Albanian Language Media:

• UK appoints special envoy to the Western Balkans (media)
• Ambassador Rohde urges political parties to achieve Assembly quorum (media)
• Trade unions give government deadline to approve law on salaries (Klan/Kallxo)
• Rama: “Open Balkan” mechanism to aid implementation of Berlin process (Koha)
• AJK calls on Government and LVV to distance themselves from social media group (media)
• COVID-19: 16 new cases, no deaths (media)

Serbian Language Media:

• Covid-19: 32 new cases, one death registered in Serbian areas (Radio KIM)
• Petkovic again banned from entering Kosovo (Tanjug, Kosovo Online)
• Property issues in Kosovo, an unresolved problem (Radio KIM)
• FM Selakovic: Serbia fosters friendly relations with African states (Tanjug)
• NATO’s Stoltenberg: Development of the situation in the WB worrying (N1, Radio Mitrovica sever)
• Protest in Zvecan due to electricity supply issues (Radio kontakt plus)
• The Court of Appeals upheld verdicts to Krstic and Shabani (Kosovo-online)
• Selakovic thanks Romania for its firm position not to recognize Kosovo (Kosovo-online)
• Institutions respecting the Law on Use of Languages awarded (Radio KIM)

International:

• The Eagle’s Nest: Migrants, Refugees Tread New Balkan Route (Balkan Insight)
• Serbia, new environmental protests (balcanicaucaso.org)

Humanitarian/Development:

• Von der Leyen: “It’s time to consider mandatory vaccination” (B92, Tanjug)

Albanian Language Media  

UK appoints special envoy to the Western Balkans (media)

United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson appointed a special envoy to the Western Balkans, media report quoting a statement issued by the UK government.

The post has been entrusted to Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach who will take on the role after stepping down as Chairman of the NATO Military Committee earlier this year. Peach has also formerly served as the UK Chief of the Defence Staff.

“As the PM’s Special Envoy, Sir Stuart will work with Western Balkans leaders, others across the region and our allies in the US and Europe to support and strengthen regional stability. His work will also involve promoting strong democratic institutions and open societies, helping to tackle serious and organised crime and other joint security challenges, and encouraging resolution of legacy issues such as War Crimes and Missing Persons. Linked to the latter, the UK will also continue to lead work to advance gender equality and implement the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sir Stuart’s work will support that of the international High Representative, Christian Schmidt, who continues to have the full support of the UK. On Serbia and Kosovo, he will work with our partners in support of the EU-facilitated Serbia-Kosovo Dialogue,” the statement reads.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressed the UK’s commitment to European security, noting that “the Western Balkans are experiencing the biggest threat to their stability and security in over two decades.”

“We have a responsibility to do all we can to preserve the gains achieved through peace and dialogue – we cannot allow any return to the violence and division of the past. Sir Stuart’s extensive experience and expertise will reinforce international efforts to protect peace and promote Euro-Atlantic integration in this crucial region,” Johnson added.

Ambassador Rohde urges political parties to achieve Assembly quorum (media)

Germany’s Ambassador to Kosovo Jorn Rohde has reacted to the repeated failed meetings of the Assembly presidency due to the lack of quorum. 

“Important that the Parliament and all MPs live up to their democratic responsibility. Hoping for a constructive approach by all political parties for convening the Assembly Presidency and achieving the quorum soon,” he tweeted.  

Trade unions give government deadline to approve law on salaries (Klan/Kallxo)

Independent Trade Unions of Kosovo held a meeting with representatives of all unions and decided to freeze off protests and strikes and give more time to the Government to meet their demands.

The unions expect the Government of Kosovo to complete drafting the law on salaries and forward it to the Assembly for approval by the end of March.

Head of Independent Trade Unions, Atdhe Hykolli, is expected to send a request to Prime Minister Albin Kurti to begin meetings in order to discuss the law on salaries. In addition, the union representatives also underlined the need to raise the issue of the law on health insurance and pension schemes in meetings with Kurti.

Rama: “Open Balkan” mechanism to aid implementation of Berlin process (Koha)

Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama said at a parliamentary debate that the “Open Balkan” initiative is “a mechanism to implement the Berlin process and speed up the integration process,” Koha reports quoting Tirana’s Top Channel.

Rama added that the initiative is aimed at helping the economy as removal of borders facilitates movement of goods and increases exports. “The fact is that we live in a geography that we have not chosen, in this geographical space that we live in, we are in the conditions where we must do our best to increase production and exports.”

AJK calls on Government and LVV to distance themselves from social media group (media)

The Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AJK) expressed concern and condemned what it categorised as being an ongoing smear campaign against journalists by members of a Facebook group #mekryeministrin (#withprimeminister).

“This group, which functions with the support of the ruling Vetevendosje party and PM Kurti, continuously smears journalists of different media outlets. Immediately after reopening, the group administrators launched a new series of attacks by labelling some media outlets as ‘Pronto Clan’,” the Association said, urging the Government of Kosovo and the Vetevendosje Movement to “distance themselves from this denigrating language and stop supporting such attacks, even if indirectly.”

Kallxo asked Vetevendosje MP Fitore Pacolli, who AJK says publicly endorsed the Facebook group, to comment on allegations. Pacolli said she did not see the Association’s reaction but noted that she did not create the group. She however admitted that her brother is a member. “He is an independent individual, I do not control him,” she said. “He set up a Facebook group, this is all part of democracy. If we look at democracy, we need to look at it from both sides.”

In a subsequent post on Facebook, Pacolli said to AJK: “You cannot find any example of me smearing or threatening journalists. If you do, please immediately take it to court. Please. You say you speak on behalf of the freedom of expression all the while undermining someone else’s freedom.” 

COVID-19: 16 new cases, no deaths (media)

16 new cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in Kosovo in the last 24 hours. 10 persons recovered during this time. 

There are 320 active cases of COVID-19 in Kosovo.

Serbian Language Media

Covid-19: 32 new cases, one death registered in Serbian areas (Radio KIM)

Out of 130 tested samples in the Serb-populated areas in Kosovo, 32 were positive for Covid-19, Crisis Committee of Mitrovica North announced, Radio KIM reports.

New cases were registered as follows: 12 each in Mitrovica North and Zubin Potok, four in Leposavic, two in Zvecan, and one each in Kamenica and Strpce.

Deceased person was from Leposavic.

Currently, there are 525 active cases of Covid-19 in the Serbian areas in Kosovo. 

Petkovic again banned from entering Kosovo (Tanjug, Kosovo Online)

The director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, who planned to hand over aid and visit the Serbian people, was once again banned from visiting Kosovo today, reported Kosovo Online, citing Tanjug. 

This is the fifth time since the beginning of the year that Petkovic was banned from entering Kosovo, even though he is the main negotiator in the Brussels dialogue, reported the portal. 

Petkovic was at the Merdare administrative crossing this morning, but he was denied entry.

The new ban was implemented only a few days after the EU asked the Pristina authorities to respect the agreements and allow Petkovic entry.

According to the media, previously Petkovic was banned from entering Kosovo on January 13, April 16, September 3, and November 23.

Property issues in Kosovo, an unresolved problem (Radio KIM)

Advocacy Center for Democratic Culture (ACDC), a non-governmental organization based in Mitrovica North organized yesterday a conference on property rights in Kosovo, with participation of legal experts on this topic. It also officially launched https://imovinakosovo.org/ website dedicated to assisting those facing challenges relating to the property, Radio KIM reports.

Although this website instilled the hope that a solution to the property issues, expected by 50,000 to 60,000 people was in sight – experts still doubt it. Moreover, they opined the problem will be further aggravated by tightening the laws of Kosovo institutions, and even that solution will never be found.

The complexity of long-term property issues faced in Kosovo is also demonstrated with a fact that it is not about private property only, but it also extends to the issues relating to the public, state-owned or former socially-owned properties which remained in Kosovo after 1999, with a particular problem relating to restitution of the property.

The slow pace in resolving the property issues, respectively lack of it, points out that this problem will last much longer than the initial two decades. The experts agreed two crucial problems lie with Kosovo institutions, including lack of impartial approach in processing such cases, but also passivity and lack of interest of the Serbian side and Brussels as well.

Celic: Kosovo legislation must adopt neutral principle

“Kosovo society is a post-conflict society, therefore it is necessary that Kosovo legislation takes this fact into account while resolving this problem”, professor Dusan Celic, himself displaced person from Pristina, said.

“Kosovo legislation must take into account the fact that only a few percent of displaced people from Kosovo have returned to their homes and properties and managed to reclaim the ownership, and that 95% of people still have not resolved this problem”, he added.

“Therefore, the legislation must take into account the fact that Kosovo society has gone through a kind of ethnic conflict, with animosities having remained in this society also today”, Celic argued.

Professor Celic, who is active in the associations of persons displaced from Kosovo and Metohija, also warned that the situation with property was the most difficult in the area of Metohija.

He voiced concern that this problem will persist in the years to come, also due to preparations of the Kosovo authorities to make changes and amendments to the system regulations, that may further aggravate property issues.

“First of all, I am talking here about the Law on Amendments to the Kosovo Property Verification and Comparison Agency, with a tendency to reintroduce a system of ‘convalidation’ of null and void real estate purchase agreements, without a time limit. And also to introduce a new deadline of three years for ‘convalidation’  and that agency decides on it”, he said.

He emphasized it would be very dangerous and he sees no improvements, because, as he said, it will be decided by a “quasi-administrative body, which has nothing to do with the judiciary”.

Miskovic: In practice, cases do not move out of drawers

Marija Miskovic from Free Legal Aid Agency talking about experiences from practice warned that resolution of property issues has stopped recently.

“I think that the issue of property in Kosovo is very bad, and even if they agree on that in Brussels, it will not be sorted out”, Miskovic said.

“I have cases that do not go beyond the drawer of the public prosecutor, regardless of the fact that a request for speeding up the procedure was written, as well as request to scheduling a trial. The public prosecutor has a criminal report for usurpation of property from the police, a statement received from the affected party and the police, and all that remains in the drawer “, she emphasized, adding that if something comes to the criminal court in Pristina, it takes two to three years.

She noted there were situations that Kosovo police did not want to execute the verdict, did not want to evict the usurper, as well as situations when the Kosovo court recognized the verdict, but Kosovo cadastre, despite that verdict, cannot or does not want to accept that document.

She added personnel working in the Kosovo cadastre accept only decisions of Kosovo courts and do not even allow the registration of some verdicts, which they do not consider as relevant.

In her opinion, the first topic should be implementation of the agreement on mutual recognition of court decisions, and primarily to apply the decisions of the Serbian court in Mitrovica North, which functioned for almost 19 years, and during that time it dealt with property purchase cases. She warned that now people who have verdicts of this court, can’t register their properties in Kosovo cadastre as the courts do not have mutual cooperation.

She agreed with Professor Celic that the property rights situation is the most difficult in Metohija, in particular in Djakovica.

“I think that in Djakovica there is a municipal decision that no Serb can carry out trade of immovable properties, respectively sell the land, house or a flat on the territory of Djakovica, unless he obtains the consent of the municipality, which is completely contrary to Constitution”, she said.

Miskovic also added that no one from the international community or other relevant institution said anything regarding this decision.

What is Imovinakosovo.org website about?

The newly established https://imovinakosovo.org/ website represents a database including media articles, expert articles and the tools that affected parties may use to register and seek aid. It is created to assist all those who have problem to exercise their rights to property in Kosovo and Metohija. Its creator NGO ACDC called on all affected parties to write to them in order to help them as an adviser and mediator with Kosovo institutions to exercise their rights to property.  

FM Selakovic: Serbia fosters friendly relations with African states (Tanjug)

Serbia has fostered friendly relations with African countries since the establishment of the Non-Aligned Movement, Serbian FM Nikola Selakovic said on Wednesday in a video address at the closing ceremony of the Biennale of Luanda – Pan-African Forum for the Culture of Peace.

He said he was pleased Serbia had been given an opportunity to present its culture and heritage at the Biennale through virtual exhibitions.

“The Republic of Serbia has always attached great importance to the contribution of art, culture and heritage to sustainable peace, as well as to the engagement of young people in conflict prevention and sustainable development, which are the central topics of this year’s Biennale.

We support the activities and work done by UNESCO, an international organisation that is marking 75 years of existence this year, and within which we have achieved exceptional results by joining forces,” Selakovic said.

“At the same time, we know there are numerous challenges ahead of us. We would like to draw attention to only some of them, such as the politicization of cultural heritage and historical revisionism, carried out through education policies, which are tendencies threatening to slow down and compromise the work of UNESCO, which we must not allow,” he said.

“These challenges have been further complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic and dramatic battles are being fought in other fields as well. The issue of unequal access to vaccines only goes to show that there are still differences between certain countries,” Selakovic said.

“Therefore, the Republic of Serbia, having fostered friendly relations with the countries of the African continent since the founding of the Non-Aligned Movement, endeavors to help its traditional friends by supporting them in the fight against the pandemic,” he said.

“That is why we selflessly provided vaccine donations within the scope of our capacities to those who needed them the most,” the minister said.

“On the other hand, we will continue to foster friendly relations with African countries, especially through the awarding of scholarships within the World in Serbia programme, because young people, as actors of social transformation, are bridges that connect people,” he noted.

NATO’s Stoltenberg: Foreign players working to undermine progress in BiH (N1)

Tensions have been rising in Bosnia and Kosovo in the recent period as “foreign players working to undermine progress”, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said at the closing press conference following the meetings of NATO Foreign Ministers in Riga, Latvia, adding that member countries have agreed on the importance of their presence in the Western Balkans.

Stoltenberg spoke about the ongoing situation in Ukraine and Russia, Afghanistan, as well as the Western Balkans, notably BiH.

“For our final session, we were joined by our partners Finland, Sweden, and by EU High Representative (Josep) Borrell. We discussed stability and security in the Western Balkans,” he said.

“The region has come a long way since the conflicts of the 1990s. But recently we have seen tensions rise. Including Kosovo, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina. With more aggressive rhetoric. Stalled reforms. And foreign actors working to undermine progress,” Stoltenberg stressed.

He said that NATO will continue to promote stability, security and cooperation in the region and that member countries “agreed on the importance” of the alliance’s presence.

“Including our KFOR mission in Kosovo. And our offices in Sarajevo and in Belgrade,” he said, adding that NATO cooperation with the European Union remains “essential.”

The press conference by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg available at:

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

Protest in Zvecan due to electricity supply issues (Radio kontakt plus)

Dissatisfied residents of Zvecan, who have been without electricity since November 30, were protesting in front of the Zvecan municipality today, Radio konakt plus reports.

Chief dispatcher of “Elektrodistribucija” company in Mitrovica North Zoran Obradovic told Radio Mitrovica sever this was a major breakdown and they were waiting for a specialized team to detect the exact spot of the malfunction, given that it was a 1,400-meter-long power line, which supplies electricity to most of Zvecan from “Energetika”.

Mayor of Zvecan, Dragisa Milovic, met dissatisfied local residents saying that Mitrovica North municipality, Kosovo Minister for Communities and Return Goran Rakic and the management of Elektrodistribucija were involved in solving the electricity problem.

“The measuring vehicle that was supposed to come and provide assistance from South Mitrovica is broken, while we received information about the vehicle that was supposed to be sent from Kraljevo that we need to announce its arrival seven days in advance in order to cross the administrative crossing. There will be problems at the crossing, so we contacted UNMIK representatives to organize the crossing of the vehicle through Jarinje”, Milovic said.

He added that what is happening is “equal to a humanitarian catastrophe”.

This morning, several dozen people gathered in front of the municipal building in Zvecan, who demanded a solution to the problem as soon as possible.

Director of “Energetika”, Dragoslav Milosevic told Radio Kontakt Plus this morning that the authorities are making maximum efforts to eliminate the malfunction in Zvecan.

The centre of Zvecan and the settlement “Nova kolonija” have been without electricity since November 30 at 5 pm, when a breakdown on the underground cable occurred.

The Court of Appeals upheld verdicts to Krstic and Shabani (Kosovo-online)

The Court of Appeals in Pristina upheld the verdict of the Basic Court from March 23 of this year sentencing Zlatan Krstic and Destan Shabani “for war crimes in Kosovo against civilian population”, Kosovo-online portal reports.

Krstic is sentenced to 14 years and a half in prison, and Shabani to seven years.

“The Special Department of the Court of Appeals after reviewing all case files and assessing appeals, decided to reject as unfounded the appeal of the Kosovo Special Prosecutor’s Office and the appeals of the defense counsels”, the court said in a statement.

The court added the verdict of the Basic Court in Pristina found the accused Zlatan Krstic guilty of complicity in war crimes against civilians, while the defendant Destan Shabani was found guilty of war crimes against civilians.

As the court said, Zlatan Krstic was accused of directly taking part in the attack against civilian Albanian population on March 26, 1999, in the village of Gornje Nerodime, near Urosevac, precisely in expulsion of 15 members of the family, including as the prosecution said, mistreatment and murders.

During the trial Krstic’s family claimed that he was in Kragujevac, central Serbia, at the time of the attack.

Destan Shabani, who was a police inspector during the conflict in Kosovo, was accused of humiliating and degrading treatment of deceased O.N,  B.N., A.N., B.N. and I.R. by ordering their burial without ceremony, thus violating, as the prosecution said, the customs of war defined by international humanitarian law.

Selakovic thanks Romania for its firm position not to recognize Kosovo (Kosovo-online)

Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikola Selakovic met on the margins of the 28 OSCE Ministerial Council, with his Romanian counterpart, Bogdan Lucian Aurescu, Kosovo-online portal reports.

During the meeting, Selakovic assessed that relations between Serbia and Romania were traditionally good and friendly, adding with satisfaction that they represent a role model of good neighborly relations in the region.

Selakovic also thanked Romania over its firm position not to recognize Kosovo, as well as for the support it extends to Serbia in international organizations.  

Institutions respecting the Law on Use of Languages awarded (Radio KIM)

The Office of Kosovo Language Commissioner in cooperation with the OSCE Mission in Kosovo presented the awards “The best practices in implementation of the Law on Use of Languages” to the institutions in Kosovo. The first award went to the Central Election Commission, Radio KIM reports.

The awards of this year also went to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Kosovo police, and Prizren, Gracanica, Mitrovica North and Strpce municipalities.

“Those awards today, are in some way, not only recognitions to the institutions, but much more recognitions to the individuals who with personal engagement contributed to the advancement of the language policy or implementation of the Law on Use of Languages (…)”, Language Commissioner Slavisa Mladenovic said.

He added that the situation is not on satisfactory level, and there was significant room to advance the implementation of the Law on Use of Languages.

“The website of the Ministry of Health still doesn’t contain (documents) in the Serbian language or contains a limited number of documents, which is very important because they relate to the public health of the citizens. However, despite disciplinary measures and our requests that those in charge react in this regard, because we do not want to be in such a situation and despite the number of international organizations helping the Ministry of Health, the situation is still without any progress”, Mladenovic is quoted as saying.

Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, Ambassador Michael Davenport said that multilingualism is of great importance to all communities in Kosovo, contributes to the economic development, and that lingual diversity fosters trust among communities.

Swedish Ambassador in Pristina, Karin Hernmarck said the language is a reflection of the culture.

“The Law must be implemented, and in order to implement it sufficient resources must be allocated for this purpose and that is rather simple. When it comes to the implementation of this law, it should not be implemented because you have to, but because you want to implement it and because it goes to the benefit of all in the society (…)”, she said.

Criteria for the awards, the Radio KIM said, were based on monitoring institutions’ websites and social  media profiles.

Radio KIM further reported regarding the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), which was one of the institutions rewarded, “it was very interesting that the Office of Public Information of this Ministry addresses the media in Albanian language exclusively. The same was done today, when they sent us information about the meeting of Minister Svecla and European Commissioner for Internal Affairs Ylva Johansson. Also, by the time of publishing the news, the statement on their meeting on the website of the Ministry was not available in Serbian language either”. 

“Additional ‘piquancy’ in the story on the website of the Kosovo MIA and its respect for the Law on Use of Languages is the use of the Albanized term for Kosovo in Serbian language “Kosova” instead of “Kosovo” and also wrongly written name of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (in Serbian). About other, smaller mistakes, one needs not to waste time”, Radio KIM said in relation to the Ministry of Internal Affairs along with a photo on those omissions posted in a gallery. 

International 

The Eagle’s Nest: Migrants, Refugees Tread New Balkan Route (Balkan Insight)

Migrants and refugees trying to reach Western Europe are increasingly using a new route via Kosovo, aided by smugglers and local middlemen.

The last time refugees passed through the small town of Kukes in northeast Albania was 22 years ago, when hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanians from neighbouring Kosovo fled a brutal counter-insurgency war waged by Serbia in what was then the country’s southern province.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3DhH3iT 

Serbia, new environmental protests (balcanicaucaso.org)

In Serbia, the environmental issue is becoming an increasingly important social and political matter. Protests against some controversial laws are bringing numerous citizens and environmental associations to demonstrate in various cities

Judging by recent events, the environmental issue in Serbia is becoming a central theme of the political debate which is becoming increasingly heated as the elections scheduled for next spring approach.

The recent approval by the Belgrade parliament of the new law on the referendum and some amendments to the law on the expropriation of private property have caused massive protests and other acts of civil disobedience (such as the blocking of the main roads of the country) which took place last weekend in several cities of Serbia.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3xQxnuD

Humanitarian/Development

Von der Leyen: “It’s time to consider mandatory vaccination” (B92, Tanjug)

“It is time for the EU to “consider mandatory vaccination” against COVID. European Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen said yesterday, reported Tanjug agency. 

She emphasized that the governments of the member states will decide on that measure.

“My personal position is that I think it is understandable and appropriate to lead this discussion now,” she said in a media conference, underlining that a third of the EU population of 450 million was still unvaccinated.

“How can we encourage and potentially think about mandatory vaccination within the European Union? This needs discussion. This needs a common approach. But it is a discussion that I think must be led,” she said.

Von der Leyen says that full vaccination and boosters give citizens the strongest protection currently available against coronavirus in a situation of double danger, the fourth wave of the pandemic and the appearance of a new strain of coronavirus.

“The WHO says that the new strain omicron is high risk. We don’t know enough about that strain yet, but we know so much that we can be worried. We expect to get enough information about the new strain in two to three weeks, and by then we will have a race with the time we need to use for vaccinations and boosters”, says Ursula von der Leyen.

The EC President announced that the EU will receive an additional 360 million doses of vaccines from the companies Pfizer and Moderna by the end of March, which, according to her, is enough for a booster dose of all vaccinated Europeans. At the same time, in agreement with those two companies, they are working on the accelerated delivery of vaccines for children, which should be available in the EU from December 13, 2021.

In the event that the existing vaccines do not provide sufficient protection when it comes to the new strain, Ursula von der Leyen states that it takes scientists about 100 days to adapt the vaccines to the new mutation.