Pantic expects formation of Association in February (All monitored broadcasters, TV21)
North Mitrovicë/Mitrovica mayor elect Krstimir Pantic said that the statute of the Association of Serb Municipalities was in the completion process. According to him, the Association will be harmonised with the International Community.
Pantic expects that the Association will be formed in February. He added that nine Serb municipalities would join the Association, but he is not sure what will happen with Strpce/Shtërpcë municipality.
RTK2 reported that Dalibor Jevtic of SLS stated that Strpce/Shtërpcë municipality will also join the Association of Serb Municipalities.
Dacic: Date for dialogue resumption still unknown (Most monitored broadcasters, KTV)
The Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic says that the date for resuming dialogue between Prishtinë/Pristina and Belgrade has not been set yet, but he would not like it to happen before 21st January. “Next week, meetings of the working groups in the Prishtinë/Pristina-Belgrade dialogue will resume, and what is crucial presently is formation of the Association of Serb Municipalities and drafting its statute,” Dacic said.
“As you can see, there are problems with the constitution of municipal assemblies, it is necessary to form the Associations of Serb Municipalities, so that we can come to the statute. We are slowly moving towards the essence of the problem, something that perhaps no one understood – the Association now becomes the main topic. We shifted talks from independence to the Association, and we will continue with that kind of talks,” Dacic added.
Judicial reform challenges (RTK1)
Large number of cases, insufficient number of judges, lack of the rule of law in the entire territory, and stagnation in the reform process will be some of the challenges that the justice system will continue facing in 2014. Judicial institution leaders believe that except restructuring of the network of courts, the judiciary’s efficiency has not been enhanced. Moreover, according to them, before the reform, the number of cases was smaller and the number of judges was larger.
The Supreme Court President Fejzullah Hasani thinks that the system reform will not happen as long as expectation of citizens for solving cases is not decreased.
The Prishtinë/Pristina Basic Court is the top court in terms of backlogs. The Court president Hamdi Ibrahimi reiterated that the Court was facing an enormous number of cases.
The Kosovo Judicial Council (KJC) chairperson Enver Peci also stated that the situation was alarming as far as enforcement cases are concerned.
Another issue remains lack of accountability by judges. President of Court of Appeals Sali Mekaj and President of the Supreme Court Fejzullah Hasani do not remember any case when a judge was suspended or dismissed regarding professional issues.
Prishtine/Pristina mayor denies coalition with LDK (KTV)
Prishtine/Pristina mayor Shpend Ahmeti rejected media reports that the Vetëvendosje Movement has reached an agreement with LDK to govern the capital.
“There is no truth in this. We are determined to cooperate with each and every assembly member, but as we have already stated, we will not form a coalition with any party. We are in favour of cooperation, but not a coalition,” Ahmeti stated.
Lushtaku to take oath on Friday (All monitored broadcasters, KTV)
The Skenderaj/Srbica mayor Sami Lushtaku will take oath on Friday. He will swear to be in service of citizens, but only a few minutes later he will be returned to detention, where he has been staying since May last year.
Defence lawyers in Drenica case have a few days left to appeal the indictment. Defence lawyers of Ambassador Sylejman Selimi say that EULEX bought witnesses by offering them better lives abroad in turn for giving testimonies against KLA.
