- Gottemoeller: Kosovo Army, through constitutional amendments (Zeri)
- Shala: Unity Team will be formed after runoff elections (Klan Kosova)
- Maneuvers with border demarcation (Zeri)
- The camouflaged justice in the north (Koha)
Gottemoeller: Kosovo Army, through constitutional amendments (Zeri)
NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller said on Friday that the transformation of the Kosovo Security Force into the Kosovo Armed Forces needs to happen through constitutional amendments. During her visit to Kosovo on Friday, Gottemoeller said she discussed the issue in meetings with representatives of Kosovo’s institutions and that NATO maintains the same position on the matter. “We had a confidential meeting. I cannot go into details, but we discussed many issues related to security in Kosovo and stability and security in the region. We discussed all these topics, including the transformation of the Kosovo Security Force, and I want to reiterate a message you heard from NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg when he visited Kosovo in February this year. He said that the transformation of the Kosovo Security Force is in the hands of Kosovo’s authorities. But that at the same time it is exceptionally important for this transformation to happen in line with the constitutional procedures,” Gottemoeller said.
Shala: Unity Team will be formed after runoff elections (Klan Kosova)
Blerim Shala, advisor to Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, said on Friday that the Unity Team for talks with Belgrade will be formed after the local runoff elections. “Immediately after the runoff elections, we will initiate the establishment of the Unity Team. It is good for government and opposition members to be part of this team and work together because this concerns the future of our country. Our goal is to join the United Nations as soon as possible, because this would automatically resolve our membership problems,” Shala said. He also said that the border demarcation with Montenegro must be resolved as soon as possible, adding that there is a point in the agreement with Montenegro which provides for revision if new facts are found.
Maneuvers with border demarcation (Zeri)
Kosovo Prime Minister, Ramush Haradinaj, said he could send the border demarcation agreement with Montenegro to the International Court of Arbitration, but this cannot happen without the prior consent of Montenegro. Meanwhile, experts of international relations in Pristina argue that even the International Court of Arbitration is not the right choice because it could take years before this institution comes up with a solution, the paper reports. Podgorica has reiterated that it will not renegotiate the agreement, and international officials have called on Kosovo authorities to ratify the deal as soon as possible in order to pave way to visa liberalization for Kosovo. Meanwhile, heads of Kosovo’s new commission on demarcation are working intensively on the matter and claim that they have found new elements.
The camouflaged justice in the north (Koha)
The Kosovo government and the Office of the President continue to keep secret two important aspects about the agreement for the integration of the judiciary in the north. This concerns the oath declaration of Serb prosecutors and judges and the annex of the Agreement on the judiciary that talks about the validity of rulings by Serb courts until 2013, the paper reports. The paper contacted the Office of the President to get a copy of the oath declaration but it did not get a copy. Unnamed sources told the paper that “the declaration and several other issues related to the Agreement are being kept secret following a request from Belgrade”. Several media recently published the context of the text that Serb judges and prosecutors signed and it reportedly did not contain the symbols of the state of Kosovo nor the denomination “Republic of Kosovo”.
