• Kosovo Assembly adopts in principle budget for 2023 (media)
• Osmani: Paneuropa supported Kosovo people in most difficult times (media)
• Kurti travels to Estonia to meet Prime Minister Kaja Kallas (media)
• Belgrade-backed Serb party retakes seats in Kosovo Parliament (BIRN)
• Bislimi: Serbian List’s return to Assembly exposes Belgrade’s agenda (media)
• SL return to Assembly interpreted as weakening of Vucic’s position (Koha)
• A cameraman and a teenager assaulted in the north of Kosovo (BIRN)
• Szunyog: Refrain from actions that could lead to confrontation (Koha)
• OSCE Mission in Kosovo condemns violence in Mitrovica North (media)
• Krasniqi: Association in line with Constitution; U.S. call to be heeded (media)
• Head of Mitrovica North-based NGO talks about assault (Koha)
• “It is difficult to explain why Ukraine does not recognize Kosovo” (Koha)

Kosovo Assembly adopts in principle budget for 2023 (media)

The Kosovo Assembly, with 64 votes in favor, adopted on Thursday in principle the Draft Law on Budget Appropriations for the Budget of Kosovo for 2023. Only Vetevendosje MP, Fatmir Humolli, voted against the approval of the budget, whereas the MPs of the opposition parties abstained from voting.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti thanked the 64 MPs of the Assembly who gave support to the first reading of the budget for 2023. He counted the areas that will benefit from the €3.2 billion budget saying that there will be more for the army and the police and more for the state reserves.

“More for healthcare with more health professionals and more budget for essential medicines. More for agriculture, more for culture, youth and sports and more for education,” he wrote. According to Kurti, more will be done for the early development of children through more nurseries and more educators and staff for nurseries.

Osmani: Paneuropa supported Kosovo people in most difficult times (media)

President Vjosa Osmani delivered a speech on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Paneuropa movement. Through a post on the Facebook, she said that she had the honor to address the oldest European movement for a politically and economically united Europe.

“Paneuropa has supported the people of Kosovo in the most difficult times, in the 90s, when Otto von Habsburg, a great friend of President Rugova and our people, became one of the strongest champions advocating to protect human rights and freedoms in Kosovo.”

“Even after a century of activity, Paneuropa continues to be a powerful platform for a united, free and peaceful Europe. The more we cultivate the values ​​that this organization promotes, the more stability, democracy and peace there will be in Europe.”

“I emphasized to the friends of Paneuropa that it is very important that Europe is showing determination, standing united in the face of aggression, tyranny and autocracy,” Osmani wrote.

Kurti travels to Estonia to meet Prime Minister Kaja Kallas (media)

The government of Kosovo announced that Prime Minister Albin Kurti, traveled on Thursday for an official visit to Estonia, where he will be received by the Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and will also meet with other high state representatives.

Belgrade-backed Serb party retakes seats in Kosovo Parliament (BIRN)

MPs from Srpska Lista, the Belgrade-backed party representing Kosovo Serbs, took the oath at Kosovo’s parliament, replacing their colleagues who quit in protest in a mass resignation by Serbs earlier this month.

Nine MPs from the Srpska Lista took the oath at Kosovo’s Parliament on Thursday to secure their mandates despite the party continuing to urge the mass resignation of Serbs from all Kosovo institutions in the four Serb-majority municipalities in the north of the country.

“We emphasise that this strategic and political decision will in no way stop the process of leaving the institutions of Kosovo in the north of Kosovo,” Srpska Lista said in a statement.

The nine MPs from Srpska Lista are replacing the ten previous MPs who resigned on November 7 as part of a mass resignation that saw Serb police, mayors and judicial officials resign from their positions in the four Serb majority municipalities in the northern part of Kosovo.

Immediately after taking the oath, the new Serb MPs left the parliamentary session.

Srpska Lista launched the mass resignations because it alleged that EU-mediated agreements between Serbia and Kosovo are being breached. It is also angry about the imposition of Kosovo vehicle licence plates on drivers with Serbian-registered cars.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3tGBx76

Bislimi: Serbian List’s return to Assembly exposes Belgrade’s agenda (media)

Kosovo’s First Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi, who is also in charge of the dialogue process with Serbia in Brussels, said on Thursday that the return of the Serbian List to the Kosovo Assembly is part of Belgrade’s strategy.

“For me, the return of the Serbian List to the Assembly today or the replacement of the seats by them, is a clear demonstration of our argument that their departure did not have any basis for eventual dissatisfaction, but was part of Belgrade’s strategy. From the moment of departure to the moment of return, no change has occurred. Consequently, as they themselves have said, this is part of their strategy, so they are showing that they are building a strategy to weaken the functioning of our institutions,” Bislimi said in an interview with RTK.

According to Bislimi, this “is an exposure even in front of the international community, even though most of them know that these are dirty political games of Belgrade, not of the Serbian List”.

“Well, maybe it is positive that this is an unmasking even in front of the Serbian citizens who voted for them. The mandate of the MP is sought with a goal, to promote and advance the interests of a certain group. The Serbian list has advanced zero interests. With this, he has shown the citizens that my intention is not to push your agendas or interests, but to hinder the agendas of the state of Kosovo,” Bislimi added.

He said that he does not think that hindering the further development of Kosovo is in the interest of Serb citizens. “The Serbian List has previously betrayed its own voters in order to be able to implement Belgrade’s unfriendly agenda in Kosovo,” he said.

SL return to Assembly interpreted as weakening of Vucic’s position (Koha)

The daily reports on its front page this morning that several political commentators in Kosovo and Serbia have interpreted the swearing in of 10 new Serb MPs on Thursday as an indicator of a weakening negotiating position of Serbia and Aleksandar Vucic. Immediately after being sworn in, the new Serb MPs left the Assembly session. The Serbian List meanwhile said that this is a strategy to obstruct what they call “a plan by Albin Kurti and his collaborationists to amend the Constitution”. Petar Petkovic, head of the Serbian government’s office for Kosovo, claimed that Prime Minister Kurti’s plan was to give the reserved seats of the Serbian List “to those Serbs that support Pristina and Kurti, and not Belgrade and the Serb people in Kosovo”.

A cameraman and a teenager assaulted in the north of Kosovo (BIRN)

A cameraman was assaulted in North Mitrovica while filming an attack on a young Kosovar-Albanian boy on Thursday, Kosovo police confirmed. The case, which comes amid a fragile situation in the north, has been condemned by the Association of Journalists of Kosovo.

The cameraman of newspaper Insajderi, Jetmir Muji, was attacked on Thursday in  northern Mitrovica while filming the entry into the ambulance car of a 15-year-old Kosovar-Albanian boy who was also attacked.

According to this medium, Muji together with the journalist, Visar Duriqi, were in northern Mitrovica to prepare a news story and conduct some interviews  when Muji got attacked in the head by members of the Serbian gangs living in the North.

According to Insjaderi, Muji ended up in the emergency hospital in the south of Mitrovica.

“The attack came from Civil Protection in the north, it was Ivan Rakic who organized the attack against the journalist. For them it was annoying the fact that we managed to record the incident against the high school child. The goal was to take the recorded material. The attackers were all adults”, said journalist Visar Duriqi in an interview for Euronews Albania, after the incident.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3ULM2Cc

Szunyog: Refrain from actions that could lead to confrontation (Koha)

Head of the European Union Office in Kosovo Tomas Szunyog has reacted to the attack on two Albanians in the north of Kosovo. Szunyog said that freedom of expression and the safety of journalists must be protected. He called on the citizens of North Mitrovica to refrain from violent actions. “The freedom of expression and the safety of journalists must be protected! I condemn today’s attack on a journalist of the Insajderi portal in North Mitrovica and call on everyone to refrain from actions that could lead to violence and confrontation,” Szunyog said.

According to the Police announcement, four high school students went to Kodra e Minatorit in the north for a walk, while the whole time it is said that they were followed by several people in a car. On the way back, the suspects attacked one of the students, while the other students managed to leave.

A cameraman of the Insajderi news website was filming this case, as the Police announced, and he was also attacked by some suspects, trying to take his phone.

OSCE Mission in Kosovo condemns violence in Mitrovica North (media)

The OSCE Mission in Kosovo condemned an incident in Mitrovica North on Thursday during which a group of Kosovo Albanian youths were attacked, and a media professional was then also attacked when filming the incident. “We urge all to safeguard freedom of expression, safety of media workers and freedom of movement. We call for the perpetrators to be brought to justice; and we call on all to exercise restraint and avoid violence,” the OSCE mission said in a statement on Facebook.

Krasniqi: Association in line with Constitution; U.S. call to be heeded (media)

Leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Memli Krasniqi said on Thursday that the issue of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities should be discussed within the framework of the dialogue with Serbia. During a visit to the U.S., Krasniqi said that the Association must be in line with the Constitution and that Kosovo should take as a basis the request of the international allies to postpone the decision on license plates and deal seriously with the French-German proposal for reaching the final agreement in the dialogue.

“The issue of the Association, taking into account only the judgment and assessment of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo, can be handled in this framework, as part of a general and final agreement between Kosovo and Serbia”.

Krasniqi said the position to convert the licence plates is Kosovo’s legitimate decision but he called on the Kurti-led government to consider the U.S. request to postpone the decision.

“I believe that the main focus of the government and institutions of Kosovo should be to prevent the situation from escalating. If there is an international insistence, first of all American, to have an additional period in the implementation of the issue of license plates, I believe that this should be considered and taken very seriously,” Krasniqi said in an interview with the Voice of America.

Commenting on the situation in the north, Krasniqi said that the government of Kosovo has brought the dialogue to a technical level with the license plate issue. “It is a bit difficult to explain to our partners here in Washington DC that today we are in danger of an escalation of the situation regarding the license plate issue. Because even the people who have followed the Western Balkans and the developments in Kosovo have expected that we are now focused on reaching a final agreement”, emphasized the head of the PDK, reports the reporter.

Krasniqi considers that the French-German proposal should be treated seriously, taking into account the commitment of international partners in this process.

Speaking about the elections scheduled to be held in the four northern municipalities in Kosovo, as a result of the withdrawal of the Serbian List from the institutions of Kosovo, the PDK leader calls them “problematic”, but said that they should be held.

Head of Mitrovica North-based NGO talks about assault (Koha)

Miodrag Milicevic, head of the Mitrovica North-based NGO Aktiv, described during a press conference in Pristina on Thursday the details of the alleged assault against him by members of Kosovo Police. He said he was driving to Sarajevo to attend an international conference, and that police stopped him before the border crossing point and mistreated him.

“I explained to them where I work, by saying simply that I work in an NGO, and after that there was a cynical comment: ‘In an NGO?’ I said yes. Then they asked me why I did not Kosovo documents. I told them that I gave them the valid documents. I said I drive a vehicle with license plates of Belgrade and Vranje because it is easier to move with them throughout the region, not only in Kosovo. I told them that my documents are valid and that they were the only ones I had with me at that moment. They ordered me to go back by yelling: ‘This is Kosovo’. After this, a police officer looked to his left and then to his right, to make sure that there were no witnesses, and then he punched me on my left side,” Milicevic said.

Milicevic also said that one of the objectives of the conference in Sarajevo was for him to announce an emergency line for the Serb community in the north of Kosovo to help them report similar cases. “It wouldn’t be an effort to replace the official institutions, but to offer a line where citizens can report such incidents and their concerns and through which they could receive advice from some of our staff,” he said.

Milicevic said the statements of Kosovo’s Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla about the incident were contradictory.

The news website notes that both Kosovo Police and the Ministry of Interior Affairs refuted Milicevic’s claims last week. The Kosovo Police Inspectorate meanwhile did not reveal details about the case saying that they are carrying out investigations.

“It is difficult to explain why Ukraine does not recognize Kosovo” (Koha)

Ukrainian Ambassador to Serbia Volodymyr Tolkach stated that it is difficult to explain why Ukraine is not recognizing Kosovo’s independence, although Pristina “supports Ukraine wholeheartedly”.

As “Danas” reported on Thursday, the ambassador said he supports the dialogue process between Kosovo and Serbia, although according to him, Ukraine adheres to the principle of territorial integrity of Serbia.

“Today, the question arises as to who is on whose side, and it is difficult to explain to Ukrainian citizens why Kiev does not officially support the independence of Kosovo, while Pristina supports Ukraine everywhere. Despite all this, Ukraine respects international norms. We also support the dialogue in Brussels between Belgrade and Pristina, from which we expect success,” Tolkach said.

Tolkach said that the current cooperation between Ukraine and Kosovo is at a low level. He said in August that Ukraine is grateful to Kosovo for its support, but that the Ukrainian position has not changed.