OSCE Mission Head welcomes Assembly recommendations on RTK

(RTK1, TV21)

The Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, Ambassador Jean-Claude Schlumberger, welcomed the recommendations made by the Assembly of Kosovo on the public broadcaster Radio Television Kosovo (RTK).

“I am looking forward to the relevant stakeholders acting swiftly and addressing the Assembly’s recommendations. Editorial independence and appropriate management are key prerequisites for a functional and credible public broadcaster” Schlumberger said.

Assembly recommends financial audit for RTK

(All monitored broadcasters, KTV)

Assembly of Kosovo during Thursday’s session approved four recommendations proposed by Vetëvendosje about RTK general performance. Amongst the approved recommendation the Assembly called on the Auditor General to conduct a detailed audit of RTK’s financial management.

While the MPs were voting for the recommendations, RTK Trade Union staged a protest in front of the Assembly of Kosovo requesting from MPs to pressure RTK management to revoke the decision for the dismissal of two RTK employees, Fadil Hoxha and Arsim Halili.

MPs debate about hundred days of Mustafa’s Government

(All monitored broadcasters, KTV)

Kosovo Prime Minister Isa Mustafa faced harsh accusations at the Assembly of Kosovo during the debate called by the opposition MPs for the first 100 days of the new Government.

Opposition parties considered the first hundred days of Mustafa’s government as vicious and failure. They reminded to Mustafa that he has joined to those that have captured the state through crime. Opposition parties said that this coalition has destroyed the hope of the citizens and according to them the revolted ones are protesting whereas the desperate ones are leaving Kosovo.

However, PM Mustafa considered as untrue the accusations of the opposition parties and said that during first hundred days of the new government great work has been done.

PM Mustafa reiterated to the MPs, the five pillars of his government plan, namely economic development, employment and wellbeing, rule of law, European agenda, education and modern health.

Mustafa received back-up from the coalition partner too. Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi endorsed Mustafa’s government plan by saying that the plan is ambitious, concise and actual for the situation in Kosovo.

On the other hand Nisma për Kosovën Chairperson Fatmir Limaj considered Thaçi’s address to the MPs as an indication that Kosovo has two Prime Ministers. According to Limaj, in all countries the Prime Minister reports about his work during first hundred days of Government and not Deputy Prime Minister.

Meanwhile, AAK Chairperson Ramush Haradinaj said that the PDK-LDK coalition will destroy the state.

Vetëvendosje presented 11 recommendations for the Government of Kosovo, which the Prime Minister and MPs of the governing coalition considered as unfounded.

Klan Kosova reported that Thursday’s session started with a moment of silence in honor of the late Kosovo Assembly Serb member, Velimir Rakic, who died in a traffic accident on Wednesday in Zubin Potok.

Assembly fails to elect Ombudsperson

(All monitored broadcasters, KTV)

Assembly did not give enough votes to any of the four candidates running for Ombudsperson. Veton Vula was the most voted candidate after two voting rounds, however in the third round he failed to receive the required number of votes to be elected as Ombudsperson. Thus, the vacancy for the Ombudsperson will be announced again and until then Sami Kurteshi will continue to serves as acting Ombudsperson.

KTV reported that the Assembly failed also to appoint Mazllum Baraliu as a member of the Kosovo Judicial Institute Steering Committee.

BIRN publishes its Annual Court Monitoring Report

(RTK2, RTK1)

Monitoring of more than 500 court sessions in all levels of justice system proved numerous issues in the justice system. The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) and Inernews Kosova published their sixth Annual Court Monitoring Report for 2014.

Kosovo courts continue to face problems because of the small number of judges and prosecutor and also because of the location of the Justice Palace. These findings are part of the report published by BIRN and Internews Kosova.

No one objected the deficiencies highlighted by the report; even the Minister of Justice Hajredin Kuçi and the internationals did not dispute the findings.

The Head of the EU Office in Kosovo/EUSR, Samuel Zbogar said that the real measure of the success of this report is that there will be more accountability and efficiency of the justice institutions.

Meanwhile BIRN head Jeta Xharra said that professionals are not being supported to be civil society representatives but instead individuals that are politically obedient are favored.

‘At the end it was proven that Kosovo Prosecutorial Council (KPC) decided to appoint as representative of the civil society, someone that is politically obedient and not our proposed representative’, Xharra said.

The report includes factual findings gathered by BIRN and Internews Kosovo in 26 courts and more than 500 court sessions held in 2014 at all the levels of justice system.

Civil servants of northern municipalities without salaries

(RTK1)

All civil servants, teachers, doctors and the administrative employees of four northern municipalities have not received their March salaries.

This happened because the municipalities which are led by Serbs have disrespected the legal timeframes for approving the municipality budget and therefore the Ministry for Administration and Local Governance did not allocate the budget to those municipalities.

Civil servants of the Local Office for Communities and Return in village Çabër of Zubin Potok municipality have not been paid for March too.

Çerkin Veseli of this Office said that they have expected this to happen since they were aware that the municipality did not fulfill its obligation to the Ministry of Administration and Local governance.

Meanwhile, Enver Hasani, principal of an elementary school in Çabër village said that they support the decision of the ministry. Hasani said the officials in the north should be aware that Prishtinë/Pristina institutions should be respected.

Two vehicles set on fire in the north

(Klan Kosova)

Two private vehicles belonging to Kosovo Police officers were set on fire in two separate cases in the northern part of Kosovo on Wednesday night. Both vehicles were set on fire at the same time.

Kosovo Police Operational Chief for northern region Zeljko Bojic confirmed the incident to the news agency ‘Kosovapress’.