• Kurti tells Pahor: Serbia to reflect on damage and crimes committed in Kosovo (media)
• Ilir Dugolli tipped to become Kosovo’s new ambassador to U.S. (Gazeta Express)
• Kamberi: Serbia not interested in relaxing relations with Kosovo (Klan)
• Bugajski: Kosovo-Serbia agreement only with mutual recognition (Express)
• Unresolved murders, argument in favour of Special Prosecution investigating the Gllogjan case (Koha)
• Szunyog: Violence against women, a terrible reality in Kosovo (Koha)
• Kosovo’s Top Court Suspends Hydropower Plant Water Permit (BIRN)
• COVID-19: Two new cases, no deaths (media)

Kurti tells Pahor: Serbia to reflect on damage and crimes committed in Kosovo (media)

During his visit to Kosovo, President of Slovenia Borut Pahor also met Prime Minister Albin Kurti and the two pledged to deepen cooperation and strengthen partnership.

According to a press release issued by the Kosovo Prime Minister’s Office, Kurti called for Slovenia’s support in Kosovo’s membership in international organisations. He also said that this year Kosovo showed that it is ready to take on new responsibilities by moving from a security consumer to a security provider. “In this regard, the Prime Minister noted that Kosovo proudly supported the NATO-led operation to evacuate Afghan refugees, which proves that Kosovo is a reliable partner.”

Speaking about the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kurti said that there were one-digit cases of deaths during November and that so far 57% of persons above 16 have received both doses of the vaccine and 65% one dose.

Kurti further reaffirmed the commitment of the Government in fighting crime and corruption noting that “we will not allow any individual or group to be stronger than the legal state.” He also touched on the projected economic growth of 9.9 percent attributing it to the improvement of governing policies. “When there is no corruption in the government, citizens spend more and pay their taxes regularly as they are not afraid their money will be abused,” he said.

President Pahor on his part is said to have congratulated Prime Minister Kurti on the new approach to governance and wanted to know more about the progress of talks with Serbia. He said that despite the difficulties, talks must continue. Kurti meanwhile hailed Slovenia’s role in this process as being very important and asked for the country’s support in “elaborating the importance of Serbia’s reflection on the damage caused, the destruction and the war, the crimes committed in Kosovo.” “This is a precondition for serious talks and normalization of relations,” Kurti said reiterating that placing mutual recognition between Kosovo and Serbia is a priority in the process of talks.

Ilir Dugolli tipped to become Kosovo’s new ambassador to U.S. (Gazeta Express)

Gazeta Express quotes a member of Kosovo Assembly’s foreign affairs committee saying that Ilir Dugolli, a career diplomat currently serving as Ambassador in Turkey, is expected to be named Kosovo’s new ambassador to the United States.

The news was later confirmed by Kosovo’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Donika Gervalla. “Ilir Dugolli is the person we considered as an experienced diplomat who would be up for the job,” she told T7.

Kamberi: Serbia not interested in relaxing relations with Kosovo (Klan)

Shaip Kamberi, Albanian MP in the Assembly of Serbia, commented on the Serbian authorities’ refusal to allow four ministers of the Kosovo Government to visit the Presevo Valley saying it is proof that Serbia does not wish to relax relations with Kosovo or their approach to the Albanian community in the Valley.

“Serbia is constantly proving that it is not interested in talking with Kosovo in the prism of the reality recognition created in Kosovo. In all parliamentary debates, I have tried to point out at all the violations that the Republic of Serbia commits to the agreements reached in the dialogue with Kosovo, so there are some agreements that are being violated by Serbia, and among them is that on freedom of movement and exchange of official visits,” Kamberi said.

Bugajski: Kosovo-Serbia agreement only with mutual recognition (Express)

Janusz Bugajski from the US-based Center for European Policy Analysis said that there can be no final agreement between Kosovo and Serbia for as long as Serbia fails to “recognise the reality that Kosovo is an independent country.” He warned that the Association of Serb-majority municipalities could become a “Republika Srpska” if it takes on executive powers.

“The EU has become a weak international player with no cohesion or momentum, and the U.S. is hampered by the more urgent international crises. Unfortunately, as in all such disputes, international attention is focused only when there is an imminent risk of violence,” he said for Kosovo Online.

On the Association of Serb-majority municipalities issue, Bugajski said the best solution would be to undertake an administrative decentralisation “whereby local authorities would have greater control over culture, economy, education, services… but this arrangement should be based on geography not ethnicity. Every ethnic group would also have to have a range of group rights to protect language, culture, religion and their identity.”

Unresolved murders, argument in favour of Special Prosecution investigating the Gllogjan case (Koha)

Days after the triple murder in the village of Gllogjan, the Special Prosecution of Kosovo, as the highest investigative body, has not yet taken over the case, Koha Ditore reports and quotes legal experts arguing in favour of such a move.

Ehat Miftaraj from the Kosovo Law Institute said the Gllogjan case needs to be investigated by the Special Prosecution. “Such a case which drew reactions from the international media but also from international mechanisms in Kosovo but also in Brussels, requires maximum commitment of institutions, starting from the Chief Prosecutor of the Special Prosecution,” he said. Miftaraj added also that the most unresolved murders in Kosovo in the last twenty years are precisely those under the jurisdiction of the Peja prosecution which is also working on the Gllogjan case.

The Special Prosecution meanwhile told Koha that it is up to Kosovo’s chief prosecutor to decide whether the case should continue to be investigated by the prosecution in Peja or be transferred to them.

Szunyog: Violence against women, a terrible reality in Kosovo (Koha)

Head of the EU Office in Kosovo Tomas Szunyog said in his remarks at the launch of the online platform for legal aid by the Kosovo Law Institute that domestic and other types of violence against women are still a “terrible” reality in Kosovo. He added that the capacity of such legal mechanisms needs to increase in order to ensure equal and qualitative access for all.

UN Development Coordinator Ulrika Richardson at the same time hailed the work Kosovo institutions are doing on the strategy against domestic violence and underlined that the UN family in Kosovo welcomes the launch of the platform. “Access to justice should be blind, justice should not depend on the dimensions of your pocket and how much you can give. Everyone should have the same access,” she said, adding however that this is not the case all the time and especially with regards to marginalised and vulnerable groups.

Justice Minister Albulena Haxhiu said they are in the process of finalising the national strategy against domestic violence and that the document will be presented during the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence.

Kosovo’s Top Court Suspends Hydropower Plant Water Permit (BIRN)

Kosovo’s Supreme Court on Monday suspended the water permit of the Brezovica hydro-power plant in Shterpce/Strpce, making it impossible for the construction company to apply for a necessary environmental permit.

Two non-governmental organizations, Group for Legal and Political Studies, GLPS, and GAIA Kosovo, which had requested annulment of the water permits for the Brezovica hydro-power plant in court in February, on Monday welcomed the Supreme Court ruling, overturning an ealier decision of the Kosovo Court of Appeals.

The Court of Appeals previously decided not to suspend the work on the hydro-power plant, claiming suspension of work would be against the public interest.

However, the Supreme Court decided that the plaintiffs had provided enough evidence that the public would be damaged by the power plant and that suspension of permits is not against the public interest, neither does it cause substantial losses to the constructing company.

Arber Fetahu, from GLPS, on Monday said the Supreme Court ruling was a “very big win for the citizens of Shterpce because it means that with the suspension of the water permits for the Brezovica hydro power plant, the constructing company cannot apply for environmental permits, the issue of which is a precondition for the operation of the hydropower plant”.

According to Fetahu, GAIA and GLPS only sued against the water permit of the Brezovica plant because it is the only one given “so far by the Ministry of Environment – even though for almost one year we have requested water permits for other hydro power plants in Shterpce, meaning the plants at Sharri, Shterpca, and Vica”.

Fetahu said the human rights of the Shterpce/Strpce citizens were violated due to them not having been informed about a “public debate” that was held on the hydro-power plants.

“The whole procedure since the start has been non-transparent, which was written even in the Ministry’s [of Environment] report itself,” Fetahu told the media.

Alongside the damage made to the ecosystem by the hydro power plants, BIRN reported one of the main concerns in Shterpce/Strpce – the water scarcity that construction caused.

Mevlude Skuroshi, from GAIA Kosovo, reminded the Minister of Environment, Liburn Aliu, that “in his official visit, in the spring of this year, he had offered support to the locals in Shterpce, in the location where Brezovica hydro power plant is constructed, but also further down in the Biti/Bitinje village”.

However, according to Skuroshi, despite the minister’s visit “eight months ago” and a feasibility study from a working group from “five months ago… there has been no concrete step from the ministry”.

Since 2015, when the construction of hydropower plants in Lepenc river started, residents of Shterpce/Strpce have joined several protests.

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

Two new cases with COVID-19 were recorded in the last 24 hours in Kosovo. 15 people recovered from the virus during this time.

There are 322 active cases with COVID-19 in Kosovo.