Association will be established in accordance with the Constitution

(All monitored broadcasters, KTV & RTK1)

Serbia’s statements that in case Kosovo fails to quickly establish the Association of Serb majority municipalities, Serbia will unilaterally do so; have been immediately ruled out by the heads of Kosovo Government.

Kosovo Assembly Speaker Kadri Veseli and Prime Minister Isa Mustafa said that Serbia is no longer asked in Kosovo. They emphasized that the Association will be established, but only in accordance with the laws and the Constitution of Kosovo.

Commenting the demarcation issue with Montenegro, Speaker Veseli said that the Assembly will not take any decision which will be against the interests of Kosovo citizens.  However, they did not specify if they have the necessary votes in the Assembly to ratify the demarcation agreement.

Both leaders held a joint press conference at the Assembly of Kosovo, where they announced two new appointments in the Government, which were left vacant after Hashim Thaçi was elected as the President of Kosovo.

Hajredin Kuçi will continue to be the Minister of Justice and he will also be the Deputy Prime Minister, while Enver Hoxhaj will be the Foreign Minister.

Mustafa and Veseli were asked also whether the on-going process for election of the management of Kosovo’s public broadcaster (RTK) is being politically influenced.

“As long as I continue to be Assembly Speaker and PDK chairman, I will not allow the public broadcaster to become part of political bargaining,” Speaker Veseli said, promising that the Assembly will continue to finance RTK.

EC requests census in northern part of Kosovo

(KTV)

After the Assembly of Kosovo decided to review the draft law on census in the northern part of Kosovo, the European Commission also stressed the need for promulgation of such a law.

“In the area of statistics, the Commission pointed the need to adopt the amendments to the Law on Statistics and adopt the Law for a population Census in four municipalities in Northern Kosovo. The resource situation for production of Official Statistics in Kosovo was discussed also in view of data requirements and their timeliness. The discussion also focused on the requirement to strengthen national accounts,” a press release issued by the Kosovo Ministry of Integration and the EU Office in Kosovo reads.

Jevtic: I support all projects dedicated to returnees

(RTK2)

Two days after Serbia’s funded project ‘Sunny Valley’ has been officially inaugurated in Belgrade, certain Albanian media outlets in Kosovo criticized the statement of Kosovo Minister for Communities and Return, Dalibor Jevtic, who said that that a returnee settlement should be build south of Ibër River, too.

“When you ask the Minister for Return if he supports a project that guarantees return of displaced persons and he says yes, that is not meant against anyone, but it rather is the reason why I am assigned to do this job. If someone considers this work to be against anyone, then I honestly think that we continue to have a problem in the society, which is called non-acceptance of the return for the displaced persons,” said Jevtic.

Bahtiri and Rakic avoid comments on Ibër Bridge revitalisation

(KTV)

Mayor of Mitrovicë/Mitrovica south Agim Bahtiri made many promises about free movement over the Bridge of Ibër River, but now he refuses to make a statement about this issue, KTV reports.

“We have agreed not to talk about the bridge” Bahtiri told journalists.  He said that meetings are on-going, but he has now chosen not to talk about the topic of opening of the bridge for traffic, by not giving any detail on what is happening.

Mitrovica/Mitrovicë north mayor, Goran Rakic told KTV that questions regarding the bridge should be made to the European Union. Same as his colleague from the south, Rakic recommended the media not to deal with this issue.

On the other hand, the EU Office in Prishtinë/ Prishtina said that revitalization of the bridge depends on the constructive engagement and goodwill of the parties.

Kosovars cannot expect visa liberalisation this summer

(KTV)

European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers are not expected to take a decision on visa liberalisation for Kosovo at least until fall this year.

The European Union has put new problems ahead of the countries awaiting visa liberalisation. Reuters news agency announced on Wednesday a slowing down of visa liberalisation process for Kosovo, until the European Parliament will adopt the changes that will enable reestablishment of visa regime with in case of abuse.

Augustin Palokaj says that religious extremism is another internal issue for Kosovo, except the demarcation and fighting of crime, which might raise doubts about the visa process.

Two French Members of the European Parliament have called for halting of the European perspective for Kosovo. They proposed a resolution which requires an investigation into suspicious funding from Saudi Arabia that aims to promote Wahhabism.

Fisnik Rexhepi, advisor to the Kosovo Minister of Integration Bekim Çollaku, says that these initiatives requiring investigations into extremism shall not present an obstacle for visas to be abolished in fall.

KACA publishes annual declaration of assets

(Most monitored broadcasters, Klan Kosova)

In the annual declaration of assets, which was published on Thursday by the Kosovo Anti-Corruption Agency (KACA), Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi declared that he sold his house for 280,000 Euros, while his annual income as President is 34,478 Euros. His wife’s annual income as a professor of a private college is 18,000 Euros, while he declared to have over 6,000 Euros in bank deposits.

Prime Minister Isa Mustafa declared property worth 503,000 Euros.

AAK chairperson, Ramush Haradinaj declared a 300,000 Euros house in Prishtinë/Pristina and about 19,000 Euros in rent from this house.

Nisma chairperson, Fatmir Limaj, declared two apartments worth 80,000 respectively 70,000 Euros and a 300,000 Euros worth house in his village, same as an agricultural land worth of 500,000 Euros.