Headlines - 20.04.2015

Leaders to discuss energy, telecom and barricades in Brussels on Tuesday (Koha)

The Prime Ministers of Kosovo and Serbia, Isa Mustafa and Aleksandar Vucic, will meet in Brussels on Tuesday. A spokeswoman for the European Union said the two leaders would review the progress achieved in the implementation of agreements reached so far and exchange views on how to move forward with the normalization of relations. Kosovo’s Minister for Dialogue, Edita Tahiri, said the meeting will focus on the energy, the telephone code and the removal of the barricade on River Iber. “We will ask for discussions on an additional point: the dissolution of all parallel structures in order to make way for the implementation of all agreements reached in Brussels,” Tahiri said. The paper further notes that Serbia meanwhile has stepped up the pressure for the establishment of the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities.

Haradinaj: We didn’t give an ultimatum to the government (Epoka e Re)

The leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) said on Sunday that 10,000 people participated in the protest organized by opposition parties on 18 April. “We have been serious in the protest and I think that we have accomplished what was the task of the protest, to present our demands,” Haradinaj said. He added that the protesters did not give an ultimatum to the government of Kosovo, but they gave a two-week deadline to fulfil the requirements of the opposition. “If there will be no reflection on these requirements, it means that we will continue until the fulfilment of our demands,” Haradinaj said.

Dacic: Thaci’s visit would violate state policy on Kosovo (Bota Sot)

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said on Sunday that if Serbia allows Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Hashim Thaci, to visit Serbia as Kosovo’s Foreign Minister, then it would violate Serbia's state policy towards Kosovo. “Thaci cannot visit Belgrade in the capacity of Kosovo’s Foreign Minister,” Dacic said, adding that “if we allow this, we would violate our state policy on Kosovo”.  He also expressed dissatisfaction that at the meeting of regional foreign ministers, Hashim Thaci was announced as Kosovo’s Foreign Minister without the footnote.

Serbia doesn’t want normalization of relations (Zeri)

The paper writes that if Serbian authorities don’t allow the visit of Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister, Hashim Thaci to Belgrade, it shows what the the level of normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia is. Thaci has expressed willingness to visit Serbia, while he is expecting a formal response from the government of Serbia. Kosovo’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Petrit Selimi, told the paper that Belgrade’s threats of Thaci’s arrest if he visits Serbia should not be the basis for decision-making in 2015, when the two countries are wanting to join the EU. While political analysts in Kosovo say that if Serbia doesn’t allow Thaci’s visit to Belgrade, then Kosovo should apply the principle of reciprocity for similar visits of Serbian senior officials.

The unimplemented agreement (Koha)

The paper reports on its front page that many points of the first agreement for the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia have not implemented although two years have passed since the two sides signed the agreement. Kosovo, the paper notes, has failed to secure two essential things – the freedom of movement and the state authority in the northern part of the territory. While government officials in Pristina have highlighted many achievements from the agreement, political analysts argue that the government is not serious enough and that it expects the European Union to do everything.

The Brussels Agreement, good and bad (Zeri)

On the second anniversary of the signing of the Brussels Agreement, the former Prime Minister of Kosovo and current Deputy Prime Minister, Hashim Thaci, said that despite setbacks, the Brussels Agreement has brought long-term benefits for Kosovo and for the region, and that it has become a global example of solving problems through dialogue. “Two years ago we signed the historic Brussels Agreement which provides for the dissolution of Serbia’s illegal parallel structures and the Europeanization of the Balkans,” Thaci said. Kosovo’s Minister without portfolio, Edita Tahiri, told the paper that despite the challenges and difficulties, dialogue has produced positive results for Kosovo. Regarding the establishment of the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities, Tahiri said this would happen only if Serbia stops supporting its parallel structures in northern Kosovo. Meanwhile, leaders of the Vetevendosje Movement said that the Brussels Agreement envisages territorial division on an ethnic basis and the creating of an autonomous Serb entity within Kosovo.

Special Prosecution investigates Hasani for falsifying documents (Zeri)

The paper writes on its front page that Enver Hasani, the President of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo, is being investigated by the Special Prosecution for falsifying documents. According to the paper, the Special Prosecution is investigating Hasani on two cases. The first has to do with the misuse of money at the University of Pristina when Hasani was rector, while the second was initiated by Kosovo’s Ombudsperson, Sami Kurteshi, and for which case no further details were provided for the media.