Headlines - 28 07 2017 Kosovo’s Interpol membership difficult, Russia presiding the meeting in China (Koha) INTERPOL’s General Assembly will be held in Beijing, China, in September of this year. Kosovo’s membership of this international organization will be on the agenda. Kosovo’s outgoing Minister for Internal Affair, Skender Hyseni, presented this as a success, while speaking about a letter received by  INTERPOL Secretary General, Jurgen Stok. However, Kosovo’s membership in this organization appears to be a great challenge as China has not recognized Kosovo yet and  the General Assembly will be presided by Russia. In addition to Kosovo, Palestine and the Solomon Islands also applied for INTERPOL membership. Kosovo is recognized by 114 countries, which are also UN Member States, Palestine is recognized by 138 countries, from which 136 are UN Member States. Kosovo needs two thirds of the votes from the 190 INTERPOL member states. Hoti: Minority cannot create government in democracy (RTK) “We are 29 MPs who will not change (our position). Vetevendosje also claims the same, so the majority is not in favor of the PAN coalition,” said Avdullah Hoti, candidate for Prime Minster from the LAA coalition. According to him, the PAN coalition together with minorities have 59 MPs. "State institutions cannot be created by a minority, but if they manage to gather 61 votes, we will be in opposition,” Hoti said. He added that LAA would discuss with Vetevendosje to reach a governing agreement on the second round, if PAN fails to create the government.  “If they fail, there are others who make the majority,” he said. Apostolova blames local authorities for annulment of projects in the north (Lajmi) The EU Office in Kosovo/EU Special Representative Nataliya Apostolova had to cancel last week 7.8 million EUR of financial assistance to North Mitrovica, because municipal authorities of Mitrovica North did not remove the illegal buildings in the vicinity, necessary for access at the construction site. The projects foresaw the construction of a cultural centre and  a new university building in North Mitrovica. Unfortunately, the local authorities failed to remove the existing illegal buildings and free the access to all working areas. In an interview for journalists, Apostolova said that mayor of Mitrovica North, Goran Rakic, had promised to resolve the issue. According to her, the decision to annul the projects was not an easy one and it proceeded after serious discussions. However, Apostolova said, the EU has certain procedures, especially when the money of EU citizens is concerned. She explained that after long discussions and the approached deadline, they were forced to bring the EU High Representative to Mitrovica North to explain the seriousness of the situation to the municipal mayor. "Nothing happened after the extension of the deadline. We were put in a position where nothing was left to be done except to annul the projects,” Apostolova said, adding that the decision was also supported by the German and French Embassies in Pristina. Meanwhile, Apostolova denied Rakic's claims that the projects were annulled due to the delays on revitalization of the bridge. “This decision is in no way related to the revitalization of the bridge. There is no political impact behind this annulment,” Apostolova said. “Special Court one of the reasons government will not have a long life” (Klan) Well-known Kosovo lawyer, Tome Gashi, said during a debate in Klan Kosova that even if the PAN coalition manages to gain the votes of 61 MPs, the government will not have a long life, one of the reasons he said is the Special Court. Gashi also said that if Vetevendosje and the other political parties stick to their statements that they would not vote for Kadri Veseli as Assembly President, there will be technical difficulties to start the work of the Assembly. “Without a functional Assembly, the government cannot be created,” Gashi said. Veseli’s election can (not) fail (Koha) The paper quotes jurist Vigan Qorolli as saying that the situation where only the winner could propose the candidate for the President of the Assembly, could last eternally or until MPs from the other parties are convinced to vote for PAN’s preferred candidate. “According to the Constitution, failure to elect the Assembly President does not lead towards new parliamentary elections and this means that election of the Assembly President remains the key issue to overcome the political knot and to create new Institutions of Kosovo,” Qorolli said. He added that according to the Constitution of Kosovo, all MPs have to be present and to vote in order to constitute the Assembly. On the other hand, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) has announced that they would not propose any other candidate but Kadri Veseli, even if he fails to be elected at the 3 August session. Zeri also quotes experts on legislative issues as saying that if PAN fails with election of its candidate for the President of the Assembly, Kosovo could face an institutional crisis.Serbs condition Haradinaj (Zeri) Based on its sources, the paper reports on its front page that the Serbian List has conditioned votes for Ramush Haradinaj’s election for the Prime Minister of Kosovo with the establishment of the Association of the Serb-majority Municipalities. Serbian List MP, Sasa Milosavljevic said on Thursday that Serbian List has not decided on whether to vote the proposed candidate for the Assembly of Kosovo. Deputy leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Enver Hoxhaj said after his registration as Assembly MP, that he hopes the Serbian List would join the PAN coalition. Serbia blocks agreements on Mitrovica (Zeri) The paper reports that that the illegal security organization in northern Kosovo “Civilna Zastita” has not disbanded as agreed in Brussels. Instead, two other organizations, “Most-Klinci” and “KMfirm 028” are created and they abuse Albanians as soon as they cross the bridge. According to the paper, the Kosovo government pays 378 former members of “Civilna Zastita” despite the fact that they are not employed. Zeri further brings quotes from the statement of Kosovo’s Minister for Dialogue, Edita Tahiri, made a few days ago, where she accuses Belgrade for not implementing any agreement reached in Brussels.