RAE communities need greater support for integration in society

(RTK1)

Unemployment and difficult economic conditions continue to remain the greatest problem for Kosovo Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities. The need for greater dedication of institutions towards members of these communities was highlighted in a conference organized by the OSCE.

Kosovo Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities need greater support for their integration in society. This was assessed by the OSCE representatives in a conference to assess the implementation of municipal policies for the integration of these communities.

“The OSCE has already worked on preparation and implementation of the Strategy for Integration of RAE communities. Now, we are trying to take actions in the local aspect to make sure that this Strategy can be implemented at this level. This is very important, because through this Strategy we can help implement concrete issues such as education, health and so on,” Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, Ambassador Jean-Claude Schlumberger stated.

Minister of European Integration, Vlora Çitaku said that Kosovo is pledged to full integration of these communities in Kosovar society.

“We have already identified the necessary steps that precipitate achievement of objectives of the action plan and we aim to implement this through budgeting Strategy’s activities which is among the key issues that challenge the progress in concrete implementation of this plan,” Çitaku said.

Muhamet Arifi, representative of Balkan Sunflowers Kosovo (BSK) organization, said that he welcomed this conference; however, he added that the problem for RAE communities remains low employment in public institutions and education.

“A political will to help these communities is notable, but, is this enough, that is a different issue. There were several conferences over the last three-four months, but conferences are not enough to solve the issues of these communities. There should be financial allocations for these communities, in particular from the municipal level,” Arifi said.

Minister Çitaku said that Kosovo, compared to other countries of the region, has moved very well toward integration of these communities, adding that they are determined and pledged to full integration of RAE communities in society.

Assembly is deliberately postponing Ombudsperson’s election

(KTV)

The new vacancy for election of the Ombudsperson, a process that failed to be completed several times by the Kosovo Assembly MPs, is expected to be called soon. However, delays and prolongations in this process have made election of the Ombudsperson to be postponed until the end of general elections. The new call will take at least one more month and only then start with selection of the names that will be sent to the Assembly.

Political parties say that they have done their job and everything was proceeded in line with the law and the regulation. However, the regulation, which is a bylaw, was used when it was decided to announce the new call and not to enter voting.

KTV learned from its sources close to the process that the entire process is deliberately being postponed until the end of elections. All this is being done to use this post for political bargaining and future coalition, although as such, the Ombudsperson is an independent institution guaranteed by law.

According to the Law on Ombudsperson, announcement of the new call in fact was illegal.

“The Ombudsperson should be elected within thirty days from the day of proposal of candidates. If this deadline is not reached, the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo votes for the election of the Ombudsperson in each plenary session for thirty other days. If the Ombudsperson is not nominated within sixty days, the respective Committee of the Assembly will again publish competition for the Ombudsperson,” Article 9 Point 2 of the Law on Ombudsperson reads.

Petrovic: We were promised the reserved seats

(Klan Kosova)

Independent Liberal Party (SLS) leader Slobodan Petrovic says that he feels betrayed as far as the agreement on reserved seats for Serbs. He announced conditioning of other processes if these seats are not guaranteed to them.

Petrovic did not forget that two years ago Kosovo Albanian leaders promised him, as the leader of Serbs and other communities, that they will find a solution for extension of reserved seats at the Assembly. Now, as SLS leader, Petrovic says that nothing was done for this matter.

Talking to Klan Kosova’s InfoMagazine show, Petrovic said that minorities have come together and they will not pass laws, if a solution for the reserved seats is not found.

EULEX Police searched house of a Serb in Zubin Potok

(All monitored broadcasters, RTK1)

At the early morning hours of Thursday, EULEX Police searched the house a 32-year old Serb individual in Zupç village of Zubin Potok, who is suspected of murdering Kosovo police officer Enver Zymberi on 26 July 2011 and the attack on the Kosovo Police convoy in which he was travelling at the time he was murdered. This was confirmed to RTK by EULEX spokesperson Blerim Krasniqi, who added that the suspect was not found at his home.

Krasniqi said that this operation was executed in relation to an international (Interpol) arrest warrant for a 32-year old individual.

”The operation was conducted as part of an ongoing murder investigation, involving the suspected criminal offences of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, unauthorized ownership, control, possession of weapons and obstructing official persons in performing official duties,” Krasniqi said.

It was learned that the suspect is Radovan Radic and that he is one of six persons suspected of murdering police officer Zymberi.

285 former MUP members integrated in Kosovo Police

(Most monitored broadcasters, RTK1)

285 out of 337 MUP (Serbian Ministry of Interior) members that were in the list have already integrated into Kosovo Police. These are the findings of a research presented under the auspices of the Fifth Security Research Forum held on Thursday.

Kosovo and Serb researches said that information and transparency over this integration process was missing.

Supporters of this research consider the integration process successful.

CEC chairperson annuls contract for expensive cell phones

(KTV)

Central Elections Commission (CEC) members get around EUR 1.000 salary per month, while Secretariat directors get EUR 600 on average. However, this was not enough to them and they ordered cell phones, the latest models in the market.

For this matter, EUR 7.000 were allocated with the CEC’s 2014 Procurement Plan, which KTV got hold off. KTV also learned that this contract was annulled at the last moment with a decision taken by the CEC chairperson, who did not agree that Secretariat staff should also receive telephones, and this issue to hit the media.

CEC chairperson Valdete Daka admitted that she has stopped this process, but she said that this was done only temporarily, to see who needs phones and who doesn’t. Daka did not accept to speak in front of camera, saying that this is a matter of procurement, but she added that she wanted to stop an unnecessary expense.