Djuric commends the contribution of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo
(RTK2)
Director of Office for Kosovo at the Serbian Government, Marko Djuric met with the newly elected Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, Jan Braathu. Djuric thanked Braathu for the role and the concrete support that this Mission provides to the protection of Serb community in Kosovo, online version of RTK2 reported.
Djuric emphasized the importance and contribution of the OSCE Mission to property issues, which, according to him, are of crucial importance for Serbia and the Serb people in Kosovo. He highlighted the contribution of the Mission, within the framework of the regional forum “Skopje Initiative”, in coordinating the process of return for internally displaced persons.
Related to this topic, Djuric informed Braathu with the details of the ‘Sunny Valley” project, which, according to him, provides solutions to all key issues related to the displaced persons.
Djuric also thanked Braathu for the support that the OSCE provided in organization of the election process in Kosovo, as part of the Serbian parliamentary elections that were held in April of this year.
Director Djuric informed Braathu about Brussels dialogue process and issues that Serb community faces in terms of human rights. Djuric stressed his readiness for implementation of future joint activities, with a particular focus in strengthening the work of local governments in the Serb majority areas.
On the other hand, the newly elected Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, Jan Braathu informed Djuric with the goals and plans of the OSCE Mission to be implemented during his mandate.
Constitutional Court pledges to respect legal deadlines about the Law on Trepça
(KTV)
Liquidation process for Trepça is approaching while the Law on Trepça has been sent to the Constitutional Court by the Serb minority, KTV reported.
Despite the fact that the Law on Trepça got majority of the votes by members of Kosovo Assembly and was signed by Assembly Speaker, this law cannot enter into force without the final verdict of the Constitutional Court.
Through an email, the Constitutional Court confirmed that the Court will treat this case in compliance with legal deadlines.
“Regarding the request submitted by Srpska List caucus, the Court will make the decision by respecting the legal deadlines defined in the Law on the Constitutional Court, and in compliance with the Constitution of Kosovo and the Rules of the Procedures of the Court,” reads the email.
Constitutional Court should decide about this case within 60 days. But based on other cases, including the election of Hashim Thaçi as President of Kosovo, the Court decided within 30- days.
On the other hand, Artan Qerkini, a legal expert, is confident that Trepça will not go into liquidation, but even if this happens, according to him, at the moment this Law enters into force, the liquidation process might be stopped based on the Article 16 of this Law.
But if the Constitutional Court decides in favour of Kosovo institutions, Serbs plan to submit the case to the Arbitration.
Development Fund, which Belgrade considers as the biggest stakeholder of Trepça mining complex, with 55 per cent of shares, notified Kosovo Privatisation Agency (KPA) and Kosovo officials that it agreed with unilateral offer for arbitrage stipulated by Kosovo Law on Foreign Investments.
Government requests temporary suspension of Trepça’s liquidation
(RTK1)
Kosovo’s government will submit to the Constitutional Court in Tuesday, the request for temporary suspension of Trepça’s liquidation by KPA. Government will take this move as the Law on Trepça, which was passed by the Assembly of Kosovo, cannot enter into force, because of a complaint filed against this Law by Srpska List in the Constitutional Court.
Meanwhile, the Law on Trepça should enter into force by 02 November otherwise Trepça mining complex must enter liquidation process.
Besnik Berisha, a legal advisor to Kosovo Prime Minister Isa Mustafa, told RTK that the work for drafting the request has started. He expressed his confidence that by Tuesday the same request will be submitted in the Constitutional Court. According to him, Court should suspend the liquidation of Trepça, pending the verdict on the complaint filed by Srpska List.
Hoxha: North of Kosovo remains a challenge
(KTV – Puls show)
Kosovo Deputy Minister of Interior Affairs, Valdet Hoxha, talking in KTV Puls show, considered the security situation in Kosovo as acceptable.
“Although an expansion of the sovereignty has been marked recently in the north, this area continues to remain a challenge,” said Deputy Minister Hoxha.
Commenting the reciprocity with Serbia, Deputy Minister Hoxha said that: “We should be honest and admit that we cannot cope with Serbia, as they have all the military and diplomatic potential at their disposal.”
Regarding the threat from organized crime and corruption, Hoxha said that Kosovo is not ranked well, but emphasized that institutions are working hard and that there are concrete results. He also blamed the opposition parties for delays in visa liberalisation.
“Throwing of teargas in the Assembly has shaken the trust of international partners”, said Deputy Minister Hoxha.
On the other hand, the other participant in this show, Vetëvendosje Movement (VV) MP, Rexhep Selimi said that the main threat to Kosovo’s security is Serbia, followed by organized crime, corruption and terrorism. Selimi said that Government of Kosovo and the Ministry of Interior do not control Kosovo Police in the north.
While, Avi Islami, a security expert, considered that Serbia has become more aggressive recently due to the Russian influence in Balkans.
“Security situation is fragile and has a certain tendency to escalate due to artificial situations created by Serbia. I don’t know how Kosovo Police Director, Nehat Thaçi entered Serbia nine times and was not arrested while on the 10th time he got arrested. This situation is unclear,” said Islami.
KIA Oversight Assembly Committee launches monitoring visits
(KTV)
As of next week, members of Assembly Oversight Committee for Kosovo Intelligence Agency (KIA) will visit all security institutions and monitor implementation of the Law on Classification of Information and Security Clearances.
Their visits will start from KIA, but the problem for MPs who are part of the committee, is that they cannot access confidential documents as they have not passed the security vetting, requested by the Law, KTV reports.
The Law on Classification of Information and Security Clearances stipulates that in order to have access to documents classified as “Confidential”, “Secret” or “Top Secret”, a person must have a valid security clearance. Based on the law, only the President, the Speaker of the Assembly and the Prime Minister are authorized to access classified information without fulfilling the clearance condition.
However, despite the fact they will not access confidential documents, Rrustem Berisha, chairperson of this Committee, said that they will draft a report at the end of the monitoring visit. The other member of this Committee, LDK MP Melihate Tërmkolli requested meetings with the President and Prime Minister, too.
Due to this issue for almost two mandates the Committee was not able to monitor implementation of this law.
