• German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visits Kosovo (media)
• Russia may pressure Serbia to undermine western Balkans, leaders warn (The Guardian)
• Civil society organisations call for more commitment for final Kosovo-Serbia agreement (Kallxo)
• Albania supports Kosovo’s NATO membership bid (media)
• CoE’s Berge refutes Bislimi’s description of meeting (media)
• Following oil price hike, Ministry says violations have been addressed (Koha)
• Mustafa: Government to solve this complex period (Telegrafi)
• Haxhiu: More women to take leading posts in judiciary (RTK)
• Kosovo Failing to Rehabilitate Terrorism Convicts in Prison, BIRN Finds (BIRN)
• Kosovo Media Regulator Struggling to Recover from Cyber-Attack (BIRN)
• COVID-19: 37 new cases, one death (media)

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visits Kosovo (media)

German Minister of Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock arrived to Kosovo yesterday and met Prime Minister Albin Kurti, President Vjosa Osmani.

Kurti assured Baerbock that Kosovo is a reliable partner of Germany and the European Union. “We have proven this by accepting Afghan refugees and we are showing this during the crisis in Ukraine,” Kurti is quoted in a Kosovo Government press release. Kurti asked for Germany’s support to the Government’s reforms, particularly employment and justice.

At a joint press conference with Kurti, Baerbock said the EU is reaching out support to the Western Balkans region in their European Union integration process. She also said Kosovo has fulfilled the visa liberalisation criteria and that “it is now up to the EU to do its part.” “You have our full support in the fight against corruption, strengthening the rule of law,” Baerbock added.

German minister thanked the Government of Kosovo for imposing sanctions on Russia. “This has shown Kosovo belongs in Europe. We are and will remain your partner.”

Osmani on her part is reported to have stressed that has joined the EU and the US by imposing sanctions on the Russian Federation which has carried out military aggression against Ukraine. Russian aggression on Ukraine, according to President Osmani has expedited the necessity of Euro-Atlantic integration of Kosovo and the entire Western Balkans. She further requested Germany’s support for Kosovo’s membership in the Council of Europe, a statement issued by Osmani’s cabinet says.

Ahead of her trip to the Western Balkans, Baerbock penned an opinion piece where she underlined the importance of the region for Germany. “For me as German Foreign Minister, impacted in my youth by the terrible images of the Western Balkans wars – peace and European perspective there are of top priority,” she said.

Russia may pressure Serbia to undermine western Balkans, leaders warn (The Guardian)

Russia is likely to expand its confrontation with the west by pressuring Serbia into undermining the independence of Kosovo and other western Balkan states, regional leaders have warned in interviews with the Guardian.

They also called for the EU and Nato to speed up their approach to applications for membership from Balkans countries, and bolster defences against Russian interference.

Kosovo’s prime minister, Albin Kurti, warned that “it is in the interest of the Russian Federation to have new battlegrounds because they do not want to go back to peace”.

The country’s president, Vjosa Osmani, predicted that “Russia, by destabilising the western Balkans, will seek to destabilise the whole of the Europe” and said Moscow was using Serbia to endanger democratic values.

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

Civil society organisations call for more commitment for final Kosovo-Serbia agreement (Kallxo)

On the 11th anniversary of the start of the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, the Civil Society Platform for Dialogue has called for more commitment to reach a final agreement.

“Dialogue remains the only alternative for resolving disputes between the two countries that affect the improvement of citizens’ lives and their European integration, it is imperative that they return to the negotiating table as soon as possible with full political will to reach the agreement in question, the impact of which would not be limited to the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia, but would have a stabilizing effect and increase security in the Balkans, especially in the current circumstances after Russia’s aggression against Ukraine,” the statement published by the Kosovo Democratic Institute and endorsed by ten NGOs reads.

Albania supports Kosovo’s NATO membership bid (media)

Kosovo’s Minister of Defence Armend Mehaj held a virtual meeting with Albania’s Minister of Defence Niko Peleshi. They discussed the overall security situation following the Russian military aggression on Ukraine and its impact on the region, Kosovo’s Ministry of Defence said.

“Minister Peleshi also expressed the full support from his respective position and in general of the institutional authorities of the Republic of Albania, support which has been permanent in the past, for the aspirations of the Republic of Kosovo for NATO membership and for lobbying with the countries that have not recognised the Republic of Kosovo.”

CoE’s Berge refutes Bislimi’s description of meeting (media)

Council of Europe’s Deputy Secretary General Bjorn Berge has reacted to the description of the meeting he had in Strasbourg with Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi.

Bislimi had taken to Twitter to speak about the meeting: “Pleasure to meet @DSGBjornBerge during my stay in Strasbourg, who welcomed Kosovo’s initiative on the application for membership on @coe. Our discussion was also focused in emphasizing the commended 🇽🇰 progress, reforms and alignment with European values & foreign policies.” To this, Berge replied: “This is regrettably not a correct description of what I stated in the meeting in regard to a possible application to the CoE.”

Bislimi apologised for “the choice of the inadequate term”. He said: “Instead of ‘welcomed’, the correct description should state ‘we informed’.”

Following oil price hike, Ministry says violations have been addressed (Koha)

Kosovo’s Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade (MINT) announced that they are intensively inspecting economic operators over the increase of prices of the cooking oil, flour, sugar and other products.

In a statement, the Ministry said that some operators have deceived consumers after they emptied the shelves of cooking oil on Wednesday, creating the impression that there is a shortage, and then returned them, at a price of 3.49 euros per litre. “The cooking oil was imported days ago and was initially sold at a price of 1.50 euros per litre. These actions of traders constitute consumer fraud, unfair trade practices and unfair competition, therefore the Market Inspectorate is taking punitive measures and any other action defined by law,” the statement said.

Mustafa: Government to solve this complex period (Telegrafi)

Former leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) Isa Mustafa said on Facebook that the government of Kosovo should seek and find solutions in this complex social and political period and not “waste time with the excuses and blaming of others.”

“It is not the role of our government to educate and discipline Putin or to wage war in Ukraine. An entire people is fighting there with just support and solidarity from all over the world. It has our solidarity too. It is not the role of Kosovo institutions, either, to scare the citizens every morning that Serbia is attacking us. Because, people worry, they are afraid; speculators raise prices, while war dogs seek space to profit. In the end it is the citizens who voted for you, those who pay the price for unmanageable frustrations.”

Haxhiu: More women to take leading posts in judiciary (RTK)

Kosovo’s Minister of Justice Albulena Haxhiu took part in a forum marking the International Day of Women Judges and underlined the importance of serious actions in the cases of domestic violence, gender-based violence, inheritance.

“I also stressed that it is important to have more women in leadings posts at courts and prosecutions but also equality at other levels. Currently only two courts are run by women and we do not have any prosecutors leading any prosecution so I asked that this be addressed in the selection process,” she said.

Kosovo Failing to Rehabilitate Terrorism Convicts in Prison, BIRN Finds (BIRN)

Most of the Kosovo citizens who have returned from warzones in Syria and Iraq are struggling to adapt back to life in Kosovo and lack re-socialisation programmes during their jail terms, a BIRN report has concluded.

The report, which BIRN produced in cooperation with the Advocacy Training and Resource Centre, ATRC, Peer Education Network, PEN, and Prishtina Institute for Political Studies, PIPS, has recommended Kosovo to include children and families in rehabilitation programmes and “encourage private businesses to employ terrorism convicts in the areas in which they are trained”.

It notes the “dire economic situation, lack of employment perspectives, inadequate education level and unequal economic opportunities” as key factors that lured hundreds of Kosovo youngsters to join extremist groups in Syria and Iraq.

Kosovo’s five-year Strategy for the Prevention of Violent Extremism and Radicalism Leading to Terrorism expired last year. The strategy outlined steps to be taken with a focus on early identification, prevention, intervention, deradicalisation and reintegration of individuals and groups affected by extremism and radicalism.

This includes support with state bureaucracy, food, shelter, education, inclusion in community programmes, professional training for women and access to healthcare.

Kosovo outlawed participation in foreign armed groups back in 2015 after more than 400 of its citizens joined the conflict in Syria, fighting alongside the Islamist terrorist organisations Al-Nusra and ISIS.

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

Kosovo Media Regulator Struggling to Recover from Cyber-Attack (BIRN)

Kosovo’s media regulatory body on Wednesday said it was subjected to a severe cyber-attack in January that has resulted in a loss of data and access to official email addresses and internal systems for almost two months.

Faruk Rexhaj, acting head of the Independent Media Commission, IMC, confirmed that many electronic services had been disabled because of the attack in January.

“We have not restored [the lost material] yet because we need to go through procurement procedures to hire an expert on restoring the servers. Procedures took some time but we are almost at the end,” Rexhaj told BIRN.

According to Rexhaj, the IMC is working to restore the system after the attack and blamed delays on the procurement procedures needed before hiring an expert to deal with the issue.

“We are in procedure to restore equipment, materials and systems to normalcy. We are working on it,” he added.

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

COVID-19: 37 new cases, one death (media)

37 new cases of COVID-19 and one death have been recorded in Kosovo in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said in its daily report. 55 persons recovered during this time.

There are 812 active cases of COVID-19 in Kosovo.