Albanian Language Media:

• Kurti: The EU must ensure that the agreed agreements are implemented (media)
• Osmani: Borrelli cannot agree on behalf of Vucic (media)
• Kurti lists “obstacles” in his two-year mandate as prime minister (Koha)
• Abdixiku: Letters of U.S. presidents talked about a final agreement with recognition (media)
• Ziv: Israel and Kosovo committed to opening new chapters of cooperation (RTK)
• Government allocates around €300 thousand for Ukrainian and Afghan journalists in Kosovo (media)

Serbian Language Media:

• Simic: ZSO and withdrawal of special police preconditions for Serbs’ return to institutions (N1, FoNet, Politika)
• Vucic: KFOR acted professionally during crisis in Kosovo (N1, media)
• Vucevic: Impression is that Serbia was more constructive partner in Ohrid (Tanjug)

• Sekulic: I am afraid of the unfolding of an extra-institutional nature, elections are also very possible (N1)
• Students opposing the European agreement announced participation in the blockades of institutions (KoSSev, Danas, Beta)
• Hill: Signing the agreement is not very important, implementation is the real issue (NMagazin, FoNet, N1)
• Andric Rakic: If Pristina remains consistent – from April 1, Serbs with KM licence plates will not be able to drive in Kosovo and use crossings (Danas)
• The first test of the Ohrid agreement is the Serbian List participation in the elections on April 23 (Danas, FoNet)
• Dacic meets with OSCE’s Schmidt in Vienna (Tanjug)
• Kurti: The degree of self-management will not be the same as the CSM (ZSO) (RTS)

Humanitarian/Development:

• How did Crossplag go global? The success story of a Kosovar start-up (BIRN)
• Every village in Kosovo now connected to high-speed broadband internet, with World       Bank support (worldbank.org)

Albanian Language Media  

Kurti: The EU must ensure that the agreed agreements are implemented (media)

After the meeting of the government, the Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti, in a press conference, spoke about the talks in Ohrid and the offer he made there.

He has said that the agreements between him and the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic on February 27 in Brussels and March 18 in Ohrid, were found to be Agreements by the mediators, Josep Borrell and Miroslav Lajcak, and therefore they must be implemented.

“I have made a concrete offer saying if the Serbian side agrees to accept three basic pillars, the constitution of the Republic of Kosovo and the judgment of the Constitutional Court published on December 23, 2015 on one hand and on the other, a position of Brussels and Washington, on what the Association is and is not, I have told them that if they agree with this premise, I am ready to write the draft of the proposal, but we have to agree with the premise first,” he said adding that there was no agreement to consider these three pillars.

According to him, the EU is the one that should ensure that the reached agreements are implemented on the ground.

“It makes no sense to remain text on paper. The mediator is the one who imposes the implementation or ascertains non-implementation or violations and corresponding sanctions. It is the mediator who is responsible for any deviation, deformation, or violation,” he emphasized.

Osmani: Borrelli cannot agree on behalf of Vucic (media)

The President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, spoke about the agreement between Kosovo and Serbia at the Ohrid meeting.

“Borrell cannot agree on behalf of Vucic, when Vucic comes out clearly and says that he does not agree with at least half of the articles of this agreement. So, the basic criterion of the Vienna Convention, which is reconciliation, is missing in this case on the part of Serbia,” she said

“All the pressure should be on Serbia so that it respects the obligations it has undertaken. I understand that signature as such is not necessary to make an agreement legally binding. All the commitment of the international community should be to Vucic for those that he has agreed on and that in essence constitute a ‘de facto’ recognition of Kosovo, because when it recognizes someone’s sovereignty and integrity, these are the main elements of citizenship. The only thing missing is a letter of recognition that he has not yet signed. There should be a clear penalty for Serbia,” Osmani added.

She added that “Not even 24 hours after the Ohrid agreement, just as it happened in February, Serbia repeated the same action in March. So, he showed that the promises they gave him in the framework of the dialogue have no value for him, neither political nor legal. And consequently, he also informed the international community that he will not implement the obligations arising from the basic agreement and the annex.”

“Regardless of what was agreed in Ohrid, the text of the basic agreement remains the same and is not changed. Article 4 of that agreement, which obliges Serbia not to oppose Kosovo’s membership in any international organisation without exception, remains in force,” she said.

Article 1 and 2 that define the principles of international law and are included in the charter of the United Nations that oblige Serbia to recognize and respect the territorial integrity of Kosovo, that both parties are treated equally, respect each other’s state symbols, they remain in force”, Osmani said.

The President emphasised that the moment Serbia comes out and says that it will not implement any of these, and then requests a seal from the Assembly of Serbia not to implement what was agreed upon in Ohrid and Brussels, it essentially endangers this agreement.

“The union of municipalities or citizens in associations is a right that Kosovo already recognizes with its constitution, recognized with the Atissaari package, recognized with the Law on Local Self-Government and is also recognized through the instruments of the Council of Europe which are directly applicable in Kosovo. There is nothing new, except for those that are already in the applicable legislation in Kosovo. But, it can only be realized in full accordance with the decision of the Constitutional Court of 2015,” Osmani said.

Osmani said that she has met with Prime Minister Albin Kurti after the agreement was concluded in Ohrid to be informed in detail about the documents and the different versions that were presented the prime minister and the delegation of Kosovo… “I have to say that these are terrible versions which the Republic of Kosovo has done well that it has not accepted them despite the extremely unfair pressures, treating Kosovo in a very unequal manner in relation to the other party,” Osmani said.

Kurti lists “obstacles” in his two-year mandate as prime minister (Koha)

The Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti listed during his speech on the two-year anniversary of taking the office, the obstacles in the work of the government he leads and the successes he claims to have been achieved.

He has mentioned the pandemic, the energy crisis and the economic crisis after the war in Ukraine as obstacles for his government. He also blamed the previous government.

“In these 24 months of our journey together, our will and ambitions have faced a heavy and inherited trend and at the same time unprecedented external challenges,” Kurti emphasised at the beginning of the government meeting that was held today.

He blamed the previous governments for short-sightedness in economic policies.

“In Kosovo, the dependence on the import of electricity, due to the absence of electricity generation capacities and on the products we consume in the absence of local production, shamelessly exposed all the 13-year governments and the short-sightedness of economic policies,” Kurti said.

He has stated that at the beginning of 2022, Europe was shocked by the start of the war in Ukraine, which, according to him, aggravated the world economic crisis even more.

“The country needed recovery, recovery, revival, return to normality, recovery of damages and revival of the economy,” said Kurti before counting what he described as the successes of his government.

Despite this, he said that there have been successes of the governance, stating that it took only two months for the government to negotiate and sign the contract for vaccines against COVID-19. He mentioned the vaccination process as a success, which according to him, then also influenced the opening of the economy and increased circulation. He noted here that two years ago, Kosovo was the only country in the region that had neither a vaccine against COVID-19 nor a contract for vaccines, since according to him, the previous government had failed to provide them.

He also mentioned subsidising electricity bills and “some employment measures”. He said that there was an increase in tax revenues and an increase in exports and foreign investments. According to him, all these were the result of good governance.

Kurti also mentioned the subsidies that his government has given for energy saving, for pensioners and for expectant mothers.

He also mentioned Kosovo’s application for membership in the Council of Europe and the European Union as an important step.

However, the head of the government has said that in the second part of the mandate they should do even more and even faster.

Abdixiku: Letters of U.S. presidents talked about a final agreement with recognition (media)

The leader of the LDK Lumir Abdixhiku said that last night Prime Minister Albin Kurti himself admitted that he offered the Serbian side the establishment of the association.

“Not more than two hours ago, beyond the agreement, Kurti admitted that he has offered an association,” Abdixhiku said this in Rubicon, referring to a tweet released by Prime Minister Albin Kurti, where he complains that the Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic did not sign the March 18 annex.

However, Abdixhiku mentions that Prime Minister Kurti has lost historical momentum for reaching the final agreement as requested by the United States of America.

“There are three elements: Final agreement, legally binding and with recognition in it. The question is how many of these elements do we have in it? Is the deal final? – No, it’s not. Because we have basic agreement, not final. Today I want to hold responsible a man who started the dialogue process by rejecting it as a national priority. And now in the third year of government, the only thing that he has been dealing with is the dialogue.”

“And this shows that he was unprepared in time, and at the same time, he lost historical opportunities, because these historical opportunities are of momentum,” Abdixhiku said.

“The final normalisation agreement was not possible in 2008, nor in 2015, nor in 2017, nor in 2020. There was a pan-European and U.S. consensus that now is the momentum for a final agreement. The last two letters of the U.S. presidents speak of legally binding final agreements with recognition in it. This was an extraordinary momentum and opportunity”.

Ziv: Israel and Kosovo are committed to opening new chapters of cooperation (RTK)

Tamar Ziv, Ambassador of the State of Israel in Kosovo, informed on Twitter about the conversation that the President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani and the President of the State of Israel, Isaac Herzog, had yesterday.

“Yesterday, a good conversation between the presidents of the state of Israel and the Republic of Kosovo, committed to growing our cooperation and opening new chapters of bilateral cooperation,” she wrote on Twitter.

Government allocates around €300 thousand for Ukrainian and Afghan journalists in Kosovo (media)

The government of Kosovo has today allocated additional funds, about €305 thousand, for housing Ukrainian and Afghan journalists who are staying in Kosovo.

During the meeting of the government of Kosovo, the Minister of Finance Hekuran Murati said that these funds will be taken from unforeseen expenses.

“We are dealing with a request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to allocate additional funds of around 305,710 euros for the fiscal year 2023, for financial support of Afghan and Ukrainian journalists who are sheltered in Kosovo. Budgetary funds are taken from unforeseen expenses, the reserve category and transferred to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications,” Minister Murati said.

Serbian Language Media 

Simic: ZSO and withdrawal of special police preconditions for Serbs’ return to institutions (N1, FoNet, Politika)

Serbian List Vice President Igor Simic told Politika daily that Serbs will return to Pristina institutions only after the Community of Serb Municipalities (ZSO) is formed and Kosovo special police forces withdraw from northern Kosovo.

He added neither he, nor the party he belongs to or any Serb have the least trust that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti “will do anything that goes to the benefits of the Serbian people”.

Simic said that Kurti does everything he can to make the lives of the Serbs in Kosovo more difficult, noting that ZSO is not a caprice but an important element for the protection of collective and individual rights of the Serbs there.

He also opined that dialogue is the only way to resolve all open issues between Belgrade and Pristina.

Vucic: KFOR acted professionally during crisis in Kosovo (N1, media)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic assessed KFOR’s conduct during the latest crisis in Kosovo as very rational, prudent and professional and thanked Major General Daniel T. Lasica for that, N1 reports.

“Very correct meeting with Major General Lasica whom I thanked in particular for the rational, prudent and professional conduct of KFOR units during the crisis period”, Vucic wrote on his Instagram account.

Vucic, during the meeting with US European Command Strategy, Plans and Policy Director, Major General Daniel T. Lasica also said he hopes that good cooperation between the Serbian Army and US shall continue. 

Vucevic: Impression is that Serbia was more constructive partner in Ohrid (Tanjug)

Serbian Defence Minister Milos Vucevic said on Tuesday the impression in Brussels was that Serbia had been the more constructive partner in the most recent round of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue in Ohrid, North Macedonia, Tanjug news reports.

“I can say that there are positive views after the Ohrid discussions and that Serbia’s position is slightly better”, Vucevic said after attending the EU’s Schuman Security and Defence Forum.

He said the impression after his discussions in Brussels was that Serbia “was the more constructive partner in Ohrid”.

“Nothing is over or signed, but we are heading towards normalisation of Serbian-Albanian relations”, he added Vucevic.

Vucevic met with the head of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs David McAllister, the defence ministers of Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro and EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi.

Vucevic said the forum had focused on the Ukraine war and further EU and NATO support to Ukraine, as well as “on everything that could pose a danger to the EU”.

Pointing to double standards in the narrative on Ukraine, Vucevic said Serbia had no problem whatsoever with the insistence on the inviolability of Ukraine’s borders and sovereignty.

“On the other hand, the same position is not acknowledged to us”, he noted.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/42wSl0z

Sekulic: I am afraid of the unfolding of an extra-institutional nature, elections are also very possible (N1)

The director of FoNet News Agency, Zoran Sekulic, said that Serbia is entering a new cycle of political tensions, and potentially a crisis, and that he is afraid of an outcome that would be of an extra-institutional nature. “They have already started to announce the blocking of institutions, and at one point when the ball starts rolling, the question is what can develop from it,” said Sekulic in the N1 ”Novi dan” morning show.

Sekulic assesses that the People’s Movement for the State, the formation of which was announced by the president, is a polyvalent vaccine that “has multiple purposes.”

“One of the purposes, especially in this situation, since it is certain that the agreements from Brussels and Ohrid will not go to the Parliament and that the political will of the ruling coalition and the president himself will not lead to an immediate change of the Constitution and the calling of a referendum, regardless of the fact that those agreements in the opinion of lawyers, to put it mildly, they open up issues of compliance with the Constitution – you don’t go to the Assembly, you don’t go to constitutional changes, you don’t go to a referendum, so – the fourth step is the elections,” Sekulic pointed out.

He also reminds that the opposition – “both left and right” says that we should go to the elections, and that those who are against the agreement and those who think that these agreements are bad, but that they are inevitable, say so.

He also points to a story coming and the SNS about the possible return of the census to five percent. “Until yesterday, the strengthening of the right suited the authorities, but now things have changed – they need a weaker right in the parliament, and a stronger pro-EU bloc,” he adds.

He conveyed another interesting detail in the N1 TV show: “I spoke with a man who might be well-informed about the People’s Movement (for the state). He replied to me – I don’t know much about it, but I know that the elections will be in September. And that is someone who could be very well informed,” says Sekulic.

“That fits the picture of the situation we see now,” he added.

Students opposing the European agreement announced participation in the blockades of institutions (KoSSev, Danas, Beta)

Students of several faculties announced from a protest in the centre of Belgrade that because of the Franco-German plan for Kosovo, they will gather at the blockades of state institutions, which were announced by the parliamentary parties gathered as the “State-Building Opposition” for Friday, March 24, reported KoSSev, citing Beta news agency. 

At the protest in front of the Faculty of Philosophy building, it was also said that the students had sent an email request to all the parliamentary groups in the Serbian Parliament to express their opinion on the plan and initiate the impeachment process against the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, due to what they claim is a violation of the Constitution.

“The answer will show who really is a member of parliament”, it was said at the gathering, which was attended by several hundred people.

The students also organised a performance that included football “with small goals” in which the main actors were Vucic and the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, and the judge was the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Boreell.

It was the third gathering of students on the plateau in front of the Faculty of Philosophy, and like the previous time they chanted “Kosovo is Serbia”, and at the mention of the name of the President of Serbia – “Treason, treason”.

Hill: Signing the agreement is not very important, implementation is the real issue (NMagazin, FoNet, N1)

The agreement that Serbia and Kosovo reached in Ohrid is legally binding and without signature, confirmed the Ambassador of the United States of America (USA) in Belgrade, Christopher Hill, and pointed out that one of the key elements of the agreement is that the obligations of both parties are part of the European integration process, reported portal NMagazin.

Hill emphasised for the FoNet agency that it was made clear that the formation of the Community of Serbian Municipalities (CSM) is urgent and important, reminding that this is an obligation that was accepted 10 years ago by Kosovo, Serbia, and the EU.

From the point of view of the Serbian public, it is very important that international organisations, such as the EU, have an agreement that they must adhere to and ensure its implementation, said Hill, and added that the CSM is important to provide a security and future to the Serbian community in Kosovo.

I have been involved in many negotiations where there was no signature at the end of the process. I know there is a lot of discussion about it, but I don’t think it matters much. The real question is to continue with the implementation and that will be interesting to see in the coming weeks and months, Hill predicted.

Asked about Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s statement that he will apply the annex to the European proposal up to the red lines, Hill replied that Vucic clearly stated what he could accept and what he could not.

Instead of talking about red lines, we should focus on the fact that he was very clear with the EU what he can do, how and when, which I think is fine. I think it should be done on the Kosovo side as well, said Hill.

The agreement from Ohrid is legally binding although it has not been signed and will be part of the negotiation framework on the way to the European Union of Kosovo and Serbia, are the messages of international representatives from Washington and Brussels these days. Messages on the non-signing and signing of the two negotiators are more for internal use, according to analysts. And the Serbs in Kosovo are confused because they did not receive a clear message.

However, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, regarding the European agreement on Kosovo and the annex on implementation, stated that it is legally binding for Serbia when it signs or seals something or verbally agrees to it.

Andric Rakic: If Pristina remains consistent – from April 1, Serbs with KM licence plates will not be able to drive in Kosovo and use crossings (Danas)

Milica Andric Rakic from the “New Social Initiative”, a non-governmental organisation from Kosovska Mitrovica, says that around January 20, the Kosovo Government began to violate the agreement on licence plates reached in Brussels less than two months before, wrote Danas daily.

After the crisis caused by Pristina’s reciprocal decision regarding licence plates and the refusal of Serbs from the north of Kosovo who own vehicles with KM licence plates, issued by the Ministry of Interior of Serbia, to re-register their vehicles with Kosovo plates marked RKS, an agreement was reached in Brussels in November which, it turned out, only delayed further escalation.

According to the agreement, Belgrade undertook not to issue new licence plates, and Pristina waived all steps such as warnings or fines due to licence plates, but already at the beginning of this year, the Kosovo police began, randomly, not allowing the crossing of administrative lines from central Serbia to Kosovo to those who have KM plates.

Danas reported that even today Kosovo police randomly stops citizens at administrative crossings, not allowing those whose insurance was extended after November to cross, interpreting it as an extended registration.

“It is not clear to what extent this policy of the government of Kosovo is implemented, citizens probably avoid trying to go to crossings if they believe that their car is “in the critical zone” and there have been no media articles about this practice for a long time. The Kosovo government  was denounced by the EU and the USA for violating that agreement, but nothing fundamentally changed,” says Andric Rakic.

“If the Kosovo government remains consistent, it means that from April 1, KM plates will not be able to commute in Kosovo or use crossings with Serbia. In parallel with that, it is possible to repeat the crisis with the organisation of the elections if the Serbian List maintains its position of not participating in the elections,” says Andric Rakic.

On the current course of the dialogue, which is being conducted around the European proposal for a new dialogue framework and its implementation, Andric Rakic says that the expectations after the meeting in Ohrid have been disappointing, and therefore the uncertainty is even greater.

“These are all some of the solutions and questions that the meeting in Ohrid should have answered, but it is an understatement to say that expectations were disappointed. The uncertainty is perhaps even greater now,” says Andric Rakic.

The first test of the Ohrid agreement is the Serbian List participation in the elections on April 23 (Danas, FoNet)

The first test of the Ohrid agreement will be today, and whether the Serbian List will register for the Kosovo elections on April 23, it was said at today’s panel “Nothing in between – EU proposal for the normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo”, reported Danas daily. 

If there is no such thing, there is no agreement either, said Dragisa Mijacic, coordinator of the Working Group of the National Convention for the European Union for Chapter 35.

Jovana Radosavljevic from the New Social Initiative agrees with his position, adding that today is a crucial day.

If the Serbian List, which said it will not participate in the elections, does not register – we cannot expect the elections to be held in the north of Kosovo at all, it was said at the panel.

Dacic meets with OSCE’s Schmidt in Vienna (Tanjug)

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic, who is visiting Austria, met with OSCE Secretary-General Helga Schmidt in Vienna on Wednesday.

Prior to the meeting with Schmidt, Dacic spoke with Austrian Parliament Speaker Wolfgang Sobotka, and his visit to Austria will be concluded with a meeting with his Austrian counterpart Alexander Schallenberg.

Serbia and Austria will next year mark 150 years of bilateral relations, established in 1874.

Political relations between Serbia and Austria in the past decade have been characterised by intensive dialogue and Austria’s advocacy of Serbia’s fastest possible progress in EU integration, which is Vienna’s principled policy on the Western Balkans.

Kurti: The degree of self-management will not be the same as the CSM (ZSO) (RTS)

Radio Television of Serbia reported that Prime Minister Albin Kurti stated in Pristina that the “new agreement” provided that the Serbs in Kosovo to be provided with an “adequate level of education and self-governance”, but that this will not be the same as the agreements for the formation of the Community of Serbian Municipalities (CSM).

“It refers to the Serbian community, not the municipalities. The community is not a territorial category, municipalities are territorial and administrative units. Therefore, they are not the same thing. I understand that they are not completely different, unrelated, but they are not the same thing,” Kurti said at a press conference in Pristina, reported RTS.

Asked about the statement of the European mediator in the dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, who said yesterday that Article 7 of the negotiated agreement talks about the implementation of the agreement from 2013 and 2015, which implies the establishment of the Community of Municipalities with a Serbian majority, Kurti said that in point 7 of the basic the agreement states “an adequate level of education and self-management of the Serbian community”.

“We never deny that two agreements were concluded by our predecessors, but both were largely violated in the past. The President of Serbia violated the first agreement himself, who gave the Serbian structures an order for one-time inclusion in the Kosovo system, and then collective resignation. This is a violation of the agreement of April 19, 2013. We do not deny that the 2013 agreement exists, but at the same time we find it violated in two ways. And the other is the 2015 agreement that failed the test of the constitution. Not in two or three articles, but in a total of 23 articles. Therefore, we have to take these elements into account as well,” stated Kurti.

He claims that the word community cannot be equated with the word municipality or association, just as the word nation cannot be equated with the republic.

“I say once again: they are not completely independent, they are not absolutely separable from each other, but they are far from the same thing,” Kurti said, reported RTS, citing media in Pristina.

Humanitarian/Development

How did Crossplag go global? The success story of a Kosovar start-up (BIRN)

While the world was captivated by the newest version of artificial intelligence, a Kosovar platform for identifying plagiarism, Crossplag, launched an Artificial Intelligence Content Detector to identify plagiarism written with AI.

If you have not already been part of the hype about ChatGPT-3, then it’s probably only a matter of time before you are. A programming language that has taken the world by storm, ChatGPT-3 can do a whole lot, from writing a poetry about Picasso in Shakespearean style to writing a cover letter for your next job application.

This and other language programs produce original essays on any topic, in a matter of seconds. This has posed a serious problem for academia, as detecting plagiarism has become much more difficult.

This has created a tremendous need for software that can detect writing created by artificial intelligence. Teachers and professors in most universities have been looking for tools that can help them detect this advanced plagiarism.

One such system called Crossplag, invented by Besart Kunushevci, a 28 year old boy from Prishtina, has won global reach.

Three months ago, Crossplag launched a detector that is precisely trained to detect if an article is written with AI. Over 1,300 universities, including the world’s best, such as Harvard, Yale and Georgetown are using Crossplag.

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

Every village in Kosovo now connected to high-speed broadband internet, with World Bank support (worldbank.org)

Kosovo connected its last remaining non-connected village to high-speed broadband internet today, achieving one of the highest internet penetration in Europe. This milestone, achieved with World Bank support, marks a significant moment for the country’s technological advancement and its population of around 1.8 million.

A ceremony in the remote village of Hertice, in northeastern Kosovo, attended by government cabinet ministers and World Bank officials, marked the completion of works which connected a total of 201 villages, with 60,000 people, to high-speed broadband infrastructure, as part of the World Bank-financed Kosovo Digital Economy Project (KODE), implemented by the Ministry of Economy of Kosovo. In addition to almost 5,000 households, 107 schools and 43 health institutions in remote locations are also now connected to high-speed internet of up to 100 Mbps.

“Access to high-speed internet and better digital infrastructure in general will improve Kosovo’s connections to the global economy, which is essential for a more productive and faster growing economy, and it will bring benefits to all the people of Kosovo,” said Massimiliano Paolucci, World Bank Country Manager for Kosovo and North Macedonia.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/40hReA2