• Steinmeier: Even biggest disputes to be addressed and resolved peacefully (DW)
• Fajon: Slovenia a strong advocate of visa liberalisation to Kosovo (RTK)
• Kurti: Our army is consolidating professionally and operationally (media)
• Ceku: Threats against me incited by media controlled by Vucic (euronews.al)
• Gervalla confronts Dacic’s presence in PSVI conference in London (media)
• EBU writes to Konjufca and Kurti for adequate funding for RTK (RTK)
• S. embassy message on 16 days of activism against gender-based violence (media)
• The government says it dialogues with the Serbs, but not publicly (RFE)
• Is Kosovo Application for EU Candidacy Destined to Fail? (BIRN)
• Death threats for Serbian journalists criticised over wok on Ukraine, Kosovo (RFE)

Steinmeier: Even biggest disputes to be addressed and resolved peacefully (DW)

German President Frank Walter Steinmeier, in an interview with Deutsche Welle, commented among other topics on the latest developments in Kosovo, including the recent agreement on licence plates. “This has shown once again how important Europe is, and how important the European Union is in the region … Being that the wish to come to Europe and to become part of the European Union is still very much present among all countries of the Western Balkans, Europe has this negotiating power and possibility and manage to avoid this conflict which at first sight may seem small. Even the biggest disputes then in the normalisation of relations between Serbia and Kosovo must be addressed and resolved peacefully,” Steinmeier said.

Fajon: Slovenia a strong advocate of visa liberalisation to Kosovo (RTK)

Slovenian Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon wrote in a Twitter post on Monday that the European Union must keep its promise and show that the Western Balkans have a realistic chance of advancing on the European Union path. “Slovenia is a strong advocate of granting a candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and visa liberalisation to Kosovo, and of opening new chapters with Serbia and Montenegro,” Fajon tweeted after the Munich Leaders Meeting.

Kurti: Our army is consolidating professionally and operationally (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said on Monday that the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) “is consolidating professionally and operationally with a budget of €123 million which surpasses every previous year and with 99 percent more investments in military equipment this year”. “Alongside our allies, we are contributing to the protection of universal values of freedom, peace, and democracy,” he said.

Ceku: Threats against me incited by media controlled by Vucic (euronews.al)

Kosovo’s Minister for Culture, Youth and Sports, Hajrulla Ceku, said in an interview with Euronews Albania on Monday that the recent death threats against him by Serbs were incited mainly by media in Serbia that are controlled by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. Ceku said he started receiving threats in social networks, including from fake profiles, after he reacted to a banner shown in the locker room of the Serbian soccer team at the World Cup in Qatar which showed Kosovo as part of Serbia and the words “no surrender”.

“There are different [profiles]. I have tried to research what profiles they are, who these people are, and what they represent. I believe that a big part of these threats with a very problematic and insulting content, including hate speech, are mainly incited by Serbia media which are mainly controlled by Vucic’s autocratic regime. They are incited by an approach; we all know what Vucic’s approach is toward Kosovo,” Ceku was quoted as saying.

Gervalla confronts Dacic’s presence in PSVI conference in London (media)

Media report that Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Donika Gervalla, was applauded by the audience in London, at the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative conference, after she objected to the presence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Ivica Dacic.

“As a country that came from the genocide, you cannot contribute much on how to treat criminals, because they come from abroad in our case,” she said

“I am shocked by the presence on the panel of Ivica Dacic, one of the perpetrators of the crime, one of the main architects of the genocide in the Western Balkans, in Bosnia and Kosovo, and having this architect giving advice in the presence of the victims and survivors should make us think about the meaning of these conferences,” Gervalla said. “How can I talk about this, when the sexual victims who have come here, who have shown that they are not giving up, sit in this room and be confronted with this situation when one of the perpetrators of the crime, Slobodon Milosevic’s right hand, was sitting in this place.”

Asked by the host to use her time to show how joint efforts can be made on this issue, Gervalla refused to answer. “I’m sorry that I don’t want to give an answer, not to disrespect you, but the victims should not be confronted on a neutral ground with the perpetrators,” she concluded.

EBU writes to Konjufca and Kurti for adequate funding for RTK (RTK)

Director General of the European Broadcast Union, Noel Curran, wrote separate letters to Kosovo Assembly President Glauk Konjufca and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, asking for adequate funding for the public broadcaster, RTK.

In his letter, Curran said that “the RTK has embarked on bold reformation processes under new management and with the support of the Supervisory Council. It is conducting comprehensive structural and organisational reforms to transform digitally and ensure efficiencies that include released around 25 percent of its staff”.

He also said that “according to Art 21 p 4 of the Law on RTK, the public broadcaster should receive 0.7 percent from the annual budget, which is around 16 million EUR. Currently the broadcaster is forced to operate with only 8.9 million EUR, which is by far not sufficient for decent functioning of a democratic institution”.

“Council of Europe Recommendation CM/Rec (2012)1 on public service media governance requires for the States to ensure appropriate and secure funding of PSM. The current budget of RTK seriously jeopardizes the functioning of RTK as important for society and democracy institution.”

“I hope that the Parliament of Kosovo under your leadership will support adequate funding of RTK and will enable the public broadcaster to fulfil its mission in society. This will moreover be a bold step forward in Kosovo negotiations for EU membership.”

U.S. embassy message on 16 days of activism against gender-based violence (media)

The United States Embassy in Pristina posted the following message on Twitter on the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence:

“Throughout Kosovo, there are safe houses & shelters available that provide housing, food, clothing, and psycho-social support. The best thing you can do is remove yourself, or your loved ones from the threat of additional danger.”

The government says it dialogues with the Serbs, but not publicly (RFE)

The Government of Kosovo says that it is developing a dialogue with the local Serbs, namely with their representatives and with some civil society organizations, but that it is being done away from the eyes of the public, in order to protect them from “pressures and threats” of ” illegal structures and related groups”.

“Recently, more precisely last week, the Prime Minister [Albin Kurti] held a meeting with ten local Serbs, leaders of civil society organizations in the country,” the government’s spokesperson, Perparim Kryeziu, told Radio Free Europe.

“So, communication and dialogue with the local Serbs is happening, but it is being developed in a way that does not harm them,” he said, without giving any other details.

The lack of institutional dialogue with local Serbs was discussed on Monday in Pristina during the publication of a research entitled “Attitudes of the Serbian community in Kosovo” by the non-governmental organization Aktiv, headquartered in North Mitrovica.

The director of this organization, Midorag Millicevic, said that the lack of such dialogue also led to the departure of northern Serbs from the institutions of Kosovo.

“Currently, it is very clear that we have an institutional vacuum, for which, at this moment, no one can say for sure when it will be eliminated and if the functionality of the institutions in the north of Kosovo will be established,” Millicevic said.

Is Kosovo Application for EU Candidacy Destined to Fail? (BIRN)

With the end of the year nearing, so too is the target Kosovo’s government set itself to apply for European Union candidate status. Experts, however, warn that the EU is unlikely to approve it. Even if it does, Kosovo faces a long and bumpy road to accession.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti announced in June that his government planned to apply for candidate status within the year, and his deputy, Besnik Bislimi, doubled down on that in October, stressing that in terms of fulfilling its obligations towards the bloc, Kosovo “is significantly better-placed than all other countries in the region were at the time they applied.”

Serbia applied even before starting to implement the Stabilisation and Association agreement; Albania applied 2-3 weeks after it received the agreement, while we are in the sixth year of implementing strategic documents,” Bislimi said.

Indeed, in its latest progress report on Kosovo, the EU’s executive arm, the European Commission, commended the former Serbian province, saying it had “strengthened its capacities to coordinate the implementation of the commitments and obligations arising from the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, SAA, and ERA II [European Reform Agenda phase 2], and has improved reporting mechanisms.”

Kosovo, however, is in a unique position: five of the EU’s 27 member states do not recognise it as independent and are unlikely to do so without a binding agreement to settle relations between Serbia and Kosovo, something that looks far from imminent. Experts say the EU, which has still to grant Kosovo citizens a visa waiver, is unlikely to look favourably on a candidacy application.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3Vtjddq

Death threats for Serbian journalists criticised over wok on Ukraine, Kosovo (RFE)

Leading Serbian news outlet Danas is under police protection after receiving a threat that it would suffer the same fate as the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, where several journalists were murdered in an attack by Islamist extremists in 2015. Danas’s chief editor links the threats to criticism by far-right nationalists of its coverage of the war in Ukraine and relations with Kosovo.

See more at: https://bit.ly/3ANXhlu