• Assembly aims to adopt Draft Law and Platform on Dialogue on Thursday (KTV)
• Mustafa: LDK will initiate amendment of Criminal Code to sanction those who question the state (KTV)
• Dialogue unprincipled and clinically dead (KTV)
• Serwer to Thaci: Don’t sell Kosovo’s sovereignty for a bowl of porridge (GazetaExpress)
• Vucic: Serbia does not enter EU without agreement with Kosovo (RTK)
• Investigations into Ivanovic’s murder launched against SDP office administrator (KTV)

Assembly aims to adopt Draft Law and Platform on Dialogue on Thursday

(KTV)

At the request of Prime Minister, Members of the Assembly of Kosovo will convene in an extraordinary session on Thursday from 09:00hrs.

KTV reports that the Draft Law on Dialogue as well as the Platform for the final phase of Dialogue, a document drafted by the State Commission on Dialogue, will be discussed in the second reading.

In the meantime, Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj has ruled out the possibility that approval of the Platform in the Assembly will pave the way to suspension of the tariff.

He expects a decision-making to happen in the Assembly.

But the opposition has considered the Platform as the most absurd document that can ever reach the Assembly.

Meanwhile, the Assembly Committee on Foreign Affairs also gave its vote in favour of the Draft Law on Dialogue and Platform. They gathered on Wednesday afternoon without the presence of opposition members.

Mustafa: LDK will initiate amendment of Criminal Code to sanction those who question the state

(KTV)

The LDK chairman Isa Mustafa expressed his conviction that the Dialogue Team is a degradation of Kosovo’s statehood.

“This group is a step back to the year before declaration of independence, to the time of UNMIK, when Kosovo did not have its own institutions with full legitimacy, so exactly there where Serbia and those who question Kosovo’s statehood want it to be,” Mustafa said.

According to him, the Law on Dialogue is a document of shame and blackmail of this coalition by a small party in the Assembly, which is ensuring them the survival in capturing and extortion of the state. According to him, the Dialogue Platform offers nothing else but false expectations in the public.

Mustafa, who was Prime Minister of Kosovo, said that dialogue should be held by a legitimate Government and with a Platform that should be product of a broad consensus and approved by two-thirds in the Assembly, as same as the Agreement.

“LDK will initiate amendment of the Criminal Code, which should sanction criminal offense for any official who questions the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and the statehood of Kosovo. It cannot be done with a Platform and a Law that does not protect Kosovo, but that rather protects those who run the dialogue,” Mustafa said.

Dialogue unprincipled and clinically dead

(KTV)

Valon Murtezaj, a professor at IESEG, Paris, was one of many local and international experts who attended the conference “Kosovo-Serbia Dialogue: normalisation or aggravated status quo.”

At this conference, he mentioned the context as a substantial element that, according to him, must be taken into consideration in a negotiation process.

Reminiscing systemic discrimination exercised by Serbian authorities against Kosovo Albanians more than two decades ago, Murtezaj said:

“As long as there is no will to acknowledge these facts, there is no way forward. Whoever ignored them, made a big mistake.”

Veton Surroi, publicist, spoke about the fact that topics such as missing persons and war damage have not been addressed, emphasising the necessity for those topics to be addressed in Dialogue. He described current situation in the Kosovo politics with regard to this issue.

According to him, there are four negotiation areas in Kosovo, starting with the President, Negotiating Team, Prime Minister, and two opposition parties.

Surroi thinks that topics such as the one on borders, have pointed out lack of consensus not only in Kosovo but also beyond it.

Surroi qualified the talks in Brussels as failed and unprincipled, emphasising that communication with Serbs in Kosovo has continuously been missing.

On the other hand, Miodrag Milicevic of Aktiv, an organisation operating in north Mitrovica/Mitrovicë and in Prishtinë/Pristina, highlighted the need for a dialogue tackling essential topics that lead towards normalisation of relations; otherwise, he announced consequences.

“What is currently happening in and about Kosovo rather leads us towards a silent conflict that may escalate at any moment,” Milicevic said.

Nicholas Whyte, Director of APCO, stated that the interest of the EU for Kosovo has declined compared to the topics such as BREXIT and relations with the US. He said that Kosovo should do more for its image.

The conference, which was organised by KIPRED, RIINVEST and FES, continued with panel discussions on other topics about economic issues and potential solutions between Kosovo and Serbia.

Serwer to Thaci: Don’t sell Kosovo’s sovereignty for a bowl of porridge

(GazetaExpress)

Daniel Serwer, Professor of Practice of Conflict Management at the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and expert on Balkans, is an opponent of land and people swaps in the Balkans, proposed by presidents Hashim Thaci of Kosovo and Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia.

According to Serwer if borders are redrawn, Germany, the Netherlands, and other EU members will not approve Kosovo and Serbia’s accession into the EU, Gazeta Express reports.

Serwer made the statements during a conference on the Kosovo-Serbia Dialogue dubbed ‘Normalization or an Aggravated Status Quo.’ Kosovo’s friend explained why according to him President Hashim Thaci gave up the idea on partition of Kosovo.

Serwer said that Thaci saw the Belgrade was making progress with the idea in Washington, where there is also an ethnic nationalist administration, Gazeta Express reports.

“John Bolton was opposed to Kosovo independence and would be pleased to wreck a Clinton protégé, which Kosovo certainly is. So when Bolton said he would entertain partition ideas if Vucic and Thaci could agree, President Thaci became concerned that he would be outflanked and end up with a one-sided proposition: northern Kosovo would go to Serbia without any gain for the Albanians,” Serwer stated.

Talking on the US President Donald Trump’s involvement in the dialogue aimed at reaching a final agreement which does not exclude correction of borders, Serwer says that it would be unforgivable mistake. For Kosovo to sell its sovereignty “for a bowl of porridge, or a Rose Garden ceremony,” referring this to Trump’s letter sent to Kosovo President asking signing of a final agreement between Kosovo and Serbia in 2019. “Ro sell your sovereignty for a bowl of porridge, or a Rose Garden ceremony, would be a historic and unforgivable mistake,” Serwer said.

Among other things Serwer said that a land swap in the Balkans would strengthen Russian claims to the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the secession of Transnistria, Donetsk and Luhansk as well as the annexation of Crimea. US analyst said that it would be good for Serbia and Kosovo to give up such idea before is too late.

Vucic: Serbia does not enter EU without agreement with Kosovo

(RTK)

Serbia cannot enter the EU unless it reaches an agreement with Prishtinë/Pristina, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Wednesday, adding that it is time to stop “false Serbian envoys” who claim that Serbia can join the EU even without solving the problem of Kosovo.

He made these comments after the meeting with the Italian Prime Minister Guissepe Conte in Belgrade, where Kosovo was one of the topics discussed.

Vucic announced that without an agreement with Prishtinë/Pristina, there is no entry in the EU neither for Serbia nor progress in this regard for Kosovo.

Investigations into Ivanovic’s murder launched against SDP office administrator

(KTV)

People of the Freedom, Democracy and Justice (SDP) Civic Initiative had addressed a series of allegations against the justice institutions, concerning the murder of their party leader Oliver Ivanovic. However, now even officials of Ivanovic’s party are being investigated in relation with his murder.

The Prosecution Office has launched investigations into Silva Arsovic, who works as administrator at the SDP offices.

According to the Prosecution Office, Arsovic is suspected to have been near surveillance cameras in the party, and the cameras happened to be dysfunctional at the very moment when Ivanovic’s murder happened.

Sylë Hoxha, prosecutor of the case where Srpska Lista vice chairman Milan Radoicic is the key suspect, said he has received an invitation from Radoicic’s lawyer to interview Radoicic in Serbia, but he did not accept it.

Hoxha insists that Radoicic and all other suspects will be interviewed in the Special Prosecution Office.

Despite the requests sent to authorities in Serbia to provide access to Ivanovic’s telephone conversations before the murder, all what has been provided to the Kosovo Prosecution Office is telephone numbers used by Ivanovic.

KTV contacted the SDP vice chairperson Ksenija Bozovic, asking her about the investigations launched against a staff member of the party, but she did not respond.

The Prosecution Office and Ministry of Justice in Belgrade did not give any response, either.

Recently, the two senior Kosovo leaders have accused each other of having had meetings with the suspect for Ivanovic’s murder.

Whilst President Hashim Thaçi said that he had expelled from Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj’s friend, Haradinaj stated that he had met Milan Radoicic together with Thaçi in his office.