Operationalization of Mitrovica North stalled (Koha Ditore)
Neither local elections last year nor the Pristina-Belgrade dialogue managed to solve the issue of the Serb parallel administration, healthcare and education sectors, the paper reports on the front page. Serb civil servants working in the illegal administration in the northern municipalities continue to receive salaries from the Kosovo budget while municipality services are still being provided by Kosovo’s administrative office in the north. Adrijana Hodzic, the head of that administrative office, which was meant to be provisional, told the paper that Kosovo institutions have not undertaken any steps to establish the permanent municipality of Mitrovica North. On the other hand, Albanian community representatives from the north said the Serb community is hesitant to work with the representatives elected in November’s local elections.
Constitutional Court to announce decision on 25 August (Kosova Sot)
The paper reports on the front page that political parties are getting ready to take part in the Constitutional Court’s hearing on 21 August, on the legality of the election of the Assembly Speaker. According to the paper’s sources, the Constitutional Court will not wait until its September deadline to deliver its ruling but will announce it instead on 25 August.
Isufi: We want Vetevendosje in the government (Lajm)
The post-election coalition bloc between the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) and Initiative for Kosovo (NISMA), still hopes to include Vetevendosje in the government although several attempts to do so have already failed. AAK deputy leader Ahmet Isufi says that the coalition is open to continuing talks with Vetevendosje after the Constitutional Court’s upcoming decision.
Beqiri: PDK is panicking (Bota Sot)
The General Secretary of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Ismet Beqiri, says that it is absurd for officials of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) to say that the coalition between the LDK, Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) and Initiative for Kosovo (NISMA), is preventing establishment of new institutions in Kosovo. Beqiri said that PDK officials are in a panic because they have realized that they do not have the numbers to establish the new government.
Out of 28,000 reviewed applications, 9,000 KLA veterans verified (Zeri)
The paper reports that the Kosovo government’s commission for verifying the status of Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) veterans has so far reviewed 28,000 applications out of the more than 66,000 received. The commission has established that out of the number of applications reviewed, 9,000 are expected to benefit from “veteran status.” At this pace, the process of verification is foreseen to end by late September, said the Kosovo government’s representative for KLA veterans, Faik Fazliu.
