Hale will seek measures for reaching agreement with Serbia

(KTV)

U.S. Department of State confirmed the visit of Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale to Kosovo.

An official media note reads that he will travel to the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Serbia, before visiting Kosovo.

In Kosovo he will seek measures that lead to reaching an agreement with Serbia.

“Finally, on March 9 in Prishtinë/Pristina, the Under Secretary will meet with senior Kosovo officials to underscore the historic opportunity to reach a comprehensive normalization deal with Serbia and seek measures to reach a resolution,” the media note reads.

In the meantime, with regard to his visit to Serbia, is expected to seek return to the Dialogue to normalize relations with Kosovo.

“He will also lead a discussion with civil society leaders to discuss issues of regional and global concern including Russian and Chinese influence in the Western Balkans,” Department of State announces.

Mustafa says that “commanders are competing who is the strongest”

(KTV)

LDK chairman Isa Mustafa addressed criticism and accusations against the Prime Minister and President of Kosovo.

He said that President Hashim Thaçi and Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj are competing with each other to show who is the strongest.

According to Mustafa, institutional leaders have led the country to a deep crisis, saying that elections are the only solution to this situation.

Mustafa denied receiving an offer from PDK to join the government, but said they are working together with Vetëvendosje to overthrow the Government.

The LDK chairman also commented on the meeting at his home with the President, saying Thaçi told him that non-rescinding of the tariff is prompting the removal of US troops.

Mustafa said that Kosovo has never had worse relations with its partners, the US and the EU, because, as he said, of the ruling coalition and the President.

 German foreign policy advisors to visit Kosovo

(GazetaExpress)

Two top foreign-policy advisors to German Chancellor Angela Merkel are expected to visit Kosovo next week, Gazeta Express has learned.

German Chancellor Angel Merkel’s foreign policy adviser Jan Hecker and Matthias Lüttenberg, Head of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe of the German Federal Chancellery, are set to visit Kosovo next week.

“They will come to Pristina on 11 March, to meet President Hashim Thaci and Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj,” a source told Gazeta Express noting that the two senior German officials will discuss with Kosovo leaders on dialogue with Belgrade and tax imposed on Serbian goods.

The visit of the two German officials is expected to be critical amidst debate on whether to suspend the tax on Serbian goods imposed by Kosovo Government in November last year, as well as on continuation of the dialogue with Belgrade.

 Belgrade: It will be a catastrophe if there is no compromise with Pristina

(N1)

Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic tells the Italian ANSA agency that Belgrade and Pristina must reach a compromise or face a catastrophe, the Beta agency has reported on Monday.

He added that “unlike Kosovo’s leaders who daily deceived their citizens with unrealistic promises that Pristina would get everything and Belgrade nothing, I must explain to Serbia’s citizens the meaning of a compromise (with Pristina) which is not a defeat but a victory for Serbia’s future.”

“We must first reach a compromise,” Vucic said in an interview with ANSA.

“If there is no compromise agreement about Kosovo, it will be a catastrophe. Though everything looks hard and even impossible sometimes, we are determined to reach a compromise. I’m sure we can find a solution with help from our European friends and the support from Russia, the US, China and other countries,” Vucic said.

He added he appreciated the role of the EU diplomacy chief and the mediator in the Belgrade – Pristina dialogue Federica Mogherini, unlike Pristina which criticised Brussels.

“The problem is between the Serbs and (Kosovo) Albanians. I cannot criticise Europe for doing all it could to preserve peace,” Vucic said.

In its first version, ANSA cited Vucic as saying “we cannot recognise Kosovo and have nothing in return from the other side,” but changed it by retracting that part.

 Serbs divided, Albanians welcome state symbols in Klokot/Kllokot

(KTV)

As of Saturday, state symbols of Republic of Kosovo, have been placed at the entrance of new building of Municipality of Klokot/Kllokot.

Only after a few weeks, Klokot/Kllokot municipality staff will be transferred from the old building to the new building with state symbols of the Republic of Kosovo, KTV reported.

However, it is still not clear who ordered placement of symbols there.

KTV tried to speak with Mayor Bozidar Dejanovic, but he wasn’t willing to make a statement about this.

Officials of his office briefly said over the phone they have not taken this decision, but they are not in favour of removal of these symbols.

Some Serb residents said that state symbols are not a bother or a provocation to them, but this was done by politicians for their own interests.

“It’s a shame for me to say whether it is or isn’t a provocation. How do I know what it is? I speak for myself, it does not bother me at all,” a local Serb citizen said.

“The law exists and there are legal decisions about what are entitled to and what not. It’s not provocation. I do not know what else to say,” another citizen said.

Some of them did not want to comment on these actions, while others say that this is a provocation for the Serbs.

“It is not the right decision. This is a provocation that has been made to test the patience of Serbs,” another Serb community citizen said.

Albanian residents of this municipality, who are a minority community, are in favour of their placement.

Deputy Mayor for Communities Selvije Rexhepi said that in previous meetings with the Mayor of this municipality, the latter agreed that at the time of relocation to the new building, they would place state symbols of the Republic of Kosovo.

In the municipality confirmed that they will be move to the new building as soon as KEDS completes works on the electric network installation.

Reaction of Srpska Lista was immediate, which considered placement of the panel with Kosovo symbols as a provocation for Serbs in Kosovo.

The Mayor in office Bozidar Dejanovic had won the elections as part of the Civic Initiative for Klokot/Kllokot, but after the victory he joined Srpska Lista.

Serbia still has not returned original copies of cadastral registrars to Kosovo

(KTV)

The Serbian state has hardly implemented any agreement signed with Kosovo during 2011.

Even five years after, Serbia has not returned the cadastral registrars it had taken away during the war period.

Because these documents have not been received, the Kosovo Property Comparison and Verification Agency has not yet started its work, and as a result, many properties in the country have not yet been verified.

Minority communities in the country face most issues with contested and usurped property.

The Government did not tell when these documents would be returned to Kosovo, but they said that questions should be addressed to the Negotiating Team.

Unofficially, this Team told KTV that any agreement that has been signed with the Serbian side in Brussels will be in the table of talks.

There are about 4 million cadastral registrars that Serbia needs to return to Kosovo.

To implement the agreement on the return of these registrars, Serbia received a three million euro donation from the European Union.

Petition on unification of Mitrovica not discussed by MPs

(GazetaExpress)

Despite being on the agenda, Parliament’s Committee on Human Rights and Petitions has not discussed a petition signed by Mitrovica citizens asking unification of this ethnically-divided town. Chair of the Committee, Duda Balje said they have not received the petition from the Parliament’s presidency.

Last month, mayor of Mitrovica South, Agim Bahtiri, launched a petition and in one week over 16 thousand signatures were collected asking unification of the southern part of the city inhabited by Albanians with the Serb-run north. Bahtiri launched the petition after the Government has rejected the idea for being in violation with the law on local government.

During Monday’s meeting of the Committee, MP of the ruling party AAK, Teuta Haxhiu, said the petition is playing with the emotions of citizens of Mitrovica and blamed institutions for not dealing seriously with the petition.  Haxhiu said the petition should be discussed by the Committee.

MP Shemsi Syla representing opposition party of Vetevendosje, said that their parliamentary group has received the copies of the petition.

Ruling parties have criticized Mitrovica South mayor Agim Bahtiri for sending copies of the petition only to Vetevendosje and ignoring other parliamentary groups.

MPs criticize Commission that is verifying victims of sexual violence

(KTV)

Victims of sexual violence during the recent war in Kosovo are waiting up to one year for their application to be reviewed by the Government Commission dealing with this issue.

These concerns were raised by members of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights.

MP Teuta Haxhiu said that a person contacted her and complained that she applied one year ago for recognition of the status of the victim of sexual violence, but she still has not received any response.

Other MPs also addressed criticism about the failure of this Commission, which operates within the Ministry of Labour.

Because of this, the Committee will invite Minister of Labour Skender Reçica to report next week.

In the meantime, this Committee received a request from the nongovernmental organization “Avonet” asking for the case of sexual abuse of the girl from Gllogoc/Glogovac to be transferred to Ferizaj/Urosevac Basic Court for proceeding, in order to avoid interferences in it.