International Democracy Day marked

(All monitored broadcasters, RTK1)

On the International Democracy Day, the Assembly of Kosovo opened its doors for all the ones that wanted to visit it. Whether there is democracy at the Assembly of Kosovo or not, Speaker Veseli spoke about this.

“I believe that transparency was at the desired level, debate was long and decision-making of all MPs was independent. There are several cases when certain MPs did not vote as the stance of the caucus was,” Veseli said.

Veseli said that democracy in Kosovo is new and transparency must be improved further. He underlined accountability toward citizens.

For several hours, Veseli stayed with citizens, mainly students, who took part in marking this Day, whose motto was “Open Institutions, Civic Participation”

Ismet Kryeziu of Kosovo Democratic Institute (KDI) called on MPs not to be, as he called them, voting machines, but to require accountability from the Government. Kryeziu commended the work of Kosovo Assembly.

On behalf of the Forum for Parliamentary Transparency and on behalf of the Assembly, the PDK MP and the Forum Chairperson Zenun Pajaziti opened the fair with presentations from civil society.

On the International Democracy Day, Kosovo Prime Minister, Isa Mustafa, through a message, congratulated the people of Kosovo, underlining that the people of Kosovo, promotes the democracy as a faith value of human society.

“The vision of Kosovo for a free and democratic country will be the main vision in every step that we will make”, Mustafa said.

On the International Democracy Day, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hashim Thaçi said that he is happy for the fact that Kosovo has a strong civil society which is constantly increasing.

President Jahjaga meets CIA Director

(Most monitored broadcasters, KTV)

Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga was received by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director, John O. Brennan.

President Jahjaga and Brennan discussed about security developments in Kosovo and the region, the contribution of Kosovo in the global coalition against terrorism and the commitment of Kosovo institutions to deepen the partnership with the US.

Concerning data about corruption level in Kosovo

(All monitored broadcasters, KTV)

Concerning data about the level of corruption, bribery and nepotism have come out. Based on a survey conducted by FOL Movement with citizens of all Kosovo municipalities, unemployment results to be their greatest concern, followed by corruption and poor performance of Government.

40% of citizens see corruption in Government, 27.9 % believe that it is spread in political parties, while 26% think that corruption has also included the judicial system.

About 32 per cent of citizens have admitted that they have given money or gifts to receive services in public institutions, in health sector in particular.

British Ambassador in Kosovo Ruairi O’Connell considers these data shocking and shameful.

Drita Hajdari from the Special Prosecution of Kosovo called for the assistance of civil society and media to fight corruption in justice system. She considers involvement of judges and prosecutors in corruptive affairs very worrying.

These data were made public on the occasion of International Democracy Day.

Visa liberalization petition handed over to Zbogar

(Most monitored broadcasters, KTV)

54.829 citizens signed the visa liberalization petition to express their dissatisfaction for not being able to travel without visa to EU countries. This petition was signed by citizens throughout Kosovo under the supervision of civil society organizations. They handed over this petition to the Head of EU Office in Prishtinë/Pristina, Samuel Zbogar.

Zbogar said he was happy to receive the petition saying that he will submit to EU institutions.

“This petition conveys some messages. The first is the frustration of citizens because they are the only ones out of the visa liberalisation process. I have heard many Kosovars saying that they have lost many cultural and sportive chances due to visas. We understand this and the message that I want to give is that there is light at the end of the tunnel for this process,” Zbogar said.

On behalf of civil society, Luan Shllaku of Kosovo Foundation for Open Society (KFOS), called on Brussels and Prishtinë/Pristina to do more for visa liberalization.

Citizens’ petition was also handed over to Minister of European Integrations Bekim Çollaku. He said that visa liberalization process will conclude in 2016.

DPM Stojanovic presented “Our Plan”

(RTK2)

“Our Plan“, a document that includes problems and their solutions in municipalities with Serb majority, but also in those Kosovo municipalities where Serbs are a minority, was presented on Tuesday in Gracanica/Graçanicë. This project was presented by the Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo, Branimir Stojanovic, who explained that this plan aims to, as he says, “to improve our lives”.

Stojanovic emphasised that the presented document does not have any political context, but it presents a roadmap for urgent action, as young people no longer want to wait. According to him, one of the goals is that this document has long-term vision.

Kosovo Minister of Local Government Administration, Ljubomir Maric, considers implementation of this plan of significant importance for the Serb community in Kosovo.

As far as media and information is concerned, under its point 2, the document underlines that establishment of RTK2 has badly influenced on functioning of most of independent media, and that this TV channel does not offer basic independence, which was envisaged with the Marti Ahtisaari Plan. It also underlined that physical assaults on journalists and media workers are frequent, but the perpetrators are not identified and punished. It was also stated that there are cases when superiors put pressure on journalists, but this is being kept silent.

On the other hand, the RTK2 Director, Zarko Joksimovic, reacted against Stojanovic’s statement, saying that there is no argument that justifies his statement that RTK2 is not an independent channel in the editorial aspect.

If Deputy Prime Minister Branimir Stojanovic considers his unsuccessful efforts to put the editorial policy of our channel under his control as inexistence of basic independence of RTK2 channel than he is right, Joksimovic stated in his reaction.

That type of ‘controlled’ independence, from him personally, or anyone else, does not exist in RTK2 channels, Joksimovic added.

CRDP: No security for witnesses in Kosovo

(Most monitored broadcasters, RTK1)

A research carried out by the Centre for Research, Documentation, and Publication Centre (CRDP) dubbed “Protection of Witnesses in Republic of Kosovo” resulted that justice system in Kosovo is very poor.

Based on this research, it turns out that there were complaints that Ministry of Justice does not have defined processes for the prosecutorial and judicial system in protection of witnesses.