• Kosovo arrests ten for corruption, including ex-mayor (BIRN)
• Svecla: Action in Brezovica did not target specific ethnic groups (media)
• Leaders sign new ‘Open Balkan’ agreements in Albania (BIRN)
• Rama: Open Balkan will continue even if others refuse to join (euronews.al)
• Varhelyi invites Kosovo to join Open Balkan; PM advisor reacts (Telegrafi)
• Von Cramon denounces Serbia deregistration of Albanians from civil registry (Exit News)
• COVID-19: Nine new cases, no deaths (media)
• Kurti receives booster shot, encourages citizens to get vaccinated (euronews.al)
• Kosovo film ‘Hive’ shortlisted for Oscars’ international feature (Express)

Kosovo arrests ten for corruption, including ex-mayor (BIRN)

Ten people, including the ex-mayor of the Shterpce/Strpce municipality, have been arrested in an operation against corruption connected to the alleged illegal construction of villas at a tourism site in Brezovica.

A former mayor, municipal directors and heads of private companies were arrested on Tuesday morning in a Kosovo police and prosecution raid over alleged illegal construction at a tourist resort in eastern Kosovo.

Police raided the house of Bratislav Nikolic, former mayor of Serb-majority municipality of Shterpce/Strpce, and arrested him. Police later seized his two cars, one of them with Kosovo licence plates and another with Serbian plates.

The head of the Ferizaj/Urosevac Basic Prosecution, Shukri Jashari, told BIRN that “this is one of the biggest operations against corruption”.

The prosecution said that those arrested are suspected of bribery and misuse of office for the construction of villas on Brezovica mountain, a winter tourism destination in south-east Kosovo.

A company owned by a person from the central municipality of Gracanice/Gracanica is also being investigated.

In the post-war period, many villas have been built in Brezovica, some of which allegedly belong to political figures and other public officials, and some of which have unclear ownership.

BIRN has learned that villas belonging to politicians could be the target of the prosecution’s investigations in this case.

Svecla: Action in Brezovica did not target specific ethnic groups (media)

Kosovo’s Minister of Interior Affairs, Xhelal Svecla, said on Tuesday that the police and prosecution operation against illegal constructions in Brezovica was carried out successfully. “This operation did not target specific ethnic groups. This action, as every other action of the Kosovo Police, was targeted against violators of the law who repeatedly and through different forms destroyed public wealth for personal or clan interests,” Svecla said.

“The Ministry of Interior Affairs, together with the Kosovo Police, remain committed to offering security, law and order for all our citizens. We will fight the violators of the law without any difference or exception throughout the Republic of Kosovo.”

Leaders sign new ‘Open Balkan’ agreements in Albania (BIRN)

Leaders of Serbia, Albania and North Macedonia signed five new agreements as part of the Open Balkan initiative, which aims to ease trade and boost economic development across the region.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (L), Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama (C) and  North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev(R) at the meeting in Tirana, Albania.

Five new agreements were signed on Tuesday after a meeting in the Albanian capital Tirana between the leaders of Serbia, Albania and North Macedonia as part of the Open Balkan initiative, which aims to replicate the Schengen Zone’s free flow of people, capital and goods, initially between the three countries but potentially across the entire region.

The agreements between the three countries covered labour market access, the interconnection of electronic identification schemes, and cooperation on veterinary medicine and food safety. There were two further agreements on economic cooperation between Serbia and Albania and between North Macedonia and Albania.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi, spoke via video link to praise the Open Balkan initiative as a successor to the Berlin Process, an EU-backed initiative to boost regional cooperation among Western Balkan countries.

Varhelyi urged other states to join the initiative.

“I also admire the fact how strongly you feel this initiative and first of all it was an initiative coming from the Balkans,” he said.

“It is not the European Union that came up with this initiative, but it came from you, from the three actors I see around the table today and you continued to push forward even when we failed to attract the participation of all the partners of the Western Balkans because you understood the importance of regional integration and especially how this initiative could change the lives of your citizens,” he added.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said that the Open Balkan initiative advances economic cooperation.

“I emphasise that the agreements signed today are tangible proof of a very simple fact that the Open Balkan is an initiative which pushes forward what has been discussed in the Berlin Process, what has been agreed in the chain of summits of this process and was never conducted,” Rama said.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that any country in the region can join the initiative.

“Ultimately this work we are doing has to do with tangible results for our citizens, the good we bring them,” Vucic said.

North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, whose hopes of a start date for EU accession talks have been thwarted by political obstacles, said that the initiative showed that “our three countries would not be held hostage by the failures of the European Union in terms of our integration process into the European Union”.

Vucic and Zaev arrived in Albania on Monday and had a working dinner in the central town of Elbasan, while former opposition Democratic Party leader Sali Berisha protested with his supporters in Tirana against the initiative, claiming that it only benefits Serbia.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Montenegro have not joined the initiative so far.

Bosnia and Montenegro have said they see no particular benefits from it, as easing travel and trade is already covered by the wider CEFTA agreement, and by bilateral agreements between the region’s countries.

Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in July that he would prefer an improved version of the CEFTA agreement “from which all Western Balkans countries would benefit simultaneously”.

Rama: Open Balkan will continue even if others refuse to join (euronews.al)

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama told Euronews Albania on Tuesday that the Open Balkan initiative will continue even if Kosovo, Montenegro and Bosnia Hercegovina don’t agree to become a part of it.

“It is a process that frees up the workforce from all bureaucratic obstacles and chains of different legislations. It is a unification that is made in the image of the EU,” – said Rama.

PM Rama also emphasized that all barriers will be lifted between these 3 countries even though Kosovo, Montenegro and Bosnia Hercegovina refuse to participate.

In addition, Rama underlined that the agreements that have been signed today are helpful for the citizens of Albania, Serbia and North Macedonia.

“Through today’s decisions, tens of thousands of people become direct beneficiaries. In Albania alone, there are around 600-700 subjects that regardless of the Open Balkan, regardless of the UN and NATO, go back-and-forth in these territories, exporting to Serbia, exporting to North Macedonia and the ones that import from these countries are many more than 600 or 700.

We are giving these people the chance to not have to wait in line for hours at the border, to not need 3 different kinds of paperwork and face 3 different kinds of bureaucracies…” – said Rama.

Varhelyi invites Kosovo to join Open Balkan; PM advisor reacts (Telegrafi)

An advisor to Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti reacted on Tuesday after EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi called on “the other three partners of the Western Balkans to join the initiative of the Open Balkan”. Jeton Zulfaj, an advisor to Kurti, said in an interview with RTV Dukagjini that the European Union has refused the initiative on several occasions as it rvials the existing regional cooperation initiative. “We are in a situation where Serbia is continuously regressing in democracy, whereas the reports of Mr. Varhelyi are always positive. Mr. Varhelyi is a commissioner, but I don’t know if he represents the majority of opinions of EU member states, especially those of Germany, which leads the Berlin Process. I think not,” Zulfaj said. He also said that the Open Balkan initiative rivals the regional common market.

Von Cramon denounces Serbia deregistration of Albanians from civil registry (Exit News)

MEP Viola von Cramon, the European Parliament Rapporteur on Kosovo has denounced Serbia’s policy to remove Albanians from its own civil registry.

Retweeting a message by researcher Flora Ferati-Sachsenmaier with statistics resulting from this policy in the Albanian-majority towns in Serbia, von Cramon called on the Council of Europe and the OSCE to answer the concerns.

According to Ferati-Sachsenmaier, in the last four years, Serbian authorities have purged thousands of Albanians from the civil registry in municipalities in the south of Serbia. The researcher maintains that the removal is “systematic” and “politically motivated”, and it rips Serbia’s Albanians from basic human rights.

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

Nine new cases with COVID-19 were recorded in the last 24 hours in Kosovo, the Ministry of Health said in its daily statement. Six persons recovered from the virus during this time. There are 314 active cases with COVID-19 in Kosovo.

Kurti receives booster shot, encourages citizens to get vaccinated (euronews.al)

The Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti responded positively to a call made by the Health Ministry urging citizens to get a booster shot against COVID-19.

In addition, Kurti has also received the seasonal flu shot as he appealed to citizens to fend off risks from being infected on two fronts.

“The opportunity to get the two shots at the same time gives us a chance to protect ourselves as well as others from two diseases”, Kurti said.

He also urged all persons older than 18 to get the booster dose around six months after receiving the second dose.

As immunity wanes off after a certain period of time, health authorities have recommended the injection of a booster dose somewhere around 6 months after the administration of the second shot.

Kosovo film ‘Hive’ shortlisted for Oscars’ international feature (Express)

Kosovo film “Hive” is among the 15 films that will advance to the next round of voting in the Oscars Best International Feature Film race, the Academy announced on Tuesday. The film from Kosovo marks countries’ first appearance on the Oscar shortlist.

The film directed by Blerta Basholli tells the story of Fahrije Hoti (played by Albanian actress Yllka Gashi), a woman who lost her husband when all the men in her village Krusha e Madhe were either killed or went missing after a massacre during the war in Kosovo. Fahrije whose husband has been missing since the war in Kosovo, and along with their grief, her family is struggling financially. Based on a true story, Fahrije builds up a small agricultural business but faces the disapproval of a patriarchal society that would prefer she stay at home out of respect for her in-laws. She struggles not only to keep her family afloat but also against a hostile community which is rooting for her to fail.