, but that there are such requests.

”There are requests from the Government of Serbia, we will certainly include those requests as well. But the action plan has not been adopted yet,” he said, adding that he could not provide additional details about further excavations.

At the beginning of February, the remains of a Serb volunteer soldier, Zoran Veselic, who died on April 19th, 1999, were buried at Maja Glava in Kosare. His remains were found late last year and taken over in Pristina in early February.

Previously, it was Manaj who told the Pristina media that the Serb delegation visited Kosare on October 4th, searching for the bodies of soldiers killed during the Kosovo war.

The same allegations were then presented by the President of the Commission on Missing Persons of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, Veljko Odalovic. He revealed that they also visited Pristina at the time, where they ”shared the information they have with the authorities”.

As he announced at the time, a total of about 570 people are on this commission’s list of missing persons, 24 of whom are soldiers, six of them from Kosare.

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

Daimel: Hard times could come for Vucic soon (Danas, FoNet, VoA)

German analyst and expert on the Balkan situation, Johanna Deimel said that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic had so far managed to wave the EU flag, claiming that he was in favor of integration while undermining democracy, the rule of law and media freedom, adding that hard times could come for Vucic soon, reports Belgrade based daily Danas. 

“With the new methodology of the EU enlargement process, in which the rule of law and reforms are linked to EU financial assistance, Vucic could soon see difficult times. Because China and Russia are certainly not alternatives to the European Union,” Johanna Deimel told the Voice of America.

She stated that Russia offers Serbia support in the field of foreign policy, especially in the UN Security Council – and represents a convenience in negotiations with Brussels and Washington, while China brings fast money and “infrastructure for surveillance systems that suit the autocrat Vucic”.

“China and Russia are additionally using the situation of the flared pandemic. They are embarking on wise geopolitics by delivering vaccines to Serbia. That brings affection to Vucic, but also to Moscow and Beijing in Serbia and the region. On the other hand, it contributes to a significant loss of the image of the European Union, both due to the current situation with vaccines, and in connection with the enlargement of the EU,” Deimel believes.

Johanna Deimel pointed out that it is becoming obvious that the foundation of community values is being destroyed within the EU, and individual national interests are gaining in importance, stating that this refers, for example, to Viktor Orban in Hungary, who increasingly is pursuing a non-free rule modeled on Vladimir Putin, while the EU as a whole cannot react against it.

“Also, for many years now, we have been watching President Vucic strengthen his autocracy in Serbia. For me, the silence and the lack of support for mass and months-long protests in Serbia against the collapse of democracy and media control were completely incomprehensible and unacceptable,” Deimel emphasized.

She also notices that, as she says, some kind of change seems to be happening now

“It seems that Angela Merkel’s protective hand, which kept Vucic in German conservative circles for too long, no longer seems so strong. An article by Michael Martens in the conservative German daily “Frankfurter Allgemeine” entitled “Football, death and marijuana” certainly did not please Vucic. As well as the research of the KRIK portal about his allegedly close connections with organized crime,” Deimel stated.

Pointing out that the pro-government media are currently conducting a large defamation campaign against KRIK, she said that Vucic was becoming nervous, and that the action of the European People’s Party in the European Parliament against the Hungarian party Fidesz, which ended with its withdrawal from the EPP faction, showed that the border of tolerance had finally been crossed. 

“I am sure that Vucic will pay attention to that,” said Deimel, who does not believe that most EU member states consider the president of Serbia a reliable partner who respects the democratic principles of the rule of law.

Hungarian FM says Belgrade, Budapest did not allow vaccine to become political (N1, Beta)

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told reporters in Belgrade on Tuesday that Serbia and his country refused to allow vaccination to become a political issue.

“We refused to allow someone who is far away and who does not know the conditions here to take decisions instead of our experts,” he said after a meeting with Serbian Foreign Minister Nikola Selakovic. Szijjarto said that both governments listened to reason and did their job to keep their populations healthy.

According to the Hungarian Foreign Minister, the procurement of vaccines from China and Russia meant that many more people were inoculated quickly. “We saved lives by getting vaccines from the east,” he said.

See at: https://bit.ly/3qTvF6P

Protest due to the outcome of the competition for the admission of medical staff in Gracanica (RTV Puls, KiM radio, RTK2)

Several dozen people protested in Gracanica, dissatisfied with the outcome of the competition for the admission of medical technicians at the Clinical Hospital Center.

During the one-hour protest, the rejected candidates in the competition pointed out that they doubted the regularity of the admission of 40 technicians, among more than 200 applicants, reported RTV Puls.

They demand the annulment of the results of the competition and the dismissal of the director of the Clinical Hospital Center in Gracanica, Bratislav Lazic.

They suspect that during the admission of medical technicians there was “nepotism, disrespect of the criteria, that people who do not live in Kosovo and Metohija got the job and members of families who sold their properties and moved to central Serbia, expertise was not looked at and social condition of the candidates was not considered.”

They announced complaints to the Office for KiM and that they would ask the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic for help. 

RTV Puls recalls that the same protest was held last week in Pasjane village, also due to the outcome of the competition for the admission of medical technicians at the Gnjilane Health Center. The protest was stopped after talks between representatives of the Office for KiM and dissatisfied candidates.

Opinion

Central Europe’s Media-Capture Epidemic (Balkan Insight)

Since returning to power in 2010, Orban has waged a scorched-earth campaign against Hungary’s independent media, seizing control of most outlets and leaving those that remain cowering on the sidelines. Worse, other autocrats have taken note.

The Hungarian Media Council’s decision last September not to renew the broadcast license of Klubradio, the country’s last remaining opposition radio station, surprised no one. The council did not bother to offer corroboration for its claims that Klubradio repeatedly violated media laws, nor did anyone expect it to. The episode is merely the latest instalment in the Hungarian government’s long-running campaign against independent media.

The onslaught began immediately after the 2010 general election, when Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his right-wing Fidesz party returned to power. The government immediately adopted a raft of laws imposing new restrictions on media outlets, and established the loyalist-staffed Media Council to enforce them. Within a year or so, all independent journalists who had worked in public media had been ousted, and the public broadcaster became a government mouthpiece.

Since then, Fidesz has steadily tightened its grip on Hungarian media. Through a clutch of supportive oligarchs, the party has seized control of major television and radio stations, news portals, and print media publishers. And in late 2018, Orban-aligned oligarchs established the Central European Press and Media Foundation, which now serves as a holding company for some 500 media entities.

See more at:https://bit.ly/38NkhTP

International

WHO meets to discuss AstraZeneca vaccine as more EU countries halt rollout (CNN)

The World Health Organization’s vaccine safety experts were due to meet Tuesday to discuss the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, as the list of countries temporarily halting its rollout over blood clot concerns continued to grow.

On Tuesday, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Latvia and Sweden became the latest European nations to suspend its use, despite advice from international medical agencies that the benefits of getting shots into arms outweigh any potential risks.

WHO on Monday appealed to countries to keep vaccination campaigns going, saying there was no evidence the vaccine caused clotting issues.

“As of today, there is no evidence that the incidents are caused by the vaccine and it is important that vaccination campaigns continue so that we can save lives and stem severe disease from the virus,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said.

See more at: https://cnn.it/3rSDwCF

Humanitarian/Development

Bosnian Film “Quo Vadis, Aida?” officially nominated for the Oscar (N1, KoSSev)

The Bosnian candidate “Quo Vadis, Aida?”, a film directed by Jasmila Zbanic, was officially nominated for the Oscars in the category Best International Feature Film, thus becoming the second BiH film to compete for this prestigious award. Danis Tanovic’s “No Man’s Land” won the only Oscar for Bosnia in 2002.

The “Quo Vadis, Aida” was nominated a few days ago in two categories for the British BAFTA Film Award – for Best Director and Best Non-English Language Film. Also, the film about the Srebrenica genocide received extremely high marks from American critics, with an average rating of an incredible 96 on Metacritic, which makes it probably the biggest favourite for the Oscars.

Zbanic’s film deals with the genocide in Srebrenica and it is the first feature film on this topic.

Jasmila Zbanic wrote the script and directed the film, and the main roles are played by Jasna Djuricic, Izudin Bajrovic, Boris Ler, Dino Bajrovic, Emir Hadzihafizbegovic and Boris Isakovic.

Behind the camera was Christine A. Maier and the editor was Jaroslaw Kaminski.

See at: https://bit.ly/38FEqer