Albanian Language Media:

• Bislimi: 10 measures for transitional phase of regulation enforcement (media)
• Kosovo rejects EU invitation to discuss the Serbian Dinar in dialogue (media)
• Rasic not against the CBK regulation; “I’m worried about the timeline” (media)
• COMKFOR and EU ambassadors discuss range of topics (media)
• EULEX chief: Situation in north can easily deteriorate (media)
• Schallenberg meets Gervalla; dialogue key to unlocking EU’s doors (media)
• Threats against Kurti during recent stay in Skopje confirmed (RTK)
• Ahmeti: Association will have executive competencies (media)

Serbian Language Media:

• Bislimi: ”I received an invitation from the EU about the dinar – I will not go, it is not a topic for dialogue with the chief negotiator (KoSSev, KiM Radio, media)
• Djoric: GoK decisions not in favor of the Serbs; Radosavljevic: A solution can be found; Rasic about quick return to cities (KiM radio)
• Concerns grow as citizens in Kosovo cannot fully withdraw wages, pensions and social benefits issued by Serbia (KoSSev)
• There was no labeling of NGOs, the message was for Lajcak, says Bislimi (KiM radio)
• Stano: EU expects Serbia to implement ODIHR recommendations (N1, nova.rs)
• Brnabic: We will never accept international investigation into elections (Beta, N1)

Albanian Language Media

Bislimi: 10 measures for transitional phase of regulation enforcement (media)

Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi said on Wednesday that the Kosovo government would soon present a set of ten measures so that citizens are not damaged during the “transitional phase” of the enforcement of the decision that does not allow the use of the Serbian Dinar for payments in Kosovo. During a roundtable titled “Economic development for Serbs in Kosovo”, Bislimi said he is aware of the difficulties that the Central Bank of Kosovo’s regulation can create among Serbs in Kosovo. “We are aware that in the short-term period, the enforcement of this measure can create difficulties among some citizens that have received and continue to receive financial aid from the Republic of Serbia. The Central Bank of Kosovo has launched a series of activities and measures aimed at softening this,” he said. “In the next couple of days, the Kosovo government too will announce a list of ten measures through which we will show how we will make sure that the citizens are not damaged during this provisional phase, a phase that will guarantee then the full implementation of the system of payments”.

Bislimi also said that the concerns of Serb community members about the Dinar must be addressed but not dramatized. “An agreement must be reached on a mechanism that will ensure the arrival of these funds [Dinars from Serbia’s budget] to Kosovo, how the Dinar can be converted into Euros and for the Dinar to be removed from circulation. NLB has branches in Kosovo and in Serbia. This means that there is a way, but a will is needed too,” he said.

Bislimi said the Central Bank of Kosovo has addressed the National Bank of Serbia to find a solution but that they have received no response yet.

Kosovo rejects EU invitation to discuss the Serbian Dinar in dialogue (media)

All media report that Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister and chief negotiator Besnik Bislimi rejected an invitation from EU Special Representative for the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Miroslav Lajcak, to meet in Brussels and discuss the issue of the Serbian Dinar in the dialogue. “The issue of the Dinar is not part of the dialogue. I will go [to Brussels] when the Basic Agreement is discussed. We have to see who can go and discuss the Dinar, but not someone from the team of the chief negotiator,” he argued. Bislimi also said that by sending the invitation Lajcak violated the principles he himself set, “because it is the first time that he scheduled a meeting without a prior agreement with the parties and he tried to set an agenda despite the principles he determined in 2021 and which note that no topic is included in the agenda without the agreement of the parties”.

Rasic not against the CBK regulation; “I’m worried about the timeline” (media)

Kosovo’s Minister for Communities and Returns, Nenad Rasic, said in an interview with ATV on Wednesday that is not against the regulation of the Central Bank of Kosovo, but that his only concern is the lack of a timeline or the possibility to raise public awareness about alternative means. “I did not have information about the decision, because I was in Washington that week. And when I came back, I read the decision, first I went to [CBK] Governor Agmeti and then I met the Prime Minister too. None of us can oppose the document as such. But we have a major concern, and it relates to the timeline or the lack of preparations or an awareness raising campaign which would enable those persons to first get the information and then find alternative means such as opening a bank account in NLB or somewhere else, or any other possible action,” Rasic was quoted as saying.

COMKFOR and EU ambassadors discuss range of topics (media)

NATO’s peacekeeping mission in Kosovo – KFOR – said in a press release on Wednesday that COMKFOR, Major General Ozkan Ulutas, met with the EU Ambassador in Kosovo, Tomas Szunyog, EU member states’ Ambassadors and Head of the EULEX Mission, Major General Giovanni Pietro Barbano. “They exchanged views on a range of topics, including KFOR’s activities under its UN mandate, as well as KFOR’s cooperation with the Kosovo Police and EULEX, and its continued security efforts in support to the EU-facilitated dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, Major General Ulutas highlighted KFOR’s steadfast commitment to support all efforts by the International Community, for the benefit of lasting security across Kosovo and regional stability,” the statement notes.

EULEX chief: Situation in north can easily deteriorate (media)

EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) chief Giovanni Pietro Barbano, said in an interview with A2CNN that the situation in the north of Kosovo is currently quiet, but fragile and that it can easily deteriorate. 

“Unfortunately, we have seen that it can very easily deteriorate as it happened in September [last year] with the serious attack in Banjska, when police sergeant Afrim Bunjaku was killed,” he said.

Barbano said that since 2018 EULEX does not have the mandate to carry out investigations and that only Kosovo’s institutions have the full responsibility to investigate the Banjska attack. “EULEX is monitoring investigations carried out by the Kosovo Police and Kosovo authorities in line with the Criminal Procedure Code and in line with the best international and European standards … We were present in Banjska during the attack. We were very close to the zone of the monastery, and we monitored the activities of the Kosovo Police. We managed the investigations concerning the pilgrims, we accompanied those that were present in the monastery to the joint border crossings after all operations were completed,” he said. 

Schallenberg meets Gervalla; dialogue key to unlocking EU’s doors (media)

Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg met on Wednesday in Vienna with his Kosovo counterpart, Donika Gervalla. “16 years since independence, we continue to firmly stand by Kosovo. Constructive engagement from both sides in the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue is key to unlocking the EU’s door,” Schallenberg said in a post on X after the meeting.

Threats against Kurti during recent stay in Skopje confirmed (RTK)

Head of the Kosovo Intelligence Agency, Petrit Ajeti, reported on Wednesday to the Kosovo Assembly Committee for Oversight of the Kosovo Intelligence Agency. Opposition MPs did not talk to the media after the meeting, but Vetevendosje MP and deputy head of the committee, Salih Zyba, told RTK that Ajeti also reported about the threats against Prime Minister Albin Kurti during his recent stay in Skopje, North Macedonia. Zyba confirmed that Ajeti talked specifically about the plan and the threatening calls, saying that Kosovo’s authorities have informed their counterparts in North Macedonia.

Ahmeti: Association will have executive competencies (media)

Several news websites covered an interview that the former Mayor of Pristina, Shpend Ahmeti, gave to TeVe1, highlighting his remarks that Kosovo will form the Association of Serb-majority municipalities and that it will have executive competencies. “I think this government has created irrelevant topics and we did not address the main issue which has been very simple. The Kosovo Serbs do not accept the position they are in and the state of Kosovo as their state. To accommodate them, they think they need more decision-making than the others and you need to create the Association which in my opinion will have executive competencies too,” he argued.

Commenting on the Central Bank of Kosovo’s regulation which also includes the Serbian Dinar, Ahmeti said it was a futile decision both in economic, legal, and political terms. “The citizens need to know what will happen. You cannot just say from now on a currency is no longer valid,” he said.

Serbian Language Media 

Bislimi: “I received an invitation from the EU about the dinar – I will not go, it is not a topic for dialogue with the chief negotiator’’ (KoSSev, KiM Radio, media)

The Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo, Besnik Bislimi, at the round table “Economic Development for Serbs in Kosovo”, which was held in the Media Center Caglavica yesterday, announced the introduction of measures by the Kosovo government in connection with the CBK decree, so that citizens “would not be harmed in the transition application period”. On the other hand, he refuses to discuss this topic in Brussels, because, as he says, it is not a topic for him, that is, for the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.

“We are aware that the implementation of this measure may cause difficulties for citizens who receive support from Serbia,’’ said Bislimi and announced that the GoK will come up with 10 measures to ease the impact of the new CBK regulation. He also said that the issue of the decree should not be dramatized by saying that “people have nothing to eat and will die of hunger.”

After this event, Bislimi, as reported by KiM radio, confirmed that an invitation had arrived from Brussels to discuss this issue, specifically, the transport of money, in Brussels as part of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.

He said, however, that he will not go, explaining that it is not a topic for the main negotiator, because “the dinar is not part of the dialogue”.

“There is a request from Brussels to hold a meeting next week on the issue of regulating the transfer of currency from Serbia to Kosovo, but this is not a meeting that the chief negotiator should go to, because the dinar issue is not part of the dialogue…,” Bislimi said, adding ”we will see who will go”. They said that he will go to Brussels when he is invited to discuss the dialogue.

We know that Vucic knows that he is wrong

After a series of allegations by top Belgrade officials, and primarily the Serbian president, that Pristina was implementing a policy of “persecuting Serbs from Kosovo”, Bislimi denied them.

He says that GoK has its own programs regarding what it wants to achieve, but that part of that plan is not to “deal with Vucic”.

“We know that Vucic knows that he is wrong,” Bislimi said briefly.

“Import of goods used to import weapons”

Speaking about the ban on the import of goods from Serbia, Bislimi repeated what the Pristina officials have been saying since last year, i.e., the decision itself, that it is a security measure, not an economic one:

“Which was passed at those moments when it was established that the import of goods was used and abused for the import of weapons. These are the measures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, not the measures of the Ministry of Economy,” said Bislimi.

Djoric: GoK decisions not in favor of the Serbs; Radosavljevic: A solution can be found; Rasic about quick return to cities (KiM radio)

The Deputy PM of the GoK, Besnik Bilimbi spoke yesterday at the round table “Economic Development for Serbs in Kosovo”, which was held at the Media Center in Malavika. Other participants were the Kosovo Minister for Communities and Return, Nenad Rasic, the president of the Association of Business Women “Avenija” in Laplje Selo, Gordana Djoric, the director of the Center for the Development of Local Communities, Aleksandar Stojanovic, as well as the director of RTV Mir from Leposavic , Nenad Radosavljevic.

Gordana Djoric, president of the Association of Business Women Avenija, said that this government makes decisions that are not in favor of the Serbian community with the intention of evicting the population from here. In this sense, she also referred to the Central Bank’s decree on banning the use of dinars, reported KiM Radio. 

“The dinar ban, as much as the deputy PM has justification – you cannot prevent people from living; that they have nothing to give their children, to survive and feed themselves. Sudden intrusions in post offices and institutions that perform some services for citizens, excessive use of force, all this creates great fear in people, and they do not know what to expect”.

However, the director of TV Mir from Leposavic says that a solution can be found. “All those who until now received something in dinars can send money from the vault of the National Bank of Serbia via the Central Bank and receive it in euros. Taxes on pensions should be reduced”, said Radosavljevic.

Djoric, however, points out that people should have been given more time, and not, as she said, that institutions make an ad hoc decision. 

Aleksandar Stojanovic from the NGO Center for the Development of Local Communities says that the government leaders must talk to the citizens about the current measures. “There is uncertainty and anxiety about dinars, to go out into the field, to go to Osojane, Gorazdevac, talk to people. The government to go out on the field to show that it is part of society,” he said.

Minister for Communities and Return Nenad Rasic also participated in the round table Caglavica, who spoke about the plans of this ministry related to economic development and return. He announced that at the end of last year, more than a thousand people had applied for return, but that the main goal of this ministry was a quick return to the cities, reported KiM radio.

Concerns grow as citizens in Kosovo cannot fully withdraw wages, pensions and social benefits issued by Serbia (KoSSev)

Social benefits, wages, and pensions from Serbia have been wired to the accounts of citizens in Kosovo, while the January unemployment benefits for Kosovo are to be paid tomorrow, but how can the citizens actually get their money?

On February 1st, a regulation of the Central Bank of Kosovo entered into force, which states that the euro is the only allowed currency in Kosovo, but also that every money transaction entering and leaving Kosovo must be carried out through the Central Bank.

The move practically banned the use of the Serbian dinar, as well as dinar payments from Serbia.

It is estimated that the decision directly affects around 100,000 citizens in Kosovo (not only citizens from the Serbian community) who earn and depend on dinar income, including the most socially vulnerable categories and retirees.

After Western representatives pressured the Kosovo authorities to suspend the decision and find an alternative for citizens, as they stressed, must continue to receive these funds, Pristina decided to give this part of the CBK regulation a transitional, adjustment period.

However, although Pristina agreed to a three-month adjustment period, during the same period four million dinars were seized in Kosovo, and two multimillion-dinar shipments from the National Bank of Serbia, intended for the payout of social welfare, pensions and wages, were turned back from the Jarinje crossing.

Money is wired into accounts, but how can it be withdrawn?

Funds are being wired into residents’ accounts, and we investigated how and if citizens are even able to withdraw their money.

Read more at:  http://tinyurl.com/24ye5pua

There was no labeling of NGOs, the message was for Lajcak, says Bislimi (KiM radio)

KiM radio reported that the Deputy PM of Kosovo and the main negotiator of Kosovo in the dialogue with Serbia, Besnik Bislimi, said that “there is no problem with non-governmental organizations from any community” and that there was no labeling of Serbian civil society organizations after the recent meetings in Brussels.

He added that his message referred to Miroslav Lajcak, the EU’s special representative in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.

“There was no labeling. I think that this statement or this conclusion is more or less similar to the conclusion ‘you threatened the European Union’. My tweet refers to the office of Mr. Lajcak, and it does not deal with civil society organizations at all. Civil society organizations were in Brussels and had a series of meetings, I did not deal with any meeting, but I dealt with the fact that Mr. Lajcak met with a team of civil society organizations that say they are from Kosovo, but are part of the implementation of Chapter 35 of Serbia’s European integration,” he said after a series of attacks on representatives of Serbian organizations who were in the European Parliament ten days ago, reported KiM radio.

The negative campaign of representatives of the Kosovo government started, and the Deputy Minister of Administration in Kosovo, Arber Vokrri, stated that the participants in these meetings were “Vucic’s propagandists”.

Viola von Cramon, EP rapporteur, as well as the Quint ambassadors and the head of the EU Office in Kosovo, reacted to the statements of the GoK officials, providing support to the representatives of Serbian NGOs, recalled KiM radio. 

However, Bislimi repeated that in his message on social networks he was dealing exclusively with Lajcak.

“Imagine, if Kosovo’s civil society organizations became part of the implementation of the Agreement on Stabilization and Association of Albania, narratives would immediately be created that they work for greater Albania and that would be impossible. We were several times in Brussels, where we had with us citizens with passports or citizenship of Great Britain, USA, Serbia, and Mr. Lajcak did not even let them enter the EEAS building, saying that teams coming from Kosovo should only have representatives from Kosovo, and teams coming from Serbia only representatives from Serbia. In my tweet I was dealing with Mr. Lajcak,” Bislimi repeated.

He also said that “at 11 o’clock he informed Mr. Lajcak about the tweet” and that he will “attack it”.

“Mr. Lajcak understood, he did not react after the tweet. So, where is the problem, when Mr. Lajcak was more or less informed about the tweet, that he was the subject of the tweet. He did not respond to the tweet. However, there are others who have tried to factorize in the hope that more facts will come up. I have no problems with non-governmental organizations of any community,” Bislimi concluded, KiM radio reported.

Stano: EU expects Serbia to implement ODIHR recommendations (N1, nova.rs)

European Union spokesperson Peter Stano told the Nova.rs portal that the European Commission expects the Serbian authorities to implement ODIHR recommendations prior to any future elections.

He said the Commission has taken note of the European Parliament resolution on the Serbian elections and expects to discuss the final ODIHR report with EU member states and Serbia, including the recommendations for future elections.

Stano said the EU expects the Serbian authorities to follow through with the report including the part on the local elections in Belgrade, adding that the EU is prepared to provide support. He called the Serbian political leadership to start a constructive, inclusive dialogue across the political spectrum.

Brnabic: We will never accept international investigation into elections (Beta, N1)

Outgoing Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said the government will never accept an international investigation into the December 17 elections, because that would be a “humiliation of the country and a loss of sovereignty.”

This would be “equivalent to occupation,” Brnabic told reporters in Despotovac, central Serbia.

She explained that the presence of foreign observers at the elections, who had been invited by the Serbian Government, “does not constitute a loss of sovereignty,” because this is a democratic practice and they came as guests.

Brnabic said that, for her, the voter roll is “key proof” that there was no election fraud, also because the international observers, especially those representing the European Parliament, signed reports at all polling stations that they went to.

She said the Serbian Government has already written to the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) to say that it is prepared to continue “the so far constructive cooperation,” noting that many of their 2019 recommendations have been fulfilled.

Brnabic said the government will continue cooperating with the ODIHR, but that “an international investigation would be a direct breach of Serbia’s sovereignty.”

“No European Union country would allow an investigation of this kind,” said Brnabic.