• Kurti: Kosovo joining Council of Europe, the right step (media)
• Bislimi with Djukanovic: Future of our countries is in the EU (media)
• Albanian PM Rama: Open Balkan will not stop (media)
• Turkey will support Kosovo’s membership in NATO (Koha)
• Inspectors review reports of discrimination against community students (media)
• Opposition leaders react to court decision against increased energy fees (media)
• Haxhiu says Specialist Chambers judges are of Serbian descent (euronews.al)
• Prishtina allocates €350,000 to easy stray dog problem (Prishtina Insight)
• Balluku: Durres-Prishtina railway project to start this year (euronews.al)
• COVID-19: 16 new cases (media)

Kurti: Kosovo joining Council of Europe, the right step (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in his conversation at the Atlantic Council that the right step would be for Kosovo to join the Council of Europe after Russia is no longer part of this mechanism. “It is good that Russia was suspended from its membership in the Council of Europe. I do not believe there could be a better example in this period than to replace Russia with Kosovo. If one is truly on the side of peace and democracy, this is the right thing to do. However, it is up to the member states to decide, and I hope they will have the required depth to evaluate Kosovo’s membership in this organization,” he said.

Commenting on security in the Balkans after the Russian invasion in Ukraine, Kurti said the region would be more safer and peaceful if there is a synchronized approach between Brussels and Washington. He argued that the Balkans is now divided in countries that condemn the Russian attack on Ukraine and countries that have decided to remain neutral. “This comes at a time when Serbia wants to keep a double position, claiming to be neutral between the EU and the Russian Federation but also between the U.S. and China. The Russian aggression has divided the Balkans into those that have imposed sanctions and have condemned the attack and those that claim to be neutral. You cannot be neutral between the firefighter and the fire. I believe that Washington and Brussels must make it clear to Serbia that it cannot sit on three or four chairs,” he said.

Kurti said he expects the European Union to accept Kosovo’s status as a candidate country this year. “We would welcome the application of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia to the European Union, and we also ask the EU to accept our application this year,” he said.

Watch the full conversation here: https://bit.ly/3ab5bLo

Bislimi with Djukanovic: Future of our countries is in the EU (media)

Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi met with Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic on Wednesday, saying after the meeting that the future of Kosovo and Montenegro is in the European Union. “Our common objectives are commitment to the Berlin Process and fulfilling our European agendas. Regional cooperation is one of the ways through which we can consolidate the approximation of our countries and commitment to good neighborly relations,” Bislimi said in a Facebook post. He also said that Kosovo is committed to supporting the Montenegrin community and that it welcomes their significant contribution to the development of Kosovo.

Albanian PM Rama: Open Balkan will not stop (media)

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Wednesday that the Open Balkan initiative will not stop. “Whoever is against the Open Balkans is in their right to not see, to not hear and to not understand that this initiative encourages peace, cooperation, and integration, and it accelerates the Berlin Process! The Open Balkan will not stop because the future cannot be stopped,” he tweeted.

Rama’s remarks came after Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani and her Montenegrin counterpart Milo Djukanovic expressed opposition to the Open Balkan initiative on Wednesday.

Turkey will support Kosovo’s membership in NATO (Koha)

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Turkey will support Kosovo’s membership in NATO and in the Council of Europe, a press release issued by Kosovo’s Ministry of Defense noted on Wednesday. Akar assured his Kosovo counterpart, Armend Mehaj, during a meeting in Ankara, that Turkey will support Kosovo in joining the Partnership for Peace and in regional and international organisations.

Inspectors review reports of discrimination against community students (media)

Kosovo’s Minister of Education, Arberie Nagavci, said on Wednesday that the ministry has sent inspectors to review reports of discrimination against students from the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities during the ABC Book celebration in Peja on Tuesday. Nagavci said she visited the school in Peja to be closely informed about the case reported by the media as discriminatory against students of the Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian communities. “I visited some integrated classes of regular teaching. I talked to the school principals and teachers about the case and about the work in this school, which has about 1400 students, of which about 230 are Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians, as well as about 100 Bosniaks. Last night’s scenes were disturbing to all of us. These images are unacceptable, and discrimination has no place in our schools. The Ministry of Education has undertaken several comprehensive policies. We have distributed 500 scholarships for Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian students. This year, we will support scholarships to students from these communities, especially those of the Faculty of Education, to create staff who will work in our schools. It is essential to implement these policies at all levels. In this regard, the commitment of teachers, parents, the community, the media, and civil society is equally essential. We need to be very honest and acknowledge that, as a society, we still have a lot of work to do in inclusion and giving equal opportunities to all children, especially those who are marginalized,” Nagavci said.

Opposition leaders react to court decision against increased energy fees (media)

Leaders of the main opposition parties in Kosovo welcomed on Wednesday the Court of Appeals decision to uphold an earlier decision by the Basic Court in Prishtina to block the increased energy tariffs. Leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Memli Krasniqi said: “I am very happy that our principled position for lawfulness and in defense of the rights of citizens as consumers, today has relieved around 450,000 Kosovar families from this burden,” he said. Krasniqi also said that the PDK will always stand on the side of the people “against any unlawful and unfair decision of the government”. Leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) Lumir Abdixhiku said after the decision that citizens were unfairly billed and that they should be reimbursed. He further argued that the Kurti-led government must immediately lower the energy tariffs and dismiss the Board of the Energy Regulatory Office.

The Director of the Energy Regulatory Office (ERO), Ymer Fejzullahu, told Klan Kosova that they will respect any decision by the Court of Appeals about the energy tariffs. “We have not received an official decision yet. We said even earlier that we will implement any decision taken by the Court of Appeals, because the decision of the Basic Court in Prishtina was not binding for us,” he said.

Haxhiu says Specialist Chambers judges are of Serbian descent (euronews.al)

The imprisonment of the two Kosovo war veterans Hysni Gucati and Nasim Haradinaj, by the Specialist Chambers, was an unfair decision, says analyst Baton Haxhiu. Haxhiu said he was not surprised by the court’s ruling after learning that Charles Smith was in the panel. “The prosecutors come from families of Serbian and Croatian descent. Charles Smith was one of the judges who wanted to convict Fatmir Limaj. I knew they couldn’t escape without being punished,” he said.

Haxhiu also said that the Court of Appeals will change the length of the prison sentence. Gucati and Haradinaj were convicted after releasing classified files from the Specialist Chambers, but Haxhiu says an investigation should have been launched to learn who leaked the data. “The files were released by the Court itself. Initially, they must punish their own people, or another scenario would be that they leaked them on purpose”. According to him, the leak of the classified data could be a strategy of the court to reactivate the trial against the former KLA leaders.

Prishtina allocates €350,000 to easy stray dog problem (Prishtina Insight)

After many complaints about the number of attacks by stray dogs in the capital, the municipality of Prishtina has set aside €350,000 to help deal with the issue. At around 4.30am on Tuesday morning, Avdi Smajlaj, a Prishtina resident, was attacked by a pack of stray dogs on his way to the bus station. The 44-year-old managed to escape the stray dogs that have long been a major problem for citizens of the capital. “Thank God, I managed to escape without physical consequences, but with some fear. I managed to get into the yard of the station, from where the dogs then left,” he wrote. Other citizens have been less lucky. Some attacks by dogs have resulted in physical injuries.

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

Balluku: Durres-Prishtina railway project to start this year (euronews.al)

Albania is seeking to invest in its railway system in the near future, including a route that will connect the coastal city of Durres and Kosovo’s capital, Prishtina. The Albanian Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Belinda Balluku announced that there is an agreement with the government of Kosovo to start working on the project. “The railway is of particular importance for Kosovo and Albania as it will enable a fast means of transportation for peoples and goods, initially between Kosovo and Albania and then extending to other countries in the Western Balkans”, said Balluku.

COVID-19: 16 new cases (media)

16 new cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in Kosovo in the last 24 hours. There are 263 active cases of COVID-19 in Kosovo.