Albanian Language Media:

• Kurti addresses event organized by German Socialist Democratic Party (media)
• Maqedonci reconfirms Kosovo’s orientation for EU and NATO membership (media)
• Rasic believes govt will send Association draft to court before mid-May (media)
• Qelaj: Missing persons issue should be priority and obligation in dialogue (media)
• KLI says Assembly made decisions in opposition with Constitution (media)
• Kurti: Vetevendosje continues to fight today’s fascism – at home, abroad (media)
• Vetevendosje MP says he won’t change position on same sex marriages (media)

Serbian Language Media: 

• First municipal assembly session held in Zubin Potok municipal building (KoSSev)
• Serbian List: Audio recording of Radomirovic and Vokrri “proves existence of organized criminal group” (Kosovo Online)
• Kabasic on census in Kosovo: What about damage after June 1999? (Kosovo Online)
• Blakaj: Why has an expert commission not been established to register war damage? (Kosovo Online)
• Mavric: Questions about war damage have no place in population census (Kosovo Online)
• YUCOM: Access to justice worsened with the exit of Serbs from institutions in Kosovo (Kontakt plus radio, N1, FoNet)
• Unstable funding, lack of personnel and unavailability of interlocutors the main problems of the Serbian media in Kosovo (KoSSev, Medija Centar, KiM radio)
• Brnabic calls all local elections for June 2 (N1, KoSSev, media)

International:

• Serbia Opposition’s Collapse Will Cost it Dearly in Elections (BIRN)
• Chinese president to visit France, Serbia and Hungary in May (euronews.com)

Albanian Language Media  

Kurti addresses event organized by German Socialist Democratic Party (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in his address at an event organized by the Socialist Democratic Party that “the Kosovo Government has commitments to the Council of Europe to underline that we cherish and respect the common values of human rights on which it is built. We will keep them and show in this way that we will strengthen the institutions. Our government in these three years in office has shown that socio-economic development and democratic progress go hand in hand. They do not exclude each other. They positively condition each other.”

Kurti also said that “Kosovo will aim to soon become the second country in the Western Balkans, after our neighbors Montenegro, offering its citizens the right of same sex civil unions. We will work hard to pass this in the very near future. For this I will personally build a parliamentary majority – and will appeal for broad support on this also from the opposition parties. The decision on the government meeting for this matter has already been taken.”

“We do this because it is right, because it is a right, because it is in our constitution and because we know that the European Court of Human right has issued judgements demanding this be done. We know that there are countries in the Council of Europe for a long time that have ignored the court on this. Kosova will be different. We want to thereby inspire others.”

“We also will resolve outstanding issues facing our minorities, their rights and their needs, including the Kosovo Serb minority, as a priority. On this, too, we are working with German members of the Bundestag to outline new and great initiatives. My meetings here in Berlin on this have been very encouraging.”

Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/ypxv9bnt

Maqedonci reconfirms Kosovo’s orientation for EU and NATO membership (media)

Kosovo’s Minister of Defense, Ejup Maqedonci, said in a Facebook post today that at the ministerial between the Central European Defense Cooperation and Western Balkans countries in Budapest he reconfirmed Kosovo’s strategic orientation for membership in the EU and NATO “and I asked from the participating countries to help us achieve these aspirations and enable us to contribute more for peace and security in the region and the world”.

Maqedonci also said that he reiterated the fact that the authors of the attack in Banjska in the north of Kosovo on September 24 continue to be free and unpunished for their act.

Rasic believes govt will send Association draft to court before mid-May (Nacionale)

Kosovo’s Minister for Communities and Returns, Nenad Rasic, said he believes that the Kosovo government will send the draft of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities to the Constitutional Court before the meeting of the Committee of Ministers in mid-May which will decide on the fate of Kosovo’s membership at the Council of Europe. “The agreement [reached in 2013 and 2015] has great importance and it needs to be implemented. This is Kosovo’s obligation,” he said.

Qelaj: Missing persons issue should be priority and obligation in dialogue (media)

The People’s Attorney, Naim Qelaj, said at a roundtable on the National Day for Missing Persons today, that Kosovo and international institutions should exert pressure on the responsible party in order to resolve the fate of missing persons from the war in Kosovo. “25 years later and the fate of over 1,600 missing persons is not known. The injustice toward the victims is very concerning. The People’s Attorney calls on local and international institutions to put pressure on the responsible authorities to provide all the support and information that would help resolve the fate of missing persons,” he said.

Qelaj argued that the refusal or hesitation to disclose evidence that would help resolve the fate of missing persons implies the denial of crimes. He also said that the issue should not be part of the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia only to reach a compromise but that it must be an obligation and a priority.

KLI says Assembly made decisions in opposition with Constitution (media)

The Kosovo Law Institute published today a report on the work of the Kosovo Assembly titled “The Assembly of Failures” noting that during last year the Assembly failed to implement some of the key aspects for genuine functioning as foreseen by the Constitution and the legal requirements of the regulation of the Assembly.

A senior researcher with the KLA, Naim Jakaj, said during the presentation of the report that the work of the Assembly was characterized by making decisions in opposition with the Constitution, in some cases illegitimate decision-making and the total lack of transparency over the key issues of the work of the Assembly. He further argued that there was a non-parliamentary discourse, and sexist and racist remarks during assembly sessions, and that in 2023 the MPs were even involved in a brawl during a plenary session.

Kosovo’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Petrit Selimi, said in a post on X today that “the non-partisan independent think tank IKD releases a scathing report on the work of Kosovo Parliament under this mandate. We have an institution that has deteriorated drastically and is frequently adopting laws later deemed unconstitutional by the court.”

Kurti: Vetevendosje continues to fight today’s fascism – at home, abroad (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in a post on X today that “the 25th of April is Italy’s Liberation Day, the victory over fascism in ’45; & Portugal celebrated 50 years since the Carnation Revolution toppled the longest-lasting dictatorship in Europe. In that same spirit, Kosovo’s Vetevendosje continues to fight today’s fascism—at home & abroad.”

Vetevendosje MP says he won’t change position on same sex marriages (media)

MP from the Vetevendosje Movement, Gramoz Agusholli, said in an interview with FrontOnline today that he will not change his position to vote against allowing same sex marriages. “No, I will absolutely not change my position. I am speaking for myself; I haven’t changed any of my positions. My position on this topic will remain the same,” he said.

Agusholli said his position will remain the same even if Kosovo Prime Minister and Vetevendosje leader Albin Kurti puts pressure on the MPs. “He may be under some pressure, but he will not impact my position. I think beyond pressure, beyond the party, and before everything else I think about the people when these issues are at stake,” he argued.

Agusholli remarks came after Kurti’s statement at an event organized by the Socialist Democratic Party of Germany where he said that “Kosovo will aim to soon become the second country in the Western Balkans, after our neighbors Montenegro, offering its citizens the right of same sex civil unions. We will work hard to pass this in the very near future. For this I will personally build a parliamentary majority – and will appeal for broad support on this also from the opposition parties. The decision on the government meeting for this matter has already been taken”.

Serbian Language Media

First municipal assembly session held in Zubin Potok municipal building (KoSSev)

Zubin Potok Municipal Assembly held its session, first following the mayoral recall vote but also the first one at which Albanian mayor Izmir Zeqiri took part in the municipal building in Zubin Potok, KoSSev portal reported.

The session which lasted briefly had one agenda item relating to the functionalization of municipal offices for work. Zeqiri also confirmed that was the reason why the session was “urgently convened”.

“There is a work ahead of us that premise is functional. The topic on agenda was establishment of a commission to access the object. That was the main reason why we convened the session urgently. There is a lot of work. We will start with work to make the object functional, to enable it. We worked from several offices, there is still a problem with water here, but it does not mean that we will not work from the office as soon as it is possible”, Zeqiri said.

This is the first municipal assembly session that took place in the municipal building in Zubin Potok. From April last year until today, the sessions were held in the village of Cabra, in alternative offices where Zeqiri also performs his function.

Arrival of the mayor and this first session was announced last night by Minister for Local Government Administration Elber Krasniqi, while Zeqiri himself and the chair of the municipal assembly were not aware of it, last night. They also confirmed that, if they receive an urgent invitation, they will go to the municipality.

Session in Zvecan municipality on Tuesday

Deputy Minister of Local Government Administration Arber Vokri confirmed today that the same session will take place in Zvecan municipality on Tuesday, next week, and that mayor Ilir Peci will come to the municipality, KoSSev portal reported citing Koha.

He also said relocation of some directorates started in Zvecan and that he expects the entire work to be completed during the next week. Peci performs his function from alternative offices in Lipa village, in Zvecan municipality.

Serbian List: Audio recording of Radomirovic and Vokrri “proves existence of organized criminal group” (Kosovo Online)

Serbian List said in a statement today that audio recording shared on social media in which “statements of Radojica Radomirovic, deputy of Nenad Rasic, and Arber Vokrri proves existence of organized criminal group whose members are in addition to officials of Albin Kurti’s government, also Leposavic mayor Lulzim Hetemi”, Kosovo Online portal reported.

“The latest audio recording in which the statements of Radojica Radomirovic, deputy of illegal minister Nenad Rasic and Arber Vokrri, deputy minister of local administration, are heard crystal clear represent a clear evidence of existence and actions of an organized criminal group of Albin Kurti government officials aiming to illegally act and appropriate properties whose owners are institutions of the Republic of Serbia, in order to obtain for themselves respectively for other persons material benefits, respectively apartments, by which all conditions to initiate court proceedings and their arrest have been met”, Serbian List said in a statement.

Serbian List also said they are not surprised with silence from Kosovo police, as it represent “Abin Kurti’s service”, rather than police organization, however the lack of reactions from the international community to these evidences and presented facts is shameful, in particular that from EULEX members who should monitor the work of Kosovo police.

Kabasic on census in Kosovo: What about damage after June 1999? (Kosovo Online)

The census of the population in Kosovo, which began on April 5, includes a questionnaire about “the war damage” that occurred from February 28, 1998, to June 11, 1999. A former judge of the Higher Court in Mitrovica North, Nikola Kabasic told Kosovo Online portal that a census of war damage has not been conducted in the past 25 years, but the current one is undoubtedly politically instrumentalized, as is the timing of its implementation.

The most problematic aspect of the war damage census, according to him, is the period it covers, namely the fact that it is limited to June 11, 1999, when NATO forces first entered Kosovo.

“What about the period after that, until March 17, 2004, when the Serbian community, Gorani, and Roma were most severely attacked and suffered the greatest damage, with a large number of people killed, kidnapped, disappeared, wounded, and houses and villages systematically burned and destroyed? What about that damage? Has the church even been considered in this census? What is its property, what property has been destroyed, and who will compensate for that and in what way? For each segment of the census, a methodology should have been developed – what evidence will be required and what are the evidentiary means. Is there a commission that will ultimately say, ‘Yes, we have verified that this is the actual damage or not’?

Read more at: https://shorturl.at/asBT1

Blakaj: Why has an expert commission not been established to register war damage? (Kosovo Online)

Bekim Blakaj from Kosovo Humanitarian Law Centre said it has been unserious to include sensitive topics such as registration of the victims of the war and war damages in the population census, adding that people arbitrarily can say they suffered certain material damages and he sees no mechanism how this could be verified, Kosovo Online portal reported.

“It may happen that several people report the same object, a house for example. Why an expert commission is not established that would register the war damage. This can not be carried out by those same people carrying out the population census”, Blakaj said.

Also, a template that is filled has a question if anyone in the family was murdered or went missing, and when it comes to the missing persons, there is an official list recognized by all sides.

Regarding the period during which war damages can be reported, spanning from February 28, 1998 to June 11, 1999, he said the civil society has been lobbying for years to extend this period from 1 January 1998 to 31 December 2000, to include the post-war period in which killings and sufferings occurred.

“At the end the official list of missing persons recognizes all those who forcibly disappeared until the end of 2000. Why to register victims in a shorter time period?”, he asked.

Mavric: Questions about war damage have no place in population census (Kosovo Online)

Negovan Mavric, Coordinator of the Missing Persons Resource Center, believes there may be intention to use the population census in Kosovo, which also collects data on war damage, for political and other purposes, Kosovo Online portal reported.

He pointed out that the census, when it comes to war damage or missing and killed persons, only recognizes the period from February 1998 to June 1999, while it is well known that Serbs also suffered and were affected after that period.

“This is that political game. Serbs suffered much more after the arrival of the peace mission in Kosovo, and that period is not covered by the census form. Also, when you see that the census includes sections about kidnapped or killed individuals, that is no longer a population census because those issues are dealt with by others. Everyone thinks that these questions have no place in this census”, Mavric said, adding that people still don’t know what to do, whether to participate in the census or not.

He also mentioned that his family suffered a loss, but it will not be registered in this census.

“My brother was kidnapped in the center of Orahovac on October 12, 1999, but the census does not cover that period”, Mavric said.

YUCOM: Access to justice worsened with the exit of Serbs from institutions in Kosovo (Kontakt plus radio, N1, FoNet)

Access to justice was not fully possible during the integration of the judiciary in Kosovo, and with the exit of the Serbs from the institutions, the situation in that field worsened several times, according to the report of the Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights (YUCOM) on the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, reported Kontakt plus radio. The report was prepared as part of a project implemented by YUCOM in 2023 and 2024 with the support of the Institute for Peaceful Change (PCI).

Unresolved issues, such as the lack of public notaries or bailiffs from the Serbian community, persist, but in this changed situation they represent only one of a series of legal gaps and omissions to which citizens are exposed, the report adds. It is also stated that Serbia, on its own initiative, in a legally unregulated framework regarding the seat and areas of courts and prosecutor’s offices on the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, transferred jurisdiction to the courts in Leskovac to ensure the resolution of certain cases whose enforcement is possible in Serbia.

“The courts in the Kosovo system, despite the collective resignations, and those in charge in the Serbian system do their work conscientiously and efficiently in accordance with the circumstances. Due to the impossibility of mutual recognition and acceptance of decisions and documents issued by one or the other system, citizens suffer the consequences and are unable to exercise their full rights without decisions before both courts,” adds YUCOM. Citizens bear excessive costs not only for conducting these procedures, but also for collecting documentation that is not centralized.

The report also offers recommendations for overcoming such a situation, and among them is the urgent launch of the Joint Committee, chaired by the EU, to monitor the implementation of the Agreement on the Road to Normalization between Belgrade and Pristina, for the sake of transparency in the implementation of the agreements reached. It is necessary to devise a mechanism/commission for mutual recognition of documents as soon as possible, which arises as an obligation from the Agreement, and whose work is crucial for ensuring access to justice for citizens living on the territory of Kosovo.

“That mechanism is crucial for the faster implementation of relevant, partially or completely unimplemented related agreements, such as the agreement on registry books, the cadaster and on university diplomas, but also the prevention of conducting parallel proceedings before the Serbian and Kosovo judiciary due to the current impossibility of recognizing relevant documentation from another system and enabling of judicial cooperation.”

The Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights believes that it is necessary to ensure the conditions for the return of holders of judicial positions to the Kosovo judicial system, as well as police officers.

“It is necessary to take care that other legal professions in Kosovo reflect the ethnic composition of the environments in which they operate, including free legal aid officers, lawyers, public notaries and bailiffs, so that citizens have more confidence in the institutions they turn to,” the statement added.

Unstable funding, lack of personnel and unavailability of interlocutors the main problems of the Serbian media in Kosovo (KoSSev, Medija Centar, KiM radio)

The main problems of the majority of Serbian media in Kosovo include unstable funding, lack of personnel, and the unavailability of interlocutors, it was said at the debate on the topic: “Position of the media, quality journalism and challenges of Serbian newsrooms in Kosovo” organized by the Alternativna portal as part of the “Break the Silence” project, reported KoSSev.

The participants of the debate organized in Media Center Caglavica also agreed at the panel  that there is mutual cooperation when it comes to Serbian media.

“We lack long-term funding, so not short-term. We have (funds) for six months, a year, we need at least five years of continuous financial independence, security so that we can work and upgrade ourselves,” said Danijela Tomasevic, Kontakt plus radio Editor in chief.

The Alternativna Editor in chief, Ana Marija Ivkovic, pointed out that due to unstable funding, Serbian media in Kosovo are no longer sure whether they are media or civil society organizations because, as she said, of the criteria set by donors.

“It is extremely important that we do not get into a situation where, as local media, we are fighting whether we are going to write a report for a donor or write a report that is important to the public, whether we are going to organize training for our colleagues or whether we are going to be on the ground while tear gas is thrown. And it is an eternal struggle, and it is a very unfair struggle,” said Ivković.

Editor-in-Chief of Kim Radio Goran Avramovic believes that one of the main problems of the majority of Serbian media in Kosovo is the “taking over of staff” by Serbian media with stable funding.

“On the part of these more affluent, more able to pay, and budgeted media, we have the takeover of staff that we manage to train in our newsrooms. Since there is no faculty, the young people who come to these newsrooms in Kosovo practically learn by working, and then someone appears who is on someone’s budget, in someone’s crib, so to speak, and starts putting pressure on those people. And what defeats me the most is that this pressure is extremely personal. Therefore, the interventions come from friends, and they come precisely with the story – there is more money and less responsibility, come to us you will work less, or you will not work at all, you will be able to skive at work,” said Avramovic.

Avramovic also mentioned the lack of print media in the Serbian language.

“What I have to say is that we are handicapped when it comes to print media. Practically, after the war in Kosovo, we had here for a couple of years, if I’m not mistaken, the monthly “Glas juga” (The Voice of South) for eight or nine years, we have “Jedinstvo”, which as it is, is prepared and printed in Belgrade, then it is delivered here through some channels until the moment when the Kosovo government introduced a ban on the import of goods, which was June 14 last year if I’m not mistaken. Therefore, print media do not reach Kosovo. The Association of Journalists of Serbia, of which I am a member, has protested several times because of this, however, it is obvious that print media and the right of citizens to be informed in such a way are unfortunately not important to anyone here,” said Avramovic.

When it comes to the mutual cooperation of the Serbian media in Kosovo, the journalist of Radio Gorazdevac, Milic Petrovic, said that it exists on a daily level.

“There is cooperation between other media, and from the Albanian side. For example, Radio Gorazdevac also cooperates with Radio Peja from Peja/Pec, TV Prizreni from Prizren, where we have a project. There are mostly those project collaborations where we do something within the project. That cooperation exists,” Petrovic said.

The debate on the topic “Position of the media, quality journalism and challenges of Serbian newsrooms in Kosovo” was organized by the Alternativna portal as part of the “Break the Silence” project, which is implemented in partnership with Radio Kontakt plus.

Brnabic calls all local elections in Serbia for June 2 (N1, KoSSev, media)

Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic called local elections in more than 60 places across Serbia for June 2.

“After parliament adopted amendments to the law on local elections and as the result of successful negotiations, the conditions have been met to call elections in 66 cities and municipalities across Serbia,” she told reporters after signing the decision to call elections.

Brnabic expressed satisfaction that the ruling coalition and opposition were able to reach an agreement despite all differences and called on all political players to make sure that politics are not something that divides people and that the political system should develop in a democratic direction.

International 

Serbia Opposition’s Collapse Will Cost it Dearly in Elections (BIRN)

Serbia’s main opposition coalition has fallen apart because its members could not agree on whether to go to the polls in June – and the risk is that they will now win far fewer votes.

The opposition coalition Serbia Against Violence has effectively split up after it failed to make a unified decision on whether to participate in the local and Belgrade elections in June 2024.

Belgrade elections will be run on the same day as elections in 88 cities and municipalities, as well as in all Belgrade municipalities.

Part of the coalition, made up of six parties, established a new group “I choose to fight”, which will participate in all the elections in June.

But the other three parties decided not to participate in the Belgrade elections – and were joined by the right-wing opposition coalition Nada, which was not part of Serbia Against Violence.

However, the parties that decided to boycott the Belgrade elections will allow the committees of their parties to make an independent decision on whether to participate in the local elections in other municipalities.

Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/ye2xa822

Chinese president to visit France, Serbia and Hungary in May (euronews.com)

The symbolically-rich trip comes at a crucial time with Russia advancing in Ukraine and escalating trade tensions between Beijing and Brussels.

The President of China, Xi Jinping, will visit Europe in around two weeks, where he is expected to make stops in France, Hungary and Serbia.

One reason for the visit is Italy’s decision to withdraw – after some hesitation – from China’s grandiose New Silk Road programme, which Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will finalise in Beijing in July.

Rome’s decision increases the importance of Hungary and Serbia, lying in central and eastern Europe, if China is to have unimpeded access to the EU by land.

Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/35tz6nzp