• Donfried: Kosovo and Serbia must make difficult decisions (VoA)
• Kurti: Constitution, independence don’t tolerate monoethnic Association (Koha)
• Osmani meets with Hovenier, discuss about latest developments (media)
• Government: Request for Association, against the state of Kosovo (KTV)
• Rohde: No guarantee that Kosovo will be recognized by EU’s non-recognizing five at the end of dialogue (media)
• The EU 10-point plan that West envoys presented to Kurti and Vucic (Reporteri)
• Sign deal or face consequences, EU envoy tells Kosovo, Serbia (Reuters)
• US Urges Kosovo to Accept EU proposal (Prishtina Insight)
• Dare we hope agreement between Serbia and Kosovo is possible? (Emerging Europe)
• Konjufca: Kosovo, strong support from MEPs for CoE membership (media)
• The north, topic for which Kosovars are misinformed the most (RFE)
• Kamberi writes letter to Escobar about Presevo Valley (media)
• Serbia asks Turkey to influence Kosovo (Armenia News)

Donfried: Kosovo and Serbia must make difficult decisions (VoA)

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Karen Donfried, while speaking about Russia’s war in Ukraine, also mentioned the extent of the war’s consequences in the Balkans. She said that the U.S. and the European Union are not trying to impose a solution to the situation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia, but to help them make difficult decisions.

Donfried said that the U.S. and the EU are trying to be a force that brings good changes for Kosovo and Serbia. “If I had been asked before I took office whether I thought Russia would launch a large-scale attack on Ukraine, my answer would have been no, I don’t think that will happen. I would have been wrong. Therefore, it is difficult to predict the future. Therefore, for the countries of the Western Balkans, there is now the opportunity to move forward on the path of Euro-Atlantic integration. This opportunity is there for Serbia and Kosovo. Serbia and Kosovo are sovereign countries. The United States and the EU cannot impose decisions or solutions. We are trying to be a force that brings good changes,” she said in an interview with the Voice of America.

Further, Donfried said that there are absolutely difficult decisions that both Kosovo and Serbia must make but added that the U.S. will be there to support them. “I deeply believe that the citizens of Kosovo and the citizens of Serbia see their future as full members of the Euro-Atlantic community. The European Union has been nurturing and fostering a dialogue for years. The United States is supporting this dialogue, because we believe it is the way for Kosovo and Serbia to become full members of the Euro-Atlantic community. Are there difficult decisions that Kosovo and Serbia have to make? Absolutely. Will we be there to support them as they make these difficult decisions? Of course,” she said.

However, Donfried emphasized that although the USA and the EU will be there, Kosovo and Serbia are the two countries that have to do the hard work.

“We know that Albania will also be there to help these countries make these difficult decisions. But we cannot impose it on them. They must want that future and be willing to make the decisions, which may seem painful, if that is the future they want. I repeat, we will stand by them, but we can only help and try to secure that future. Kosovo and Serbia are the ones who have to do the hard work.”

Kurti: Constitution, independence don’t tolerate monoethnic Association (Koha)

The daily reports on its front page this morning that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has not confirmed readiness to implement the agreement on the formation of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities. Unlike EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak who said that they agreed to implement all previous agreements, Kurti said that the Constitution of Kosovo does not allow the implementation of the agreement on the Association. He said it was unfair for the agreement, reached by his predecessors, to be set as a precondition for the European plan for the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia.

“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 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 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 said.

Osmani meets with Hovenier, discuss about latest developments (media)

President Vjosa Osmani received on Thursday in a regular meeting the Ambassador of the United States of America to Kosovo, Jeffrey Hovenier. In the released announcement, it is stated that Osmani and Hovenier talked about the latest developments, bilateral cooperation and the importance of continuing regular coordination between the institutions of Kosovo and the United States of America.

Government: Request for Association, against the state of Kosovo (KTV)

One day after the EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak said that in his meeting with Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Deputy PM Besnik Bislimi they agreed on the implementation of all previous agreements, spokesman for the Kosovo Government Perparim Kryeziu said that the request for the formation of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities does not come from the Serbs or is it authentic from the international community but that it comes from Serbia and that as such as it is against the state of Kosovo.

Kryeziu said in an interview with KTV on Thursday that the government believes that discussions for the formation of the Association cannot be a precondition or at the center of discussing an agreement between Kosovo and Serbia.

“In the European proposal there are discussions about the issue of minorities and there is consideration for the agreements reached so far. Given this, we believe that the discussion for the Association, or its formation, cannot be a precondition, or at the center of discussion for an agreement. The Association of municipalities is primarily a request of Serbia, it is not a request by the Serbs, nor is it an authentic request by the international community. Being that it has failed the test of the Constitutional Court, we believe that it is not even for the Kosovo Serbs, and it is more against the state of Kosovo,” he said.

Kryeziu said the government’s position about the Association is that it falls in contravention with the Constitution and the values of society, and it is a request by a state that works against the Republic of Kosovo.

Rohde: No guarantee that Kosovo will be recognized by EU’s non-recognizing five at the end of dialogue (media)

German Ambassador to Kosovo, Jorn Rohde, said on Thursday that the European Union cannot guarantee that at the end of the dialogue, the five non-recognizing countries will recognize Kosovo. “We cannot guarantee the decisions of other EU countries. Nor can the EU vouch for Germany’s position on any issue. However, we are making efforts to move towards recognition from these countries. However, there can be no legal guarantee that we will bring these recognitions. Even Lajcak has spoken with the non-recognizing states of Kosovo, and this is a joint effort to move this topic forward,” Rohde told RTV Dukagjini.

Rohde said that the European proposal aims overcoming of the crisis, so he suggests that no time should be wasted. “We need to overcome issues like license plates, or the removal of Serbs from institutions, we need to see a bigger picture of solving the problem,” Rohde noted.

He said he hopes that Kosovo will seize the momentum and move towards the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia.

“We should not spend energy on other issues such as the campaign to withdraw recognition or other issues such as license plates or stickers. These problems must be overcome, and we must move on,” he said.

The EU 10-point plan that West envoys presented to Kurti and Vucic (Reporteri)

The five diplomats, Emmanuel Bonne, Jens Plotner, Francesco Talo and Miroslav Lajcak and Gabriel Escobar, last Friday during their visits to Pristina and Belgrade, presented to the Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti and the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, the updated 10-point draft for the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia.

Reporteri claims to have exclusively obtained this document, which the five Western diplomats presented to the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia.

The document in question, as described by Prime Minister Kurti on Thursday, has 5 lines in its introduction as a “preamble” where it is announced that this document was forwarded to Kosovo and Serbia by the 5 diplomats of the West “as a platform for continuing the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia.”

In fact, even in this document it is known that the 10 points already presented as a European platform are based on the so-called French-German plan, which both countries received in the form of “non-paper” in the second half of the last year, Reporteri reports.

This is the content of the document that was exclusively provided by the online newspaper Reporteri.net:

After the meetings that the five international diplomats – Emmanuel Bonne, Jens Plotner, Francesco Talo, Gabriel Escobar and Miroslav Lajcak – have had in Pristina and Belgrade, and the presentation of what the European proposal is as a platform for the continuation of the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, here are ten points of the French-German plan, on which this platform is based:

Article 1

The parties will mutually develop normal, good neighborly relations on the basis of equal rights.

Both parties will mutually recognize relevant documents and national symbols, including passports, diplomas, vehicle license plates and customs stamps.

Article 2

Both parties will be guided by the purpose and principles set forth in the Charter of the United Nations, especially those on the sovereign rights of states, respect for their independence, autonomy and territorial integrity, the right to self-determination and the protection of human rights and non-discrimination.

Article 3

In accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, the parties shall settle all disputes between themselves only by peaceful means and shall refrain from the threat or use of force.

Article 4

The parties agree that none of them can represent the other party in the international sphere or act on its behalf.

Article 5

Both sides will support their aspirations to become a member of the European Union.

Article 6

While the basic agreement represents an important step in normalization, both sides will continue the EU-led dialogue process with new momentum, leading to a legally binding and comprehensive agreement to normalize relations.

The parties agree that in the future they will deepen cooperation in the fields of economy, science and technology, justice and law enforcement, post and telecommunications, health, culture, religion, sports, environmental protection, missing persons and other similar fields by reaching specific agreements.

Article 7

Both sides advocate for reaching concrete agreements, in accordance with the relevant instruments of the Council of Europe and using existing European experiences, in order to ensure an appropriate level of self-government for the Serb community in Kosovo and the possibility of providing services in some specific areas in Kosovo, including the possibility of financial assistance from Serbia and direct communication channels between the Serb community and the government of Kosovo.

The parties will formalize the status of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo and ensure a high level of protection of Serbian religious and cultural heritage, in accordance with existing European models.

Article 8

The parties will exchange permanent missions. They will be placed in the headquarters of the respective government.

Practical matters related to the deployment of missions will be dealt with separately.

Article 9

The commitment of the EU and other donors to create a financial aid package for the parties’ joint projects for economic development, green transition and other key areas.

Article 10

The parties will create a joint committee, chaired by the EU, that will monitor the implementation of this agreement.

Both parties confirm their obligations for the implementation of previous agreements.

Sign deal or face consequences, EU envoy tells Kosovo, Serbia (Reuters)

Kosovo and Serbia should state by March whether they accept an international plan to normalise relations or face repercussions from the European Union and United States, the EU’s envoy on the matter said on Wednesday.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a decade after a guerrilla uprising against Belgrade’s repressive rule. Over the past decade, the two have been holding normalisation talks under EU mediation, with a successful outcome key to realising the aspirations to join the wealthy bloc.

Last week EU, U.S., German, French and Italian envoys have met leaders of both countries to try to convince them to sign an 11-point deal meant to defuse tensions lingering since the 1998-99 conflict.

Read more at: http://bit.ly/403bh5U

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.

The latest meeting, hosted by the US embassy in Pristina, will discuss the Association of the Serb-majority municipalities. Besides political leaders and government representatives, representatives of civil society and media will also attend,  the US embassy announced on January 31.

Read more at: http://bit.ly/3j8Euvz

Dare we hope agreement between Serbia and Kosovo is possible? (Emerging Europe)

Relations between Serbia and Kosovo late last year reached their lowest ebb in more than a decade, but there were signs this week that the pair might be ready to begin talking again.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks on Serbia’s road to the European Union has long been its failure to normalise relations with Kosovo. Belgrade knows that EU membership will not happen unless it finds some way of accepting the independence of its former province.

Both countries have applied to be EU members. Serbia first made its bid for membership in 2009 and received candidate status in 2012. Kosovo only submitted its application in December last year and has yet to be accepted as a candidate.

While the EU has made it clear that normalised relations between the two countries are a pre-condition for either joining, little progress has been made towards an agreement. Indeed, last year saw the most serious escalation in tensions between the pair for some time.

Problems began during the summer amid anger among ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo at new laws requiring them to exchange their Serb-issued documents (such as license plates and ID cards) for the Kosovan equivalent. A series of brief stand-offs on roads leading to Kosovo from Serbia ensued, ended only by EU and US calls for de-escalation.

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

Konjufca: Kosovo, strong support from MEPs for CoE membership (media)

On the third day of his official visit to Strasbourg, the Speaker of the Assembly of Kosovo, Glauk Konjufca, held fruitful meetings with several delegations of member states in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), political groups and committee leaders, media report.

Thanking them for the support they have given to Kosovo over the years and for taking steps to become a member of the Council of Europe, Konjufca informed the interlocutors of Kosovo’s achievements in the field of the rule of law, human rights, and ethnic minorities.

In these meetings, views were also exchanged on other topics of interest and on the deepening of mutual cooperation, while the special topic of discussion was the process of membership of Kosovo in the Council of Europe.

“In the proceedings of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Kosovo received special attention and strong support from the MEPs for membership,” reads the announcement of the Assembly.

The north, topic for which Kosovars are misinformed the most (RFE)

According to a study by hibrid.info, a platform which is part of the International Fact Checking Network (IFCN), the citizens of Kosovo get mostly misinformed about political events. “This shows that producing and publishing misinforming content has been done with the purpose of creating a misinforming narrative,” it was said in the report that covers the period July-December 2022.

Almost 20 percent of topics, which include misinformation in the media, are related to news about the north of Kosovo or the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia. The north leads with 12.3 percent of misinformation news, the issue of prices is second with 5.2 percent, and third is the dialogue with 3.1 percent.

Data collected by hibrid.info show that “suspicious media” – the term used for those that are not registered as legal entities – are not the only ones that distribute misinformation.

Data from the National Democratic Institute (NDI) show that almost half of the citizens of Kosovo do not verify the information they get on social media, although 85 percent of them do believe that news websites sometimes publish fake news.

For this reason, in addition to professionalism and the respect for the journalistic code of ethics by the media, Shkelzen Osmani, founder of the platform hibrid.info, said it is very important to include digital and media education in school curricula. “This would help the consumers of digital content to develop a critical judgment from an early age. Increased critical and analytical judgment helps readers to be more attentive to determining the accuracy of information they read and as a result to fall less prey to misinformation,” Osmani told Radio Free Europe.

Kamberi writes letter to Escobar about Presevo Valley (media)

The Albanian MP in the Assembly of Serbia, Shaip Kamberi, sent on Thursday a letter to the U.S. special envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, requesting the inclusion of representatives of the Albanian community in the Presheva Valley in the next meetings of the dialogue for normalization between Kosovo and Serbia.

The Albanian MP has announced that he will forward a letter with the same content to the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, and the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.

Serbia asks Turkey to influence Kosovo (Armenia News)

Serbian authorities are asking Turkey to influence the Kosovo Albanian authorities in Pristina to fulfill earlier agreements with Belgrade, stated Serbian First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic, RIA Novosti reported.

Serbia’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister is on a working visit to Ankara, where he met Thursday with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Read more at: http://bit.ly/3RpahW1