- Thaçi and Zannier discuss community rights (Klan Kosova)
- Kosovo ready to advance position of communities (KTV)
- Brnabic: Rights to Kosovo Serbs denied (KTV)
- Haradinaj optimistic that second EP voting will speed up visa liberalisation (KTV)
- Internationals silent over massacres in Kosovo war (GazetaExpress)
- Tahiri: “Creative ideas” about Dialogue are dangerous (RTK)
- Selimi: Four EU ministers request from Serbia to recognize Kosovo (Klan Kosova)
- Braathu criticises Prishtinë/Pristina Municipality concerning waste management (Klan Kosova)
News
Thaçi and Zannier discuss community rights
(Klan Kosova)
The President of Kosovo Hashim Thaçi received on Monday the OSCE High Commissioner for National Minorities, Lamberto Zannier, online version of Klan Kosova and most other portals reported.
Thaçi said that Kosovo remains committed on enhancing the harmony between communities and strengthening peace and stability.
“I continuously and carefully monitor the human rights situation in Kosovo, and I am pleased with the progress. We have built a legal framework that supports community rights”, stated President Thaçi.
The Head of State, in the meeting with Ambassador Lamberto Zannier, also discussed the importance of the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
“The Preparatory Team for the establishment of this commission has been formed, and it is preparing the legal and technical framework. The Preparatory Team is conducting a public consultation campaign, with support from the OSCE mission. I am grateful to the OSCE mission that has given full support to the initiative and the work of the Preparatory Team,” added President Thaçi.
Ambassador Lamberto Zannier welcomed the commitments for advancing the legal infrastructure for community rights, and expressed willingness to provide support for further improvement of relations amongst communities in Kosovo.
Kosovo ready to advance position of communities
(KTV)
The Prime Minister of Kosovo Ramush Haradinaj met on Monday with the OSCE High Commissioner Lamberto Zannier, and with Head of the Mission in Kosovo, Ambassador Jan Braathu, where they discussed integration of non-majority communities.
On a Facebook post, Prime Minister Haradinaj said that Kosovo has marked progress and is ready for further advancement of the position of communities.
“For full integration of non-majority communities as well as for insurance and protection of their rights in Kosovo, today we discussed with the OSCE High Commissioner for National Minorities Lamberto Zannier and with Head of this Mission in our country, Ambassador Jan Braathu. Non-majority communities in Kosovo, as a constitutional category, are represented in all institutions of the country. Kosovo has made progress and is ready for further advancement of the position of communities,” Haradinaj wrote, KTV and most other online portals reported.
Brnabic: Rights to Kosovo Serbs denied
(KTV)
The Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said she did not expect any good from the fact that Kosovo courts have taken over war crime cases from EULEX.
“I do not expect any good thing, as long as Prishtinë/Pristina has political leaders who deny human rights to Serbs,” Brnabic said, Beta Serbian news agency reported.
A special department to deal with war crime cases has been established in the framework of Kosovo justice system.
Officials of the Kosovo Special Prosecution Office confirmed to Radio Free Europe that three prosecutors are already working at the department.
The Kosovo Special Prosecution Office in June 2018 received exclusive powers to investigate and prosecute war crimes and other violations of the international humanitarian law.
Brnabic said she has asked for representatives of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe to react, because, as she put it, Serbs in Kosovo have been deprived of the right to information, RFE writes.
According to Brnabic, Serbian language newspapers have not been reaching Kosovo since 21st November last year.
At that time, Kosovo imposed 100 percent tariff on all products imported from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Haradinaj optimistic that second EP voting will speed up visa liberalisation
(KTV)
The Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj is optimistic that after the second voting in the European Parliament, decision on visa liberalisation can be made in June; yet, he said he could not provide assurance that this will certainly happen.
“We are working in order for it to happen. We cannot provide assurances and we may not mention any dates, because they tend to criticise us, both here and beyond here. We are working in order for it to happen; it is fair that it happens. I believe that you also can notice some signals, some better developments; yet, it is not a done deal. Work must be done carefully. It was very good that it has been voted again in the European Parliament; otherwise, we would have to wait for the new Parliament to be constituted. This implies that we do not lose time. The second voting in the European Parliament happened exactly in order not to waste time. The second voting has allowed for the decision to be made even in June,” Haradinaj said, KosovaPress reported.
He stated that at his meeting on Monday with German officials, he asked for Berlin officials to explain to other EU member countries about the importance of visa liberalisation for citizens of Kosovo, so that isolation and restriction of freedom of movement can finally come to an end.
“I have always assured them that neither refugees nor crime will get there, but that it only provides the opportunity of freedom of movement. We need a sponsor country, and that can be done by Berlin, by explaining to other governments that the time has come,” Haradinaj added.
Internationals silent over massacres in Kosovo war
(GazetaExpress)
Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj commemorating 20th anniversary of the massacre in Lybeniq of Peja, said that international community has never reacted, as Kosovo these days is commemorating those killed in massacres of 1999 committed by Serbian police and military forces.
Attending the commemoration of one of the worst massacres of the Kosovo war in 1999, Haradinaj said that they are every day remembering massacres showing that Kosovo has suffered a lot during the war. He deemed meaningless the silence of international community over massacres that Serbia committed in Kosovo. “It is strange to see international community closing eyes over all this suffering,” Haradinaj said. 71 Kosovo Albanians were killed in Lybeniq in 1999.
Tahiri: “Creative ideas” about Dialogue are dangerous
(RTK)
National Coordinator for State Reforms in the Government of Kosovo Besnik Tahiri said that “creative ideas” in the Dialogue with Serbia are very dangerous. He spoke on Monday on RTK’s “Imazh” show.
“Creative ideas are very dangerous. We should leave no space in any discussion to weigh what we have declared on February 17 and our Euro-Atlantic vision,” he said.
He also spoke about the visit of German MPs to Kosovo.
“The position of the German MPs was very clear. In the twenty-first century, you cannot move forward with mechanisms of the last century. In Kosovo there is a reality. Kosovo cannot be undone. The first mistake is made when there is such a tendency,” said Tahiri.
Selimi: Four EU ministers request from Serbia to recognize Kosovo
(Klan Kosova)
Petrit Selimi presented a letter that four European foreign ministers have addressed to Serbian authorities.
On a Twitter post, announcing a change in course, Selimi wrote: “The joint letter sent today by German, French, Spanish, and Polish foreign ministers requesting from Serbia to recognize Kosovo before any new chapters are opened, and simultaneously requesting from Kosovo to fully engage in the region as an equal and constructive partner.
Braathu criticises Prishtinë/Pristina Municipality concerning waste management
(Klan Kosova)
Another criticism was addressed to Kosovo by Ambassadors in Prishtinë/Pristina.
Now it is Head of the OSCE Mission Jan Braathu that criticized the Municipality of Prishtinë/Pristina for not removing the debris from the area where the new zone of the capital is planned to be built.
Showing footage from New Prishtinë/Pristina zone, Klan Kosova reported that one afternoon he passed by here, and he did not like what he saw.
The OSCE Ambassador in Kosovo Jan Braathu stopped for a few minutes and took photos of this area located in New Prishtinë/Pristina neighbourhood in the capital, and he posted them on Facebook.
According to him, the debris dumped here is uglifying this place, and his friends need to see it.
“Every city and every society have such waste, but it should be organised, and a more suitable place should be found to dump the waste, not just anywhere.
According to Braathu, this situation did not develop overnight, but for many years. In his view, it is up to government to intervene. More inspections should happen here.
“Honestly, I don’t know what they’re doing. I only see these things and I think that more needs to be done. I don’t know, but we can see the result. Here are the results. Everyone can see them. Kosovo is beautiful to be vandalised like this,” Ambassador Braathu said.
Adonis Tahiri, Prishtinë/Pristina inspectorate director stated to Klan Kosova by telephone that based on the Regulation, municipal inspectors fine persons who are caught throwing waste here.
On the other hand, Burim Kelmendi, CEO of “Pastrimi” waste management enterprise, said that it was difficult for the enterprise to collect the debris because it lacks special equipment needed for this sort of waste.
However, there is someone outside the institutions who plans to clean this zone on 22nd April, as part of the clean environment campaign.
“We will certainly take a cleaning campaign action in that zone. Not only in that zone but also in Fusha e Pajtimit, because the situation is not better there either,” said Luan Hasanaj of Let’s Do It Kosova.
Braathu’s reaction came a few days after the criticism that the Swiss Ambassador Jean-Hubert Lebet addressed to Kosovo institutions for abusing funds, instead of supplying drinking water to ten villages in Skenderaj/Srbica.
