Albanian Language Media:

• Lajcak discusses with Bislimi urgent issues on the agenda of the Dialogue (media)
• Krasniqi: I expressed to Lajcak the PDK’s reservations about the agreement (Koha)
• AAK supports EU proposal even though “it is not de jure recognition of Kosovo” (media)
• Abrashi: Only opposition parties are talking about the Association (Nacionale)
• Lekaj: AAK is against increased energy tariffs, there will be protests too (Telegrafi)
• MacShane: Surreal nonsense that EU countries don’t recognize state of Kosovo (media)
• Tahiri: Self-management and Association will ruin Kosovo’s sovereignty (Nacionale) 

Serbian Language Media:

• Vucic: There will be no capitulation or surrender, nor consent for Pristina to join UN (RTS)
• Prince Filip Karadjordjevic: Franco-German proposal unacceptable for Serbia (KoSSev, social media)
• Dveri Movement, public figures demand Parliament session on Kosovo (FoNet)
• Vucevic: People’s Movement to bring together all those wishing to preserve Serbia (Tanjug)
• Lawyer: What ever happened in Kosovo during conflict, from brawl to robbery, Pristina accuses Serbs of war crimes (RTS)
• French ambassador: Vucic and Kurti should show flexibility and reach agreement, people in north suffer most from situation (KoSSev)
• Vucic congratulates China’s Xi on his re-election as president (Tanjug)

International:

• Death of a Premier: How Serbia’s Rotten System Enabled Zoran Djindjic’s Killers (BIRN)

Humanitarian/Development:

• Public Pulse: Trust in Kosovo government on decline, Serbs feel drastically less safe (KoSSev)
• ACDC offers free legal aid to people in northern Kosovo (Kosovo Online)
• Residents from Miroce village without access to their properties for two decades (KoSSev)
• Ruzica Simic: Protection of women’s rights and victims of violence in north virtually non-existent now (KoSSev)

Albanian Language Media  

Lajcak discusses with Bislimi urgent issues on the agenda of the Dialogue (media)

In addition to President Osmani and Prime Minister Kurti , the EU emissary for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue Miroslav Lajcak met on Thursday also with the head of the negotiating team and the number two of the Government, Besnik Bislimi. They discussed other issues within the dialogue, the implementation of which is of an urgent nature. Lajcak specified the urgency of implementation  of the Energy Roadmap.

“With the First Deputy Prime Minister and Chief Negotiator of the Dialogue Besnik Bislimi, I discussed a number of other urgent issues on the agenda of the Dialogue, including the urgent need to fully implement the Energy Roadmap,” Lajcak wrote.

Krasniqi: I expressed to Lajcak the PDK’s reservations about the agreement (Koha)

Leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Memli Krasniqi, said that in today’s meeting with the EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak he informed him that the PDK has reservations about the proposed agreement. “During our discussions about the agreement proposed by Lajcak, I once again expressed the PDK’s position and our reservations about the agreement, and the reasons which we have discussed in the past too. We have supported the process of dialogue waiting for a conclusion that will result in a final agreement with mutual recognition. This was not only our position but also the approach of international partners. Unfortunately, what we have on the table today is a provisional agreement that does not include mutual recognition and is centred around the Association,” Krasniqi told a press conference after the meeting.

Krasniqi argued that Prime Minister Albin Kurti has failed to convince the international partners to support Kosovo in reaching its objectives. “Today we don’t have a comprehensive agreement, we don’t have a final agreement, we don’t have mutual recognition, we have a provisional agreement, we have the Association which we don’t oppose, because we didn’t oppose it even earlier, but there are certain articles in the agreement that risk going beyond the Association and beyond the Constitution of Kosovo,” he said.

AAK supports EU proposal even though “it is not de jure recognition of Kosovo” (media)

The Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) has expressed its support for the Kosovo-Serbia agreement to the EU emissary for dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak. The deputy leader of AAK, Ardian Gjini, after the meeting with him, said that the European proposal is valid and that it has good elements for Kosovo.

“Kosovo is at an important moment and can move forward with an agreement that has been proposed. There will be work in the future, but in the circumstances we find ourselves in today, we think it is worthwhile. AAK thinks that there are serious achievements in this document, we understand that it is not the de jure recognition of Kosovo, but we understand that the agreement contains elements that create new relations in the region, especially between Kosovo and Serbia, it creates circumstances that put Kosovo in a completely different situation.”

“Haradinaj is interested in the package of financial support that is necessary for Kosovo after reaching the agreement. There are points in the agreement and other details that we feel we need clarity on. We have no big dilemmas”.

Gjini has added that he hopes for an agreement in the meeting that will be held on March 18 in North Macedonia between the parties.

Abrashi: Only opposition parties are talking about the Association (Nacionale)

MP from the Vetevendosje Movement, Artan Abrashi, argued in a Facebook post today that the Kosovo government and the European Union are not talking about the Association of Serb-majority municipalities. “The government is not talking about the association. Lajcak last night said that the association is not on the agenda. After the February 27 meeting, Borrell talked for 10-15 minutes at a press conference without mentioning the association even once. Ironically, in Kosovo, about the Association and the threat from it, it is mentioned mainly by those that have signed it, voted in favour and justified it all these years,” Abrashi said.

The news website notes that the VV MP seems to have forgotten about the pressure from all Western allies on Kosovo to implement the agreement on the Association.

Lekaj: AAK is against increased energy tariffs, there will be protests too (Telegrafi)

MP from the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), Pal Lekaj, said today that news about eventual increased energy tariffs is absurd and did not rule out the possibility of protests. He told a press conference that increased tariffs are unreasonable and unacceptable.

“What is the reason for increased energy tariffs? How is it possible that last year the Kurti government subsidised businesses, and tariffs for households were increased by more than 100 percent. The majority of citizens suffered from this because of improper solutions,” he said.

Lekaj further argued that the government has the time and budget space to reach agreements with neighbouring countries for energy transactions, “and through maintenance, renovation and regulation of generators of the energy system to create state stability”.

“Based on what I’ve said, the AAK is categorically against increased energy tariffs and we will not allow this to happen,” he added. “We will do so through our political activities, at the Kosovo Assembly, in respective committees, and we will also talk with the citizens and if necessary have protests too.”

MacShane: Surreal nonsense that EU countries don’t recognize state of Kosovo (media)

Denis MacShane, the former British minister for Europe in Tony Blair’s cabinet, has criticized EU member states that are not recognizing Kosovo’s independence.

MacShane made his reaction via a post on Twitter, sharing an opinion piece by journalist Jeremy Cliffe where he talks about the further enlargement of the EU.

“There is a real risk that the EU could ‘lose’ states on its eastern fringes to instability and disillusionment if it blocks their path to membership,” says Cliffe.

Meanwhile, MacShane said: “I agree, but no effective lobby is arguing this and national governments block most efforts – surreal nonsense from Spain, Greece, Slovakia, Romania that Kosovo does not exist as a small European state for them to be recognized. Macron supported your line in 2017 but changed his mind when Le Pen rose,” MacShane said in the post.

Tahiri: Self-management and Association will ruin Kosovo’s sovereignty (Nacionale)

Kosovo’s former chief negotiator in talks with Serbia, Edita Tahiri, took to Facebook to comment on the visit to Kosovo by EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak. She said that the European diplomat did not mention “the self-management of the Serb minority” which is mentioned in the European plan for the normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia.

“Lajcak has brought 15 models of the association to Kurti, but he didn’t mention ‘the self-management for the Serb minority’, these two ruin the sovereignty of Kosovo! From his side, Kurti is mentioning only one word ‘support’,” Tahiri wrote.

Serbian Language Media 

Vucic: There will be no capitulation or surrender, nor consent for Pristina to join UN (RTS)

Serbia will not agree or remain silent on the issue of Pristina joining the United Nations, nor will it recognize self-declared Kosovo independence, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucici told Happy TV last night, RTS reports.

Vucic also said citizens must be aware it would not even cross his mind to sign capitulation and that no one other than him knows better what the European plan is about.

“I explained that the plan is bad, but we must understand the circumstances, why we must stay in negotiations”, he added.

He said he unequivocally made everybody aware that Serbia will not agree or remain silent on the issue of Pristina joining the UN, nor to recognize Kosovo.  He noted that Serbia was willing for many compromises, but that Albanians will do nothing.

“Hardly there was progress in Pristina during Lajcak’s visit”

Vucic also said that hardly there was progress made in Pristina, visited by EU Special Envoy for Belgrade-Pristina talks yesterday.

“Miroslav Lajcak was in Pristina today and hardly there was some progress made today, it is now a question of different interpretations, however, I am certain that (Albin) Kurti decided not to establish Community of Serb Municipalities, and today’s decision on lifting visa regime for Kosovo proves it is easy for him”, Vucic said last night. 

He added Serbia has nothing against lifting visas, and should rejoice this decision, however the moment when it happened indicated that “not only are they not ready to exert pressure on Pristina, but also encourage him (Albin Kurti) to continue pursuing a policy of unfulfilling his own obligations”.  

Announced protest of Serbian opposition and those opposing European plan on March 17, in Belgrade, a day ahead of meeting in Ohrid to discuss implementation annex of a plan, Vucic termed as “absurd” given that it takes place on a day when pogrom against Serbian people occurred in Kosovo in 2004.

Touching about plans to create People’s Movement for the State, Vucic said that by May when Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) assembly should be held, he will formulate the policy of the Movement, adding there will be no abolishing of the SNS, because, as he said, this is by far the best political party in Serbia, that all others together can not compete with it.

Prince Filip Karadjordjevic: Franco-German proposal unacceptable for Serbia (KoSSev, social media)

Member of the Serbian royal family, Prince Filip Karadjordjevic said today the Franco-German proposal was humiliating and unacceptable for Serbia.

In separate posts on Twitter in six different languages, along with the flag of Serbia posted, Karadjordjevic said “neither Germany nor France would renounce 15 percent of their territory”.  

“What Germany and France can not imagine in their own states, they must not impose on Serbia”, he said.

Dveri Movement, public figures demand Parliament session on Kosovo (FoNet)

The Dveri Movement and numerous public figures called on Serbian Parliament Speaker Vladimir Orlic to urgently schedule a special Parliament session on the content of the Franco-German proposal for Kosovo, prior to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s meeting with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti due on March 18 in Ohrid, North Macedonia.

President Vucic is also asked to explain at the session what it is that he has accepted, and to present the plans for the implementation that he has agreed to work on.

“We call on all national media, especially on television stations with national broadcasting licences, which are a public good, to urgently enable the other side to also be heard, the politicians and the intellectuals who are against accepting this agreement”, said a letter signed by the Dveri Movement and public figures.

They also asked the Serbian Orthodox Church Bishops’ Council and Holy Synod to voice their opinion on the agreement under which Serbia “has agreed not to object to the membership of the fake state of Kosovo in UNESCO, which throws into question Serbia’s cultural heritage in Kosovo and Metohija, all our sanctuaries and the property of the Serbian Orthodox Church”.

“We call on the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU) to declare itself on this matter that Serbian academicians must not be silent on. Finally we call on all political organisations, citizens’ associations, public figures and on the public as a whole to participate in an unhindered public discussion so we could all, as a people and society, take a stand on this key national and state issue”, said the letter.

“It is absolutely unacceptable for just one man to decide on this matter, whoever he may be”, said the letter signed by Dveri Movement leader Bosko Obradovic, another 47 public figures and leaders of some parliamentary parties.

Vucevic: People’s Movement to bring together all those wishing to preserve Serbia (Tanjug)

The People’s Movement for the State will be large enough for everyone interested and it should bring together all people of good will who want to preserve Serbia amid the present circumstances, Defence Minister Milos Vucevic said Thursday.

“The movement will also have a state-building character to show that Serbia is a free and sovereign country and that it will pursue a wise policy demonstrating that it can handle all difficulties and pressure with minimal consequences”, Vucevic said in a statement to Tanjug.

Asked whether next weekend’s unveiling of the movement was a signal of looming elections, Vucevic responded that local elections were definitely ahead but that the movement was the beginning of something that was yet to spread irrespective of any elections.

When asked if the Belgrade-Pristina talks were drawing to a close after EU foreign policy and security chief Josep Borrell said there would be no more discussions about a French-German proposal, Vucevic said Serbia stood by the position that it was ready to discuss the concept of the agreement but would not cross its red lines.

“A direct or indirect recognition of Kosovo and Metohija as independent is out of the question, as is a UN seat for Kosovo, while everything else can be discussed”, he said, adding that establishment of a Community of Serb Municipalities in line with principles from 2015, guaranteed by the Brussels Agreement and the EU, was the condition for further implementation of the agreement.

Lawyer: What ever happened in Kosovo during conflict, from brawl to robbery, Pristina accuses Serbs of war crimes (RTS)

There are at least a dozen Serbs who are tried or in prison under accusations and charges that they have allegedly committed war crimes against the Albanian population during the conflict in Kosovo, Serbian public broadcaster RTS reports today.

The latest arrest of the Serbs under the charges for alleged war crimes took place a few days ago, at crossing point Bela Zemlja, near Kamenica involving Zlatan Arsic, member of Kosovo police.

The lawyer, Nebojsa Vlajic told RTS that the intensity of arresting Serbs under the charges for alleged war crimes has increased over the last two weeks, which, he said, represents a complete uncertainty and people are rightly concerned.

“Interpretation of the special court in Pristina has become as such it is impossible that anything else but war crimes were committed in Kosovo and Metohija during the war. It is not possible that somebody was a bully and beat up an Albanian in the police station or robbed the house, because these acts become obsolete, but the war crimes do not and whatever it was about Pristina is accusing the arrested person of the war crimes”, Vlajic said.

According to him the example of Zoran Lukic from Vucitrn is the best illustrative case. He was arrested in Montenegro six and a half years ago, and there are five proceedings ongoing against him.

“Five criminal proceedings for war crimes. It is impossible all of that occurred. The aim is to render five maximal sentences to him, so he would never get out of prison”, Vlajic said.

He added there are eight cases for the war crimes ongoing in Kosovo, five people are sentenced, making a total of 13 cases. He warned the situation is very difficult because there is no impartiality there.

“Until the EULEX court was functioning, until it performed the judicial function, there was some impartiality there, today it is all gone. They say they monitor the trials, but we have never seen any of their reports, being it positive or negative, and it is very difficult”, he said.

French ambassador: Vucic and Kurti should show flexibility and reach agreement, people in north suffer most from situation (KoSSev)

We expect the Kosovo Prime Minister and the Serbian President to show flexibility and reach an agreement on the annex defining the process of implementation of the European proposal on March 18th in Ohrid. If that does not happen, the road to European integration would become much more difficult for both sides. We expect in particular flexibility and commitment from Kurti on the formation of the ASM, said the French ambassador to Pristina, Olivier Guerot, in an interview for KoSSev.

The proposal of the European Union, initially introduced as the Franco-German proposal, is a joint effort, with no one specifically having ‘copyrights’ to the agreement, the ambassador stated. He added that Kosovo and its population would benefit concretely from the agreement in many fields, including inhabitants of northern municipalities, who “suffer most from the current blocked situation“.

Guerot said that he understands the need for security and safety for the population in the north, especially after the collective resignation of Serbian KP officers. Addressing the recent expropriation of land in the north of Kosovo, the ambassador specified that the Kosovo institutions must respect the rule of law and adhere to legal procedures. “My message to everybody is to first show restraint and avoid any incidents on the ground which could worsen the situation in North Kosovo“, Guerot said.

Read interview at: https://bit.ly/3LctnNG

Vucic congratulates China’s Xi on his re-election as president (Tanjug)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Friday congratulated Chinese leader Xi Jinping on his re-election as president of the People’s Republic of China and its Central Military Commission.

“We in the Republic of Serbia view your re-election as president as a clear confirmation of your undoubted contribution to the strengthening of the role, reputation and significance of the People’s Republic of China, as well as of your unwavering loyalty to honourable service to the people of China. We firmly believe that the period ahead, under your committed, wise and visionary leadership, will be marked by new impressive successes of the People’s Republic of China in all areas, which we especially look forward to, and we are honoured to have you and the people of China as our proven friends”, Vucic wrote in a congratulatory message to Xi.

International 

Death of a Premier: How Serbia’s Rotten System Enabled Zoran Djindjic’s Killers (BIRN)

Twenty years ago, state security service operatives conspired with gangsters and policemen to assassinate Serbia’s liberal-democratic Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic – and court documents show how a corrupted law enforcement system made it possible.

On February 19, 2003, three men met in a café near the famous Atelje 212 Theatre in Belgrade city centre.

One of them was 33-year-old Dejan ‘Bagzi’ Milenkovic, a member of the Zemun Clan, a gang led by Dusan Spasojevic, who was a notorious criminal at the time.

The second was Zoran Vukojevic, a former policeman who was working as a security guard at gang leader Spasojevic’s house.

The third was Branislav Bezarevic, who worked for the Security Information Agency, BIA, Serbia’s national intelligence agency, and was Vukojevic’s friend from police school.

Vukojevic arranged the meeting. “During that conversation, Bagzi asked him [Bezarevic] if he would like to give information about the movements of the prime minister,” he recalled later in testimony at the District Court in Belgrade.

“[Bezarevic] looked at me, I told him to speak freely. And they agreed there that he wants to give information.”

At the meeting, it was agreed that the Zemun Clan would pay Bezarevic 50,000 euros for information about Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic’s movements.

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

Humanitarian/Development

Public Pulse: Trust in Kosovo government on decline, Serbs feel drastically less safe (KoSSev)

Trust in the Kosovo government declined by over 6 percent at the end of last year compared to the beginning of the same year, while trust in Kosovo Prime Minister Aljbin Kurti declined by almost 8 percent in the same period. Trust in the President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, has declined to some extent, and the most drastic drop in trust is in the work of the Kosovo Assembly, by as much as 11 percent, and the courts and prosecutor’s office – by 15%, according to the results of a regular UNDP public opinion survey, KoSSev portal reports.

The biggest drop is in the feeling of security of Serbs in Kosovo – by as much as 39% less compared to the spring.

Those are findings of a regular survey Public Pulse this UN agency conducted for October and November 2022 and published today.

Read the report at: https://bit.ly/41VBqEN

ACDC offers free legal aid to people in northern Kosovo (Kosovo Online)

Advocacy Centre for Democratic Culture (ACDC) called on people facing problems in exercising their rights to Kosovo to address them as they will provide them with free legal aid, Kosovo Online portal reports.

“This way the Centre extends support to the Office for Free Legal Aid in northern Kosovo, in order to help citizens who face legal problems”, ACDS said in a statement.

They in particular urged members of vulnerable groups to address them, including non-majority communities, persons with disabilities, members of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities and LGBT community.

ACDC implements this initiative as part of the project “Further Support to Access to Justice and Human Rights in Mitrovica Region”  supported by UNMIK. 

Residents from Miroce village without access to their properties for two decades (KoSSev)

In a public letter sent to embassies and consular offices of 42 states, 14 international organisations, 17 higher level instances and media in Pristina, 65 other institutions and media in Serbia and the region, Dusko Milenkovic, an owner of usurped property and former resident of Miroce village explained the problems he and his co-villagers face regarding their property rights and access to property for the last two decades.

In a letter he said that he and displaced residents from Miroce village, Vucitrn municipality for 20 years face the problem of not having the right to possess their private properties, given that all their household objects, land and forest are usurped, while perpetrators of those criminal acts prevent them from leasing properties to other persons or selling it to another potential buyers.

He added that Kosovo police in Vucitrn, acting on reports of landowners about usurped properties confirmed that usurpers are the members of the A. family (name known to the KoSSev portal) from neighbouring Albanian village of Karace who at the end of the village reconstructed a large object – farm of cows, with animals freely wandering around entire Miroce village properties, he adds.

Milenkovic further wrote that landowners initiated proceedings with the Kosovo Property Agency (that changed name later) and respective Basic Court in Vucitrn but this had not solved problems because of different administrative problems with these institutions over the last 20 years and general negative situation on the ground.

The only proceeding nearing to an end, he said, as of beginning of this year is a mediation, where an usurper offered affected owners to buy their entire properties but for the price ten times lower from the real market value, but it proved the usurper was not able to do so either. For another property owner six hearings were postponed due to either absence of a prosecutor, or an usurper at the hearings. 

Milenkovic argued their cases were not given due attention by institutions they addressed for help. 

Milenkovic said they proposed US and Great Britain embassies in Pristina to receive a delegation of Miroce residents who will bring evidence of their ownership, in  presence of higher Pristina institutions and Vucitrn municipality officials. He also proposes to investigate and verify all their claims and be reassured of their need to seek the help for their property-related problems, and invites TV stations in Albanian and Serbian language to record the broadcast about their situation, so people locally and abroad would get familiar with what they face.

Read the letter in Serbian at:  https://bit.ly/3ZAyOdW

Ruzica Simic: Protection of women’s rights and victims of violence in north virtually non-existent now (KoSSev)

The director of the NGO Women’s Rights, Ruzica Simic told KoSSev portal that “although the struggle continues, women in the Balkans, Kosovo, and in the north are not satisfied with their position in society or extent to which their rights are respected. Everything is moving very slowly. It took at least a hundred years for women to obtain the bare minimum of basic human rights. As things stand, it seems that we will have to wait the same amount of time for women to be equal with men, but everything will be the same here even then – one step forward, three steps back and everything goes in a circle.”

The coronavirus pandemic led to the introduction of epidemiological measures, which in turn resulted in an increased number of domestic violence cases.

Women dedicated themselves to protecting their children and family, and when everything was over, they began reporting domestic abuse cases more frequently, which led to an increase in trust in institutions and the institutional struggle for their rights.

The Serbs from the north of Kosovo left those same institutions in November. The police, the judiciary, and the prosecution – are now all operating with reduced capacities.

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