Albanian Language Media:

• Stano says Serbia’s decision to recognize Kosovo plates is positive step (Koha)
• PDK sends Law on Sovereign Fund to Constitutional Court (Koha)
• Opposition: Kurti is trying to go to elections without forming Association (EO)
• Detention extended for suspects accused of Banjska attack (media)
• Tahiri on high electricity bills: Latest blow to Kosovar families (AP)
• “Citizens paying bills equal to those in Belgium and Luxembourg” (Indeksonline)
• CHDRF calls for urgent investigations into “abnormal electricity bills” (media)
• Another action in the north, police searching for smuggled goods (AP)
• Trajkovic calls on northern Serbs to join protests in Serbia (media)
• “Disarm the men!” – Call to action against femicide in Kosovo (Kallxo)

Serbian Language Media:

• Stano: The EU welcomes Belgrade’s decision on the plates, it is expected that Pristina will respond in a similar way (N1, Kontakt plus radio)
• Vucevic: Kurti is continuing his terror against Serbs (Kosovo Online, TV Prva)
• MLGA: The collection of signatures for the replacement of the mayor in the north will begin soon (Radio Mitrovica sever, Kontakt plus radio) 
• Aleksic: The Government’s decision on RKS license plates a proof that Vucic is ready to do anything to preserve power (KiM radio, N1, FoNet) 
• The Kosovo’s Ministry of Culture has placed under protection and the Gornji Strmac church (Kosovo Online)
• EU: Violence unacceptable, investigate election irregularities (KiM radio, N1)
• Rada Trajkovic invited students and professors of the University in K.Mitrovica to join the protests (Danas)

Opinion:

• Palokaj: The dialogue has failed, only the culprit is being sought (Koha)

International:

• Kosovo says gunmen from Serbia are planning more attacks (Reuters)
• Kosovo’s Long-Awaited Visa Waiver Applies to Most, But Not All (Balkan Insight)

Albanian Language Media  

Stano says Serbia’s decision to recognize Kosovo plates is positive step (Koha)

Spokesperson for the European Union, Peter Stano, said today that Serbia’s decision to recognize license plates issued by Kosovo authorities is a positive step toward the implementation of the agreement. “We welcome Serbia’s decision to officially recognize RKS license plates issued by Kosovo. This decision is a positive step in the implementation of the Agreement on the Path to Normalization, as well as previous engagements in the Dialogue about the Freedom of Movement. This shows that it is possible to achieve progress in the process of normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia. It also constitutes a step in the right direction toward a better regional and European integration of the Western Balkans from which the citizens of the region will benefit. This decision paves the way to the full removal of the stickers’ regime. The EU now expects Kosovo to respond in a similar way,” Stano is quoted as saying.

PDK sends Law on Sovereign Fund to Constitutional Court (Koha)

The Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), the biggest party in the opposition, has sent today the Law on the Sovereign Fund to the Constitutional Court. PDK MP Ferat Shala said he is confident that the court will reject the law because, in his words, the government “is trying to seize the resources and assets of enterprises through discriminatory and unequal laws’ ‘. “We are confident that this law, which has already been adopted by the Assembly, will be rejected and we will return to economic normality … The economic failures that this government has created in these enterprises for the last three years, it is now trying to impose a managing super-structure to create further inequality and other means of control,” he argued.

PDK legal representative, Faton Fetahu, said that the Law on the Sovereign Fund has 11 articles that are against the Constitution, and that the government is trying to create a monopoly. “The article about the investment role of the Sovereign Fund in creating enterprises which are known as private enterprises would create a monopoly, because the Sovereign Fund would select two enterprises according to its own will, will invest and will create discrimination,” he said.

Opposition: Kurti is trying to go to elections without forming Association (EO)

Following a statement by EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak that the Association of Serb-majority municipalities is an internal matter of Kosovo, Prime Minister Albin Kurti said that next year he could write a draft statute for the Association in coordination with his ministers, Nenad Rasic and Elbert Krasniqi.

MP from the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Hisen Berisha, told the news website that Kurti is trying to cover up the detrimental agreements he has reached. He further argued that Kurti wants to take Kosovo to early elections without forming the Association.

MP from the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Rrezarta Krasniqi, said Kurti’s statement about the Association is scandalous. “Kurti must know that he is not talking to the Vetevendosje Council, but he is speaking on our behalf as citizens of Kosovo, with the international community. This is only the latest scandalous statement,” she added.

Detention extended for suspects accused of Banjska attack (media)

The Basic Court in Pristina has decided to extend for another two months the detention measure for three suspects accused of the September 24 attack in Banjska in the north of Kosovo. A spokeswoman for the court confirmed the information to Koha news website.

Tahiri on high electricity bills: Latest blow to Kosovar families (AP)

Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) parliamentary group chief, Abelard Tahiri, said today that in the third year of Kurti’s government, the high electricity bills are “the latest blow to Kosovar families”. “In the third year of the Kurti-led government, the citizens are feeling in their pockets the ‘powerful’ effects of this government. The high electricity bills are the latest blow to Kosovar families. In a time of inflation and poverty, we must think about the police officers, teachers, all employees of the public sector, and especially those in the private sectors, who even without these bills, can barely make it through a month. Kosovo deserves better,” Tahiri wrote in a Facebook post.

“Citizens paying bills equal to those in Belgium and Luxembourg” (Indeksonline)

Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) MP Besnik Tahiri reacted in a Facebook post today to the electricity bills saying that the situation is alarming. “In the country with the lowest income per capita in the region and Europe, the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo are paying bills equivalent to the expenses paid by the citizens of the richest countries like Belgium and Luxembourg. We are heading toward an alarming situation where the average bills of families with few members will be €250-350. This is a governance of unable people and fraudsters. This Prime Minister is a Santa Clause of his own kind, giving out with one hand, and grabbing away with both hands,” Tahiri argues.

CHDRF calls for urgent investigations into “abnormal electricity bills” (media)

Most news websites report that the Pristina-based Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms (CDHRF) said in a statement today that the prosecution must urgently launch investigations into what it calls abnormal electricity bills for last month.

“In addition to discriminating against citizens on ethnic basis, the government pays for the electricity of some citizens [in reference to Serbs in the north of Kosovo] for 23 years now, while it penalizes and steals from others for 23 years. The discrimination is also done with regards to the payment of other utilities such as water, waste, sewerage, property tax, and so on, and no one is addressing this matter seriously. It is not enough for the citizens of Kosovo to be informed and know their rights, but those rights must also be protected with all allowed democratic means. The citizens are being manipulated by the political parties and by the beneficial and clientelist part of civil society which is diminishing the protests or using them for their own interests,” the Council argued.

Another action in the north, police searching for smuggled goods (AP)

Kosovo Police are conducting another operation in Leposavic – a Serb-majority municipality – related to the smuggling of goods. Kosovo Police Deputy Director for the north, Veton Elshani, confirmed the information to the news website and said that police and customs were controlling a warehouse which is suspected of having smuggled goods. “A control is underway because of information that he [the owner of the warehouse] also has goods that have been smuggled, the origin of which is unknown, or which were illegally imported from Serbia,” Elshani said.

Trajkovic calls on northern Serbs to join protests in Serbia (media)

Several news websites report that Rada Trajkovic, leader of the European Movement of Kosovo Serbs and advisor to Kosovo Minister for Communities and Returns Nenad Rasic, said in a post on X today that “students protests [in Serbia] are a chance for professors and students of Pristina University based in Mitrovica North to finally decide: whether they will continue to serve Radoicic and this regime or if they will fight for the Constitution and dignity? It is time for them to join the protests. And they can go there with RKS plates”.

“Disarm the men!” – Call to action against femicide in Kosovo (Kallxo)

The non-governmental organization “Fourth Wave”, through an action in downtown Pristina today has called for institutional responsibility for the high level of gender-based violence in Kosovo, the news website reports. “Disarm the men”, “There is no father, there is a patriarch”, “What is the price of a woman’s life?” are some of the banners placed near the building of the Kosovo government. “The disturbing reality of women in Kosovo shows that in the last 15 years, in shocking ways, 26 women have lost their lives, mainly at the hands of someone who they were closely involved with or had family ties,” representatives of the NGO said.

Serbian Language Media

Stano: The EU welcomes Belgrade’s decision on the plates, it is expected that Pristina will respond in a similar way (N1, Kontakt plus radio)

The spokesperson of the European Union (EU) Peter Stano stated that the EU welcomes the decision of the Government of Serbia to allow freedom of movement for all vehicles from Kosovo. 

“This decision represents a positive step in the implementation of the Agreement on the Road to Normalization, as well as previous obligations from the dialogue related to freedom of movement. It shows that it is possible to make progress in the process of normalizing relations between Kosovo and Serbia. It also represents a step in the right direction towards better regional and European integration of the Western Balkans, which ultimately benefits the citizens of the region. This decision paves the way for a complete abolition of the sticker regime. The EU now expects Kosovo to respond in a similar way,” said Peter Stano in a statement to N1.

Vucevic: Kurti is continuing his terror against Serbs (Kosovo Online, TV Prva)

Defence Minister Milos Vucevic told TV Prva this morning that Kosovo PM Albin Kurti continues his terror against Serbs.

He emphasized that the situation in Kosovo was the subject of discussion at the session of the National Security Council, as well as the riots on Sunday in Belgrade.

“What worries us all in terms of national security, and it is something that has been refracting and has followed us for years, I would say for decades, is the situation in Kosovo and Metohija. Kurti continues to terrorize the Serbs and will not stop, and I am afraid we will have a big problem and a big challenge around all of that. Unfortunately, while we have a situation where Serbian property is invaded, while pressure continues on Serbia, on Kosovo and Metohija, while Serbian churches are being declared to be some other churches and belong to others, here we have scenes where someone is trying to set fire to Stari dvor, a symbol of Serbian statehood,” Vucevic said.

According to him, there are those who are not well-intentioned towards Serbia.

“They want to stick a label on us that we are arguing/fighting with someone, but our country does not have that interest, but wants to cooperate with everyone and to be a safe, secure, stable, and economically strong country. Serbia is a country where law and laws rule, no one is above the laws or is bypassing them and cannot annul the electoral will of the citizens, because that would also nullify all the values of democracy or the democratic organization of a country. All citizens of Serbia can be sure that no one will forcefully change the decision of the citizens at the polling stations. Anything else would  render holding of elections in general senseless, but also would mean that whoever has a stronger team of people would take over some institution, and thus state that elections are not important and declares his election victory, and thus really says that citizens have no right to decide who should represent the state or lead a city in the next four years,” Vucevic said.

He also reminded that President Vucic announced that by Orthodox Christmas, the Serbian security agency will publish a document that will be an analysis of the influence of some external factors on the electoral process in Serbia.

MLGA: The collection of signatures for the replacement of the mayor in the north will begin soon (Radio Mitrovica sever, Kontakt plus radio) 

In the spring of next year, elections are expected in four municipalities in the north of Kosovo.

Based on the expiration of the deadlines stipulated by the administrative instruction and the initiative of Serbian citizens to replace three of the four mayors in the north, the Ministry of Local Government Administration announced that the deadline for such a process will begin soon, reported Radio Mitrovica sever yesterday. 

The third week of April is the latest when the mayor replacement process will take place in municipalities with a Serbian majority; 108 days is the maximum period that the entire process can last until the day when the citizens vote whether they want to replace the mayors or not.

According to the Deputy Minister of Local Government, Arber Vokri, this process will start soon.

“The group has received a response from the chairman and the 30-day deadline for collecting 20% signatures will soon begin. When I say soon, it means that the documents regarding the signature will be delivered from the central institutions and from that moment the time is counted,” said Vokri.

The initiative to replace the president of the municipalities was launched only in three of the four municipalities in the north.

According to Vokri, there are no indications that the president of the municipality of Zvecan will be replaced.

After receiving the signatures, the leaders of the municipal assemblies must send them to the CEC for verification within three days.

The CEC does not have a specific time for checking signatures, but this institution, in case the specified number of signatures is not reached, can give the initiative group a deadline of 10 days to collect them.

Having determined that the required number of signatures has been collected, the CEC must organize an election process within 45 days in which citizens can vote whether they want to dismiss the mayor from office or not.

Even if new municipal presidents are elected, Deputy Minister Vokri talks about the difficulties they will face.

“I do not believe that the situation will improve, because the new presidents, if elected, will have to work with the current assemblies, that is, with the current composition, and as you may know, the current councilors are not from the Serbian List, in fact they are in positions opposite to the Serbian List, so there may be polarization and perhaps paralysis of municipalities in the event of a change of mayor,” Vokri added.

Aleksic: The Government’s decision on RKS license plates a proof that Vucic is ready to do anything to preserve power (KiM radio, N1, FoNet) 

The President of the National Movement of Serbia and holder of the “Serbia Against Violence” list, Miroslav Aleksic, said that the decision of the Government of Serbia to allow free movement of all vehicles from Kosovo from the New Year is proof that the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, is “ready to do anything to preserve his power.” 

“While on the streets of Belgrade they are beating students who are peacefully protesting against election theft and demanding the annulment of the stolen elections, they are leaving the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija at the mercy of their coalition partner Albin Kurti,” Aleksic said in a written statement.

He added that it should be remembered that because of those same plates, the Serbs from Kosovo blocked the roads, left the institutions, boycotted the elections and handed all the institutions over to the Albanians.

“Of course, all this on the recommendation of the great patriot Aleksandar Vucic, for whom all this was obviously a show, and the life of Serbs in our southern province is in the last place for him. The day will come when we would find out what he had promised foreigners, and apparently he has put us in a lot of debt,” Aleksic said.

He asked how it is possible for Serbia to be the only country where the American and Russian ambassadors have the same views.

“Congratulations for the stolen elections, brutal violation of the will of the people and the announcement of cooperation with the illegitimate future government by the American ambassador, all in exchange for recognizing the symbol of Kosovo’s statehood and quietly fulfilling all obligations from the agreement that Vucic himself accepted without a mandate. National interests and the will of the people must never be subject to trade,” he added, reported KiM radio.

The Kosovo’s Ministry of Culture has placed under protection and the Gornji Strmac church (Kosovo Online)

Portal Kosovo Online reports that the Ministry of Culture in the Government of Kosovo also placed the church in Gornji Strmac under protection, which can be seen in a document that Kosovo Online had access to.

According to the portal, some media in Albanian had previously announced that it was a Roman Catholic church, although in the videos inside the church, only icons of Serbian Orthodox saints can be seen.

As Kosovo Online learns from the COC (SPC) circles, it is a similar attempt to divide the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches as it was in 2018, when at the initiative of the then authorities from Pristina, a mass was held on the foundations of the Orthodox church in Novi Brdo.

Kosovo Online recalled that the coordinator of the National Convention on the EU for Chapter 35, Dragisa Mijacic, said on the social network “X” that the regime of Albin Kurti plans to declare another Orthodox church in Kosovo as Roman Catholic.

“The next target of Kurti’s government is the Orthodox church in Gornji Strmac (Perkovac), Zubin Potok municipality, which is also falsely claimed to be Roman Catholic. These unprecedented and uncivilized actions on Christmas days perfectly describe the reality of today’s Kosovo,” Mijacic wrote.

EU: Violence unacceptable, investigate election irregularities (KiM radio, N1)

The European Union announced that the right to peaceful demonstrations in Serbia must be respected, but violence is not a solution and that it is unacceptable and called again to “properly investigate allegations of election irregularities”, reported KiM radio. 

“Police action must be appropriate and fundamental rights must be respected within the rule of law. The EU calls for peace and dialogue,” the European Union said in response to a Voice of America question about the riots at the protests in Belgrade on Sunday.

From Brussels, they did not want to answer the question about how they comment on the accusations of the authorities in Serbia against unnamed Western countries for causing disturbances at the protests after the elections.

The foreign observer mission led by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) stated in a preliminary report that the elections in Serbia were marked by serious irregularities on the day of voting, as well as unfair election conditions in favor of the authorities.

The government in Serbia denies that there were electoral irregularities and refuses to fulfill the demands of the opposition and part of the citizens to re-run the elections in Belgrade.

Rada Trajkovic invited students and professors from the University in K.Mitrovica to join the protests (Danas)

Adviser to the Kosovo Minister for Communities and Return, Rada Trajkovic, invites students and professors from Kosovo to join the protest.

She wrote on the X social network that this is an opportunity for them to decide whether they will serve the regime and Milan Radoicic, former vice president of the Serbian List, or fight for the Constitution, reported Danas daily. 

“Student protests are a chance for the professors and students at the University of Pristina based in KM to finally decide: will they continue to serve Radoicic and this regime or will they fight for the Constitution and dignity?” she wrote on X.

As she added, it is time for them to join the protest.

“And now they can get to it with RKS license plates,” said Trajkovic, alluding to yesterday’s decision by the Government, which enabled free movement for all vehicles from Kosovo from January 1.

Opinion 

Palokaj: The dialogue has failed, only the culprit is being sought (Koha)

Opinion piece by Brussels-based correspondent Augustin Palokaj.

2023 started with great hopes that in the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia there will be a great turning point toward a concrete agreement. What was presented as the French-German proposal was said to have been presented to the parties as “take it or leave it”. There was a lot of debate about the “Basic Agreement”. Many versions were published, but in the end the real one was revealed. The agreement was very modest. It was between a necessary minimum to mark a progress toward the normalization of relations and a success in the dialogue, and the possible maximum at a time when neither the EU nor the United States of America were willing to pressure Serbia into recognizing Kosovo. It was an agreement which in fact normalized Kosovo’s non-recognition by Serbia. But at least that agreement, at its core, included Kosovo’s de facto recognition by Serbia, expressed through the obligation that Serbia would not oppose Kosovo’s membership in any international organization, as well as the obligation that the parties would respect each other’s territory and national symbols. Although it was not what the EU had aimed for, it was not a final, comprehensive, legally binding agreement, it was nevertheless a concrete step towards a new status quo. Even the EU High Representative, Josep Borrell, called it as such, saying that “this agreement marks a new status quo in the process of dialogue”. This statement too showed that the EU has given up on many ambitions, because up to that point it had claimed that “the status quo is not sustainable”.

While the parties, both Kosovo and Serbia, made attempts for changes in the text, it remained in the form that it was proposed.

Everything surrounding the agreement started going downhill after a meeting between Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. It was said that they had accepted the agreement, but there was no signature. The EU said back then, and it still insists that the statement of the High Representative about the Agreement has the weight of its achievement and that it makes the implementation [of the agreement] mandatory for the parties. But since then and to this day, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and all his associates, say that they have neither signed nor accepted the agreement in its entirety, but that they have accepted it only as “a concept for normalization” and that they will only implement certain parts.

The name of the agreement too was changed. It was no longer called “a basic agreement” but it became “The Agreement on the path to normalization of relations”. From insisting that “the Agreement, together with its implementation annex, must be signed because without signatures they remain only political documents”, the EU facilitators shifted to the tactic that “it doesn’t have to be signed”. The implementation annex reached in Ohrid was also not signed. And Serbia, both in words and with actions, proved that it doesn’t intend to implement the main parts of the agreement and its annex. Serbia voted against initiating the procedure for Kosovo’s membership in the Council of Europe. Serbia sent letters to EU member states not to agree to considering Kosovo’s membership application. Serbia continued to insist with non-recognizing countries not to support Kosovo’s membership in international organizations.

In doing so, Serbia successfully tested the EU’s readiness to uphold the Agreement and it showed that the EU is not ready to stand behind the agreement, as it did not say a single word of criticism about Serbia’s clear violation of the agreement.

At the end of the year, while the EU Summit with Western Balkans countries was being held, Serbia informed the EU even in writing that it does not intend to implement what the EU still calls an “Agreement”. Serbia did this to express reservations about the joint declaration from the summit, which among other things called on Kosovo and Serbia to “implement all obligations from the dialogue agreements without delay and without conditions”. Serbia thus gave a major and even a fatal blow to the EU facilitators in the dialogue process.

The EU facilitators, oftentimes when they were asked about statements by Serbian leaders that they will not implement the main parts of the agreements, said that they “there shouldn’t be judgments based on what is said publicly in Belgrade” but rather based on what they say in tete-a-tete meetings. Now Serbia, even in writing, has made it clear to the EU that it doesn’t intend to respect the main obligations from the Agreement. This proves that the dialogue in fact has failed, because it will have little importance in two or three years what Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told High Representative Josep Borrell or Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak in their tete-a-tete meetings. Kosovo should seek an agreement with the EU and the U.S. and no longer hold the blame for the failure of the dialogue so far. The Association too must be formed in Kosovo, for the Kosovo Serbs, and not for Belgrade.

Meanwhile, Kosovo, by fulfilling its parts from the dialogue, should leave the international community to deal with Belgrade and to respond to Serbia’s actions. For Kosovo there is no value if Serbia lags in the process of EU integration. There is no importance for Kosovo if Serbia’s obligations to the dialogue agreements are included in Chapter 35 of the negotiating framework for Serbia’s membership in the EU. But it is important for Kosovo that, with or without Serbia’s consent, the process of membership in international organizations is unblocked, including the review of the application for EU membership. This should be a test for the EU to prove that it is serious about the dialogue and the agreements that have derived from the process.

International 

Kosovo says gunmen from Serbia are planning more attacks (Reuters)

Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti said on Saturday that armed men supported by Serbian security agencies were being trained to launch new attacks in his country after a September assault which left four dead. Serbia denied any such plan.

On September 24, a group of 80 armed men attacked Kosovo police in the quiet village of Banjska near the border with Serbia, leaving one police officer and three gunmen dead.

Speaking at a news conference, Kurti said Milan Radoicic, a top Kosovo Serb politician who admitted taking part in the September gun battle, was planning further attacks.

“He is now continuing preparations for other attacks in our country…he is holding regular meetings with senior officials of the Serbian secret service, BIA.”

Petar Petkovic, head of Serbia’s government office for Kosovo, said Kurti’s allegation was false.

“It is an absolute lie that Belgrade is preparing an attack,” he said in a statement.

Kosovo’s prosecution has issued arrest warrants for Radoicic and 30 others believed to be hiding in Serbia, which denied earlier allegations from Kosovo that it provided financial and practical support to Radoicic and his group.

Kosovo, which has an ethnic Albanian majority, declared independence from Serbia in 2008 after a guerrilla uprising and a 1999 NATO intervention.

Kosovo’s Long-Awaited Visa Waiver Applies to Most, But Not All (Balkan Insight)

There are some Serbs in Kosovo who have neither Kosovo papers nor a ‘proper’ passport from Serbia.

When the European Union waives its visa requirement for Kosovo next month, it won’t apply to Marta Dasic. Born in Serbia, 22-year-old Dasic has lived for the past 19 years in the western Kosovo city of Peja/Pec.

Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/bdkfv6ef