Albanian Language Media:

• Kosovo and Serbia reach agreement on energy (media)
• Prime Minister Kurti: Agreement on energy, a result of our work (Koha)
• Germany welcomes Kosovo-Serbia Energy Agreement (Kallxo)
• Cakolli: Agreement on energy in the north has symbolic importance too (Nacionale)
• PSD: Agreement on energy in the north legalises Serbia in Kosovo (media)
• Lajcak optimistic that Kosovo-Serbia final agreement will be reached in his mandate (Koha)
• Konjufca: Former KLA members in The Hague concerned over procedural violations (media)
• Kurti: I am here to listen to the remaining challenges (RTK)

Serbian Language Media:

• Vucic spoke with Borrell (Danas, FoNet)
• Vucic talked with Rama and Kovacevski; tomorrow decision on participation in the summit in Brussels (RTS, KiM radio, FoNet)
• Belgrade and Pristina delegations agreed guidelines for the implementation of the energy agreement (RTS, media)
• Petkovic says the road for talks on the formation of CSM opened; EU welcomes the adoption of the roadmap (N1)
• Energy agreement reached: Elektrosever received a licence, KEDS and KOSTT access to Valac (KoSSev)
• Dacic after CoE Parliamentary Assembly: “Seems to suit everyone at the moment that Kosovo is not on the agenda” (RTS, Tanjug)
• Besiri: Tough questions in autumn (RTK2)
• Demostat claims Belgrade changing status of Serbian-Russian humanitarian center (N1, FoNet, Demostat)

Opinion:

• Online Hate Speech Remains Unmoderated in Balkans (BIRN)

International:

• Albania PM to Submit Resolution in Strasbourg Against Marty Report (BIRN)

Albanian Language Media  

Kosovo and Serbia reach agreement on energy (media)

Kosovo and Serbia adopted today in Brussels the Energy Agreements’ Implementation Roadmap in the framework of the EU-facilitated dialogue. The news was announced by EU Special Representative for the dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak. “Very pleased to announce that Kosovo and Serbia just adopted the Energy Agreements’ Implementation Roadmap in the framework of the EU-facilitated Dialogue. This is a major step forward,” Lajcak tweeted. 

Kosovo’s Principal Deputy Prime Minister and head of the Kosovo delegation, Besnik Bislimi, tweeted after the meeting: “we finally adopted the Implementation Roadmap on Energy Agreements of 2013 and 2015. This enables billing of electricity in four northern municipalities of Kosova, under Kosova laws and regulatory system”.

Radio Free Europe quotes unnamed sources in the EU as saying that the parties will also discuss the issue of missing persons. A joint declaration of Kosovo and Serbia on the issue is reportedly ready and several terms need to be clarified before it is signed. According to the news website, the parties are also expected to agree on preparations for a high-level meeting between Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

Most news websites have published the text of the agreement.

Prime Minister Kurti: Agreement on energy, a result of our work (Koha)

Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, said the reaching of the agreement between Kosovo and Serbia on energy in the north today is good news and that it is a result of the work of his government. Kurti said the billing of the electricity in the northern municipalities will begin soon. “It is good that energy in the north will start being billed because a great damage was inflicted on Kosovo until now,” he added.

Germany welcomes Kosovo-Serbia Energy Agreement (Kallxo)

Kosovo and Serbia with the mediation of Brussels have managed to sign the Energy Agreement. Steffen Hebestreit, spokesman of the German government said his country fully supports steps towards normalization between Kosovo and Serbia.

“Congratulations to chief negotiators of Serbia and Kosovo and EUSR Lajcak! As Bundeskanzler Scholz underlined during his recent trip to the region: Germany fully supports the next steps towards comprehensive normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia,” Hebestreit tweeted. 

Cakolli: Agreement on energy in the north has symbolic importance too (Nacionale)

Eugen Cakolli, researcher with the Kosovo Democratic Institute (KDI), said the agreement on energy between Kosovo and Serbia in addition to the importance of being implemented in practice also has a symbolic importance. “The reaching of the agreement shows that the dialogue between the two countries is the only way to solve problems, even when (unfortunately) this concerns issues that pertain to Kosovo. The latest agreement shows that it is almost inevitable to discuss issues related to Kosovo Serbs with Serbia. It is almost impossible to resolve these issues only through an internal dialogue with the Serbs – although this should not be excluded as an approach … From now on I believe that the discourse on the dialogue will be normalised too, because in the past it received the most negative labels, whereby agreements on ‘internal’ issues were viewed as ‘violations of the constitution’ and even ‘acts of treason,” Cakolli wrote in a Facebook post.

PSD: Agreement on energy in the north legalises Serbia in Kosovo (media)

Spokeswoman for the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Natyra Kuci, reacted against the agreement on energy between Kosovo and Serbia arguing that “it legalises Serbia in Kosovo”.

Kuci wrote: “the agreement that Besnik Bislimi signed today, was once called as legalising the influence of Serbia in Kosovo. This was Vetevendosje’s official position in 2015. This agreement truly legalises Serbia in Kosovo because the northern part of Mitrovica will receive a special treatment. But today Vetevendosje accepts this agreement with pride. They are implying that the Association of Serb-majority municipalities will have the same fate. The metamorphosis of Vetevendosje is detaching itself from every political principle and project it had in the past”.

Lajcak optimistic that Kosovo-Serbia final agreement will be reached in his mandate (Koha)

The European Union’s special envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue Miroslav Lajcak, said in an interview with the “Public Debate Club”, that together with the U.S. representative for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, they will successfully complete their mandate with a legally binding comprehensive agreement, for the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia.

He denied the numerous rumors that the dialogue so far has not yielded results.

He praised cooperation with the U.S. Envoy.

“We have the same mandate and the same goal. Our goal is to succeed, to close this process, the process of normalization, and I must say that this process is led by the European Union, but it is very strongly supported by the United States of America. This is a precondition for success,” he said.

Speaking about the protracted European integration of the Western Balkans, he said that “the war in Ukraine opened the eyes of many in the European Union who thought that the region was safe, that it could wait and that it had nowhere to go. It has now become clear that we need to complete the integration process.”

According to him, the aspirations of the Western Balkans are legitimate and logical and added that countries must prove that EU integration is their priority.

“However, there are still many unresolved issues from the past. The Yugoslav war ended 27 years ago, it is over 20 years since the NATO intervention in Kosovo and Serbia, but the past is still present today and hinders the path to a better future,” he said.

Lajcak noted that the European Union is actively engaged even when it comes to dialogue for the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia, and in terms of the functioning of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“We will not achieve the goal by criticizing each other. We really need to work together. Both sides need to be taken seriously, because I have said that there is no better alternative. The war in Ukraine opened the eyes of many in the European Union,” he concluded.

Konjufca: Former KLA members in The Hague concerned over procedural violations (media)

The Speaker of the Parliament of Kosovo Glauk Konjufca, spoke about his visit to The Hague.

“I visited Thaci, Veseli, Selimi, Krasniqi, Haradinaj and Gucati. They are in good health, strong, strong- willed and very stoic. Their and their defense’s concern is that there are allegations of some violations that are being committed also in the procedures, for which there is absolutely no mechanism of appeal that would review them. This court is under no one’s control,” he told the media.

“It is an absolutist court, that does not give account to anyone. In order for this court to be fair, in accordance with justice, there is a need for a control and accountability mechanism,” Konjufca said.

“They are dissatisfied, just as the entire population of Kosovo, because the indictment leaves space for incrimination of the KLA as such,” he added.

“That court is so dependent that it did not appear to me at all that it belongs to Kosovo,” he said, adding that if the indictment against former KLA members is confirmed, KLA in entirety and the grounds of Kosovo’s state building will be affected. 

Kurti: I am here to listen to the remaining challenges (RTK)

Prime Minister Albin Kurti is participating in the roundtable organized by the Office for Community Affairs in the Office of the Prime Minister.

He said in a conversation with representatives of the Egyptian community that he is there to hear from them about the challenges that continue to remain.

“I believe that together we have a lot to celebrate for your community. I am also here to hear from you about the challenges that remain. We had a very good cooperation with the community during the year, which in terms of political cooperation was at an excellent level. During this week there will be various activities from folk dances and songs to artistic performances, success stories and short films organized by NGOs that are here with us. We are aware of the importance of representing communities in the municipalities. It is good that today we have two municipal officials for communities,” Kurti said.

Serbian Language Media

Vucic spoke with Borrell (Danas, FoNet)

President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, spoke today by phone with the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Boreell, who expressed satisfaction with the progress made in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina on the adoption of the roadmap, reported daily Danas. 

According to the statement, Vucic said that Serbia was committed to dialogue as the only way to resolve open issues and reach a sustainable agreement in favour of the daily life of Serbs and Albanians, as well as peace and stability in the region, reported daily.

Ahead of the upcoming EU-Western Balkans Summit in Brussels, Vucic informed Borrell about talks he had with the prime ministers of Albania and North Macedonia, Edi Rama and Dimitar Kovacevski, this morning, and an agreement reached to announce tomorrow decision whether they will participate in that gathering, reported Danas.

Vucic talked with Rama and Kovacevski; tomorrow decision on participation in the summit in Brussels (RTS, KiM radio, FoNet)

The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, announced that he had talked with the Prime Ministers of Albania and North Macedonia, Edi Rama, and Dimitar Kovacevski, about the upcoming EU-Western Balkans summit in Brussels, and the decision on whether to attend the meeting will be announced tomorrow, reported KiM radio. 

“We have agreed that, after consultations with our governments and advisers, we will announce the decision tomorrow at noon on whether we will attend the meeting in Brussels,” Vucic wrote on his Instagram.

He added that he exchanged views with Rama and Kovacevski on future steps within the joint Open Balkans initiative, primarily on the wine fair that will bring together the best winemakers from the region, as well as the next meeting to discuss numerous issues of interest to citizens of the three countries.

“Together, we are fighting for a clear perspective of the Western Balkans, even stronger cooperation and better connections,” Vucic said on Instagram, reported KiM radio.

RTS reported that Kovacevski also announced on his Facebook profile that the final decision on participation in the EU-Western Balkans summit will be announced tomorrow.

Belgrade and Pristina delegations agreed guidelines for the implementation of the energy agreement (RTS, media)

The European Union’s special envoy for dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, said that the delegations of Belgrade and Pristina in Brussels adopted a roadmap for the implementation of the energy agreement adopted in 2013, reported Radio Television of Serbia. 

Miroslav Lajcak assessed on Twitter that a “big step forward” had been achieved.

“It is with great pleasure that I can announce that Kosovo and Serbia have just adopted the roadmap for the implementation of energy agreements within the dialogue under the auspices of the EU,” said Lajcak.

The director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, met with Lajcak shortly after 10 am in Brussels. Earlier, Lajcak held a bilateral meeting with Pristina’s chief negotiator, Besnik Bislimi, in the European External Action Service building.

European Union spokesperson Petar Stano announced on Monday that the energy agreement would be discussed at the meeting.

What the agreement says 

The EU special envoy for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue Miroslav Lajcak published the agreement on his Twitter account, Tanjug news agency reported.

Tanjug reported that according to Energy Agreements’ Implementation Roadmap adopted by Belgrade and Pristina delegations on Tuesday in Brussels to overcome the crisis and problems in the energy sector, the Energy Regulation Office (ERO) will issue a supply licence to Elektrosever, a daughter company of the Serbian power company EPS.

Under the agreement, ERO will ensure “compliance with the conditions set forth by the supply license”, in accordance with the legal and regulatory framework of the so-called Kosovo.

Within seven days of issuance of a supply license, Elektrosever will provide to power distributor KEDS and grid operator KOSTT the most recent data available on consumers, via the EU.

“Within 10 days of issuance of a supply license, Elektrosever will sign the necessary technical agreements with KOSTT and KEDS in order to operate in the Kosovo’s energy market, i.e., the Framework Agreement on acceptance of Electricity market rules with KOSTT, the Agreement on Balance Liability with KOSTT, the Connection Agreement with KEDS, and a commercial agreement with KEDS to provide distribution services (billing, collection, maintenance and physical connection of new customers) in the four northern Serb majority municipalities, as per paragraph 1 of art. 5 of the 2013 Agreement,” the agreement says.

“Within 15 days of signing the necessary technical agreements with KOSTT, Elektrosever will obtain an Energy Identification Code (EIC) in order to perform activities foreseen by the supply license.”

Also, in accordance with Article 14 of the 2015 Energy Agreement, within 30 days of issuance of a supply license, KEDS and KOSTT (under EU facilitation, if required) will have access to the Valac sub-station, as well as to other transmission and distribution infrastructure.

“Within 45 days of issuance of the supply license, KOSTT and KEDS, upon consulting with Elektrosever, will submit to ERO the investment plan and maintenance costs required and network losses, based on thorough consideration of the existing infrastructure.

Within 21 days after the submission of investment plan and maintenance costs required and network losses, ERO will approve in principle these plans, costs and losses.

In case of non-compliance with the provisions of these Agreed Conclusions after 100 days of the issuance of the supply license, ERO may decide to suspend and/or withdraw the supply license granted to Elektrosever, subject to prior consultation between the parties, facilitated by the EU, during a maximum period of 15 days. The EU will provide an expert opinion, if requested by at least one of the parties,” the agreement says.

“A successful implementation of the agreed roadmap is without prejudice to the Parties’ obligations to fully implement the Energy Agreements from 2013 and 2015,” it also says.

Petkovic says the road for talks on the formation of CSM opened; EU welcomes the adoption of the roadmap (N1)

The head of the Serbian government’s office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, told reporters that after the agreement on the roadmap for the implementation of energy products, opened the way to discuss the formation of the Community of Serbian Municipalities, “and that is what was agreed upon and what Lajcak himself told me”, reported N1.

“Having in mind that Pristina has refused to talk about energy for years, today we came to an agreement on many important issues for the life of our people in the north of Kosovo,” Petkovic said.

He added that “the roadmap represents a set of steps, deadlines and responsibilities of both parties, and they start running from the moment Elektrosever obtains a supply license”.

“What is especially important is that Elektrosever also received distribution services, which we insisted on all the time. During all these meetings in Brussels, Pristina refused to give it to Elektrosever. After good talks in Istanbul, we managed to reach an agreement with KEDS, so that Elektrosever will also have these important distribution services, such as invoicing, billing, network maintenance, and physically connecting consumers. This is very important because it means that we have independence in electricity supply in northern Kosovo and Metohija,” said Petkovic.

The EU welcomed the adoption of the roadmap

The European External Action Service welcomed the adoption of the roadmap as a step forward in normalizing relations between Kosovo and Serbia, noting that it is for the benefit of all citizens, and calls on both sides to continue in that spirit. 

Energy agreement reached: Elektrosever received a licence, KEDS and KOSTT access to Valac (KoSSev)

Portal KoSSev reported that this was the second most important news in the field of energy since the North was separated from the control area of the Electric Power Grid of Serbia and annexed to the Energy Bloc of Albania and Kosovo (OST).

Since then, electricity bills in the North since December 2020, when the North was separated from the EMS control area, have been covered from the Kosovo budget.

Until September 2013, the energy system in the North was disconnected from the Kosovo system. Electricity in the North (Valac) came from Novi Pazar, and through the distribution line from the direction of Raska, which supplies Lesak and Trepca flotation, (the latter even today, about 13 percent), wrote KoSSev.

Only when Valac was reconnected after the Brussels agreement on energy in September 2013, because one of the points was exactly that, the electricity could physically reach from the south.

As a source well acquainted with the situation in the energy sector recently testified for KoSSev, EPS continued supply, invoice at the end of the month and at the same time cover the bills that the citizens did not pay.

However, there has been a series of reports in the Kosovo media for years about how Kosovo citizens actually covered the costs of consumers in the North with their increased electricity bills, noted the portal.

Without denying that citizens in the south (possibly) paid increased bills, or even being told that it was to cover the costs of consumers in the North, KoSSev source testified that this was “certainly not” due to electricity consumption in the North, “for the simple reason that this cost was borne by EPS until December last year”.

Since December last year, the energy system in northern Kosovo was no longer part of the control area of the Serbian EMS. Kosovo’s electricity transmission operator KOSTT has taken over the management of the electricity system in northern Kosovo as well. At that time, the possibility of conducting internal exchange of electricity between PE EPS and KOSTT for the needs of supplying consumers in Kosovo and Metohija ceased. However, the workers in Valac are still on the payroll of the Serbian electricity network, wrote KoSSev.

Dacic after CoE Parliamentary Assembly: “Seems to suit everyone at the moment that Kosovo is not on the agenda” (RTS, Tanjug)

The President of the Assembly of Serbia, Ivica Dacic, told reporters yesterday, after the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, in which he participated as the head of the delegation of the Serbian Parliament, that the issue of “Kosovo and their candidacy for membership in the Council of Europe” has not yet entered the procedure.

“It seems that it suited everyone at this moment for it not to be on the agenda right now, so that topic has not yet come to the session of the Committee of Ministers. Before the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe starts the procedure, the Committee of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the member states of the Council of Europe should raise the issue, ” explained Dacic. 

According to him, in the meantime, it was heard that ”the so-called Kosovo is looking for a special special guest status” or something that would prepare them and give them the opportunity to be part of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

“But that initiative did not happen, so in any case they have the right to participate as guest observers in some working bodies, but for now there is no change in their status. When it will be, more will probably be known about this in the fall,” said Dacic, reported RTS. 

Besiri: Tough questions in autumn (RTK2)

“All deadlines have been breached when it comes to establishing a legally binding agreement between Belgrade and Pristina,” Naim Leo Besiri, from the Institute for European Affairs, said in RTK2’s morning program.

He said that many rightly expected that it would happen in the next period, but before that, some burning issues should be resolved, and one of them was the issue of the missing persons.

Besiri also said that he expected the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, and the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, to sign a political declaration very soon, where they would call for resolving the issue of the missing.

“Some very difficult issue in Kosovo is expected in the fall, and that is the return of refugees and resolving the issue of property, which is something that will surely be on the table in September. In other words, there are long lists of things that Belgrade and Pristina did not do, but it seems to me that what Pristina did not do, is politically much more difficult,” Besiri said, reported RTK2.

Demostat claims Belgrade changing status of Serbian-Russian humanitarian center (N1, FoNet, Demostat)

The Demostat research center said on Monday that the Serbian authorities are planning to change the status of the Serbian-Russian Humanitarian Center in the southern city of Nis as the first step to abolishing it.

Demostat did not provide a source for the claim. It said that the decision should be taken once the new government is formed. “The decision comes after increasingly loud requests for Serbia to align with European Union foreign police and impose sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and end cooperation with the Russians in that humanitarian center in southern Serbia,” it said.

The center said that the outgoing government refused to give an official comment on its plans with the center and what the alleged change of status would mean.

According to an N1 source, foreign firefighter/rescue personnel are currently undergoing training at the center.

The center was formed in 2012 to provide assistance during natural disasters and emergency situations but has been accused of being used by the Russians for intelligence gathering. The Russian authorities requested but were never granted diplomatic status for its personnel in the center.

See at: https://bit.ly/3OqnT0g

Opinion

Online Hate Speech Remains Unmoderated in Balkans (BIRN)

Opinion piece by Pierre François Docquir, Head of Media Freedom at ARTICLE 19, and Roberta Taveri, Media Freedom Programme Officer at ARTICLE 19.

Local civil society actors must be given the opportunity to contribute to content moderation.

With upcoming elections in October in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the risk of manipulation of the public discourse for political gains is an ongoing cause for concern.

Previous elections in the country have been preceded by disinformation campaigns, also amplified by mainstreamed media. Hate speech and disinformation abound in election periods, but they are very much a feature of everyday life and can have a real impact on the cohesion of a society.

To decide whether a particular instance of speech should be prohibited or not, one needs to know the context in which this message has been uttered.

A particular word could lead to very different consequences, depending on who it is addressed to, and how, when and where it is expressed. The apparent and implicit meanings of a message – and its potential consequences – can only be assessed on the basis of a robust understanding of the specific linguistic, historical, cultural, societal and political context.

This is equally true of the moderation of content on social media: to decide whether a particular post or video is in violation of their content rules, social media companies should make sure that their content moderation processes – which combine the use of algorithms with the intervention of human moderators – are capable of understanding the various dimensions of the local context. Sometimes, as our research has shown, an individual post can seem acceptable in light of the global content rules while, nonetheless, the multiplication of similar posts could lead to real-life disastrous consequences in terms of increasing the polarisation of a society or inciting to violence.

A study conducted by BIRN in 2021 showed social media platforms removed reported threats of violence and harassment in local languages in 60 and 50 per cent of the cases respectively in four Western Balkans countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina. Notably, up to half of this reported hate speech remained online, as platforms fail to detect harmful content in local languages other than English.

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

International 

Albania PM to Submit Resolution in Strasbourg Against Marty Report (BIRN)

During a joint meeting on Monday in Pristina between the governments of Kosovo and Albania, Prime Minister Edi Rama said that he will personally submit a report to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg being prepared in Albania’s parliament querying the Dick Marty report and what he alleged was its Russian influence.

The Swiss rapporteur’s report for the Council of Europe in 2010 accused leaders of the Kosovo independence war of war crimes and organ trafficking and played a direct role in the subsequent arrest of former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and others.

“We are preparing a resolution in the Albanian parliament and I will personally go to Strasbourg, in the first case, I hope in September, to address the Council of Europe about a fact which is becoming more and more disturbing in my point of view and our point of view, which is the total unfoundedness of Dick Marty’s report as well as Russian influence on this tale of a yellow house and organ trafficking,” Rama said to journalists.

Rama visited former president Thaci in May in the Hague prison where he awaits trial over war crime allegations contained in the report, and paid a visit to Thaci’s family in his home village of Buroje of Skenderaj/Srbica municipality.