- Kurz: No solution for Kosovo without support of great powers (KTV)
- Kosovo and Serbia should reach an applicable, lasting agreement (GazetaExpress)
- US Army presence in Kosovo necessary to prevent threats (GazetaExpress)
- Weller and Emerson – foreign experts in Kosovo’s negotiating team (RTK)
- Enver Hasani remains under investigation, qualifies this as a constitutional violation (KTV)
- Ratification of Istanbul Convention needed (RTK1)
- Court confirms indictment in Pronto case (Klan Kosova)
- Five arrested for illegal transplants and human organ trafficking (GazetaExpress)
News
Kurz: No solution for Kosovo without support of great powers
(KTV)
The Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said that any possible solution to the Kosovo issue should be supported by great powers, especially by the permanent members of the UN Security Council.
He stressed that Serbia should be aware that without a clear progress in relations with Kosovo, it will not be able to join the European Union, KTV portal quotes KosovaPress as reporting.
“It is in our interest to be in a close partnership with the United States of America as far as the Western Balkans is concerned, and to have their support in encouraging progress to reach a solution to this important issue,” Kurz said in an interview with Cord magazine.
Kosovo and Serbia should reach an applicable, lasting agreement
(GazetaExpress)
US Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs in charge for Western Balkans, Matthew Palmer, says time has come for Belgrade and Pristina to reach a final agreement. He recalled the US President Donald Trump’s message to the negotiators that they should grab “the historic chance” to reach a deal.
Palmer in an interview with the Belgrade’s CorD magazine, called on both sides to avoid steps which make a compromise more difficult. “Kosovo and Serbia should reach an applicable, lasting agreement which would not destabilise any country in the region. We will seriously look into any deal which meets those conditions,” Palmer said adding that the US fully supports EU-facilitated dialogue between the two countries. He reiterated that the US did not and would not ‘prescribe’ what a solution should be and that the process and a deal should come from the two sides since that was the only way it could work for both Kosovo and Serbia. “We encourage both sides to continue the process, reduce negative rhetoric and constructively work together towards an agreement. Serbia and Kosovo are bounded, and neither side could move forward without a deal on a comprehensive normalisation,” the US official said.
He added it was impossible that Washington wanted an agreement more than Belgrade and Pristina. “The US remains committed to Kosovo’s independence and sovereignty and the partnership with both Kosovo and Serbia,” Palmer told the magazine. Asked to comment on Pristina’s rejection to suspend the 100 percent import taxes introduced on goods from Serbia and Bosnia last November, Palmer suggested to both sides to avoid steps which could jeopardise a compromise. He also opposed the idea of organising a big international conference on Kosovo. “So-called big powers won’t step in and solve the problem for them. Belgrade and Pristina can find a solution,” Palmer said, adding he agreed with Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic who asked: “What is an alternative to the negotiations?”
US Army presence in Kosovo necessary to prevent threats
(GazetaExpress)
General Tod D. Wolters, US Army nominee for appointment to the position of the United States European Command and Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, said the IS troops are needed in Kosovo to face malign threats from outside, Wolters also said that the US Command would support development of the Kosovo Security Force.
General Tod D. Wolters reporting on Tuesday before the US Senate Armed Services Committee said that US troops are still needed in Kosovo.
“U.S. presence is necessary to strengthen allied and partner resistance to these threats,” he said when asked to comment on KFOR’s role in Kosovo. Wolters also made a wider assessment saying that the US Department of Defence is trying to modernise armies of the region by equipping them with the US weapons.
“Department of Defense bolsters regional allies and partners through security cooperation and capacity building initiatives. Key to these initiatives is eliminating regional militaries’ 26 dependence on Soviet legacy systems. We are leveraging security cooperation tools to modernize regional militaries with U.S.-origin and NATO interoperable equipment,” he said.
Wolters was asked specifically what would be his approach towards the Kosovo Security Force (SKF) if he is confirmed as Commander, EUCOM/SACEUR.
“USEUCOM supports the development of the Kosovo Security Force according to their agreed upon 10-year transition program, conducted in close coordination with the U.S. and other NATO Allies. We encourage the KSF to maintain a multi-ethnic, professional force responsive to all the citizens of Kosovo,” Wolters said.
Weller and Emerson – foreign experts in Kosovo’s negotiating team
(RTK)
Kosovo Assembly MP from the Social-Democratic Party Frasher Krasniqi said Kosovo has the best local and international experts in the Negotiating team.
“The Negotiating Team has hired some of the best local and international experts, including Marc Weller and Ben Emerson, for development of the state platform for Kosovo,” Krasniqi wrote on his Facebook account.
“It is an incorrect, ill-intentioned, and unscrupulous tendency to compare the staff of our team with Serbia’s experts,” he wrote.
Enver Hasani remains under investigation, qualifies this as a constitutional violation
(KTV)
Former President of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo continues to face problems with justice.
Convinced that there were no open issues, Enver Hasani showed that he applied for some personal and visa documents, but he came across problems. He was told that he was still being investigated by the Kosovo Police.
The former President of Constitutional Court, who was found innocent in two trial proceedings, considers the two criminal reports filed for several years as a constitutional violation.
With regard to the criminal report filed seven years ago, Hasani says he has no idea what the offense that he is being investigated for is about.
Kosovo Police disclaimed their responsibility for this matter, saying that the moment that criminal reports are forwarded to the Prosecution Office, the response should be sought there.
But when asked by the KTV, the Basic Prosecution Office in Prishtinë/Pristina, although initially agreed to provide clarifications on these cases, later on refused to do so.
Ratification of Istanbul Convention needed
(RTK1)
Not only that ratification of the Istanbul Convention in the Kosovo Assembly is needed, but it is one of the most progressive initiatives dealing with human rights, given that it prevents and combats violence against women and domestic violence.
For this purpose, women of Srpska Lista have been called upon to attend the Assembly session on 12th April, in order for the Constitutional amendments to be voted.
These comments were addressed at the roundtable organised by Social Democratic Party (PSD), about the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.
Sponsor of the amendment, the Assembly Deputy Speaker Aida Dërguti, said that Kosovo was the only country in the region that has not ratified the Istanbul Convention. She believes that the only way for it to happen is through Constitutional amendments.
According to Dërguti, this situation has happened because Kosovo is only an observer in the Council of Europe.
Dërguti said that Constitutional amendments were challenging, since it requires double voting in the Kosovo Assembly; for this reason, she called on women of Srpska Lista to attend the session of 12th April, in order for the Convention to be ratified.
On the other hand, Ombudsperson Hilmi Jashari said that this was one of the most progressive initiatives dealing with human rights.
Referring to the Istanbul Convention, he said that it eliminates many irregularities against women and domestic violence.
Jashari called for the Convention to be appropriately implemented, if it is adopted.
The Kosovo Women’s Network Executive Director Igballe Rogova said that despite the challenges, progress has been made in promotion of women’s rights and preventing violence against them.
Nevertheless, she said that there were still domestic violence cases, where more than 80 per cent of victims are women and girls. Therefore, she called on MPs to vote in favour of the Constitutional amendments, so that the Istanbul Convention can be ratified.
Ulrika Richardson, UN Development Coordinator in Kosovo, said that ratification of the Convention and its full implementation would demonstrate that Kosovo will be free of violence against women, girls, and all families in Kosovo.
Court confirms indictment in Pronto case
(Klan Kosova)
The Prishtinë/Pristina Basic Court, Department of Serious Crimes, rejected the request for turning down the indictment and for objection of evidence in the case known as Pronto.
Adem Grabovci and 10 others are accused by the Prishtinë/Pristina Basic Prosecution Office of committing the offence Attempt to Violate the Equal Status of Residents of the Republic of Kosovo in collaboration.
Parties have the right to appeal the decision within five days.
Five arrested for illegal transplants and human organ trafficking
(GazetaExpress)
Five people, workers of a private clinic in Kosovo, have been arrested by the Kosovo Police Wednesday suspected of illegal transplanting and organ trafficking of human tissues and cells, Gazeta Express reports.
The Kosovo Police have announced that its anti-trafficking units on 2 and 3 April have carried out an operation which resulted with the search of a private clinics in Pristina and the arrest of five people suspected of illegal transplanting of body organs, tissues and cells. The Kosovo Police announced that the arrest came after a months-long investigation in coordination with the Basic Prosecution Office in Pristina. As material evidence the police have confiscated medical files, four mobile phones and 500-euro cash. At the order of the Health Inspectorate the clinics offering IVF services has been closed. The four arrested have been ordered 48 hours’ custody whereas the fifth one has been released under regular procedure.
