“Greater pressure should be applied to Serbia for missing persons” (Koha)
Representatives of Kosovo’s institutions called on the international community on Monday to apply greater pressure on Serbia for the issue of missing persons, saying that the fate of missing persons can be resolved only with Serbia’s readiness. During the conference “Missing Persons – the Way Forward” held in Pristina on Monday, Kosovo’s President Atifete Jahjaga said it was unjust that even 15 years after the war the issue of missing persons hasn’t been resolved yet. “We should heal this serious wound and search for new ways to find our peace … It is impossible to have genuine cooperation without the involvement of Serbian institutions and their readiness to provide answers about the location of over 1,600 missing persons from Kosovo,” Jahjaga said.
Tahiri: Pacolli mixed up the agreements (Zeri)
Kosovo’s Minister without portfolio, Edita Tahiri, said yesterday that the issue of the provisional license plates has nothing to do with the agreement on vehicle insurance policies. “The agreement on insurance policies is fully implemented because it was signed by Kosovo and Serbia. These problems that Pacolli brought up have nothing to do with the agreement on insurance policies because this agreement only addresses the issue of insurance policies and not the license plates,” Tahiri said. She was commenting on the statements made yesterday by head of the Kosovo delegation in talks with Serbia on insurance policies, Rrahim Pacolli, who said that Kosovo should suspend the agreement on insurance policies as a sign of protest against Serbia’s decision to make Kosovo license plate bearers replace them with provisional plates and pay additional taxes. Tahiri said that during a meeting scheduled to take place in Brussels in September, Kosovo will ask Serbia to remove the requirement for provisional plates, or else Kosovo would introduce the same requirements on its side.
Constitutional Court, an obstacle for special court’s establishment (Zeri)
In a front-page story the paper reports that the Constitutional Court has not yet given its verdict on the constitutionality of the adoption of amendment 24 by the Kosovo Assembly which enables the establishment of the special court. Kosovo’s Justice Minister, Hajredin Kuci, told the paper that the negotiations with the Netherlands over the special court’s headquarters could start only after the verdict of the Constitutional Court. On the other hand, the opposition parties still hope that the Constitutional Court will overturn the Assembly’s decision on the establishment of the special court.
Border agreement with Montenegro at a crossroads (Koha)
The paper reports on its front page that the Kosovo government has yet to initiate the ratification of the border demarcation agreement with Montenegro. The Constitution of Kosovo provides two ways for ratifying international agreements – either through the Assembly or only with a signature by the President. The government has not decided which way it wants to follow. It has not submitted the agreement to the Assembly fearing that it may fail to secure the required 80 votes. Meanwhile, certain representatives of the ruling parties have warned that the government should not send the agreement for signature to the President, arguing that this would violate the constitution.
Haradinaj: It was not my intention to cause offence to anyone (RTK)
Leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), Ramush Haradinaj, apologized for his homophobic remarks against the chairman of the Kosovo government’s commission for border demarcation with Montenegro, Murat Meha. He said he didn’t mean to employ discriminating vocabulary against any category of people, including the LGBT community.
Former Finnish President visits Kosovo (dailies)
Kosovo’s President, Atifete Jahjaga, received in a meeting yesterday the former Finnish President, Tarja Halonen. Jahjaga and Halonen discussed the current developments in Kosovo, Kosovo’s European integration, dialogue for normalization of relations with Serbia and the issue of missing persons. “Finland is one of the friendly countries that will support Kosovo’s stability, rule of law and the process of European integration,” Halonen was quoted as saying. Halonen also met with the Minister of Education, Science and Technology, Arsim Bajrami.
EC: Kosovo and Albania in the list of safe countries (RTK)
The European Commission is expected to publish this Wednesday its list of “safe countries” which includes Kosovo and Albania even though thousands of people have left during this year. “The intention is to improve stability and address irregularities caused by migration waves,” it was noted in a draft text of the European Commission, which The Associated Press has acquired. The list of the safe countries includes Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYROM, Kosovo, Serbia and Turkey. Over fifty thousand people from Kosovo have applied for asylum in EU countries during the first quarter of this year. Over 21,000 sought asylum in Germany, which is in the meantime expecting tens of thousands of refugees from Syria.
