• EU regrets Serb referendum not taking place in Kosovo (RFE/media)
• Kosovo Serbs Vote in Serbian Referendum in Serbia – Not Kosovo (BIRN)
• Serbia Opposition Voices Doubts About Referendum, Praised by EU (BIRN)
• Haradinaj: Regulatory Office has proposed increase of electricity price by 80% (media)
• Kosovo Police rebuts Serbian List allegations over Runik incident (media)
• Anti-corruption agency opens case into Rakic’s declaration of assets (Koha)
• COVID-19: 728 new cases, no deaths (media)

EU regrets Serb referendum not taking place in Kosovo (RFE/media)

The European Union has welcomed the result of the referendum on constitutional changes in Serbia held on January 16th and again expressed regret that a solution enabling the referendum to be held in Kosovo was not found, Radio Free Europe reported.

“The EU expresses regret over the impossibility of reaching an agreement with the Government of Kosovo to allow the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to collect ballots in Kosovo, in line with past practices,” the EU said.

Kosovo Serbs Vote in Serbian Referendum in Serbia – Not Kosovo (BIRN)

After many disagreements between the so-called Quint countries and the EU with the Kosovo government over how Kosovo Serbs should vote in Sunday’s Serbian referendum, it was decided they would not cast votes in Kosovo but in four municipalities of southern Serbia – Vranje, Novi Pazar, Kurshumli and Raska.

Dozens of Serbs gathered in the northern part of the divided Kosovo town of Mitrovica in protest against the decision of Kosovo institutions not to allow the referendum to take place in Serbia, with improvised “voting” stations in the town’s Tsar Lazar Square.

Special Forces Units of the Kosovo Police with armored vehicles remained in a state of readiness in North Mitrovica.

The protests also included members of the main Kosovo Serb party, Serbian List. The head of Serbian List, Goran Rakic, said that if Kosovo did not allow Serbian legislative elections to be held also in Kosovo on April 3, there would be reciprocal action. Rakic ​​did not indicate what measures the northern Serbian-run municipalities of Kosovo would take, but Kosovo would “take them seriously”, he said.

After Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said he did not want Kosovo Serbs to vote in a foreign referendum on Kosovo territory, the Quint embassies and EU representatives urged him to follow previous practice and allow the OSCE to collect votes cast in Kosovo and send them to Serbia.

But Kurti said that any such referendum was not acceptable.

The Assembly of Kosovo on Saturday in a session convened by Kurtia adopted a harmonized resolution between the four parliamentary groups of his own Vetëvendosje party, LVV, the Democratic league of Kosovo, LDK, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, and the Multiethnic Group, against holding a Serbian referendum in Kosovo.

The resolution was passed with 76 votes in favor, none against and 1 abstention. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday that the decision of Kosovo institutions not to allow the referendum to be held in Kosovo was not a surprise.

He spoke of the “harassment of Serbs, sending special police units, making checkpoints 15 kilometers away, harassment in all [Serbian] enclaves,”  Serbia’s news agency Tanjug reported. According to him, Kosovo Serbs had again shown that their vote “is for Serbia, not Kurti”.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3I8Rc4i

Serbia Opposition Voices Doubts About Referendum, Praised by EU (BIRN)

While EU officials have welcomed the results of Serbia’s referendum on constitutional changes, opposition parties have voiced suspicions about rigging – although the fact that several cities voted ‘No’ to the government has given them optimism.

Serbia’s referendum results in which citizens backed changes to the country’s constitution and a judicial reform package in a referendum have drawn different reactions at home and abroad.

While EU officials have praised the result, the opposition has raised doubts, although the fact that some major cities, including the capital Belgrade, voted against the changes has given it optimism.

European Commissioner for Enlargement Oliver Varhelji stated on Twitter that Serbian voters had “supported the change of the constitution to reinforce judicial independence”.

“I welcome this important step & commitment to #EU path. We will continue to work with Serbian authorities on ambitious reform agenda, advancing EU integration,” Varhelji wrote on Twitter.

Similar messages came from the EP Rapporteur for Serbia, Vladimir Bilchik, who said: “This news moves Serbia another step forward on its EU path.”

Serbia’s opposition parties disagreed, and supported a “No” vote or a boycott, claiming that the changes were purely cosmetic and that the ruling Serbian Progressive Party still has numerous ways to influence the judiciary.

Part of the opposition said it suspected the referendum results were rigged, including the right-wing Dveri movement and “Enough is enough” (“Dosta je bilo”), which noted that some of the largest cities voted against.

Bosko Obradovic, leader of Dveri, accused President Aleksandar Vucic, who announced the results before the state election commission, RIK, of having falsified the result, for having claimed the turnout was 101.01 per cent.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3A6QvG2

Haradinaj: Regulatory Office has proposed increase of electricity price by 80% (media)

Ramush Haradinaj, leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), said that the Kosovo Energy Regulatory Office has proposed the increase of electricity prices for up to 80 percent.

“This is unbearable,” he declared on Facebook.

Haradinaj said the AAK has called for a parliamentary debate on the increase of prices and called on the Government to allocate funds to cover the additional costs of electricity bills.

Kosovo Police rebuts Serbian List allegations over Runik incident (media)

The Kosovo Police has issued a statement denying allegations made by the Serbian List and carried by several Serb language media that a member of the Serb community was physically assaulted in the village of Runik, Skenderaj due to his ethnicity.

The police said they received information about the case at hand on 16 January and that it was a result of two men – one Albanian and one Serb – getting into an argument over woodcutting rights in the area. “It is worth noting that immediately after the case was reported, the Kosovo Police took all necessary operational and investigative actions, by arresting the suspect and interviewing a witness and the case has further been processed through regular procedure,” the police said.

Anti-corruption agency opens case into Rakic’s declaration of assets (Koha)

Kosovo’s anti-corruption agency confirmed opening of an investigation into allegations that Goran Rakic, leader of the Serbian List and minister in the Government of Kosovo, has not truthfully completed the declaration of assets form.

Koha earlier reported that in the form submitted to Kosovo authorities in 2020, Rakic had only declared the post of deputy prime minister, a position he held under Avdullah Hoti-led government, while in Serbia he did not mention the Kosovo government post but did state that he was a director of a public enterprise in Mitrovica North.

COVID-19: 728 new cases, no deaths (media)

728 new cases with COVID-19 were recorded in Kosovo in the last 24 hours. 99 citizens have recovered from the virus during this time.

There are 5,118 active cases with COVID-19 in Kosovo.

As the number of new infections grows, Kosovo’s National Institute of Public Health called on the citizens to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and adhere to measures set to prevent the spread of the virus. It also said that Omicron has become the dominating strain of the COVID-19 virus and that the epidemiological situation in Kosovo can worsen.