UNMIK Headlines 22 July
Kosovo to receive the code +383 from an EU country (Tribuna)
Tribuna newspaper reports that Kosovo will finally receive the international telephone code of +383 as of January 2015. Sources confirmed that according to the agreed solution in the latest meetings between delegations of Pristina and Belgrade in Brussels for the international code for Kosovo from International Telecommunication Union ITU because of the legal international obstacles, one of EU countries such as Austria, Italy or Sweden will apply for the code on behalf of Kosovo.
Valdet Sadiku assumes post in Belgrade (Zëri)
Kosovo’s liaison officer to Serbia Valdet Sadiku will today assume his new post but the paper notes that the budget for his office will be much smaller than the one he had while in Croatia. The budget for Kosovo’s liaison office will be no more than 100,000 euro and was secured from the Government reserves.
Deputy Prime Minister Edita Tahiri said the office will initially employ three persons, including Ambassador Sadiku, but there is a possibility to increase the number depending on operational needs.
Kosovo will be saved only by a third Republic (dailies)
Leader of Vetëvendosje movement, Albin Kurti, during the party’s general council said that “Kosovo can be saved only by a third Republic”. According to Kurti, Republic of Kosovo declared on 2 July 1990 was a republic for existence which was followed by organized resistance. While he called the declaration of independence of 17 February 2008 as a second Republic, he said that a third Republic could be declared only by Vetëvendosje.
According to Kurti, Kosovo Albanians demanded independence from Serbia and not from Albania. While commenting on the agreement with Serbia, Kurti said that the effect of the Milosevic’s successor, Ivica Dacic, is not only the creation of Kosovo’s dependency from Serbia but also the creation of dependency between political parties in Kosovo. He said that PDK, LDK and AAK are already in a coalition and Serbia is not anymore their trouble but it is Vetëvendosje movement. While taking into consideration these problems and evaluating the difficult economic situation in the country, according to Kurti, Kosovo needs a third Republic.
Barricade is obstacle for visit of Thaçi in the north (Tribuna)
The barricade over the Iber River presents an obstacle for Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi to visit the north. Political analysts evaluate that the prime minister should focus on the removal of this barricade which divides north and south Mitrovica, before planning a visit in that part of the country. The announced visit PM Thaçi to the north is not expected to happen before the removal of the main barricade over the Iber River.
Sources of newspaper said that every visit of prime minister there is connected with this barricade. According to the same sources efforts are underway to remove the barricade in a symbolic way. Deputy Prime Minister, Hajredin Kuçi did not want to talk about the details of this visit in the north or the barricade over the Iber River, but he said that Kosovo Government is making maximum efforts to assert rule of law in this part of the country.
Jessen-Petersen: UNMIK’s truth about corruption (Tribuna)
Former SRSG Soren Jessen-Petersen in an interview for the paper said that UNMIK had tried to investigate cases of organized crime and corruption in Kosovo but never managed to prosecute these cases for a simple reason: lack of evidence and witnesses. He dismissed claims that organized crime and corruption was not fought for the sake of political stability. “It did not happen because of our lack of work or because we did not manage to find local associates. We did not manage to find evidence and this was a result of the lack of witnesses. I cannot speculate the reasons that made witnesses not step forward but the truth is that there were no cooperating witnesses,” said Jessen-Petersen.
Jahjaga to take part in a regional summit of presidents (Tribuna)
Croatian daily Jutarnji List reported that a summit of regional heads of states will take place next week in Slovenia and will mark official launch of initiative undertaken by Slovenia and Croatia to help countries in the region on their journey to EU. Last such initiative was boycotted by Serbia when its then president Boris Tadic refused to take part because of the presence of Kosovo representatives but this time around, President Tomislav Nikolic has not expressed any reservation in attending despite Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga also being invited to the event.
Thaçi: 35 percent of population in Macedonia is Albanian (Zëri)
In an interview for Bulgarian paper, Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi said 35 percent of the population in Macedonia is of Albanian ethnicity. He said that 3 percent of Serb population living in Kosovo enjoys more rights than Albanians in Macedonia. “In this sense, I think Albanian and Macedonian leaders in Skopje should talk and implement Ohrid Agreement,” Thaçi said.