Management Team for establishment of Association established; Tahiri refutes such claims

(All monitored broadcasters, RTK2&RTK1)

Association of Serb Majority Municipalities and the Management Team selected to establish this Association caused confusion within Kosovo institutions, RTK1 reported.

It all started through a press release issued on Thursday, through which members of this Management Team, said that they have been appointed by President Hashim Thaçi and Prime Minister Isa Mustafa to commence the work in drafting the Statute and establish the Association of Serb Majority Municipalities.

The press release, signed by Vinka Radosavljevic, Igor Kalamar, Dejan Radojkovic, and Svetislav Durlevic, says that they have already gone to Brussels to start their work in drafting the Statute of the Association. Moreover, this press release contains words which categorize Kosovo as ‘Kosovo and Metohija’ and conclusions “that Serbs in Kosovo were victims of brutal ethnic cleansing”.

Among other, members of this Management Team emphasized that the decision of the Government of Kosovo on establishment of the Association of Serb Majority Municipalities “will create the necessary conditions for return of thousands of Serbs to municipalities with Serb majority as well as other municipalities in Kosovo”.

Kosovo Deputy Minister of Local Government Administration and Advisor to PM Mustafa, Bajram Gecaj told RTK1 that he only learned from the media about this letter with such content.

However, Deputy Minister Gecaj confirmed that this Management Team has been appointed by Kosovo Minister of Local Government Administration, Ljubomir Maric. According to Gecaj, the press release issued by the Management Team has not been issued in coordination with Kosovo institutions.

On the other hand, the Office of Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi confirmed to RTK1 that they are not aware about such a team. According to President Thaçi’s Office, the President has not appointed any team for the Association, as, according to them, this is an issue of the Government of Kosovo and it’s not under the competencies of the President.

Kosovo Minister for Dialogue, Edita Tahiri refuted the reports of the media that the issue of the Association is allegedly being discussed in Brussels and that allegedly the Management Team for the Association has been appointed.

Through a press statement issued on Thursday, Tahiri emphasized that the issue of the Association is not on the agenda of the Brussels talks. She considers that this Management group has been manipulated by the Serbian Government, who, according to her, brought them to Brussels in an attempt to have meetings with the European Union.

“This Management Team, manipulated by Serbia, came to Brussels. The European Union did not allow them to enter into the building of the European Union. I regret the fact that members of this Management Team allowed themselves to be manipulated, because if they accept Serbia’s directives in the work that they will carry in the future, they might also be dismissed because the Government established them, respectively the Ministry of Local Government Administration appointed them and also it can dismiss them if they do not respect Kosovo laws and Constitution,” said Minister Tahiri in an exclusive interview for RTK1.

According to Tahiri, the European Union is well aware that Association is not in the agenda of the talks. As she said, the EU knows that without the fulfillment of the condition on the telephony code and without the independence of energy transmission network (KOSTT), no action will be taken to implement the Association.

While, Maja Kocijancic, Spokesperson for the EU Foreign Policy Chief, Federica Mogherini, commenting Thursday’s report of the Serbian media about the visit of the Management Team in Brussels, said that Association was not on the agenda of this round of technical dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia.

“EU will meet with the Management Team and other relevant stakeholders from Kosovo once future steps with regard to the establishment of the Association of Serb Majority Municipalities will be discussed in Brussels,” said Kocijancic.

RTK2 quoted the Director of Office for Kosovo at the Serbian Government, Marko Djuric, saying that he does not want to get involved in the internal political debate in Prishtinë/Pristina. Djuric said that he personally heard from highest Kosovo officials, Hashim Thaçi and Isa Mustafa that the Management Team has been appointed and that they support the establishment of the Association.

“Today we learned from the members of the Management Team that they arrived (in Brussels) with a full mandate and after discussion with senior officials. Obviosly, there is a sort of confusion,” said Djuric.

Agreement on reciprocity of vehicle plates achieved

(Klan Kosova)

Minister for Dialogue, Edita Tahiri, informed Klan Kosova from Brussels that the agreement between Kosovo and Belgrade on full reciprocity of vehicle has been achieved.

The agreement also includes removal of ‘probationary’ plates which were unilaterally applied by the Serbian side since 2011.

According to Tahiri, the Agreement will enter into force as soon as both countries make all technical preparations; however, it will be implemented no later than November 2016.

Sustainable financing and the issue of property remain RTK’s main concerns  

(RTK1)

Two of the most serious issues for Kosovo’s public broadcaster (RTK) continue to be the issue of sustainable financing and the property.

RTK Director General, Mentor Shala reiterates the serious situation of RTK, recalling the recent bomb attack against RTK and his private home.  Shala emphasized that property and the sustainable financing, as two of the most serious issues of RTK, should have been solved long time ago if ruling and opposition parties would have had the will to do this.

“There was no political will to find a sustainable solution for RTK,” said Shala.

MPs of the ruling coalition, who for months now are keeping in their shelves the draft-law on RTK which offers solution for these issues,  said that potentially by the end of this year, the Assembly might find a permanent solution  to RTK’s property issue  and also find a sustainable financing model.

PDK MP Xhevahire Izmaku and LDK MP Naser Osmani called upon opposition parties to give its contribution in solving these issues that concern the public broadcaster.

MP Izmaku emphasizes that the issue of RTK property should be urgently solved, taking into consideration the remarks deriving out of the European Commission Progress Report.

Also, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) continuously offered its support to RTK calling upon authorities in Kosovo to find solutions to the issue of RTK’s financing and property.

RTK’s yearly budget, including allocation by the Assembly and other revenues is around EUR 11 million.  While, Albania’s public broadcaster (RTSH) has a yearly budget of EUR 20 million, FYROM’s public broadcaster budget is EUR 21 million, while the budget of the Montenegrin public broadcaster is around EUR 14 million.

Twenty-nine radio stations to be closed by the end of this year

(KTV)

By the end of this year, 29 radio stations will remain without licenses as they have not expressed any interests to extend the mandate of their licenses. Financial difficulties are the main reasons for the closure of radio stations while the assistance of the institutions is requested in order not to decrease the number of radio stations.

Independent Media Commission (IMC) recently published a list with 62 radio stations whose licenses will expire between August and December this year.  Out of this 62 radio station, 29 have not expressed any interest to renew the licenses.

IMC chairperson, Adnan Merovci expressed his regret that a big number of radio stations, mainly local ones, will remain without licenses as they cannot cope with the financial obligations.  Merovci expressed in favor of abolishing the yearly license fee in exchange of increasing the criteria for license.

Among the radio stations that risk licenses, are also Radio Kosova 1 and Radio Kosova 2, as they have not paid the license fee since 2014. However, according to Merovci, these two radios do not risk the licenses as they are protected by the Law on Public Broadcaster.

Musmurati: Srpska List conditioned its vote for demarcation

(RTK1)

PDK General Secretary, Basri Musmurati said that Srpska List has conditioned the demarcation voting on 01 September.

“The voting failed in the Assembly, because, according to my sources, Srpska List, made some additional demands in order to participate in the plenary session,” Musmurati told RTK1.

“All these conditions of Srpska List, some of which have been made public, are unacceptable, because they violate Kosovo constitution,” Musmurati said.

On the other hand, LDK did not admit that Srpska List conditioned the demarcation voting. But, LDK officials insist that they will not accept any condition in exchange of the demarcation vote.

Verification of victims of sexual violence starts three years after adoption of law

(KTV)

Three years after the law entered into force, it has been decided to establish the Commission for verification of the status of sexual violence victims during the war in Kosovo, KTV reports.

Based on this Law, this Commission was supposed to be established immediately after six months.

Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare called two vacancies, the one on admitting a nongovernmental organization that deals with rehabilitation on these women and admission of a psychologist, psychiatrist, jurist and a member of civil society.

Secretary of Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, Izedin Bytyqi, said this is only the first step toward verification of sexual victims, because from filling in the forms until their verification will take time.

Rehabilitation Centre for Torture Victims, which has registered 200 victims of sexual violence, has welcomed this initiative.

Over 20 thousand women are considered to have been raped during the last war in Kosovo.

Ministry of KSF sends the draft law on Army to Government

(KTV)

Ministry of Kosovo Security Force (KSF) has submitted to the Government the draft law, with which it requests to change its statute, together with the financial statement, as KTV learns, did not get Government’s green light.

Minister of KSF, Haki Demolli, stressed that re-proceeding of this draft law to the Assembly remains in Government’s hand, online version of this TV broadcaster reported.

Srpska List did not want to comment on Kosovo Armed Force, with the justification that they have no agreement about this matter.

On the other hand, Members of the Kosovo Assembly believe they might do the army without changing its name.

UN expert on internally displaced persons to visit Serbia and Kosovo

(RTK2)

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Chaloka Beyani, will visit Serbia and Kosovo from 11 to 15 September 2016 to review the human rights situation of internally displaced persons (IDPs), UNHCR announced.

During his visit, Beyani will follow-up on the recommendations made in his 2013 report to the UN Human Rights Council.