• Kosovo leaders remember former UN Secretary General Annan (media)
• Merkel and Putin to meet this weekend (Indeksonline)
• Mitrovica South Mayor meets former Albanian PM (media)
• Rasic: I don’t expect the Association to have executive competencies (EO)

Kosovo leaders remember former UN Secretary General Annan (media)

Heads of Kosovo’s institutions paid tribute today to former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan who passed away in Bern, Switzerland, in the early hours of Saturday. Kosovo President Hashim Thaci said Annan was at the helm of the United Nations in 1998 – 1999 when the international community intervened to stop Serbia and Milosevic’s terror in Kosovo. “During his mandate as Secretary General, Annan put the United Nations in the service of rebuilding Kosovo,” Thaci wrote. Prime Minister, Ramush Haradinaj, said the world has lost one of its best diplomats who served to peace and the resolution of conflicts. “Annan had a great role in our cause for freedom, by supporting the NATO air campaign and later the reconstruction of Kosovo. We will always remember the man who supported our cause for freedom and independence,” Haradinaj said. Deputy Prime Minister and former Foreign Minister, Fatmir Limaj, tweeted: “Saddened by the news that former SG & Nobel Prize winner Kofi Anan, has passed away. Sincere condolences to his family and friends.The world has lost a great man, who‘ll be remembered for his tremendous work for peace. #Kosovo is grateful for his support to freedom & independence”. Several news websites carry Annan’s full statement from May, 1999, in which he presented arguments in support of NATO’s air campaign to stop crimes by Serbian troops against civilians in Kosovo.

Merkel and Putin to meet this weekend (Indeksonline)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will host a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Berlin this weekend. The two leaders are expected to discuss Syria, the situation in eastern Ukraine and the situation in the Balkans, the news website reports. According to some Russian media, Merkel and Putin will also discuss the talks between Pristina and Belgrade, and Merkel is reportedly expected to tell Putin her position that “Kosovo’s borders are untouchable”.

Mitrovica South Mayor meets former Albanian PM (media)

All online media cover a meeting between Mitrovica South Mayor, Agim Bahtiri, and former Prime Minister of Albania, Sali Berisha, highlighting the latter’s remarks that “Mitrovica was never part of Serbia”. Bahtiri and Berisha discussed the recent ideas for border changes in the Balkans. Bahtiri said Belgrade’s efforts to divide Mitrovica and Kosovo pose a real threat to peace and stability in Kosovo and the region. Berisha wrote in a Facebook post: “Mitrovica was never part of Serbia, except in maps for a Greater Serbia. Mitrovica is part of Kosovo in all UN resolutions, international acts, the Rambouillet agreement, the Kumanovo agreement, the Ahtisaari Plan, the declaration of independence, the ruling of the International Court of Justice and the 115 international recognitions of Kosovo’s statehood … I said it again that no one and never, except for promoters of a Greater Serbia in Belgrade and their servants in Pristina, has questioned Kosovo’s current borders and have not asked for border changes or the exchange of territories.”

Rasic: I don’t expect the Association to have executive competencies (EO)

Nenad Rasic, leader of the Progressive Democratic Party in Kosovo and former Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, said in an interview to Ekonomia Online that he doesn’t expect the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities to have executive competencies because there is no room for a third tier of government in Kosovo. “At this point, I don’t see any room for a third tier of government. In order to have this, you would have to send back all the laws that have been adopted since 2008, amend them and this requires a lot of work. Amending the laws would take two or three years … So I don’t expect anything to change on the ground. I know there is a lot of noise about the statute of the Association, but I don’t see any changes happening that would affect any of the laws,” Rasic was quoted as saying.