• Escobar: European integration, only alternative for Western Balkans (Kosovapress)
• Gervalla: We are not asking for privileges or shortcuts to join EU (media)
• Opposition leaders want Kurti to focus on final settlement, not technical issues (RFE)
• Kosovo protesters demand action after rape of 11-year-old (BIRN)
• Kosovo Police Director resigns (media)
• Dugolli: GDP rising, but talks with Serbia at an impasse (The Washington Diplomat)
• Slovenia appoints Anzej Franges, emissary for the Western Balkans (RTK)
• Tuhina: Now the pressure can be directed towards Kosovo (RTK)
• Kosovo Urged to Take ‘Inclusive Approach’ to War Memorialisation (BIRN)

Escobar: European integration, only alternative for Western Balkans (Kosovapress)

U.S. special envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, said on Tuesday that there is no alternative for the Western Balkans except for European integration and that the assistance of the EU in the process is the only response for the upcoming economic crisis. At the Strategic Forum in Bled, Slovenia, Escobar said that the EU needs to do more to simplify the integration process. “Much more work is also needed from governments of states to make possible the process of integration, while some countries are failing to meet to their obligations,” he said.

Escobar said the economic integration of the region is the only response to the upcoming economic response and that he supports any such initiative, including the Open Balkan initiative. “We don’t need a new strategy for integration. We need to invest twice as much energy on the implementation of the strategy we have now,” he said.

EU special representative for the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Miroslav Lajcak, said the EU is undoubtedly ready to welcome countries from the region. “The momentum is there, and countries know exactly what is expected of them. In Serbia’s case, it is very important for the EU to see progress in the dialogue between Belgrade and Prishtina,” he said.

Gervalla: We are not asking for privileges or shortcuts to join EU (media)

Foreign Minister of Kosovo, Donika Gervalla, said on Tuesday that Kosovo is not asking for privileges or shortcuts to join the European Union. “We are not asking for privileges or shortcuts, but we are asking you to value us with the values that you have for yourself and allow us to become members of this Union at the moment when we adopt for ourselves the same values,” Gervalla said in her address at the Security Forum in Bled, Slovenia.

Opposition leaders want Kurti to focus on final settlement, not technical issues (RFE)

“We discussed the details of the dialogue [with Serbia] and I believe this is an increased cooperation that gives hope for even greater communication,” Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said after meeting leaders of two opposition parties on Tuesday.

Leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) Lumir Abdixhiku however said that the invitation for the meeting came late and that he got more information from the international mediators of the dialogue process than from Kurti.

Abdixhiku and Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) leader Ramush Haradinaj said they have asked Kurti to focus on a final settlement with Serbia and not engage in technical agreements. “A fractioned dialogue benefits only Serbia and not Kosovo. The more Kosovo gets engaged in technical agreements, and the longer we remain in the process, Kosovo will be feeding the status quo more,” Abdixhiku said.

Kosovo protesters demand action after rape of 11-year-old (BIRN)

Dozens of people rallied on Tuesday in Pristina’s main square to express anger about the rape of an 11-year-old girl in a city park at the weekend.

Police reported on Monday evening that five people have been arrested – three of them minors – over the attack on Sunday. A Pristina court has remanded two of them in custody for 30 days.

“It’s not only the state that failed the day rape happened, not only the [state] institutions that have failed. We all have failed,” Xheraldina Rexhepi from Pristina said during the protest.

“As a society, we are doing nothing. We cannot wait for the state to do our job. We have to start from ourselves to make a change in society,” Rexhepi added.

Another protester, Shukri Retkoceri, said that the crime has shocked Kosovo and called on the authorities to scrutinise judges and prosecutors to see “if they are doing their job properly” when it comes to dealing with cases of sexual violence.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3RhUCpY

Kosovo Police Director resigns (media)

Kosovo Police Director, Samedin Mehmeti, has submitted his resignation, Kosovo’s Minster of Interior Affairs Xhelal Svecla said in a Facebook post on Tuesday. Svecla said the resignation comes for personal reasons and professional conscience after the recent rape of the 11-year-old in Prishtina. “Prime Minister Kurti has relieved Mr. Mehmeti from his duties and has appointed Fehmi Hoti, deputy director of the Kosovo Police, as acting General General,” Svecla said.

Dugolli: GDP rising, but talks with Serbia at an impasse (The Washington Diplomat)

Europe’s newest country, Kosovo, is also still one of its poorest. Yet nearly 15 years after declaring independence, this landlocked little republic in the Balkans is making slow but steady progress.

Earlier this year, Transparency International reported that Kosovo had jumped 17 places from the previous year to rank 87th out of 180 countries on its 2021 Corruption Perception Index. Kosovo now has 39 out of 100 possible points, three more than its score in 2020.

Notably, “its parliament was the only one in the Western Balkans—and one of only five in all of Europe—that did not transfer decision-making powers to the executive when the COVID pandemic hit,” reports PrishtinaInsight. “The country showed a genuine will to fight corruption by investigating potentially corrupt leaders and adopting a strategy on rule of law.”

Meanwhile, Kosovo now ranks 61st in the latest World Press Freedom Index, soaring by 17 places compared to last year, according to the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders. Best of all, Kosovo’s GDP grew by 9.5% last year, outranked in Europe only by Ireland, Montenegro and Croatia.

All this is music to the ears of Ilir Dugolli, Kosovo’s new ambassador to the United States.

“Tremendous progress has been achieved. When it comes to elections, I think we excel in the region,” he said. “There’s growing authoritarianism around the world, and many countries are backsliding on democracy. But in our case, that’s not happening. There’s nothing controversial about elections in Kosovo. They are as mundane as you can imagine.”

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3e6iBKv

Slovenia appoints Anzej Franges, emissary for the Western Balkans (RTK)

Slovenia has appointed Anzej Franges as emissary for the Western Balkans. The state of former Yugoslavia, now a member of the EU, has decided to take a closer look at the situation in this part of the region, RTK reports.

It is the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia, once the rapporteur for Kosovo in the European Parliament, Tanja Fajon, who has announced the appointment.

Tuhina: Now the pressure can be directed towards Kosovo (RTK)

RTK’s Brussels based correspondent Gjeraqina Tuhina, told the national broadcaster on Tuesday that Kosovo can be faced with a pressure within the dialogue, after the reach of the agreement on the documents, since the European side is considering that it was Serbia that made concessions to reach this agreement.

“Now the ball returns to Pristina again because it is likely that the greatest pressure will be put on Kosovo because it is considered that it was Serbia that made concessions, including in the statements of the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borell, who in particular welcomed the readiness of President Vucic to reach an agreement and everything points in the direction that now concessions are expected to be made by the Kosovar side more than the Serbian side,” Tuhina said.

Kosovo Urged to Take ‘Inclusive Approach’ to War Memorialisation (BIRN)

The authorities should try to make memorialisation activities more inclusive to people from all ethnic groups living in Kosovo who suffered because of the war, the Humanitarian Law Centre in Pristina said in a new study.

A study published on Tuesday by the Humanitarian Law Centre in Pristina said that the memorialisation process in Kosovo continues to be characterised by inaccurate data, nationalistic language and ethnic hatred.

The HLC also noted in the study that the process of memorialisation in Kosovo is mostly focused on static memorials such as busts, tombstones, memorial complexes, statues, commemorative plaques and cemeteries.

“Memorialisation is a very important step in the process of dealing with the past… When we talk about memorialisation in our context, we can consider it as some kind of symbolic compensation for victims and this idea is supposed to show solidarity of society and the state with victims especially if the victims do not belong to majority,” said Jelena Dureinovic from the HLC.

“Regional cooperation in dealing with the past is the only way towards the sustainable peace and this should be elevated to the level of state institutions,” she added.

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