Albanian Language Media:

• Kastrati: Serb community must understand that population census does not return (Klan)
• Serbian List members resign from municipal election commissions in the north (media)
• Knaus: EU’s current strategy for Kosovo-Serbia dialogue has collapsed (RTK)
• Petritsch: The Kurti-Vucic agreement has international validity (RTK)
• LDK: Claims that Kosovo has progressed in international indexes is government propaganda (media)
• Osmani: The Roma community is an integral part of our society (media)
• Tahiri: What is this silence in LVV about samples from Dehari case? (media)

Serbian Language Media:

• Radosavljevic: Boycott of referendum does not come as surprise, Serbs do not feel safe (Euronews, Kosovo Online)
• Russian MFA: Attempts for Kosovo to become CoE member witness to degradation of this organization (N1, FoNet)
• Pristina: Little willingness of Serbs in the north of Kosovo to register (KiM radio, RTS)
• Kastrati: The census mandatory for everyone, no one has the right to call for a boycott (KiM radio, Slobodno Srpski, Kosovo Online)
• What questions are being asked at the census, who is “Woman with Crown” and “Woman without Crown”, and what period “War Damage” entails? (KoSSev)
• World Roma Day (KiM radio)
• Vucic lays wreath in Paris, due to meet Macron (N1, Tanjug)
• Swedish ambassador says Serbia gets second highest EU fund payouts (N1, FoNet)
• Vucevic, Brnabic met Peach: Commitment to preserving peace and stability in the region (Tanjug, RTS)

International:

• It is in the interest of the EU that Enlargement takes place soon, Varhelyi says (Sarajevo Times)                                                                                                                      

Albanian Language Media  

Kastrati: Serb community must understand that population census does not return (Klan)

The Statistics Agency of Kosovo, through a media conference today, presented the progress of a week of work in the field for the Population Census. The Chief Executive of the Kosovo Statistics Agency (ASK), Avni Kastrati, said that the process is going as planned, but there are some challenges with the Serb community.

“It is important for the Serb community to understand that the population census does not return. Non-participation means institutions cannot provide services. If you are not a participant in the registration, many services may not be available in the future, because it appears as if they do not exist. I call on all communities, especially the Serbian one, to use this registration because when you are registered, you appear to be alive” – Kastrati.

Serbian List members resign from municipal election commissions in the north (media)

The Central Election Commission has confirmed that the members of the municipal election commissions in the north from the Serbian List have resigned on Monday.

“I can confirm that we have accepted the resignation of the four members of the Municipal Election Commissions for the municipalities of Leposaviq, Zvecan, Zubin Potok and North Mitrovica, who were previously appointed by CEC as the representatives of the political entity Serbian List,” said Valmir Elezi, spokesperson of the CEC.

He added that in the past meetings, the CEC has operationalized the Municipal Election Commissions in these four municipalities, appointing 4 Executive Officers, who are also the heads of the CEC, and has made a decision on the appointment of 27 members, who represent the parliamentary political subjects.

Knaus: EU’s current strategy for Kosovo-Serbia dialogue has collapsed (RTK)

Gerald Knaus, from the European Initiative for Stability, said that the EU’s current strategy for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue has failed.

Speaking about the recent statements of Serbian officials, that they will not participate in the vote for the dismissal of the mayors in the north. Knaus, through a post on “X”, has listed some of the facts that he calls the escalation of the situation in the north of Kosovo. He said that it appears that a crisis that has started, seems to continue and cannot surprise anyone.

“It looks like a crisis that started when the mayors of the municipalities from the Serbian List in the north of Kosovo resigned at the end of 2022, at the very moment when Germany and France demanded the acceptance of their proposal for “de facto recognition” in Belgrade… the crisis deepened when Serbian List boycotted new elections in 2023, aiming to create a legal vacuum in northern Kosovo without local legal authorities. This fueled the worst violence in the region in a long time, and it will continue. Which cannot surprise anyone”, Knaus wrote.

According to him, from the beginning, Belgrade has openly rejected any “de facto” recognition strategy. “Belgrade has repeated this, again and again: there is no agreement. There never was. The EU (and US) strategy is based on the wrong analysis: that the current EU accession process gives the EU leverage in Serbia. It no longer does. One obvious reason for the collapse of the EU leverage is the collapse of any credible EU accession policy for anyone in the region,” Knaus wrote further.

Knaus emphasized that all this makes this the most dangerous moment in the Balkans since 2001.

“Too many across the EU still do not or pretend to not see this. (And it won’t be solved by promising a little more money a la “growth plan”). Instead, key players in the region expect new violence, and prepare for it. Unless Germany, France and the EU wake up, there will be new wars. And a truly catastrophic failure of the EU”, wrote Knaus.

Petritsch: The Kurti-Vucic agreement has international validity (RTK)

Wolfgang Petritsch, Austrian diplomat and former Eu representative in the talks in Rambouillet, said in an exclusive interview for the national broadcaster RTK that  the Brussels Agreement and the Ohrid Annex have international validity, because the word given by a president or a prime minister in front of the international mediators, is as valid as signature.

Regarding the Rambouillet Agreement in 1999, he said that it has a historical value, because it paved the way for NATO’s intervention. “Kosovo is now 100 percent on the agenda of the EU’s common security policies, and Vucic knows that any military action against Kosovo would mobilize NATO to respond,” Petritsch emphasized.

LDK: Claims that Kosovo has progressed in international indexes is government propaganda (media)

According to the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), the government of Kosovo has hidden the year 2023 in the EU report and that of the World Justice Project, since as they say, this year was the worst for Kosovo.

LDK stated that in the Transparency International anti-corruption index, Kosovo is stuck at 41 points from 2022.

“The ranking of countries in this index does not show anything because countries can change places without any improvement. 2014-2017, during the LDK government, Kosovo rose from 33 points to 39 points in Transparency International. The current government won the mandate with 39 points and did not increase it by more than 2″, the LDK post says.

On Sunday, in “Facts before propaganda” published by LDK, it is said that the Kurti government has awarded 781 secret tenders for three years.

“The practice of secret tenders has increased from year to year, 30 million in the first year, 70 million in the second year, a full 109 million euros in the third year”, it was said in the reaction of the LDK on Facebook.

Osmani: The Roma community is an integral part of our society (media)

Kosovo President, Vjosa Osmani, has said that the Roma community living in Kosovo is an integral part of society. On International Roma Day, Osmani said that Kosovo protects and honors the cultural heritage of the Roma community in the country.

“The Roma community is an integral part of our society. On International Romani Day, we honor the resilience, profound cultural heritage and enduring traditions of our Roma community. We remain committed to working towards an inclusive and diverse society. Bahtalo Romano Dive!” Osmani wrote on the X platform.

Tahiri: What is this silence in LVV about samples from Dehari case? (media)

The head of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) parliamentary group, Abelard Tahiri, in a post on Facebook, asked why the ruling party is silent about the samples of the Dehari case, which were found last week.

“What is this silence in Vetevendosje about the samples of the Dehari case? Who stole the samples from the Dehari case? Where did they stay for a year and a half? What were those samples used for outside the Institute? Were there any tampering with the samples while they were outside the Institute? Who returned them? Why did you not agree to vote for the parliamentary investigative commission for the disappearance of these samples? You can’t hide from the truth! We will not stop until everything is clarified!”, Tahiri wrote.

Serbian Language Media

Radosavljevic: Boycott of referendum does not come as surprise, Serbs do not feel safe (Euronews, Kosovo Online)

Mitrovica North-based New Social Initiative (NSI) Director Jovana Radosavljevic told Euronews in Serbian language boycott of the referendum that was supposed to take place on April 21 did not come as surprise, adding the most realistic scenario was that mayors resign in order to open up possibility for holding new local elections, after Serbian community demonstrated good will by initiating petitions for their removal, Kosovo Online portal reported.

“Boycott of referendum, that was supposed to take place on April 21, does not come as a surprise, although at the beginning of the year we saw that citizens initiated petitions, and that was of course supported by Serbian List, to initiate the process to oust the mayors. In the meantime, worrisome things occurred, such as the decision of the Kosovo Government, respectively the Central Bank of Kosovo on dinar, but also weird and concerning decision to install video cameras at polling centers”, Radosavljevic said. She added video surveillance in polling centers was not the practice in Kosovo thus far.

She also said this decision raises suspicion and concerns among citizens who do not feel safe and feel deep mistrust towards Kosovo institutions, in particular within the context of Serbs leaving institutions on November 5, 2022 with several conditions, including withdrawal of Kosovo special police units.

“(…) those special units are still there, they even reinforced their bases, in particular the one on Bistrica Bridge, which also has positions for snipers and people do not feel comfortable or safe under those circumstances”, Radosavljevic said.

Because of all of this political stakeholders can not expect that citizens will be willing to go out and vote “pro” or “contra” replacement of the mayors, adding that the number of voters in the north of Kosovo is problematic as it has been inflated.

Commenting on the promise of the international community, the portal continued, that if a petition is initiated, mayors would resign, Radosavljevic said there were many “speculations what the secret agreements were and if there were any at all”.

“The most realistic scenario was that mayors and municipal councilors submit resignations in order to create opportunities to hold new local elections. That did not happen and by launching a petition the Serbian community demonstrated good will and we should have met on the half of the way and that mayors themselves submit resignation”, she said.

Russian MFA: Attempts for Kosovo to become CoE member witness to degradation of this organization (N1, FoNet)

Persistent attempts for Pristina to become a member of the Council of Europe (CoE) witness the degradation of this organization, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said in a statement, N1 reports.

The Ministry recalled that the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE) Committee for Political Affairs and Democracy on March 27 approved a statutory opinion proposal on Kosovo’s request to join this organization. Apart from this Committee, representatives of the Committee of Legal Affairs and Human Rights as well as Committee for Equality and Non-discrimination should also present their stances on Kosovo membership request.

Russia MFA said that Kosovo made yet another, but not the final step towards the CoE membership.

“The persistent efforts for Kosovo to become a member of the Council of Europe is another proof of the degradation of the organization. The authors of the initiative have easily passed over the key provision of the Statute of the Council that it (the organization) was created to strengthen the unity of European nations. It is an order based on rules – in action”, the statement said.

Pristina: Little willingness of Serbs in the north of Kosovo to register (KiM radio, RTS)

Avni Kastrati, Acting Director of the Statistics Agency in Pristina, said there is little readiness for the registration of the Serbian population in the north of Kosovo and that 64 Serbs have been registered since the beginning of the process.

“I was with some colleagues in the north yesterday and there is a weak willingness of the population to register,” Kastrati told the media in Pristina.

He added, however, that the registration system is working and that there have been no problems so far.

“All the activities we had were carried out according to plan. All registrars will work full time. All communities participate in the registration and the process proceeds normally. After two weeks, the observation mission will arrive,” he said.

The population census organized by the central institutions in Pristina began on April 5, and the Serbian parties in Kosovo, Serbian List, the Party of Kosovo Serbs, the Serbian People’s Movement and Serbian Democracy, oppose the participation of Serbs in the population census, and some of them have asked for the process to be postponed until further.

The Serbian List announced among other things that the Serbian people will not participate in the upcoming “false census in Kosovo and Metohija organized by (Albin) Kurti”, with which they want to “confirm their success in expelling the Serbs”.

Kastrati: The census mandatory for everyone, no one has the right to call for a boycott (KiM radio, Slobodno Srpski, Kosovo Online)

The director of the Kosovo Statistics Agency, Avni Kastrati, said in the ”Slobodno Srpski” TV Show that the census that began in Kosovo on April 5 is mandatory not only for those citizens who have Kosovo citizenship and a Kosovo identity card, but for anyone who is here because ” there is no choice”, and that “no one has the right to call for a boycott of the election”, reported KiM radio.

“Every citizen living in Kosovo should provide information about him and his family. If he does not provide them, then there will be punishment for everyone, not just the family. The maximum fine per person is around 2,000 euros,” says Kastrati and adds that anyone who is not physically in Kosovo at the time of the census should leave the information to his family so that they can register him.

Regarding the call of the Serbian List and other political parties of Kosovo Serbs for Serbs not to participate in the census, Kastrati says that no one has the right to call for a boycott of the census.

“If the Serbian List went public and said that the census is being boycotted, they will be punished, because there is no choice. One cannot say I will, the other I will not,” says Kastrati, repeating that there is no possibility of postponing the census to another date.

In case the Serbs are not registered, assessments will be made after six months.

“If they are not registered, we cannot say how many people are registered. We will give an estimate later. The assessment will be after 6 months. But when people do not participate in the census, we cannot say how many Serbs live (in Kosovo),” he said.

When asked by the presenter how informed the citizens of Kosovo are, and especially the Serbs, about the census itself, the director of the Agency for Statistics of Kosovo, which organizes the census, says that there were campaigns on social networks, and that there were “some video animations”.

“We used all instruments for the campaign, both through messages, and through social networks, and video, and conferences. And we used all of that in a period of almost two and a half years,” claims Kastrati.

“If you go to the city and ask if you know that tomorrow is the census, individuals will say – I didn’t hear. But we cannot tell everyone individually. Well, today I was in two Serbian media houses, and I gave some information. Also, there are two more non-governmental organizations from the Serbian community, they should be in the places where the Serbian community lives in three days. There was a lot of information, but we cannot tell everyone individually,” he added.

The census includes a questionnaire on the consequences of armed conflicts in 1998 and 1999, which, according to him, should not be strange, even though 25 years have passed since their cessation.

“When we put those questions in, we saw that from some other countries. All countries that had, like Kosovo, some war or conflict have these questions. For example, Croatia had these questions twice in 2011 and again in 2021,” said Avni Kastrati in a guest appearance on “Slobodno Srpski” show.

What questions are being asked at the census, who is “Woman with Crown” and “Woman without Crown”, and what period “War Damage” entails? (KoSSev)

Population census started last Friday in Kosovo. Citizens will answer dozens of questions as part of seven templates prepared for this process, KoSSev portal reported. The templates, respectively questionnaires are published by Kosovo Statistics Agency.

The questionnaires in Serbian language are written in Latin alphabet and contain numerous language irregularities, the portal added. The mistakes include missing letters, grammatical errors, mixed letters, or terms commonly used in Croatian language.

The templates contain some words or language rules harmonized with Albanian, Croatian, English or some other language, but not with the Serbian language.

“Households” are referred to as “family economies” or “familiar economies” word “ortodoksno” is used instead of “pravoslavna” in reference to Orthodox faith.

One of the templates with information about “family status” offers rather weird responses in Serbian language such as “Man/Woman with Crown”, “Man/Woman without Crown”, “Child of Male Partner”, “Child of Female Partner”.

Particular attention was given to the “toilet with bidet”, which has four possible responses, including the version with “toilet with bidet inside and outside of a residential unit”, but also “outside of the building”.

Apart from noticeable errors, the questionnaire version in Serbian also sounds clumsy, unnatural and incomprehensible, the portal said.

KoSSev further noted that in part related to “marital status” there are three options available – “Single”, “Married” and “Union” (marriage) but options of being divorced, separated, widow/widower were not included. This option is available only in the so-called “individual questionnaire”.

The other questionnaire is titled such as “List of Members of Family Economy Living Outside of Kosovo”, “Questionnaire for Collective Housing” does not include precise response for displaced persons/refugees still living in collective centers. “Refugee camp” is only mentioned at the question related to “type of institutional/collective economy”.

The portal further lists a number of other topics containing different errors. It mentions the template related to an individual questionnaire which includes the name, date and place of birth, residence, family status, but also the question “have you given birth to a living child after 2010”? and “out of alive children born after 2010, are there any who passed away?”.

The last questionnaire relates to the war damages “family economies” suffered during the conflict in Kosovo, and citizens are asked to make an estimate of the damages caused. It also includes human causalities, wounding, torture, missing family members. The period questionnaire considers valid spans from February 28, 1998 to June 11, 1999.

Although the questionnaire is titled as “Consequences of War” it does not include months following arrival of international military and civilian forces when in particular the Serbian population was targeted and suffered, their houses, cultural heritage and properties burned down, and they were expelled, murdered and kidnapped, the portal added.

World Roma Day (KiM radio)

World Roma Day, April 8, is celebrated around the world to draw public attention to the plight and poverty of the Roma people.

International Roma Day was established in 1990 in the Polish town of Serock, in memory of the First International Roma Congress, which was held in London from April 4 to 8, 1971. At the first international gathering of representatives of the Roma community from fourteen countries around the world, the international name Roma was adopted, which means man in Romani, and the song “Djelem, Djelem” was chosen as the anthem, which translated into Serbian language means “I am going, I am going”.

It was also decided that the Roma flag should be a blue-green bicolor with a red dot in the middle. The blue color is a symbol of the sky, freedom and boundless expanse, green represents grass, the road, life marked by travels, while the red wheel is a symbol of constant movement.

Vucic lays wreath in Paris, due to meet Macron (N1, Tanjug)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic started his two-day visit to Paris with a wreath laying ceremony in front of a memorial to Serbian soldiers killed in both world wars at the Hotel des Invalides, N1 reported.

An Instagram post said Vucic received a formal welcome before laying the wreath. He wrote that the words on the memorial recalling the fallen Serbian soldiers allied with France are not just words to remember a heroic past but the basis to build the present and step forward into the future. “France and its people will always have a reliable partner and friend in us,” he added.

Later in the day, Tanjug news agency reported Vucic said he had important meetings that were substantial for Serbia. He told reporters that the Serbian delegation had discussion with Dassault Aviation representatives about all forms of cooperation.

“Those were talks that were not easy, we want to complete them by the evening and sign an agreement and start implementing it within the next 15 days. We are not done with one to two issues, I hope we will finish that before the Senate meeting. That would be important for defense and our country’s strength and for greater security for us all”, Vucic said.

Vucic is due to meet with French President Emanual Macron at the Elysee Palace tonight.

Swedish ambassador says Serbia gets second highest EU fund payouts (N1, FoNet)

Sweden’s Ambassador in Belgrade Annika Ben David said that only one country gets more money than Serbia from European Union funds.

She told Monday’s issue of Politika daily that Sweden has been giving Serbia some 13 million Euro a year bilaterally since the year 2000 to help with the reforms required for EU membership.

We are doing everything we can to see Serbia become an EU member as soon as possible but it is up to Serbia and its political will when that will happen, Politika quoted her as saying. She recalled that Serbia applied for membership which means it accepted the set criteria.

Vucevic, Brnabic met Peach: Commitment to preserving peace and stability in the region (Tanjug, RTS)

Defense Minister Milos Vucevic met with the British special envoy for the Western Balkans, Lord Stuart Peach, reported RTS.

Vucevic discussed cooperation in the field of defense with Peach, referring to the most significant activities in the previous period in that domain, the Ministry of Defense announced.

During the meeting, they discussed the current political and security situation in the Western Balkans region, and the interlocutors confirmed their commitment to preserving peace and stability in the region.

Previously, the President of the National Assembly of Serbia, Ana Brnabic, also met the special envoy of the United Kingdom for the Western Balkans, Stuart Peach.

International 

It is in the interest of the EU that Enlargement takes place soon, Varhelyi says (Sarajevo Times)

The European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi, said that it is in the interest of the European Union that enlargement takes place soon. He spoke at the “EU Meets the Balkans” forum in Sofia on Monday, the Bulgarian news agency BTA reported.

Várhelyi said the geopolitical context has changed over the past few years. In addition to the Russian war in Ukraine, there is another conflict nearby, as well as the Covid crisis. Countries that are close to the borders of the EU are more affected by these crises.

Várhelyi pointed out that the enlargement policy refers to clear geopolitical investments. The EU’s neighbors are its long-term partners for peace and prosperity – that’s how they see their membership, but that’s how the EU should also see the role of enlargement.

The necessary reforms should be implemented together in order to speed up the accession process of each country, the Commissioner for Enlargement said. He also emphasized that it is important that each country respects its obligations.

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