Albanian Language Media:

• COVID-19: 2,590 new cases, six deaths (media)
• EU, U.S. envoys, Lajcak and Escobar, hold press conference at conclusion of Kosovo visit (media)
• Kurti: Kosovo not afraid of implementing agreement on Association (Kosovapress)
• Osmani meets Escobar on his final day of visit to Kosovo (media)
• Serwer: Dialogue has stalled on domestic politics (Koha)
• Haradinaj: No way round the decision on Decan Monastery property (RTK)

Serbian Language Media:

• Number of infected people in Serbian areas growing (Radio Mitrovica sever) 
• Vucic to meet with Escobar, Lajcak on Wednesday (Tanjug)
• Haradinaj on Visoki Decani Monastery land case (Kosovo-online)
• The families of the missing Serbs asked Hoti to appoint their member to the Commission for Missing Persons (KiM radio)
• Lajcak: Belgrade-Pristina dialogue not about status of Kosovo (Beta, N1)
• Surlic: Visit of Escobar and Lajcak is a courteous gesture, without any progress (RTV, Tanjug)
• Kurti: We are not afraid of the Community of Municipalities with a Serb majority, but we are careful (Beta, Danas)
• Bilbija: Establishment of ZSO would stabilise region (Kosovo-online)
• Serbian Ministry of Culture: Enable media to work unhindered (Radio KIM)
• Kosovo government assistance to families who lost someone from Covid; “not valid” for Serbs from the north (Kosovo Online)
• Serbian opposition presidential candidate Ponos says he wanted unity, will respect Constitution (N1, media)

International:

• EU, US want faster progress in Serbia-Kosovo talks (AP)
• S., EU urge Kosovo to honour local autonomy deal for Serb region (Reuters)
• North Macedonia, its Balkan Neighbours, Can’t Fight Terrorism Alone (Balkan Insight)

Humanitarian/Development:

• Society will be safe only when women will feel safe (Radio kontakt plus)
• Last Despatches: Kosovo Journalist Disappears After Visiting Guerrilla Base (Balkan Insight)   

Albanian Language Media  

COVID-19: 2,590 new cases, six deaths (media)

2,590 new cases of COVID-19 and six deaths have been recorded in Kosovo in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said in its daily report. 2,952 persons recovered during this time.

There are 32,538 active cases of COVID-19 in Kosovo.

Minister of Health Rifat Latifi said today that the COVID-19 measures introduced by Kosovo authorities on 22 January would be reviewed tomorrow and that all neighbouring countries would be timely informed of the Government of Kosovo’s decision.

EU, U.S. envoys, Lajcak and Escobar, hold press conference at conclusion of Kosovo visit (media)

The EU Special Representative for Dialogue Miroslav Lajcak and U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary Gabriel Escobar held a press conference today as they concluded their three-day visit to Kosovo. They said that the EU and U.S. are united in wanting to see Kosovo and Serbia “leave the past behind and normalise their relations.”

“We believe that normalising relations between Kosovo and Serbia will not only solve unresolved issues but it will also contribute to the stability in the region and will deliver very concrete benefits to the citizens who must be tired of the status-quo. It will create jobs, it will boost the economy, it will tackle the rule of law issues and I also believe that every elected leader owes this to their citizens,” Lajcak said. 

He added that in the meetings they had in Pristina, they clearly expressed the position that they “fully respect Kosovo’s principles in the dialogue which is integrity, constitutional order and functionality”.  

Lajcak said it is up to Kosovo and Serbia to decide what mutual relationship they want to have. “I also want to use this opportunity to say that the dialogue is not about negotiating the status of Kosovo. The dialogue is about negotiating relations between Serbia and Kosovo,” he said in an answer to a question from the reporters. 

Escobar said in his opening remarks that in his capacity as special representative for the Western Balkans it was important for him to make the first visit to Kosovo together with the EU envoy Miroslav Lajcak to demonstrate unity. He said the meetings held in Pristina were productive. “At the end of this process we hope the result will be a resolution that will work for both Serbia and Kosovo and I’m confident that the way that the things are looking… we will get there.” 

He noted that the United States administration strongly supports Kosovo’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. “Beyond that, how two countries, Serbia and Kosovo, get to a place of normalisation I think should be left to the dialogue.”

Asked by reporters to comment on the statement of the EU High Representative Josep Borrell that Kosovo was reluctant to engage in dialogue, Lajcak said Borrell is “strict” but “fair” with both Kosovo and Serbia and that he is very well informed about the process.

On the question of visa liberalisation, Lajcak said Kosovo deserves to enjoy visa-free travel but that this is not an issue relating to the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue.  “I can only tell you that every time I brief the member States, I always raise this issue, and I’m informing the ambassadors in Brussels how painful this issue is here in Kosovo. So, I really hope it will not take long before we will see full visa liberalisation.”

The U.S. envoy was asked to comment on whether his administration continues to stand by the commitments agreed in Washington to which he replied that “we support the continued application of those commitments as a way of creating diplomatic space for the dialogue to continue.”

On the issue of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities, Lajcak said that Kosovo is an equal party to the dialogue and nothing can be imposed on it without its consent. “I think I was very clear many times, including in my recent interview, that nobody wants Republika Srpska in Kosovo,” he said, adding that what has been agreed on needs to be implemented and that the Association is one of them. “This could be all done within the constitutional and legal system of Kosovo. My advice is: Stop being afraid of something that does not exist and no one will impose it on you. Be self-confident, aware of the fact that you co-own this process and you are equal partners and come up with how you see this to function. There is absolutely no reason to be afraid of a process that you are driving together with Serbia, and we are here to make sure that every decision that will be adopted will be based on European norms, standards and values.” 

Escobar echoed Lajcak’s position that all previous agreements must be implemented. “We’re asking the two parties to be constructive, to provide their own visions of what the Association should look like, and then negotiate from there within the framework of the dialogue.” The Association, he underlined, does have to be established based on a model that undermines Kosovo’s sovereignty or functionality. 

On the question of why the U.S. maintains that mutual recognition is the end-goal of the dialogue while the EU only focuses on normalisation of relations without mentioning recognition, Escobar said: “It is our belief that the countries of the Western Balkans are some of the most dynamic countries in all of Europe, that they should all be members of the European Union. That they are European culturally, they’re European historically and they’re European economically. So, we would like to move beyond the Dialogue to a place where all of the countries of the region recognize each other, are at peace with each other and are on a path to European Union integration.” Lajcak added: “There is no conflict between the positions of the European Union and the United States when it comes to the Dialogue and also the final outcome of the dialogue. What the European formula says is that we do not exclude any outcome. We do not impose any outcome. We respect that it’s the responsibility of the two parties. That means Kosovo and Serbia should agree on what the final outcome will be.”

Kurti: Kosovo not afraid of implementing agreement on Association (Kosovapress)

Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti said today in a visit to the Air Navigation Services Agency that Kosovo is not afraid of implementing the agreement on Association of Serb-majority municipalities.

Kurti said he serves the interests of the citizens of his country which include territorial integrity, state functionality, constitutionality, and legality. “We have given our proposals in the meetings we had in Brussels and we are constructive for future talks in the dialogue, facilitated by the European Union,” Kurti told reporters. 

He noted that the principle of reciprocity is a sound concept of how good neighbourly relations should function. “Agreement should be reached. We are ready to work on this.”We do not dialogue for the sake of dialogue, we are constructive, we are serious and at the same time we emphasise what is increasingly being agreed by all the international factors that has been very clearly worded by the U.S. President Joe Biden that the normalisation agreement between Kosovo and Serbia should centre on mutual recognition,” Kurti said. 

Asked whether any specific model on how the Association should look like was discussed with EU and U.S. envoys, Miroslav Lajcak and Gabriel Escobar, Kurti said that they did not discuss that but underlined that “the rights of minorities in Kosovo are respected at the highest level of European standards.” 

Osmani meets Escobar on his final day of visit to Kosovo (media)

President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani met for the second time in three days the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary and Special Representative for Western Balkans Gabriel Escobar, media report. 

“Met today with Flag of United States DAS Gabriel Escobar on his final day in Kosovo. I expressed our unwavering commitment to the Kosovo-U.S. relationship & look forward to increasing cooperation on areas of shared interest,” Osmani tweeted.

Serwer: Dialogue has stalled on domestic politics (Koha)

Daniel Serwer from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies said that a final agreement between Kosovo and Serbia is unlikely to happen this year. 

He said dialogue has stalled on domestic politics of the two sides. “Neither president Vucic nor prime minister Kurti see any benefits from the agreements, especially the comprehensive one,” Serwer told Koha. 

Serwer added that while Kosovo is facing pressure for an agreement, the same fate awaits Serbia too. However, he said, pressure is not key to success. “The mutual benefits from the agreement between the two countries is the key.” 

The issue of missing persons, noted Serwer, is something that needs to be resolved right away: “I don’t understand why the issue of missing persons has not been resolved yet. It is standard procedure to resolve such issues after the war. It is good to do it right away. Twenty years is not a little.”

On the Association of Serb-majority municipalities, Serwer said if Serbia was ready to recognise Kosovo and support it joining the United Nations, the formation of such a mechanism that would be in line with the Constitution of Kosovo would not seem as daunting as it does now. 

Commenting on the visit of EU and U.S. envoys to Kosovo. “I think the way forward is what worked in the past: focus on issues that bring about real benefits for the citizens in the two countries. This worked prior to 2013. I also think there is a great need to monitor the implementation of past agreements. The EU and U.S. should do this together.” 

Haradinaj: No way round the decision on Decan Monastery property (RTK)

Leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) Ramush Haradinaj said that the situation regarding the property around the Orthodox Monastery of Decan is clear but that Kosovo is in a difficult situation following the decision of the Constitutional Court which confirmed ownership of the land to the Monastery.

“If we do not implement the court’s decision, we make obstacles for ourselves,” Haradinaj told RTK.

He added that the Constitutional Court’s ruling puts Kosovo in a “dead-end” situation. “If we do not implement the decision on properties in line with the verdict of the Constitutional Court, we may then be accused of not implementing the decision of the same court regarding the Association.”

Haradinaj did say however that he considered the decision to be unjust because, as he said, it concerns property given to the Monastery of Decan during Milosevic’s regime. Nevertheless, he pointed out, there is no way round the verdict of the highest judicial instance.

Serbian Language Media

Number of infected people in Serbian areas growing (Radio Mitrovica sever) 

Clinical Hospital Centre in Mitrovica North director Zlatan Elek told the local media Wednesday that the number of new Covid-19 cases and those hospitalised has increased in the recent days in Serbian areas in Kosovo, adding currently 90 people are hospitalised, Radio Mitrovica sever reports.

According to Dr. Zlatan Elek, the epidemic situation in the majority Serbian areas in Kosovo and Metohija is serious, which shows a large number of newly ill and hospitalised people.

“In recent days, we have been recording a growing trend of new patients, which we see through the number of tests, most of which are positive. Testing on Monday showed that out of 250 samples 140 were positive. At the moment, there are 90 patients in the Clinical Hospital Centre of Kosovska Mitrovica, five in the respiratory centre. In the last two or three days, we have also had deaths, mostly elderly people passed away, and most of them have not been vaccinated”, Elek said.

He urged the citizens to be vaccinated in order to prevent the spread of the viru, and pointed out that there is a small number of vaccinated in Serbian communities in Kosovo and Metohija.

“Data show that in Kosovo and Metohija, 33,000 people were vaccinated with the first dose, 32,000 with the second dose and about 12,000 with the third dose. This is an insufficient number since the omicron strain is in full swing, it is spreading very fast. We did not adequately adhere to the recommended measures of the Crisis Management Committee, so now we have the results as they are. What is not good is that a certain number of health workers also fell ill”, Elek said. 

He also pointed out that the process of work in the Clinical Hospital Centre is running continuously in green and red zones.  

Vucic to meet with Escobar, Lajcak on Wednesday (Tanjug)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic will meet with US Deputy Assistant State Secretary Gabriel Escobar and the EU special envoy for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and other Western Balkan regional issues Miroslav Lajcak in Belgrade on Wednesday.

Vucic is scheduled to meet with Escobar at Vila Mir at 6 pm, the presidential press office has announced.

Vucic will then have a separate meeting with Lajcak at 7 pm.

After the bilateral meetings, a trilateral meeting is due to begin at 7.30 pm, an official statement said.

Haradinaj on Visoki Decani Monastery land case (Kosovo-online)

Leader of Alliance for Future of Kosovo (AAK) Ramush Haradinaj said the situation relating to the property of Visoki Decani Monastery was “unjust”, adding that Kosovo is in a difficult situation, following the Constitutional Court decision, Kosovo-online portal reports.

“If we do not implement a court decision, we create obstacles to ourselves”, Haradinaj told RTK. He also said that the Constitutional Court puts Kosovo in a position “without exit and alternative”, noting that they have remarks to this situation, but there was no other solution.

“If we do not implement the Constitutional Court decision on land, then we may face pressure not to implement a decision of the same court relating to the Community of Serb Municipalities”, he said.

He termed the decision on land as “unjust” since as he said, this is about property “given to the Monastery during Milosevic’s time”. He also said that once the highest court instance makes a decision there is no other way. He told RTK while he was the prime minister “there was pressure to implement this decision”.

Serbian media earlier reported that during the communist regime in the former Yugoslavia and based on the Agrarian Reform Law from 1945, 700 hectares of land was appropriated from Visoki Decani Monastery in 1946. According to media reports, an additional 800 hectares were appropriated from the Pec Patriarchate in the same year. In 1997 Serbia returned 24 hectares of land to the Monastery. 

The families of the missing Serbs asked Hoti to appoint their member to the Commission for Missing Persons (KiM radio)

Members of the families of abducted and missing Serbs from Kosovo talked on Monday in Gracanica with the President of the Commission for Missing Persons of the Government of Kosovo, Andin Hoti, reported KiM radio yesterday.

The coordinator of the Association of Families of Kidnapped and Missing Persons, Silvana Marinkovic told RTV KiM that the meeting also discussed the appointment of the Deputy President of the Government Commission for Missing Persons, who should be a Serb.

”He (Hoti) said that it was not up to him, that we give a proposal, and they would see. There was also talk about politicising the issue of the missing. The meeting of the Working Group has not been held for a long time; and to us this is of great importance. His attitude is that he would agree to talk to Veljko Odalovic, but that he respected the position of Prime Minister Albin Kurti, and he did not go against it,” Marinkovic told RTV KiM. 

KiM radio recalled that the President of the Commission for Missing Persons of the Government of Serbia, Veljko Odalovic was not allowed to come to Kosovo at the end of last year. He was then supposed to participate in a meeting with representatives of the Association of Families of Missing Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija. The President of the Commission for Missing Persons of the Government of Kosovo, Andin Hoti, was also invited to the same meeting, but he did not respond to the invitation. 

Lajcak: Belgrade-Pristina dialogue not about status of Kosovo (Beta, N1)

European Union envoy Miroslav Lajcak told reporters in Pristina on Wednesday that the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue is not about the status of Kosovo but about relations between Serbia and Kosovo.

Speaking at the end of a visit to Pristina with US State Department official Gabriel Escobar, Lajcak said that the EU feels that Belgrade and Pristina should decide what they want their relationship to be on their own. Lajcak said that his mandate was to mediate and help the two sides reach a binding agreement to normalise their relations. The EU will support whatever the two sides agree on, he said, adding that the Union wants Serbia and Kosovo to leave the past behind. Lajcak said that a normalisation of relations would resolve open questions and contribute to the stability of the region, bringing benefits to the population.

Kosovo has no reason to fear the dialogue with Serbia, he said, adding that the international community expected faster progress in 2021. Lajcak expressed the hope that the dialogue would continue soon at the top level.

The EU envoy said that he and Escobar clearly told Kosovo officials and the opposition that they respect Kosovo’s principles of integrity, constitutional order, and functionality in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue. He said that both sides have been told that everything they agreed on should be implemented. Stop fearing something that does not exist, no one is going to impose anything, he said replying to a question about the Community of Serb Municipalities. He said that the dialogue will affect the Kosovo government’s decision on whether to allow Kosovo Serbs to vote at the coming Serbian elections.

Lajcak said that his visit to Kosovo with US envoy Escobar confirmed the closest possible cooperation between the EU and US.

Escobar said that they were in Pristina to show unity and commitment to the dialogue and a better future for Serbia and Kosovo. He said that the US is not part of the EU-mediated negotiations but feels that all agreements must be implemented, adding that the Community of Serb Municipalities must not undermine Kosovo’s sovereignty. This is not negotiable, and we are not here to impose anything, he said and called both sides to say what the Community should be.

The US Deputy Assistant State Secretary said that Washington would like all the countries to recognize each other and join the European Union.

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

Surlic: Visit of Escobar and Lajcak is a courteous gesture, without any progress (RTV, Tanjug)

Belgrade Faculty of Political Sciences Assistant and political analyst Stefan Surlic told Tanjug television Wednesday that “with the joint visit to Pristina and Belgrade, Gabriel Escobar and Miroslav Lajcak want to send a message that the representatives of the USA and the EU are now working in coordination on the issue of normalisation of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, but also to show that they regularly visit both sides”, RTV reports.

He opined that this visit would not lead to any significant change, except that they visited Belgrade and Pristina and thus made a “courteous gesture”.

Surlic went on saying that based on what Escobar said in Pristina, but also earlier, it can be concluded that the US position was not to create a problem around issues that have already been resolved, i.e. where there have been no problems so far, such as participation of Serbs in parliamentary and presidential elections, as well as the right to vote in a recent referendum.

He said that Escobar also emphasised during the press conference in Pristina that Pristina has specific obligations it has not implemented, and that their common goal (Escobar and Lajcak) was to contemplate the modality based on which the things that were previously agreed could be realised, primarily the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities.

When asked how much Ecobar’s statement that the United States fully supports the independence and territorial integrity of Kosovo gives “wind to the sails”  to Albin Kurti, Surlic responded this was a well-known position of the US administration.

“I think in that way he wanted to reduce the damage which Vjosa Osmani and Albin Kurti would possibly have politically if they implemented Community of Serb-majority Municipalities, but also the establishment of a daughter company in the energy sector, as well as if they took more serious steps in the search for missing persons. As we know, Pristina refuses to check the locations that Belgrade sent as potential mass graves on the territory of Kosovo and Metohija”, Surlic said.

Asked how he interprets Lajcak’s statement that the EU and the US are cooperating and share the same vision for Kosovo and the dialogue process, Surli said it was a very clear message that the EU supports Kosovo independence and that it was important to implement existing agreements to remove all obstacles towards what they refer to as mutual recognition between Belgrade and Pristina.

Surlic argued that both the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities and the issue of the Serbian community in Kosovo and Metohija as well as their future were placed only and exclusively in the context of political pressure for Serbia to formally recognize Kosovo independence, and that there were decades of systemic discrimination against the Serbian community in Kosovo and Metohija. In this regard, he added, international actors have failed to protect the Serbian community, the issue of security remains a problem and Serbian cultural heritage is endangered.

“These are all open issues for the Serbian community and that is why I do not see this visit as crucial. Much greater pressure is needed from international actors to change the situation on the ground”, Surlic said, adding that he did not believe Albin Kurti and Vjosa Osmani would really take some steps to unfreeze the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.

Kurti: We are not afraid of the Community of Municipalities with a Serb majority, but we are careful (Beta, Danas)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti stated today that Kosovo is not afraid of the Community of Municipalities with a Serb majority, but that they are “cautious, because no one wants a Republika Srpska in Kosovo”, reported daily Danas.

“Kosovo is not afraid, but Kosovo with a responsible government is cautious. We serve the citizens of the Republic and protect the interests of our country. The interest of our independent state, our democratic and sovereign Republic is territorial integrity, that is state functionality, that is constitutionality and legality,” Kurti said, commenting on the statement of the EU special envoy for dialogue Miroslav Lajcak.

During his visit to the Kosovo Air Navigation Agency, Kurti said that Pristina is ready for a dialogue, which will end with mutual recognition.

“We have given our proposals in Brussels, and we are constructive for future talks on dialogue, in which case the principle of reciprocity is a healthy principle. An agreement must be reached, we do not engage in dialogue for the sake of dialogue. The agreement for full normalization must focus on mutual recognition,” he added.

EU envoy to Kosovo Miroslav Lajcak said at a press conference that Kosovo is an equal party in the dialogue and that one should not be afraid of creating a Community of Municipalities with a Serb majority, recalled Danas.

Bilbija: Establishment of ZSO would stabilise region (Kosovo-online)

“If Serbia would react to the statements of Miroslav Lajcak, who speaks about Kosovo as if it is not territory of Serbia, same as Ukraine would do when it comes to the Crimea, Lajcak would not be welcome to Serbia, and a protest note would be sent to the European Union”, Djuro Bilbija, long-term journalist and editor told Kosovo-online portal.

The portal recalled that EU Special Envoy Miroslav Lajcak talking about establishment of the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities in Kosovo said “that no one sane wishes for a new Republika Srpska”. Commenting on the statement, Bilbija said that Lajcak “obviously considers that Republika Srpska was a reflection of something bad”.

“He forgot that the establishment of Republika Srpska brought peace in a bloody war. Serbian people wanted their state and this was a sort of concession, and powers of the Republika Srpska are stipulated by Annex Four of the Dayton Peace Accord which in fact also today represents the constitution”, Bilbija said.

According to him, the establishment of Republika Srpska resolved an important geopolitical problem in the territory of former Yugoslavia.

“Also, establishment of the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities with executive powers in longer term, would lead to stabilisation of the situation in the region. However, it is obvious that any autonomy for Serbs is not acceptable to those needing Kosovo as an independent state”, he added.

He also said that “independent Kosovo is not acceptable to Serbia” no matter who is in power.  

Serbian Ministry of Culture: Enable media to work unhindered (Radio KIM)

Serbian Ministry of Culture has condemned prevention of Serbian media teams to report from the conference Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti had on a first day of the EU and US officials Miroslav Lajcak and Gabriel Escobar visit, adding this is yet another in a series of violations of the rights of Serbian people to freedom of speech, Radio KIM reports.

The Ministry said in a statement that such acts undermine freedom of the media and right to information guaranteed by international conventions and prove difficult and discriminatory position of the journalists and media in Serbian language in Kosovo.

“We urge international organisations and institutions, in particular those in the field of freedom of expression and freedom of journalists to condemn such concerning incidents and advocate to enable all media professionals to work and perform their duties unhindered”, the statement reads.  

Kosovo government assistance to families who lost someone from Covid; “not valid” for Serbs from the north (Kosovo Online)

Portal Kosovo Online reported today that the Kosovo government decided to assist all families who have lost a member due to Covid-19, and have been vaccinated twice, with 1,500 euros, but almost all Serb families in northern Kosovo have been rejected on the grounds that “the deceased were not registered with the Ministry of Health”.

The director of the NGO ACDC, Dusan Radakovic told portal Kosovo Online that more than 90 percent of the requests of Serbs from the north of Kosovo were rejected.

”The Kosovo government has issued a decision entitled ‘Subsidy for Covid deceased mass 3.1 for Covid deceased’ whereby families can apply for 1,500 euros in assistance. All Serbs who died at the hospital in North Mitrovica were not in the registry of those who died from coronavirus within the Kosovo Ministry of Health. The documents were returned to all the people who applied, and they were asked to submit a request that the deceased had passed away from Covid. The additional decree was adopted because they realised that there were a large number of requests from the Serbian community, but over 90 percent of people were rejected on the grounds that they have no evidence, even though they have a valid death certificate, and discharge list that says the citizen died of Covid-19,” Radakovic said.

Radakovic noted that people duly submitted the papers, as stated in the explanation of the decision of the Kosovo government.

“It was necessary to report the death in Kosovo institutions, bank account, general info about the deceased, where he/she lived, place of residence. The problem is that they are not registered at all in the Ministry of Health of Kosovo, and they now have the right to appeal within a month. Now they must submit requests again, as well as a discharge list that these people died of coronavirus, and I hope that the complaints will be accepted because the compensation of 1,500 euros is some compensation for the family of the deceased,” Radakovic said.

He mentioned that this time too, the big problem was collecting documents because all the papers were in Albanian, so Serbs from Kosovo had a hard time translating and exercising their rights guaranteed by the Kosovo constitution, reported Kosovo Online.

Serbian opposition presidential candidate Ponos says he wanted unity, will respect Constitution (N1, media)

The United Serbia opposition coalition’s candidate for president Zdravko Ponos told Wednesday’s news conference that the unity of the opposition was his condition to accept the nomination.

The retired general will run for president in April as the nominee of the coalition including the Freedom and Justice Party (SSP), Democratic Party (DS), People’s Party (NS), Movement of Free Citizens (PSG), Turnover Movement (PzP), Free Serbia Movement (PSS) Sloga Syndicate, Democratic Union of Vojvodina Hungarians (DZVM) and Civic Platform. He thanked everyone who was prepared to back him. “Without your readiness to see this happen, this would have happened. That was my condition – unity. Now we have that”, he said at a presentation of the coalition’s candidates for the elections in April. The presentation included SSP deputy leader Marinika Tepic as the lead candidate for parliament and Vladeta Jankovic as candidate for Mayor of Belgrade.

During the address Ponos also stressed that he “will respect the Constitution of Serbia, starting from preamble to the last act”, adding he will unite Serbia and that will be his aim. “Serbia will be home for all of us”, he said. 

“The president should reflect national unity but that is not the case in Serbia. The man who should do that has divided Serbia and it will become a normal country after the elections, turned to the future. Serbia in which we don’t hate each other, where neighbours are not the enemy, Serbia which respects knowledge and where health is not a luxury in which the police and military do their job and where we live decent lives and respect the law”, he said, adding that he can contribute to this.

Ponos also said he would gladly talk to other parties and movements in what he said is “the true opposition” but added that he would not beg to talk to anyone.

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

International

EU, US want faster progress in Serbia-Kosovo talks (AP)

Envoys from the European Union and the United States on Wednesday urged Kosovo and Serbia to make concrete progress in EU-brokered negotiations aimed at resolving a long-running dispute that remains a source of tensions in the volatile Balkans.

Miroslav Lajcak, the EU’s special envoy for the talks, and U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary Gabriel Escobar ended a three-day visit to Pristina, Kosovo, where they met with local leaders and the international community.

“We both want to see Kosovo and Serbia turn the page, to leave the past behind and to normalize relations,” Lajcak told a news conference before heading to Belgrade, Serbia.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/34a5QtO

U.S., EU urge Kosovo to honour local autonomy deal for Serb region (Reuters)

European Union and U.S. envoys urged Kosovo on Wednesday to implement a deal granting more autonomy to Serb-majority municipalities that was signed as part of a normalisation process between Pristina and Belgrade.

Ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 after a late 1990s uprising. Kosovo committed to EU-mediated talks in 2013 to resolve outstanding issues but the process has stumbled over concessions to Serb municipalities.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has balked at carrying out the deal signed by his predecessor, saying it undermines the Balkan country’s sovereignty by giving wide autonomy to Serbs who comprise five percent of the population.

Read more at: https://reut.rs/3ukU3nk

North Macedonia, its Balkan Neighbours, Can’t Fight Terrorism Alone (Balkan Insight)

Cooperating with international agencies such as Europol is crucial if North Macedonia and the rest of the Western Balkans are to win the fight against terrorism and extremism.

On many occasions, tackling terrorism and extremism has only been possible as a joint effort between governments, institutions, and security agencies. For the Western Balkans too, intergovernmental cooperation is needed to fight these threats.

However, cooperation with international institutions and agencies can further aid those efforts.

Apart from central EU institutions like the European Commission, bodies such as the European Police Agency, Europol, are vital in the fight against terrorism and extremism.

Primarily through its European Counter-Terrorism Center, ECTC, Europol has operational and working agreements with all Western Balkan countries and regularly exchanges information on tackling such threats.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/32WExTi

Humanitarian/Development

Society will be safe only when women will feel safe (Radio kontakt plus)

“Without economic empowerment and housing alternatives, domestic violence victims will be discouraged from reporting cases. Even when they do, they will be forced to go back to the perpetrator, making it essential to find sustainable solutions”. This was the main conclusion from yesterday’s high-level conference that was organised by the OSCE Mission in Kosovo with the support of the European Union Special Representative/EU Office in Kosovo, Radio kontakt plus reports.

In the press release issued by OSCE, it was said that the event, which gathered senior officials from government and local level institutions, looked into best practises and ways to find long-term solutions for these victims by providing affordable housing and employment opportunities.

“A society will be safe only when women will feel safe, in the street, at work and in their homes. We, the institutions, need to offer and guarantee them this safety. There is no better protection for victims of domestic violence than their financial independence”, President Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu said.  

“With the Kosovo program for gender equality 2020-2024, the first strategic objective is creation of equal opportunities for women and men, so that women can contribute but also benefit from the economic development, and we increase their inclusion, but also their active participation”, Prime Minister Albin Kurti said.

In his opening remarks, Head of the OSCE Mission, Ambassador Michael Davenport said: “The economic empowerment of women is crucial if we are to eliminate gender discrimination including gender-based violence against women and girls. Supporting gender-based victims and upholding their economic, property and inheritance rights is the only way to enable them to leave abusive relationships. And ultimately to save   their – and their children’s – lives. Backing empowerment and reintegration is a duty for all of us, requiring effective inter-agency co-operation and a whole-of-society response”.

Head of the EU Office, Ambassador Tomas Szunyog highlighted the importance of affordable housing for the victims of domestic violence: “Affordable housing is essential for the reintegration of the victims of violence into the society. Other economic empowerment initiatives are also required: financial incentives for businesses led by women or that employ women survivors, job subsidies and employment in public institutions are also good tools. I encourage the newly elected mayors to raise this issue in their political agendas. It is important to take women victims of violence into account at the time of designing housing, employment, business development or vocational training policies”, he said.

Last Despatches: Kosovo Journalist Disappears After Visiting Guerrilla Base (Balkan Insight)

Ismail Berbatovci closed the door of his apartment in the small central Kosovo town of Lipjan/Ljipljane for the last time on the morning of July 23, 1998.

His wife Peme remembers that he went out to do an interview with Rame Buja, a senior leader from the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, at the guerrilla force’s local base in the nearby mountains.

Armed conflict had already been simmering for several months between the guerrillas of the KLA and Yugoslav troops and Serbian police controlled by President Slobodan Milosevic’s regime.

Berbatovci was a correspondent for Pristina-based daily newspaper Rilindja (Revival) and editor-in-chief of monthly magazine Fjala Jone (Our Word); he also served as head of the local office of the Kosova Information Centre, a media outlet that was affiliated with the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK political party. At the time, the LDK and the KLA were involved in their own bitter dispute about how to conduct the struggle against repressive Serbian rule.

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