• The Quint calls on Kosovo to implement decision on Decani Monastery land (media)
• Osmani asks Slovenia to persuade partners to lift visa requirements (BIRN)
• Government doesn’t expect results from dialogue before Serbia elections (Koha)
• EU: Serbia should allow Kosovo ministers to visit Presevo (media)
• LDK MP: I don’t believe there should be early elections (media)
• Dugolli: We will have helicopters during this mandate (KTV)
• Von Cramon’s call to Germany on changing its stance on Serbia angers PM Brnabic (euronews.al)
• Surroi: Kurti, Rama wouldn’t mention referendum if not asked (Klan Kosova)
• Only 19 percent of women elected to municipal assemblies (Lajmi)
• Albania, Kosovo plan joint children’s textbook for 2022 (BIRN)
• COVID-19: Eight new cases, one death (media)

The Quint calls on Kosovo to implement decision on Decani Monastery land (media)

The embassies of France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States in Prishtina issued a joint statement on Tuesday calling on Kosovo authorities to implement decisions related to the land of the Decani Monastery. Below is the full statement:

The Heads of Mission of France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States remain concerned that despite repeated urging from the international community and its own judiciary, Kosovan institutions have still not fully implemented the lawful registration of the Decani Monastery’s land, in line with the 2016 Constitutional Court decision.

The non-implementation of this court decision and others undermines the government’s commitment to enforcing the rule of law and its respect for an independent judiciary. Implementing these decisions are fundamental democratic responsibilities necessary for Kosovo’s democratic consolidation and future Euro-Atlantic integration.

Once again, we encourage the Government of Kosovo to put political disagreements aside, embrace its democratic responsibilities, and fully implement all Court decisions.

Osmani asks Slovenia to persuade partners to lift visa requirements (BIRN)

Vjosa Osmani has asked Borut Pahor to convince Slovenia’s EU partners to scrap the visa regime on Kosovo nationals.

During the visit of the President of Slovenia Borut Pahor to Kosovo on Monday, Vjosa Osmani asked her counterpart to convince EU Members that are reluctant to lift visas for citizens of Kosovo to do so.

“I want to emphasize again that visa liberalization has been delayed, and this undermines the credibility of the EU. This liberalization must happen as soon as possible and there is no reason for hesitation,” Osmani told a press conference.

Kosovo is now the only country in the Western Balkans that does not yet have visa liberalization, despite meeting the criteria set by the European Union.

Visa liberalization has been promised to Kosovo since 2011. In 2018, the European Commission considered that Kosovo had met all the criteria and recommended the abolition of visas to EU Member States. Liberalization was also voted in the European Parliament, but the final decision remains with the EU Council of Ministers.

The former Prime Minister of Kosovo, Avdullah Hoti, in September 2020 told Euronews Albania that although the European Commission has supported visa liberalization for Kosovo for years, some countries like France and the Netherlands were hindering this process.

Meanwhile, Osmani stressed that there is no alternative for Kosovo other than European Union and NATO membership.

President Pahor told the same press conference that Slovenia supports Kosovo’s Euro-Atlantic perspective. Slovenia took over the six-month EU presidency on July 1 and is due to hand it over shortly to France.

Pahor also met the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, on his visit.

Government doesn’t expect results from dialogue before Serbia elections (Koha)

The daily reports on its front page that Kosovo’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Donika Gervalla, said in her report to the Kosovo Assembly Foreign Affairs Committee, that she is pessimistic about any results from the dialogue with Serbia because the latter will hold elections in spring next year. Gervalla also said that apart from public statements, Kosovo was never officially invited to join the Open Balkan initiative. She also reiterated the government’s position that Serbia wants to use this mechanism to obstruct Kosovo’s participation in regional integration.

EU: Serbia should allow Kosovo ministers to visit Presevo (media)

The European Union has called on Serbia to reconsider its decision to reject a visit by four Kosovo Government ministers to Presevo Valley. Peter Stano, a spokesman for the EU, told Klan Kosova that Prishtina and Belgrade must implement all signed agreements for the normalisation of relations. “We expect Serbia and Kosovo to fully implement the agreements reached in the past, including the agreement on official visits. Official visits are an important part for the normalisation of relations as they offer a greater opportunity for interaction and communication between the parties,” he said. “The visit by Kosovo ministers was informed in line with the agreement and therefore it should have been allowed. We call on Serbia to reconsider its decision and to allow official visits that meet the requirements.”

LDK MP: I don’t believe there should be early elections (media)

Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) MP Hykmete Bajrami commented on remarks by PDK parliamentary group chief Abelard Tahiri that early parliamentary elections could be a way out of the current parliamentary stalemate. Bajrami said: “I don’t believe that there should be early elections. We have criticised this government for failing to deliver on its promises, but I don’t think we should go to early elections. I think that consequent elections have damaged Kosovo”.

Dugolli: We will have helicopters during this mandate (KTV)

Vetevendosje MP Enver Dugolli said on Tuesday that the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) will be equipped with helicopters during the mandate of the current government. Dugolli said there is an increased for the army. He said that Defence Minister Armend Mehaj has done a great job in changing the way of armament purchases.

“We are not inventing anything; this is a proved practice. The United States is our main ally … I don’t know the exact date when we will get helicopters, because it is not only the act of purchasing the helicopters, as this also requires the infrastructure and capacity building. We are on a very good track of having helicopters and many other new equipment during this mandate,” Dugolli said.

“Kosovo doesn’t have any helicopters that are needed for emergencies. We should have more than one. They are necessary, especially for medical emergencies, in the event of earthquakes, fires, evacuations. We need to have helicopters and this has been foreseen in the comprehensive transitional plan of the Kosovo Security Force.”

Von Cramon’s call to Germany on changing its stance on Serbia angers PM Brnabic (euronews.al)

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic and Kosovo’s EP Rapporteur Viola von Cramon were caught up in a public spat following a declaration made by the German MEP on a local Serb TV channel.

The German politician and MEP reiterated that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, now led by the Alliance 90/The Greens coalition, to which she has been a member since 2001, should change its policies with Belgrade.

Kosovo’s EP Rapporteur indicated that Germany’s stance should be based on the rule of law and criticized Serbia about the implementation of the reforms.

She also added that the new coalition will place particular attention on the Western Balkans.

However, her remarks were not welcomed by Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic who accused the German MEP of “double standards”. According to Brnabic, Von Cramon’s remarks were “sad and hypocritical”, and accused the MEP of only being critical toward Serbia, while making a blind eye when Kosovo makes any violations.

“What does this mean that we should start hitting people to show “full respect”, like in the case of Prishtina? The rule of law in the case of Prishtina is one thing, and in the case of Belgrade is another”, wrote Brnabic.

Von Cramon also took it on Twitter to replicate to the Serbian premier.

Surroi: Kurti, Rama wouldn’t mention referendum if not asked (Klan Kosova)

Publicist Veton Surroi said that Albania and Kosovo Prime Ministers Edi Rama and Albin Kurti would not have mentioned the referendum if they were not asked about by reporters. “They replied because they were asked this question. I don’t think they would have mentioned it as a topic if they were not asked,” he said in a debate on Tuesday.

Surroi argued that the issue of referendum will not remain for long on the list of relevant topics and that if the referendum was a priority the two governments would have set out timelines for this. “If it were a priority, the two governments would have said that we will organise a referendum in this timeline and that in this timeline Kosovo needs to adopt a Law on Referendum and amend its Constitution,” he said.

Only 19 percent of women elected to municipal assemblies (Lajmi)

Only 19 percent of women are elected to municipal assemblies after the recent local elections and many of them do not run in the elections because they are obstructed by men. This was said at a discussion panel on Tuesday on the topic “The truth behind the low level of women in political parties”.

Jeta Xharra, reporter, said during the discussion that there is under-representation of women in political debates. She argued that in the most watched TV debates 90 percent are men. “I think we should have bigger influence than the politicians. We are the more progressive than party branches. In influential TV debates over 90 percent are men. We must insist to have 50 percent women. They don’t have sufficient access to the labour industry. If we want to see more women, we need to make more room for them,” she said.

Albert Krasniqi, programme director at Demokracia Plus, said one of the reasons why women are not successful is because they are obstructed by their husbands. Another negative phenomenon he highlighted is the lynching of women that hold higher positions in Kosovo, referring to the hate speech used against former Central Election Commission head Valdete Daka. “There was fake news online against Daka. Thus she become target of outside public lynching,” he added.

Albania, Kosovo plan joint children’s textbook for 2022 (BIRN)

Albania and Kosovo plan to produce a joint children’s reading and spelling book for beginners by 2022, but experts said that much work needs to be done to ensure a high-quality product.

Albania and Kosovo are planning to produce a reading and spelling book that will be used by entry-level pupils in both countries from next year to coincide with the 110th anniversary of Albania’s declaration of independence.

“Next year, on the occasion of the 110th anniversary of the declaration of independence we will gift first-grade students in Albania as well as in Kosovo with a new, mutual beginner’s book, unified for all pupils,” Evis Kushi, Albania’s Minister of Education and Sport, said on November 28, Albania’s independence day.

“The beginner’s book taught all of us not only to read and write, but also made us more aware of the value of the Albanian language, the love for our country, people and culture,” Kushi added.

Albania and Kosovo initially decided to produce the joint textbook in 2012, and Nevrus Kaptelli, head of Albania’s Independent Education Union, told BIRN that it “is definitely overdue”.

“Today our states should have had all their textbooks and [educational] programmes in common,” Kaptelli said.

But some educational experts raised questions about whether it will improve the quality of education.

Rigels Xhemollari, an education and youth expert from the Albania-based Qendresa Qytetare (Citizen’s Resistance) organisation, told BIRN that the initiative is “a patriotic-pathetic card aiming to cover up the failures of the government in education… [and] hundreds of agreements on education between the two governments left on paper… [as well as] the failure with Albanian textbooks that are filled with grammatical and ethical mistakes”.

Mirlind Behluli, a researcher at the Kosovo-based EdGuard Institute told BIRN “Albania and Kosovo should create sustainable mechanisms for the implementation of the signed agreements, as in the past there have been shortcomings in implementing them well”.

But he said he believes the textbook initiative is a good step towards “accelerating Albanian integration and increasing the quality of education”.

He said that the two governments should establish joint commissions to ensure that the textbook “takes into account all the cultural and societal specifics of Albanians from both sides of the border”.

COVID-19: Eight new cases, one death (media)

Eight new cases with COVID-19 and one death were recorded in the last 24 hours in Kosovo. Nine people recovered from the virus during this time. There are 320 active cases with COVID-19 in Kosovo.

All media reported on Tuesday that the Kosovo Government confirmed most of anti COVID-19 measures that are already in place. The list of measures provides that citizens cannot enter closed environments without masks. The curfew from 00:00 until 05:00 remains in force, with exceptions. Koha reports that among the new measures all persons entering Kosovo from January 3 should prove they have taken two shots of the COVID-19 vaccine.