UNMIK Headlines 16 December
The Government does not allow a court with ethnic character (Koha Ditore)
Koha Ditore reports that Serbia is requesting finalization of the agreement for courts with Kosovo before Tuesday, when it will be announced decision for the start of negotiations with European Union. Kosovo Government denies having been subjected to the agenda of Serbia insisting that there will be only one Basic Court in the north under jurisdiction of four municipalities with majority of Serbs in the north and three municipalities with Albanians majority in the south, but civil society says that Kosovo has already yielded to Serbia’s pressure.
The failure of prime ministers Thaçi and Dacic to finalize agreement for courts has activated working groups who are making efforts to achieve a consent before Tuesday. Serbia is insisting that the region of Mitrovica is divided in half, as in the case of police. Bekim Çollaku, senior advisor of PM Thaçi, said for newspaper that the agreement for Kosovar side is achievable only if Kosovo laws are upheld.
North with financial independence (Tribuna)
Kosovo authorities hailed the establishment of the development fund for the north stating that it seals Kosovo’s state identity while Serbian Government assured Serb citizens in the north of Kosovo that the tax collected at the border crossings will be returned to them in various ways and that no money will be spent by the Government of Kosovo.
“We as the Government of Kosovo believe that this is a huge achievement for our country because after so many years, we have finally asserted rule of law in payment of taxes in these two border crossings”, said Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister and chief negotiator Edita Tahiri.
Internationals are ignoring missing persons (Zëri)
Zëri reports that Deputy Prime Minister, Hajredin Kuçi, says that not only once, but many times they have requested from Brussels that in the table of talks to be raised also the topic of missing persons , but that what they have received are only promises, is the answer that Kuçi gave to Zëri newspaper. Unofficially, the newspaper learned from its sources in Brussels that this issue will not be a topic in international level. “Presently it is not known if there are going to be new topics in Brussels. The focus remains in the implementation of the agreement of 19 April, for the normalization of relations Kosovo – Serbia. The government will be the ones who will deal directly with other topics,” said this source in Brussels.
Relations with Kosovo, condition for Serbia? (Epoka e Re)
European Union Foreign Ministers today start the two day meeting. In their first day at the Council for Foreign Policies, they will hear the short report of the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security, Catherine Ashton, on the work of the EU mission in Kosovo for the rule of law, Catherine Ashton, and later they will deal with crisis at Middle East and Africa, as well as the situation in Ukraine. While tomorrow, Baroness Ashton will present a detailed report on the progress of normalization of the process of normalization of relations between Pristina and Belgrade. During this summit, they will decide on the precise inter-governmental meeting EU-Serbia, as well as the date of the start of the discussions. Even though at the last round of the dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade, parties could not reach an agreement on judiciary, Belgrade expects that Ashton will present a positive report.
Kurti: Serb List, Chetnik formation (dailies)
Vetëvendosje leader Albin Kurti said that 2014 is the year when Vetëvendosje will be governing but at the same time nine municipalities will be governed by candidates of the Srpska List. Kurti said that in the capital of Pristina the citizens will see a model of good governance, “we will see a decent mayor who makes people proud, we will see the work according to the plan and according to the law and in nine municipalities we are going to see a Chetnik formation”. He added that when the Movement warned that Republika Srpska is coming in Kosovo, “we were insulted and ridiculed, now everybody is saying that Republika Srpska is very much a possible danger, “ said Kurti.
Difficult sale of PTK (Tribuna)
Government of Kosovo will not be able to sign privatisation contract for the Kosovo Post and Telecom by 26 December as was announced by Minister of Economic Development, Fadil Ismajli. There are a number of procedural issues that need to be sorted out before the privatisation can be concluded and even if the Kosovo Assembly passes the relevant law this week, it will not be before mid January that the contract can be ready for signatures.
Re-voting confirms victory of Nikolic from Srpska list (dailies)
Repetition of the runoff of local elections for municipality mayor at the polling stations in Pasjan, Partesh municipality, proved the candidate from Serb Citizens Initiative, known as Srpska list, Dragan Nikolic, winner. According to the preliminary results of CEC, Nikolic won 1398 votes, or 52.4 percent, while his opponent Nenad Svetkovic, from SLS, had 1272 votes or 47.6 percent.