Albanian Language Media:

• COVID-19: 704 new cases, five deaths (media)
• Kosnett meets Kurti: U.S. committed to helping new government succeed (media)
• Nagavci confirms Konjufca’s nomination for Assembly Speaker (Koha)
• Hoxhaj: PDK will not take part in voting Osmani for president (media)
• Abdixhiku: LDK’s position on Osmani’s candidacy to be taken by chairmanship (media)
• Hoti: We will vote for no president, we are an opposition party (Koha)
• PDK and LDK MPs to register today (RTK)
• Italian ambassador calls Abdixhiku, talk about creation of institutions (Express)

Serbian Language Media:

• 43 new cases of Covid-19 in Serbian communities (KoSSev)
• RTK2 : Serbian List can influence election of Kosovo President  
• United Balkans for Clean Air: Shut down coal-fired power plants as soon as possible (Danas)
• ‘Sporazoom’ TV Show: Ten years of negotiations (RTV Puls)
• Serbia signed agreement to purchase additional two million doses of Sinopharm vaccine (Tanjug)
• Serbian Crisis Team doctor says partial lockdown will be extended (N1)
• Serbian ministers welcome EU coronavirus certificates (N1)

Opinion:

• No internal dialogue is possible without the Serb List (d4d-ks.org)

International:

• WHO European Region: COVID-19 case incidence on the rise as deaths edge towards 1 million (euro.who.int)
• EU plans to have vaccine certificates ready by summer (DW)
• As Vaccinations Speed Along in Serbia, the Country Basks in the Glow of a Successful Campaign (The New York Times)

Humanitarian/Development:

• Transforming the thrift shop (Prishtina Insight)

Albanian Language Media  

COVID-19: 704 new cases, five deaths (media)

Kosovo’s National Institute for Public Health has recorded in the last 24 hours 704 new cases of COVID-19 and five deaths. 

342 recoveries were reported over the same time period.

Valbon Krasniqi, director of the University Clinical Centre Service, said that the situation is worsening as the hospitals are seeing an increase in the number of patients. He said at present there are 780 patients being treated in Prishtina and regional hospitals of which 36 are in critical condition.

Kosnett meets Kurti: U.S. committed to helping new government succeed (media)

The U.S. Ambassador to Kosovo Philip Kosnett met today leader of the Vetevendosje Movement Albin Kurti and his team as part of discussions on shared priorities. 

“We remain committed to helping the next government succeed and secure its place as an equal partner in Europe and within the international community. Today’s discussion focused on energy investments and diversification, including sustainable and renewable options that will fuel Kosovo’s future economic growth, Kosnett wrote on Twitter.

Nagavci confirms Konjufca’s nomination for Assembly Speaker (Koha)

Arberie Nagavci, senior official of the Vetevendosje Movement, confirmed that Glauk Konjufca will be the party’s nominee to take the post of Kosovo Assembly Speaker.

“It is already public knowledge that the Assembly will be led by Mr. Glauk Konjufca,” she told Euronews Albania.

Nagavci also revealed that in the new Kurti-led government, of a total of 15 ministries, five will be led by women.

Hoxhaj: PDK will not take part in voting Osmani for president (media)

Acting leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Enver Hoxhaj today further elaborated on party’s position to the election of Vjosa Osmani president.

“The position of the PDK is clear. We do not support her candidacy, will not vote for her, will not take part in voting. Therefore such issues of whether we will stay in the session I think are of technical nature,” he said after a meeting with North Macedonia’s Deputy Prime Minister Artan Grubi.

Abdixhiku: LDK’s position on Osmani’s candidacy to be taken by chairmanship (media)

Leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) Lumir Abdixhiku said that the position on whether the party MPs would endorse the candidacy of Vjosa Osmani as president of Kosovo will be taken following a meeting of the leadership.

“I believe we will form the chairmanship of the LDK during the weekend. It is there we decide on all issues in coordination with the parliamentary group. LDK aims to avoid elections and contribute to the formation of institutions and have them be democratic,” Abdixhiku said at a press conference.  

Hoti: We will vote for no president, we are an opposition party (Koha)

Outgoing Prime Minister of Kosovo Avdullah Hoti said today that LDK would not be voting for Vjosa Osmani as president of Kosovo.

“We will vote for no president, we are an opposition party. It is up to the majority to make consultations for election of president. The president of the country should be apolitical,” he said. 

PDK and LDK MPs to register today (RTK)

The registration of members of the parliament who have won a mandate in the eighth legislature will continue in the Assembly of Kosovo.

According to the decision of the Presidency of the Assembly, MPs of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) and those of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) will register today.

On Wednesday, 53 out of 58 MPs of the Vetevendosje Movement (LVV) registered in this legislature.

Meanwhile, tomorrow the registration of the parliamentarians of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) and the parties of non-majority communities will take place.

The constitutive session of the Assembly of Kosovo will be held on March 22 at 10:00.

Italian ambassador calls Abdixhiku, talk about creation of institutions (Express)

The Ambassador of Italy to Kosovo, Nicola Orlando, had this morning a telephone conversation with the leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Lumir Abdixhiku, after the election of the latter chairman of the party.

“In a friendly call this morning I congratulated Lumir Abdixhiku for his election as Chairman of LDK. Responding to my encouragement he said he is working to build support to forming institutions. I welcomed his expectation of a constructive opposition role,” he wrote.

On Wednesday, Orlando also had telephone conversations with the acting chairman of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Enver Hoxhaj and Dalibor Jevtic from the Serbian List.

“I just had a very good telephone conversation with Enver Hoxhaj on current political developments. He outlined his priorities and concerns. I emphasized my hope that Parliament, Government and President are established soon so they can focus on urgent people needs,” Orlando wrote.

“In a constructive call with Jevtic Dalibor we discussed current developments, including mutual concern for recent robberies in Orthodox Churches. I stressed importance of swift formation of new institutions and election of the President.”

Serbian Language Media

43 new cases of Covid-19 in Serbian communities (KoSSev)

Out of a total of 130 new tested samples in Serbian communities in Kosovo, 43 are positive for coronavirus, while in the previous 24 hours, 93 people came out of isolation, the North Mitrovica Crisis Staff announced.

Out of the total number of newly infected, 36 are from the North of Kosovo, while 7 are from the central one.

The new cases by municipalities: North Mitrovica – 18, Leposavic – 8, Zubin Potok – 8, Zvecan – 5, Gnjilane – 3, Strpce – 2, Priluzje – 1 and Pec – 1.

The number of active cases is 711.

So far, a total of 5,061 coronavirus-positive individuals have been registered in Serb communities in Kosovo, out of 16,828 tested samples.

A total of 1,372 people have fallen ill in central Kosovo since the beginning of the pandemic.

There were no deaths in the last 24 hours, and the total number of deaths since the beginning of the epidemic remains 121, reported portal KoSSev.

Gracanica: In two days, 18 positive cases 

The Gracanica municipality Crisis Staff announced today that 18 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the last two days.

There are 34 patients in hospital treatment at the Infectious Diseases Department of the clinic in Laplje Selo.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 679 people infected with Covid-19 have been registered on the territory of the municipality of Gracanica.

The Municipal Crisis Staff appeals to citizens daily to respect epidemiological measures, reported KiM radio.

RTK2 : Serbian List can influence election of Kosovo President  

Political analyst Ognjen Gogic told RTK2 future relationship between the Serbian List and the new Kosovo Government, led by Albin Kurti, would not change much, and that it would be similar to the relationship from 2020, when Kurti was Prime Minister for the first time. In his view, Serbian List could have a much greater political influence in the election of the future president of Kosovo, more precisely Vjosa Osmani.

“Their relations in the future government will not change much, and it will also depend on the issues this will be about and the issues that will be voted for. It will be completely different when it comes to the elections of the President of Kosovo, more precisely during the voting for the election of Vjosa Osmani, because it requires 81 MPs, which Vetevendosje doesn’t have at the moment. So the question is whether the Serbian List will help secure a quorum, if other parties do not do so. This is where more room is opening for the Serbian List, for negotiations, but also its greater influence in the political life in Kosovo”, Gogic opined.

Speaking about the number of ministries that will belong to the Serbian List in the future government, analyst Nexhmedin Spahiu opined that a lot would depend on Kurti’s earlier position to reduce the number of ministries to twelve, so that the government would be much more efficient.

“If that is the case, then the Serbian List will get only one ministry, while the other will belong to Emilia Rexhepi. If that number is higher than 12, then the Serbian List will have two ministries. I think that the relationship between the Serbian List, Kurti and Vjosa Osmani will change in the coming period, and in time, that relationship will get better, especially when the negotiations between Kurti and Vucic continue”, Spahiu said.

United Balkans for Clean Air: Shut down coal-fired power plants as soon as possible (Danas)

Participants in the “United Balkans for Clean Air” campaign are advocating that the coal-fired thermal power plants be shut down as soon as possible and that pollution from heavy industry be urgently reduced to the proper framework, the Let’s Not Drown Belgrade initiative announced today.

Coal combustion is the largest single source of air pollution in the Western Balkans, with thermal power plants playing a major role.

The companies that manage them and countries of the region do not comply with the laws and regulations on harmful gas emissions, which leads to disputes such as misdemeanor proceedings within the Energy Community, reads the statement. 

Of the 3,906 premature deaths in 2016 attributed to the impact of thermal power plants in the region, 2,013 were recorded in the European Union, 1,239 in the region itself, and the rest in other countries.

Without any public involvement in the distribution of our money, the countries of the region in 2019 paid 72.7 million euros in direct subsidies to coal-fired power producers and guaranteed loans worth 2.15 billion euros.

Instead of building and renovating thermal power plants, the money from the budget can be directed to social programs and retraining of workers, as well as the construction of solar power plants on the site of coal mines thus replacing the electricity capacities shutting down, reads the statement said.

The “United Balkans for Clean Air” campaign was initially launched by the European Fund for the Balkans in partnership with the Right to the City from Belgrade (Serbia), and the Regulatory Institute for Renewable Energy and Environment (Belgrade), Belgrade Open School, Environmental and Territorial Management Institute from Tirana (Albania), Ekoforum from Zenica and Center for Economy and Ecology from Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Sbunker from Pristina (Kosovo); Air Care from Skopje (Northern Macedonia) and OZONE from Podgorica (Montenegro).

Together, we are making available all the materials of the campaign that belong to all the inhabitants of the Western Balkans, whose active involvement we expect, it is stated in the announcement.

‘Sporazoom’ TV Show: Ten years of negotiations (RTV Puls)

Bodo Weber, a senior associate of the Council for the Policy of Democratization in Berlin, assessed in the talk show ‘Sporazoom’ (Agreement) that the Brussels dialogue started well in 2011, but in recent years it has turned into its opposite, reported RTV Puls. 

“Serbia won the opening of pre-accession negotiations, Kosovo the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the European Union, but the path to EU integration is stuck. It has become normal for officials of the two countries to meet regularly and that this is no longer anything “historic”. The story is the same with the so-called integration of Kosovo Serbs. If we looked at it superficially, then if Serbia won the most, and Kosovo a little less, Kosovo Serbs are still the biggest collateral damage of the crisis in the dialogue,” Weber said.

Far from being able to say that the Brussels framework brought a solution to all problems, which was probably not its goal, still it presents some direction, believes Nenad Djurdjevic, an advisor at the Serbian Chamber of Commerce. 

“Communication and meetings have become normal, a kind of predictability for business has been created, frameworks in which it is known how economic exchange works. The old contacts have been restored, new businesses have been started and made official through formal channels, which can be seen in the increased number of companies participating in trade exchange,” said Djurdjevic. 

“Electoral revolution” was carried out in the recent early parliamentary elections in Kosovo, and the changed political picture will affect the novelties in the Brussels dialogue, believes Kosovo publicist Veton Surroi, and he expects a greater dose of sincerity among the parties in the continuation of the negotiation process. Normalization of relations between Pristina and Belgrade is still our need, Surroi pointed out.

“No one is forcing us to reach an agreement, but the need of our societies to normalize relations and open opportunities to live in a culture of peace, not a culture of conflict and the language of war, which has long dominated and that after 20 years we have a generation of young people who were born after the war and who live in the language of war or conflict, that is in conflict,” Surroi said.

The constitutive session of the new convocation of the Kosovo Parliament is scheduled for Monday, March 22, and the formation of the government is expected soon, which, apparently, will be led by the leader of the Self-Determination Movement, Albin Kurti. In a poll conducted on the Facebook page of the ‘Sporazoom’ TV Show, as many as two thirds of the respondents answered negatively to the question “Would Kurti contribute more to the faster normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina than his predecessors?”, reported RTV Puls.

Serbia signed agreement to purchase additional two million doses of Sinopharm vaccine (Tanjug)

Serbia and Sinopharm Company signed today an agreement to purchase additional two million doses of Chinese vaccine, Tanjug news agency reports. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Chinese Ambassador to Serbia Chen Bo attended the signing ceremony.

Speaking online with Sinopharm management, President Vucic noted the largest number of Serbian citizens receiving Chinese vaccine, emphasizing the importance of a new agreement to purchase additional two million doses, Vucic’s press office said in a statement.

He also said Serbian experts hold high opinion on the quality and safety of the Sinopharm vaccine. He once again thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping, leadership of the Communist Party and Sinopharm representatives for the help in providing the vaccines, at the most difficult times.

Sinopharm Chairman Liu Jingzhen thanked President Vucic and Serbian citizens for the trust given to the company, adding that “Serbia was the first European country that approved the Sinopharm vaccine, and today we are signing an agreement to deliver additional two million doses.”

Serbian Crisis Team doctor says partial lockdown will be extended (N1)

Serbian Government Crisis Team epidemiologist Branislav Tiodorovic said Thursday that the five-day partial lockdown would have to be extended, adding it will not show results by Monday, N1 reports.

The partial lockdown was imposed between Wednesday and Monday with only food retail outlets, banks and gas stations left open. Medical experts called for a lockdown of at least two weeks to put the deteriorating situation under control and stem the spread of the coronavirus.

“We will certainly have to extend the measures into next week”, Tiodorovic told TV Prva. He said that the doctors on the Crisis Team have been constantly calling for strict implementation of existing measures. “We would be in a much better situation now if we had implemented the measures for at least 14 days”, he said.

See at: https://bit.ly/3vxBA53

Serbian ministers welcome EU coronavirus certificates (N1)

Two Serbian cabinet ministers welcomed the European Union decision on coronavirus certificates and expressed hope a solution would be found which would allow Serbian nationals to travel in the EU, N1 reports.

European Integration Minister Jadranka Joksimovic told public broadcaster RTS  European Union and World Health Organization said that a model would be found for mutual certificates, adding that she expects a solution to be found to allow Serbian citizens who have been inoculated with Russian and Chinese vaccines to travel.

Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Minister Tatjana Matic told the N1 morning show that the EU proposal for green digital certificates is good news for Serbians because people living outside the EU can get them. She recalled that individual EU member states would decide the conditions to cross their borders.

“The European Commission proposal should not worry us… The purpose of the document is to make movement easier for people who are safe in terms of health”, she said. Matic also said the Russian Sputnik V is undergoing the European Medicines Agency procedure and the Chinese Sinopharm is expected to get approval from the World Health Organization in April. “That shows that all the vaccines on the market which are in use across the world can be part of the digital certificate,” she said.

Opinion

No internal dialogue is possible without the Serb List (d4d-ks.org)

By Milica Andric-Rakic

Albin Kurti’s distrust towards the Serb List (Srpska lista) is no secret, but neither is the latter’s firm hold over the Kosovo Serb community. Allegations of voter intimidation, threats, and actual exertion of physical violence over political rivals, even accusations of murdering Oliver Ivanovic, follow the Serb List since their inception. None have so far been properly investigated, let alone proven or disproven, but the fact that the shadow of the doubt first falls on the Serb List whenever an incident in Serb-majority area occurs, speaks at the very least of their psychological influence over the citizens.

The mutual feelings of distrust between the two would not be a factor in the formation of the institutions, but they will bring into question Kurti’s longstanding announcement of an intention to start an internal dialogue with Kosovo Serbs.

Entertaining the idea that Kurti actually wants to have an internal dialogue with Kosovo Serbs brings also an assumption that Kurti will try and bypass the Serb List in this process, partly because of their reputation described above, but mostly because of what he sees as undue influence of Belgrade over the Serb List.

Should this indeed happen, the process will be a failure, or rather it will not even start, not in a way that will contribute to bringing the communities closer together.

The announcement can already be interpreted as an act of “marking” the territory or “claiming” Kosovo Serbs but doing this with limited participation of Kosovo Serbs would only further antagonize the community as a whole.

There is a prevailing opinion among analysts and observers that Serbian pro-regime media, Serbian politicians and the Serb List themselves drive and magnify ethnonationalist narratives and feelings within Kosovo Serb community. This is not entirely true, and as shocking as it may sound to a reader not exposed to more authentic perspectives of Kosovo Serb community—when it comes to participation and interaction with Kosovo institutions and the society—the Serb List is as friendly as it gets. Any other political option that can hope to gain significant voter support in the north are nationalist right-wing movements that would propagate boycott and shutting down of the existing Kosovo institutions.

When an average voter from a Kosovo Serb community in the north criticizes the Serb List and their undemocratic means, the main thing they are bothered by is the fact that they use these means in order to drive forward a process of integration and formation of Kosovo institutions in Serb-majority areas.

On a platform of implementation of the Brussels agreements and without immense pressure on the community, the turnout in Serb-majority areas in the north would be exceptionally low and the Serb List would not have the legitimacy to coordinate Kosovo’s institution consolidation processes it previously led, such as dismantling of Serbian security institutions, judiciary and a part of Serbian municipal bodies.

See more at:https://bit.ly/3eOYYVG

International

WHO European Region: COVID-19 case incidence on the rise as deaths edge towards 1 million (euro.who.int)

Press statement by Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe

18 March 2021

Last week marked 1 year since WHO announced that the Public Health Emergency of International Concern declared on 30 January 2020 represented the first ever pandemic caused by a coronavirus.

Since then, we’ve seen nearly 42 million cases in this region alone, and more than 120 million globally. But we’ve also seen giant scientific leaps and the introduction of effective tools that give us power over the virus, when used.

The power of the collective. The heroism of our frontline. When I look back at the past year, I see remarkable attributes we have all expressed to limit the spread of the coronavirus. Ultimately, our behaviour is saving lives.

The danger, however, is still clear and present.

The current situation is most acute in parts of the Region that were successful in controlling the disease in the first 6 months of 2020. It is in central Europe, the Balkans and the Baltic states where case incidence, hospitalizations and deaths are now among the highest in the world.

Case incidence continues its increasing trend, and is moving eastwards. We have now seen 3 consecutive weeks of growth in COVID-19 cases with over 1.2 million new cases reported last week across Europe.

See more at: https://bit.ly/3bVGS2u

EU plans to have vaccine certificates ready by summer (DW)

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen has announced the ‘vaccine passports’ amid concerns over a slow vaccine rollout and shortages. She also says the EU could stop vaccine exports if other countries do the same.

The European Commission on Wednesday proposed the issuing of COVID-19 immunization certificates to allow for free travel within the bloc’s member states. 

The EU is hoping to revive the travel sector, but there are fears over the fairness of such certificates amid a slow vaccine rollout.

See more at: https://bit.ly/2P8id1q

As Vaccinations Speed Along in Serbia, the Country Basks in the Glow of a Successful Campaign (The New York Times)

The Balkan nation has Europe’s second-highest rate of inoculations after embracing vaccines from all suppliers, including Russian and Chinese.

BELGRADE — Stained for years by its brutal role in the horrific Balkan conflicts of the 1990s, Serbia is now basking in the glow of success in a good war: the battle to get its people vaccinated.

Serbia has raced ahead of the far richer and usually better-organized countries in Europe to offer all adult citizens not only free inoculations but a smorgasbord of five different vaccines to choose from.

By contrast, the European Union has stumbled badly in providing shots, with a disjointed procurement and distribution strategy that bet big on the AstraZeneca vaccine. That strategy hit a roadblock this week after key members of the bloc, including Germany and France, suspended inoculations with the vaccine over concerns it might increase the risk of blood clots, compounding delivery problems that stemmed from a production shortfall the company announced in January.

See more at: https://nyti.ms/3tx2SXd

Humanitarian/Development

Transforming the thrift shop (Prishtina Insight)

A new generation of young women are reinventing Kosovo’s secondhand clothes shops for the 21st century, achieving financial stability and helping the environment in the process.

Like many of her peers, 26-year-old Agnesa Sejdiu from Prishtina found herself unemployed and often trapped at home in 2020.

A long term passion for picking out bargains from the city’s thrift shops had also left Sejdiu with an extensive wardrobe, and in August she began selling clothes that would no longer fit in her closet through a new Instagram account, ‘Agsvintage.’

Her new venture took off quicker than she expected, and soon Agnesa was scouring Prishtina’s second hand shops, handpicking clothes to sell through her online store, which she says is generating considerable profits.

Agnesa is not the only young woman in Kosovo to explore the possibilities created by social media and the proliferation of vintage clothes in the country. Sara Ajeti from Viti in southeastern Kosovo also found herself becoming an unwitting entrepreneur after opening the ‘sbs_thrift’ Instagram account with her sister when they were both teenagers.

See more at: https://bit.ly/3s18loS