Albanian Language Media:

• Kurti on meeting with Lajcak: Agreement must be centred on mutual recognition (media)
• Miroslav Lajcak’s interview with Klan Kosova (Klan)
• Kurti: Government is working on digital transformation (EO)
• Haradinaj wants Kurti to explain what he agreed with Lajcak (media)
• Vacancy for new police officers in the north extended to February 10 (RFE)
• Petritsch: Kosovo to fulfil its obligations and establish the Association (Klan)

Serbian Language Media:

• Serbian Parliament on February 2 on Kosovo, Vucic to attend (Tanjug)
• Lajcak: 11-point plan to normalise Belgrade-Pristina relations (N1, Kosovo Online)
• Djilas calls for publication of EU proposal for Kosovo (N1)
• Aleksic: Serbian parliament to adopt red lines on the Kosovo issue (NMagazin, Beta, N1)
• Dacic thanks Romania for principled stance on Kosovo (Tanjug)
• Protest against EU proposal for Kosovo in Mitrovica North (KoSSev, N1)
• Mijacic: Franco-German plan aims at Slovakia, Greece and Romania to recognize Kosovo (Kosovo Online)
• CI For Zubin Potok assumed their councillor’s mandates in MA (KoSSev)
• Euronews Serbia: Fragility of agreement on licence plates
• Kurti: There are no Serbian municipalities in Kosovo (KiM radio)

Opinion:

• Analyst on intimidation of Serbian public and “boiling frog” (Nova S)

International:

• US Urges Kosovo to Accept EU proposal (Prishtina Insight)

Albanian Language Media  

Kurti on meeting with Lajcak: Agreement must be centred on mutual recognition (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti commented today on the meeting he had on Wednesday evening with the EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak, saying that they will not tolerate for the Association of Serb-majority municipalities to be set as a precondition in the process. “The negotiating process should take us forward. I respect the confidentiality of the talks, but I have to repeat that none of the 33 agreements [reached in Brussels] can have priority and the articles in the proposal of the European Union have numbers which means there is an order … The 33 agreements in Brussels have been put on a horizontal level, meanwhile the 10 articles do not tolerate for an article to be moved from the last in order to the first as a pre-condition,” Kurti said. 

Kurti argued that “the agreement [with Serbia] must have mutual recognition at the centre because only in that way can we have full normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia”.

“Shuttle diplomacy has joined the high-level meetings for the proposal of the European Union, supported by Germany, France, and the United States. This proposal has five sentences in the preamble and 10 articles in general. When we received it on September 9, we said it is a good base for further discussion; it is a platform framework which enables us to move forward, but it requires a negotiating process for the proposal to become an agreement. What we say is that on the one hand there are 33 agreements in Brussels from the last decade and there is no agreement that has priority over another agreement,” Kurti is quoted as saying.

Asked if there is international pressure for the agreement on the Association of Serb-majority municipalities, Kurti said: “there is insistence by different international factors to emphasise more the Association as it was signed in April 2013, and then elaborated in seven chapters with the signing in August 2015 … But that agreement is already emphasised because it is the only agreement in Brussels that has not passed the test of the Constitutional Court.”

Miroslav Lajcak’s interview with Klan Kosova (Klan)

EU Special Representative for the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Miroslav Lajcak, said in an interview with Klan Kosova on Wednesday that Pristina will only benefit from the European proposal for the normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia. Lajcak said in this agreement they will work in steps, starting from the first and moving on to the others. He stated that this proposal contains a total of 11 points, while the versions of the proposal published in the media so far, are fabrications. “With this proposal, Kosovo does not lose anything and gains a lot. Step one for me is to focus on the first step of the agreement, you cannot ask for guarantees for step five, without doing step one,” Lajcak said.

See the full interview here: https://bit.ly/3HawK4n

Kurti: Government is working on digital transformation (EO)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said today that the government is working on digital transformation and that it will bring numerous benefits for society. In his address to the international conference on cyber security, Kurti said the digitalisation of the public administration will help increase transparency and accountability and improve the quality of services for citizens and businesses. “There are challenges and threats in digital transformation. While governance and digitalised economy become increasingly dependent on the smooth functioning of information networks and systems, the safety of cyberspace has crucial importance for the functioning of the state. Cyber-attacks nowadays have the potential of wide-ranging damage, starting from attacks on web pages, the interruption of electronic services, threatening the functioning of the key infrastructure and threatening national security,” he said.

Kurti also said the government was addressing the threats to cyber security through a multidimensional approach. “In October last year, we adopted the law on cyber security, and the law has passed the first reading in the Assembly. The law determines the responsibilities of authorities in the area of cyber security, the tasks of entities that work on cyber security, inter-institutional cooperation and also measures to prevent cyber-attacks in our country,” he added.

U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Hovenier said during the conference that they remain committed to support independent media and an effective civil society. “We have helped this conference because we are committed to supporting independent media and an effective civil society because we believe that the freedom of speech is a fundamental right for advancing democracy, the rule of law and economic prosperity. We are also committed for Kosovo to use its most important resource, its youth, by including their experience,” Hovenier said.

Haradinaj wants Kurti to explain what he agreed with Lajcak (media)

Leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), Ramush Haradinaj, took to Facebook today to say that Prime Minister Albin Kurti should explain to the public about his meeting with EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak on Wednesday night and what they agreed on. “Did they agree to implement the agreement that he [Kurti] opposed before he came to power!? It is unfair for the public to be informed by the negotiator and not by Albin. I don’t know if agreements at night are good for the country,” Haradinaj argued.

Vacancy for new police officers in the north extended to February 10 (RFE)

Kosovo Police have extended the vacancy for new police officers from non-majority communities in the Regional Directorate in Mitrovica North. The vacancy, which was initially announced from January 5 to January 26, will be extended to February 10, police confirmed to Radio Free Europe today.

Police however did not say how many applications they have received so far, if members of the Serb community have applied or former police officers from the north of Kosovo who resigned their positions in November last year.

“Kosovo Police, through video messages, awareness raising campaigns and official meetings in all regions, has always encouraged and continues to encourage members from all minority communities to apply and join the Kosovo Police,” the police said.

Petritsch: Kosovo to fulfil its obligations and establish the Association (Klan)

The former special envoy of the European Union for Kosovo, Wolfgang Petritsch, considers Serbia’s possible turn in its policy towards Kosovo to be credible and says that it is now up to Kosovo to fulfill its obligations.

“A step is being prepared that is very difficult for the Serbian side,” Petritsch added in a statement to the APA agency.

He emphasised that it is clear to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic that he must act and at the same time pressure has increased on the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, who is on the move.

“Once again, it turned out that progress is only possible when Europeans and Americans pull on the same side of the rope,” he added.

The pressures from both sides are great, he estimated and emphasised that Serbia should start negotiations for the French-German plan and on the other hand Kosovo should implement the agreement of the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian majority.

“If work begins on it, it would be a major breakthrough, the likes of which has not been recorded in the region for many years,” Petritsch assessed.

He assumed that Vucic’s last statement that he could accept the proposal is credible, as now much depends on him.

The former EU envoy emphasised that it is no longer just about territorial issues, but about Serbia’s economic and political interests. He said that President Vucic has built a successful economic policy that relies on investments and because of this, he cannot afford domestically for German investors to turn their backs on Serbia.

Now, he adds, Kosovo is on the move and must fulfill its duties by founding the Association.

Serbian Language Media 

Serbian Parliament on February 2 on Kosovo, Vucic to attend (Tanjug)

Tanjug agency learned from a source in the Presidency of Serbia that a parliamentary session on Kosovo and Metohija will begin on February 2, with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic attending. 

The parliamentary debate is likely to take several days to enable Vucic to respond to all questions from parliamentary groups.

Lajcak: 11-point plan to normalise Belgrade-Pristina relations (N1, Kosovo Online)

European Union Envoy for Belgrade-Pristina talks Miroslav Lajcak told Pristina-based Klan Kosova TV that the Franco-German plan has 11 points intended to normalise Belgrade-Pristina relations and denied that it was published by some media outlets, N1 reports.

He said that the plan was presented to both sides in September and added that the document presented in December included objections by Pristina and Belgrade. Lajcak said that last week’s meetings were a long discussion with the ambition of ending the cycle of crises and focusing on normalisation. “The proposal is good, and we really believe that it is the best possible proposal”, he said. He said that the documents presented by the media are not right and were “fabricated by certain people” but did not elaborate who.

Kosovo Online portal reported in reference to Lajcak’s recent meetings with EU member states that do not recognize Kosovo, that he said he has started a mission of meetings with the states that do not recognize Kosovo in order to talk about possibilities of approval of this proposal, noting there are positive signals and four out of five states see it is important that the process brings results.

“I met with representatives of the four out of five countries in the last two days, to discuss this proposal – with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain, Slovakia and Cyprus, and with the Greek Special Envoy. I will also meet with the Romanian Foreign Minister”, Lajcak said.

Djilas calls for publication of EU proposal for Kosovo (N1)

Serbian opposition leader Dragan Djilas told Nova TV on Wednesday that his party would demand the publication of the Franco-German proposal to resolve the Kosovo issue, reported N1.

A press release from his Party of Freedom and Justice (SSP) quoted him as saying that the talks underway on the document are “the only public negotiations with secret documents”. He called the authors of the document to publish it so that the public can understand what could happen if the plan is accepted or rejected.

According to him, parliament has to adopt a platform on the Kosovo talk which would state that Serbia would not recognize Kosovo, nor would it agree to Kosovo’s membership in the UN. “That would strengthen Serbia’s position because Kosovo is not (President Aleksandar) Vucic’s issue but a state issue which is of concern to all of us,” he said.

Earlier, SSP MP and Serbian delegation member in the Council of Europe (CoE) told the CoE Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) that allowing Kosovo to join that organisation would be a reward for Pristina’s non-European behaviour and violation of international law.

Aleksic: Serbian parliament to adopt red lines on the Kosovo issue (NMagazin, Beta, N1)

The head of the parliamentary group of the People’s Party, Miroslav Aleksic, said that the republican parliament should adopt “red lines”, which Serbia must not cross on the issue of Kosovo, reported portal NMagazin. 

He told Television N1 that the MPs of that party demand that at the upcoming session of the Assembly of Serbia, “both the Parliament and the public, be informed about the proposed solution for Kosovo and Metohija”.

He stated that they are asking to be informed “also about the conclusions on which the assembly would declare” and which, as he stated, would clearly state the “red lines” that the government in Belgrade must not cross.

He also believes that the assembly will be pointless unless this is not concretely obtained.

“What are we going to talk about? About what Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is saying, that we are being threatened with some kind of sanctions and stoppage of investments, then the ambassadors claim the next day that we are not threatened with any sanctions,” he said.

He added that if Vucic once again “makes a reality show” of the assembly, then, as he said, “obviously, an alternative to the defence of Serbia’s national and state interests will be sought on the streets”, reported the portal.

Dacic thanks Romania for principled stance on Kosovo (Tanjug)

Serbian First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic met with Romanian Ambassador to Belgrade Silvia Davidoiu on Wednesday, thanking her for Romania’s principled stance on the preservation of the territorial integrity of Serbia and for its support regarding Belgrade’s positions on the situation in Kosovo and Metohija and Serbia’s European integration, Tanjug news agency reports.

According to a statement from the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dacic and Davidoiu said they were pleased with Serbia-Romania bilateral ties and agreed the ties were characterised by traditional friendship, closeness and cooperation.

They especially noted there was significant space for advancement of economic cooperation, chiefly as part of projects of significance for infrastructure, transport and energy ties between the two countries, in green and circular economy, as well as in terms of further expansion of bilateral trade, which has seen a major upward trend in recent years.

Protest against EU proposal for Kosovo in Mitrovica North (KoSSev, N1)

A group of Kosovo Serbs staged a protest in Mitrovica North yesterday, warning Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic not to accept any agreement which would not include the Community of Serb Municipalities, KoSSev portal reports.

The crowd of some 30 people carried banners saying “No One is Safe” and “I Won’t Live in a Ghetto”. The gathering was organised by the Serb Survival Initiative to protest the Franco-German proposal to resolve the Kosovo issue which the European Union was said to have endorsed.

Head of Serb Survival Aleksandar Arsenijevic said  the message to Vucic is that “there can be no new agreements or new negotiations without the Community of Serb Municipalities”. He added that the Kosovo Serbs are full of “fear and defeatism”.

Mijacic: Franco-German plan aims at Slovakia, Greece and Romania to recognize Kosovo (Kosovo Online)

The Belgrade-Pristina agreement that is being talked about is an agreement representing a particular battle for Kosovo Serbs, because if we do not resolve protection of their collective rights now, we won’t be able to do in any next agreement, Coordinator of the European Union National Convent Working Group for Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, Dragisa Mijacic said, Kosovo Online portal reports.

During discussion about this proposal, Mijacic said it is being announced as an inter-agreement, an inter-step and not as a final agreement that would resolve relations between Belgrade and Pristina.

“The final agreement will be formalised through entry of Serbia to the EU, when it will be requested to officially recognize Kosovo. However, after this agreement only that topic would remain, for Serbia to recognize Kosovo. Regardless of this not being a final agreement and leaving the possibility to politicians in power and oppositions to talk about red lines of Serbia not to recognize Kosovo, everything else is part of it”, he opined.

He added this agreement aims at creating elements so that “Slovakia, Greece and Romania recognize Kosovo”.

“We do not know how Spain and Cyprus would react, but those three countries wait for Kurti and Vucic to shake hands and they will recognize Kosovo”, he said.  

CI For Zubin Potok assumed their councillor’s mandates in MA (KoSSev)

KoSSev portal reported today that Zubin Potok Municipal Assembly received three new councillors and a new Chairperson today. Members of the Civic Initiative (CI) “For Zubin Potok” have decided to assume their mandates.

They rejected the previous invitation because of “solidarity with the people at the barricades”, and accepted the new one because, as they said, after removal of the barricades, the people were “left to fend for themselves”.

At the same time, they said they did not want Albanians to rule independently in the majority Serb municipality. Although they have just taken over their mandates and gained control, they claim that they will “probably boycott” the work of the assembly, until the situation on the ground improves or the Community of Serb Municipalities is formed, while they even announced the dissolution of the assembly as a possibility, the portal added.

Milija Bisevac clarified that the CI For Zubin Potok deals exclusively with local politics, and that they are there to represent the interests of residents.

“In the previous period, we talked with the residents every day in order to hear their opinion, many supported us in this. Our political activity in Zubin Potok is currently supported by an increasing number of citizens, which is confirmed by daily calls and statements of support, and there are also those who want to join our Initiative”, he said.

He clarified that, apart from the removal of the barricades, many are also disappointed by certain decisions that were made after that, but also by the “latest statements” coming from Belgrade.

Euronews Serbia: Fragility of agreement on licence plates

In an article published today, Euronews in Serbian writes that after only two months of implementation of the agreement on licence plates between Belgrade and Pristina, new tensions are on the horizon due to decision of Pristina authorities not to allow entry and movement of vehicles with Serbian issued plates bearing denominations of cities in Kosovo, in the north of Kosovo.

“The police officer said that we can leave, but we can’t come back. We have KM plates, they expired on December 7, we extended them on December 31, and he said we can’t come back, now it’s up to us to decide, are we going to leave or are we going to turn back”, Zorica Dimkic from Mitrovica North said.

Citizens who renewed their car registrations on December 10, and then those after November 21, are wondering if they should travel, since, according to the Kosovo Interior Minister, those plates are “illegal”. Those who are familiar with the political situation do not understand why exactly those two dates are crucial.

“Same as in the past few months, we do not have clear information about what is being implemented. So, let’s assume that the Kosovo Government will continue to violate the agreement regardless of the criticism of the European Union and the USA. We still do not know what is the negative selection criterion that says this car can pass and this car cannot pass”, Milica Andric Rakic from the New Social Initiative said.

Professor of the Faculty of Political Sciences in Pristina, Nexhmedin Spahiu, told Euronews it has been shown that the only thing that keeps Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti in the spotlight is the creation of such incidents.

“As far as Kosovo Government is concerned, it has been shown that Albin Kurti does not know how to govern, that the only thing that keeps him in the spotlight is the creation of such incidents or conflicts with the Serbian side, so that the people would focus on that, and not on the fact that nothing is progressing in Kosovo”, he said.

“Tensions within society will really begin to rise again and the feeling that no one is listening, no one shares their opinion, no one thinks that what is happening to them is unfair, and then of course there will be serious problems within society, so frustration will also arise which will also be aimed at political representatives because it gives the impression that they do nothing but write communiqués”, Milica Andric Rakic said.

Kurti: There are no Serbian municipalities in Kosovo (KiM radio)

“There are no Serb municipalities in Kosovo, there are municipalities where Serbs are the majority population, but there are no Albanian, Serbian, or Turkish municipalities. Municipalities are citizens’ municipalities. So, municipalities have no national affiliation,” Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti told reporters in Pristina today, reported KiM radio. 

“The Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo does not allow association on an ethnic basis,” Kurti said.

“You can have an association of municipalities or various other organisations but on a different basis, be it economic, social, or health or education, but not on an ethnic basis. Those 33 agreements that were signed in Brussels before I came in power, they are distributed along a horizontal plane, they have no hierarchy. You cannot say that this agreement is more important than others. All these agreements are equal, and they will be treated in our negotiations which basically have this last proposal of the European Union, which received support from France, Germany, and the USA especially. So, all those previous agreements are included in that proposal. You cannot now take one of your agreements and say that it is the only agreement that is important. There are 33 agreements,” he said.

The Kosovo PM added that “when the time comes” and based on this proposal from the European Union, he will “consider all those agreements”, but:

“There is no agreement that can be a prerequisite and there is no agreement that can enter the centre of a future agreement. The complete normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia must have mutual recognition at the centre,” he believes.

According to Kurti, the President of Serbia “violated his most cherished agreement”.

“Don’t forget that on December 10 last year, that agreement, where the Association of Municipalities was signed on April 19, 2013 by former Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and former Prime Minister Ivica Dacic, that agreement was violated by the President of Serbia himself on December 10 last year, when he wrote a letter addressed to five countries that do not recognize Kosovo within the European Union. You know, you have 27 countries in the EU, but five of them do not recognize Kosovo. The President of Serbia signed a letter against Kosovo’s application for membership in the European Union. It is a violation, he was violating his favourite agreement because in point 14 of that agreement it is said that Kosovo and Serbia will not create any obstacles for each other regarding the path to European integration,” he said.

At the end of his address to journalists in Serbian language, Albin Kurti repeated that the agreement (on ZSO) referred to by official Belgrade “was violated a month and a half ago by the Serbian president”, reported KiM radio.

Opinion 

Analyst on intimidation of Serbian public and “boiling frog” (Nova S)

An analyst Dragomir Andjelkovic opined last night that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is attempting “to shift responsibility to others in two ways”  when it comes to the Franco-German proposal on resolving the Kosovo issue, Nova S reports.

“Firstly he scares citizens with the European Union and pressure, creates fear so people would not call upon him and on the other hand he says the citizens will have their say at the very end, thus shifting responsibility of decision to the citizens”, he said.

He also noted people didn’t hear what President Vucic’s stance on the European proposal was during his latest press address.

“If someone wishes to change the status of Kosovo, that one would have to change the Constitution, to address the citizens, but prior to that the stance of that person needs to be heard. We didn’t hear what Vucic’s stance on EU demands was in fact, and how he will position himself, I doubt anyone knows it”, he said.

He also opined that the majority of Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) supporters do not support the so-called European proposal on Kosovo.

“Majority of citizens of Serbia do not support drastic concessions regarding Kosovo and now Vucic most probably somehow attempts to “boil the frog” and intimidate the population, creating association to the nineties and some fears. And then if something is accepted it would  be presented as a major victory”, he opined. 

International 

US Urges Kosovo to Accept EU proposal (Prishtina Insight)

The United States and the European Union have asked Kosovo and Serbia to accept the European proposal for the normalization of relations between the two countries.

Senior Advisor of the US State Department Derek Chollet has called on Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti to accept the European Union proposal, initially known as the Franco-German proposal, for normalization of relations with Serbia.

After a conversation with Kurti, he wrote on Twitter on Tuesday: “Spoke with PM Albin Kurti today to discuss the EU proposal on normalization of relations with Serbia and to urge Kosovo to accept it.  A key theme was our partnership and shared goal of advancing Kosovo’s European & Euro-Atlantic integration.”

Although it has not been officially revealed what the European Union proposal contains, Kosovo meantime faces pressure to establish an autonomous Association of Serbian-majority municipalities, an agreement signed in Brussels but which has not been implemented following a court ruling that it is not in accordance with the Constitution of Kosovo.

The declaration comes amid intensified meetings of US and European diplomats both in Prishtina and Belgrade.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3Y0LCsU