Albanian Language Media:

• COVID-19: Five new cases, no deaths (media)
• Osmani: Whereabouts of missing persons, top priority in Kosovo-Serbia dialogue (media)
• Konjufca: Kosovo’s internal issues will not be raised in Brussels (Telegrafi)
• Minister Aliu cleared of abuse of power charges (media)
• Sources: Osmani asked Daka to step down from CEC post (media)
• Hungary expected to take KFOR command in November (Klan Kosova)
• EU plans to invest €2 million in Janjeva, to boost tourism (media)

Serbian Language Media:

• Serbian areas in Kosovo without newly infected (Radio kontakt plus)
• Petkovic: We are going to Brussels to defend the position of Belgrade (RTS, N1)
• Dacic: Pristina puts dialogue in the background by an announcement of a lawsuit for genocide (N1, FoNet, Beta)
• Brnabic: No talks, accords or joint agreements with Kurti (Radio KIM)
• Dacic: Cultural heritage in Kosovo endangered, attempts to revise history (Kosovo-online)
• Serb cemetery in Orahovac desecrated (Kosovo-online)
• Bilčík: Army Exercise with Belarus, Russia doesn’t help Belgrade’s road to EU (RFE, N1)
• NATO summit starts (Tanjug, B92)
• “Serbs in Kosovo do not have institutional protection” (KiM radio, RTK2, Kosovo Online)
• Two busses from central Serbia banned from entering Kosovo (RTS)

Opinion:

• Can Albin Kurti reshape the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue? (Prishtina Insight)

Humanitarian/Development:

• Serbia allows Pfizer-Biontech vaccine for 12-15 years olds (N1)

Albanian Language Media  

COVID-19: Five new cases, no deaths (media)

Kosovo has recorded five new cases of COVID-19 and no deaths in the last 24-hour period. 94 recoveries were also confirmed during this time.

There are currently 345 active cases of coronavirus in Kosovo.

Officials at the largest vaccination centre in Prishtina said that so far more than 100,0000 persons have received the Covid vaccines and that all preparations are in place for the launch of the mass vaccination process on Tuesday. 

Osmani: Whereabouts of missing persons, top priority in Kosovo-Serbia dialogue (media) 

In an interview with Al Jazeera Balkans, President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani said that suing Serbia for genocide has nothing to do with politics and that this is “our otmost obligation as human beings”.

She said that evidence of Serbia’s “intention to exterminate” is particularly evident in two villages in Kosovo: Meja and Poklek. “As an international law professor and as someone that has taught legal issues related to genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, I know exactly what I’m talking about.” 

She added that the only way to reconciliation and to lasting peace is through justice. “As politicians it is our job to seek justice for all the victims.”

On the possibility of an agreement between Kosovo and Serbia being reached, Osmani said there are a number of principles that need to be taken into consideration beforehand. “First of all the dialogue has to take place on an equal footing,” she said, adding: “Secondly, the dialogue needs to respect Kosovo’s territorial integrity and sovregnity.” Third principle, Osmani said, includes addressing justice issues: “For us, making sure we know the whereabouts of the missing persons.” She underlined that mutual recognition should be the end-result of the process of dialogue. 

Osmani said Kosovo has already made enough concessions to Serbia through the Ahtisaari status plan as well as throughout the ten years since the beginning of the dialogue for normalisation of relations in Brussels, under the EU facilitation. “We now need to sit down and discuss mutual recognition,” she noted. 

President Osmani reiterated the idea against border changes, calling it a “dangerous adventure that can lead to bloodshed” while the recent non-papers that promoted such ideas, in her view, are “irrelevant”. 

Konjufca: Kosovo’s internal issues will not be raised in Brussels (Telegrafi)

Kosovo Assembly Speaker Glauk Konjufca said the dialogue with Serbia cannot take place in the same way it did before 14 February elections in Kosovo. He said the dialogue in the past ran ‘in the wrong way’ and also tackled Kosovo’s internal issues. 

Speaking to reporters, Konjufca said: “I am very much convinced that tomorrow Prime Minister Kurti will represent in a dignified manner that which has occured on 14 February. And on 14 February, the citizens said ‘stop’ to many things, including to issues treated in the dialogue with Serbia.” 

Konjufca said Serbia needs to recognise the reality from 1999 and 2008 “and another reality of 14 February which is that Kosovo is governed by a political force which doesn’t make compromises by opening internal topics of the Republic of Kosovo.”

He also argued against linking the process of visa liberalisation to that of dialogue with Serbia. “If anyone thinks that visa liberalisation should be set as an additional condition for Kosovo in relation to dialogue, I think this would be bad news for the citizens of Kosovo as [visa liberalisation] criteria have been met in 2017.”

Minister Aliu cleared of abuse of power charges (media)

A  court has acquitted Minister of Environment Liburn Aliu of abuse of power charges during the time he was heading the urbanism department at the Pristina Municipality. 

The Basic Court in Pristina announced that it has rejected the indictment of the Basic Prosecution and ceased the criminal procedure against Aliu and five other persons on charges of abuse of position or official authority. 

Sources: Osmani asked Daka to step down from CEC post (media)

Klan Kosova reports quoting sources that President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani has asked Valdete Daka to resign the post of head of the Central Election Commission.

Meanwhile, Reporteri news website reported that Osmani offered Daka a presidential award for her contribution in exchange for her resignation. 

Daka is reported to have refused to step down from her second term in office which runs through in 2023. 

Hungary expected to take KFOR command in November (Klan Kosova)

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said his country is expected to take over KFOR command in November, Klan Kosova reports quoting Hungary Today news portal.

Speaking from Brussels, Szijjarto said Hungary’s role in NATO is more important than ever. “Hungary has increased the number of its troops in Kosovo to 500 and has pledged to coordinate vaccination of KFOR staff against coronavirus,” he said.

EU plans to invest €2 million in Janjeva, to boost tourism (media)

European Union plans to invest €2 million for reconstruction of 14 houses in Janjeva in an effort to preserve cultural heritage, said head of the EU Office in Kosovo, Tomas Szunyog. 

“We are trying to make Janjeva a tourist centre,” said Szunyog today, adding that the project is planned for 2022. 

Ulrika Richardson, UN coordinator in Kosovo, said Janjeva has a great deal of potential for development of tourism while Minister of Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure Liburn Aliu said the Government of Kosovo will also fund part of the project. 

Serbian Language Media

Serbian areas in Kosovo without newly infected (Radio kontakt plus)

Out of 32 tested samples in the Serb-populated areas in Kosovo and Metohija none tested positive for Covid-19, Crisis Committee of Mitrovica North announced on Saturday, Radio kontakt plus reports.

At the same time, ten persons completed a two-week isolation period.

Currently there are 13 active cases of Covid-19 in the Serbian areas in Kosovo.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic a total of 20.372 persons have been tested, while 6.035 persons were positive.

A total of 148 persons have died in the Serb-populated areas in Kosovo due to Covid-19 related complications since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Petkovic: We are going to Brussels to defend the position of Belgrade (RTS, N1)

Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic said, in the RTS morning program, that Pristina was generating a “terribly difficult” atmosphere before the continuation of the dialogue in Brussels.

According to him, the goal of all that was to undermine the dialogue and put pressure on Serbia and President Aleksandar Vucic. 

“You have great pressure on Belgrade and Vucic, and on the other hand great support from the West towards Kurti who behaves in such a way that no one in the West reacts to provocations, insults, threats because Kosovo is a child of Western powers and should not be criticized and when it make a mistake, and Belgrade should,” stated the director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija.

Petkovic said that the delegation was going to Brussels to defend the position of Belgrade.

“Vucic said from the heart yesterday in Prohor Pcinjski – we will fight bravely, persistently and take care of our future and the future of our children,” Petkovic pointed out.

He said that Kurti threw the regional and economic cooperation of the Western Balkans at the summit in Tirana, which could help to overcome the problems.

“He rejects the agreed declaration because he wants the Republic of Kosovo to be written, and that is unacceptable for us,” the director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija noted.

More than 60 incidents since the beginning of the year

He added that on the same day, Bishop Teodosije served the liturgy in the Church of Christ the Savior in Pristina, after which, he said, a torrent of the worst attacks and statements started from Albanian politicians.

“While you see students from Pristina desecrating the church with graffiti and hate insults, an Albanian policeman is silently watching all that. Can they then be protectors of Serbian churches and monasteries, as Kurti writes in his letters to UNESCO,” Petkovic asked.

The director of the Office for KiM said that there have been more than 60 incidents since the beginning of the year, which was already two thirds compared to the whole of last year.

“How are we going to protect them, our people who live in Metohija, in villages surrounded by Albanians. We are going to Brussels to fight because it is the only place where we can talk, and that is better than having incidents on the ground. Better to negotiate than to fight. We are taking care of the future, stability and prosperity of the Western Balkans. In order to be able to continue with foreign direct investments, we must negotiate and have stability,” Petkovic stressed.

He told the Serbs in Kosovo that Belgrade would insist on the formation of the Community of Serbian Municipalities in Brussels.

“To go in the direction of the future, it is necessary for both Serbs and Albanians. We are destined to live with each other or next to each other in Kosovo and Metohija, and we must agree on our future,” Petkovic pointed out.

Dacic: Pristina puts dialogue in the background by an announcement of a lawsuit for genocide (N1, FoNet, Beta)

The President of the Assembly of Serbia, Ivica Dacic assessed that Pristina was trying to “put the topic of dialogue in the background” by announcement of the lawsuit against Serbia for genocide in Kosovo, reported N1.

He said such announcements come from Pristina ahead of every round of dialogue in Brussels.

“It is an attempt to say that there are preconditions for talking about the dialogue at all. War reparations, a lawsuit for genocide and alleged rapes in Kosovo, that has always been the case whenever talks were initiated in Brussels,” Dacic told Pink TV.

He assessed as “funny” the announcements of Pristina that it will sue Serbia for “genocide”.

“If they had a legal basis, they would have raised the issue a long time ago,” said Dacic

He added that ahead Serbia were “difficult days” because, as he assessed, there was “condensed pressure from different sides”.

Dacic announced that a meeting of the presidents of the parliaments of the Western Balkan countries would be held in Brussels on June 28, emphasizing that membership in the European Union is “a guide mark and that it should not deviate from that path”.

“We are in such a geostrategic place that we have no other way. We can be neutral, not to be EU members, but we are not in such a situation, like Norway,” he stated.

Dacic pointed out that the talks between the delegations of Belgrade and Pristina in Brussels will be followed tomorrow, and a session of the Assembly of Serbia with that topic will be held next week.

Speaking about the decision not to extradite radicals Vjerica Radeta and Petar Jojic to the Hague Tribunal for contempt of court, Dacic mentioned the case of France, which refused to extradite former tribunal spokeswoman Florence Hartmann for the same reason.

When it comes to Montenegro and the Basic Agreement with the Serbian Orthodox Church, Dacic estimated that it would be easier for the Church to sign an agreement with the new government, than with the government made up of the Democratic Party of Socialists.

Brnabic: No talks, accords or joint agreements with Kurti (Radio KIM)

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said “there are no talks or accords, and there would be no joint agreements” with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, Radio KIM reports.

She once again said the meeting in Tirana “was very turbulent and difficult”, adding it was a preparatory meeting for the June 15 meeting in Brussels, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic will attend.

Commenting on Kurti’s frequent announcements of a genocide lawsuit against Serbia, Brnabic said Kurti is “an ideological fanatic with zero pragmatism”.

“He threatens Serbia with genocide lawsuits on a daily basis. Let him file the lawsuit, and then say what he wants, let him show what he has, but let him not threaten, in particular not at the regional meetings, because he turns them into a circus then”, she told Prva TV.

Brnabic also assessed when it comes to Kosovo “things are difficult, and would get more and more difficult”.

She added she “has no hope” that a joint consensus with other parties (in Serbia) regarding Kosovo issue would be reached, and if that would make Vucic weaker, leader of the (Serbian opposition) Freedom and Justice Party (SSP) Dragan Djilas would rather take side of Kurti.

Dacic: Cultural heritage in Kosovo endangered, attempts to revise history (Kosovo-online)

Serbian Assembly Speaker Ivica Dacic said today attempts by Pristina to appropriate Orthodox heritage in Kosovo and present it as “Kosovo one” were getting more frequent, terming it as “an attempt to most harshly revise the history and construct identity of the Albanian nation in Kosovo”, Kosovo-online portal reports.  

Dacic also said the cultural heritage in Kosovo was endangered not only by those attempts, but also physically.

“Fact that some of the medieval Orthodox monasteries and churches are on international lists of endangered sites speaks about that”, Dacic said at the opening of the International Secretariat of the Inter-parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy session.

Dacic assessed that requests of the Kosovo officials to exclude Serbian heritage in Kosovo from international protection represent direct continuation of violence that lasts for decades without interruption.

“Interest of Pristina for the culture has been motivated by their attempts to fabricate identity and usurp centuries-old Serbian tradition”, Dacic said, recalling that since 1999 more than 150 Orthodox temples and churches in Kosovo have been demolished, desecrated and devastated.

As one of the churches that witnessed the attempts to eradicate their traces Dacic mentioned the case of Serbian Orthodox Church in Samodreza village.

“It was devastated, left without a roof, and its interior was turned into a waste dump and a public toilet”, Dacic said.

Dacic also said that Pristina’s requests for membership in UNESCO represent a dangerous step in the direction of violating protection of Orthodox heritage in Kosovo.  

He recalled that during the last meeting of the International Secretariat at Serbia’s initiative a fact that the Christian churches in Kosovo are endangered has been ascertained.   

Serb cemetery in Orahovac desecrated (Kosovo-online)

Serbian Orthodox Church Visoki Decani Monastery wrote on Twitter today that vandalism against Serbian Orthodox Christian objects in Kosovo continues, Kosovo-online portal reports.

“Vandalism against #Serbian #Orthodox #Christian sites in #Kosovo* continue. Our cemetery in Orahovac was vandalized again on 12/13 June 2021. Stories of alleged tolerance & rule of law are just a cheap smokescreen. These scenes & vulgar graffiti on our church give a true picture”, Visoki Decani Monastery wrote on Twitter, along with posted photos.

Office for Kosovo and Metohija Director Petar Petkovic said in a statement that tombstones and crosses on the graves of Ruzica Stojanovic, Bozidar and Bogdan Saric have been demolished and broken. Dusan Stojanovic, who went to the cemetery to light a candle to his mother, noticed desecration, Petkovic added.

“Day by day, we are witnessing an act of insanity and violence to which Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija have been exposed for more than two decades, and which once again received its institutional support from Albanian politicians in Pristina”, Petkovic said.

As he added “it was indisputable that politicians in Pristina, with their inflammatory statements, unbalanced reactions and refusal of dialogue, inspire such incidents, which, as a rule, go to the detriment of Serbs living south of the Ibar River”. 

Bilčík: Army Exercise with Belarus, Russia doesn’t help Belgrade’s road to EU (RFE, N1)

Vladimir Biličík, the European Parliament Rapporteur for Serbia, said late on Sunday that the country’s joint military exercise with Belarus and Russia did not help Belgrade’s integration with the European Union, Radio Free Europe (RFE) reported.

Nevertheless, Belgrade diplomacy demanded the EU help ahead of the inter-governmental EU – Serbia conference due on June 22 in Luxembourg, Bilčík recalled on his Twitter account.

Brussels hasn’t opened a single chapter, or cluster, in accession talks with Belgrade in 18 months, unhappy about Serbia’s reforms in the rule of law and media freedom areas.

Last week, the state RTS TV cited its EU’s sources saying no new cluster would be open this month either.

Serbia, Belarus, and Russia participate in the ‘Slav Brotherhood 2021’ military exercise in Krasnodar, in southwest Russia.

Serbian Defense Ministry’s website says, ‘Slavic Brotherhood 2021 is a tactical exercise of special units with live ammunition, including counter-terrorist tasks.

Last week, Serbia joined the EU Declaration condemning the redirection of a Ryanair’s plane to Minsk and the arrest of journalist Roman Protashevich, but that did not harm Belarus – Serbia relations.

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

NATO summit starts (Tanjug, B92)

NATO Summit starts today in Brussels: Alliance reforms in the multipolar world, created after the end of the Cold War, with China presenting a new challenge.

Russia, climate change, Afghanistan and new technologies will also be on the agenda of the one-day summit. The gathering will be somewhat narrower in scope than in previous years, due to restrictions related to COVID-19.

According to Reuters, 30 NATO leaders are expected to ask US President Joe Biden for assurances that the Alliance can count on the support of the United States, its most powerful member, after four years of criticism from former President Donald Trump.

While Biden is expected to send the traditional American message that European allies must pay more for their own security, NATO will, according to Reuters, try to go even further from Trump’s foreign policy agenda – “America in the first place”.

See more at: https://bit.ly/3vg5CZG

“Serbs in Kosovo do not have institutional protection” (KiM radio, RTK2, Kosovo Online)

The program director of the NGO Aktiv, Miodrag Marinkovic said in the show Slobodno srpski that the main impression of the complete research, which was conducted by nine Serbian non-governmental organizations within the OPEN initiative, was that the Serbian community in Kosovo faced great problems in exercising its rights, but freedom as well, KiM radio reported. 

“Serbs in Kosovo live without adequate institutional protection. They cannot access their rights, but also, at the local level, they are not allowed to participate in the decision-making process related to those processes that directly affect their lives. That is a general impression,” stated Marinkovic, who, based on the findings from the research, made a consolidated report entitled “Characteristics of an open society in the Serbian community in Kosovo”.

OPEN is a new initiative of the Kosovo Foundation for Open Society (KFOS) that began in 2020 and aims to encourage internal dialogue in the Serbian community regarding the problems that people face every day, but also to engage civil society, individuals and all other actors who have a responsibility to protect the interests of citizens.

“The initiative started in 2020 and brings together nine of the most active Serbian organizations. It began with eight different sectoral surveys on specific topics, such as: security, Serbian community rights, economy, media, political parties, NGO sector, openness of institutions for citizens’ participation and the process of dialogue and normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia, i.e. all aspects of life that are important for the Serbian community.”

The citizens of Serbian nationality who participated in the research believe that the laws in Kosovo are not bad, but that the problem was that they were not implemented at all or not sufficiently enough. 

“As many as 80 percent of respondents believe that the guaranteed rights of the Serb community in Kosovo are generally not respected in practice.”

According to Marinkovic, disrespect for the Law on the Use of Languages and disrespect for the “quota” of at least 10 percent of employed members of non-majority communities in the public sector, were some of the rights of Serbs where the most irregularities have been identified. 

Citizens dissatisfied with their representatives

Otherwise, the research was conducted on a sample of 582 people of Serbian nationality, through surveys, interviews and focus groups, showing that citizens were not satisfied with “their” representatives at the local and central level.

“The research showed that what is most criticized is the lack of transparency, closeness and lack of communication; not only that local governments are criticized, but also parliamentary representatives. 77 percent of respondents believe that there is not enough information about the work of Serbian representatives in the parliament. About 80 percent believe that citizens do not receive enough information about the work of government representatives. In general, there is disappointment in communicating with elected representatives of the Serb community.”

The Belgrade and Pristina dialogue

Marinkovic believed that nothing revolutionary should be expected from the upcoming meeting between the Prime Ministers of Kosovo and the Presidents of Serbia, Albin Kurti and Aleksandar Vucic.

“I see three important elements that led to that meeting. Above all, the EU wants to keep these negotiations alive. They want to maintain a dialogue so that there is no room for other ideas to appear, such as the one on demarcation, which is very disastrous for them. Then they want to keep the accession perspective of the Western Balkans, because it is very important for them. However, it is also clear to them that they have nothing to offer at the moment, so it is very clear that the Western Balkans will not join the European Union in the foreseeable future, and thus there is a risk that some nationalist agendas will appear at the local level. To me is important this new moment where the EU finally has what it really wants, and that is that the meeting of Kurti and Vucic; a meeting of representatives of two stable political options, two stable governments in Kosovo and Serbia. That has never happened before, until Kurti’s convincing victory. So, now we have two negotiating parties that can reach a solution, and to survive it politically.”

The research also stated that the majority of Serbs believe that the negotiating team of the Republic of Serbia did not represent the interests of the Serbian community from Kosovo in the right way.

“About 55% of respondents believe that Serbia did not protect the interests of Serbs (from Kosovo) well enough. Most Serbs support Belgrade, but when the role of Belgrade is examined separately, then we have a large number of dissatisfied citizens, and it is true what this paper claims, that 55% of the population is not satisfied with what Belgrade has done. And what are the reasons for that? I think it’s some combination of reasons. First, I think that the idea of demarcation, which was revealed at one point as the official policy of Belgrade, led to great dissatisfaction, especially among the population that would stay behind those borders. The second reason, I think, is a very populist communication in those negotiations, it is for the internal use of Serbia, where some agreements were presented as historic victories, and they spin in a way that the public loses interest in it after a day or two while we are living those agreements in Kosovo. At one point, what was called a “great victory of 5: 0″, we saw on the ground that it is not so; that these are agreements of limited duration and that after that we lose certain rights or are in a worse position than we were before. And finally, the whole process is closed to the citizens. The citizens of Kosovo want to know what is being talked about, because in the end these solutions will mean their lives in the future,” said Marinkovic and announced that a press conference would be held by the end of this month to present a detailed research conducted within OPEN initiatives.

Two busses from central Serbia banned from entering Kosovo (RTS)

After several hours of waiting at the crossing point Jarinje, two busses returned to central Serbia because Kosovo police didn’t allow them to enter Kosovo on Saturday, RTS reports.

The police didn’t allow the buses carrying approximately 80 passengers to enter, as they didn’t announce their visit.

The fist bus carried a group of pilgrims who were on their way to visit Serbian shrines in Kosovo and Metohija, while in another one there were alpinists who wanted to go to Sara Mountain.

Office for Kosovo and Metohija Director Petar Petkovic said the ban to entry runs contrary to the Agreement on Freedom of Movement, recalling that a day before police kept longer than five hours another group of pilgrims.   

Opinion

Can Albin Kurti reshape the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue? (Prishtina Insight)

Kosovo’s new administration has recently sent signals that it is more uncompromising than its predecessors in its interactions with Serbia, but will this assertive approach work in Brussels, ask Jack Robinson and Eraldin Fazliu. 

On Tuesday June 15, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti will meet Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Brussels, their first ever meeting as part of the EU-facilitated dialogue. However, going into the meeting, all three parties, Kosovo, Serbia and the EU, appear to be on different pages regarding its nature.

Kurti has stated that the meeting “will not be a continuation of the old dialogue” and will instead be a discussion on how to reformat the talks. Meanwhile, other senior figures in his party Vetevendosje have played down any expectations for what may result from this new phase of the dialogue.

The Kosovo prime minister’s statement on reformatting the talks only adds further intrigue to the big unanswered question over this latest iteration of the dialogue: Is Kurti continuing where former Kosovo prime minister Avdullah Hoti left off in 2020?

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

Humanitarian/Development

Serbia allows Pfizer-Biontech vaccine for 12-15 years olds (N1)

Serbian Medicines and Medical Devices Agency said on Friday it had approved the use of Pfizer anti-coronavirus vaccine for children of 12 to 15 years of age, N1 reports.

“The medical conditions and the highest expert criteria regarding safety and efficiency of the vaccine are met, and it can be used for children between 12 and 15 years of age”, the Agency said.

In March, Pfizer said its vaccine proved safe and effective for children of that age.