Headlines - 08.05.2017

• Demarcation Day (Koha Ditore/Zeri)
• Mustafa: Early elections not part of coalition agreement with PDK (Epoka)
• Veseli: Border demarcation to be voted before no-confidence motion (Zeri)
• Opposition: Demarcation will fall together with the government (Epoka)
• Vetevendosje mobilizes to prevent ratification of border agreement (Lajmi)
• U.S. Embassy: Kosovo to focus on priorities (Zeri)
• Serbia protests Kosovo’s presence at commemoration event (Koha)
• Kosovo rebuts Serb media reports of armed groups entering FYROM (RTK) 

Kosovo Media Highlights

Demarcation Day (Koha Ditore/Zeri)

The government of Kosovo will meet today at 10 and is expected to submit to the Assembly the agreement on border demarcation with Montenegro. According to Koha Ditore, it is likely that the Assembly calls a session immediately after the government’s meeting in order to vote on the agreement. The paper writes that the longevity of the ruling coalition will be put to the test this week, first with the border demarcation agreement and on Wednesday with the opposition’s motion of no-confidence. Similarly, Zeri reports on the front page that following many delays, Prime Minister of Kosovo Isa Mustafa will forward the border agreement to the Assembly and being that tomorrow is a non-working day in Kosovo, the deal could be put to vote as early as today.

Mustafa: Early elections not part of coalition agreement with PDK (Epoka)

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Isa Mustafa, told the paper that he will proceed at the Assembly with the demarcation agreement, in order to see if there is the will at this institution to draw Kosovo people out from isolation, with the support of the EU and the U.S. He said that if demarcation is not adopted, then the Assembly would be subject to populist, folklorist policies and false causes of certain individuals, risking in this manner partnership with the EU and U.S. He added that all arguments were offered to prove that Kosovo does not lose a single square meter with demarcation. Speaking about the motion of no-confidence, Mustafa said that opposition cannot bring down the government. He said that his party is determined to fulfill the entire agreement for coalition with PDK, reminding the latter that they did not make a coalition for early elections, but to work. 

Veseli: Border demarcation to be voted before no-confidence motion (Zeri)

Kosovo Assembly President, Kadri Veseli, said yesterday in Prizren that he is waiting for Prime Minister Isa Mustafa to submit to the Assembly the agreement on border demarcation with Montenegro. Veseli said MPs from his Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) will support the agreement and that he hoped all MPs from the coalition partner, the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), would also vote in favour. Veseli also said that the Assembly session on ratification of border agreement would have to precede that of the opposition’s no-confidence motion, scheduled to take place on Wednesday.

Opposition: Demarcation will fall together with the government (Epoka)

Opposition parties in Kosovo reconfirmed their determination to object the demarcation of the border with Montenegro. Officials of Vetevendosje movement, Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), and the Initiative for Kosovo (NISMA), are convinced that the current version of demarcation will fall together with the government. Furthermore, they consider that the government went down on Friday, when signatures of the MPs for motion of no-confidence were submitted. Glauk Konjufca from Vetevendosje movement said that their position has not changed and added that there is dissatisfaction with demarcation not only among opposition MPs but those from the governing coalition as well. Konjufca did not want to speak about the means they would use to prevent adoption of the agreement; while representatives of AAK and NISMA, Ali Berisha and Valdete Bajrami, said that they have given up use of tear gas at the Assembly.

Vetevendosje mobilizes to prevent ratification of border agreement (Lajmi)

Vetevendosje movement is mobilizing in case the government proceeds with putting the demarcation agreement into vote at the Assembly. This movement has appealed to all its activists in Kosovo to gather at 17:00 hours today in Pristina. They are expected to gather close to the Pristina Youth Center. Vetevendosje said the gathering is aimed at preventing the voting of the border demarcation agreement at the Assembly. Participation of the activists is mandatory, reports this portal.

U.S. Embassy: Kosovo to focus on priorities (Zeri)

In the light of reports of imminent elections in Kosovo, the U.S. Embassy in Pristina said Kosovo needs to focus on implementing a number of tasks such as improving the rule of law, facilitating local and foreign investment, ratify border demarcation agreement, pass the law on religious freedoms and normalise relations with Serbia through dialogue, including the establishment of Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities.

Serbia protests Kosovo’s presence at commemoration event (Koha)

Serbian delegation led by Minister of Labour Aleksandar Vulin, walked out of a commemoration event in Linz, Austria, held in honour of victims of Nazism to protest over the presence of Kosovo. Vulin told the media that Serbia cannot stand by in silence watching the “fake state of Kosovo being represented as a genuine state and how [its representatives] present themselves as having been part of the antifascism coalition”.

Kosovo rebuts Serb media reports of armed groups entering FYROM (RTK)

Kosovo’s Foreign Ministry has rebutted reports in Serbian media claiming that armed groups from Kosovo have entered the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) territory. Kosovo’s MFA said such reports are false: “Any attempt to portray Kosovo as a generator of instability and insecurity is tendentious and aimed at carrying out agendas for destabilizing the region and hindering Euro-Atlantic processes”.