UNMIK Media Observer, Afternoon Edition, April 5, 2022

Albanian Language Media:

UN: Kosovo on the Security Council agenda in April (Deutsche Welle)
Osmani hails the resolution calling on Islamic countries to recognize Kosovo (media)
Kurti: Rezalla massacre, proof of Serbian genocide in Kosovo (media)
Kosovo and Albania discuss coordination possibilities (RTK)
Israeli Ambassador Tamar Ziv visiting Kosovo today (Express)
Serb judges in Mitrovica court return to work after 7-day boycott (Betimi per Drejtesi)
EULEX: Merdare and Mutivode Common Crossing Points, fully operational (media)
Weidinger: Austria firmly supports Kosovo's EU integration and visa liberalisation (Telegrafi)
Mustafa: If Association is formed, it will be based on 2013 agreement (Teve1)
COVID-19: 20 new cases, no deaths (media)

Serbian Language Media:

The US welcomed the election results and reminded that Serbia condemned the war in Ukraine (VoA)
Serbian election commission releases preliminary results for parliament (N1, media)
Borrell, Bilcik, Sheikh Mohammed congratulated Vucic on winning the election (B92, NMagazin)
Ambassador of Palestine to Serbia: We are not changing our position on the issue of Kosovo (Kosovo Online, RTS)
Petkovic: ''Kurti to save his nerves because Vucic will defend Serbian interests in Kosovo and Metohija for a long time'' (KoSSev)
International election observers warn of shortcomings (N1)
Ukraine crisis won’t spill over to W. Balkans, Biden’s envoy says (Hina, N1)

Opinion:

On the track of the proposal to abolish the visa regime between BiH and Kosovo (oslobodjenje.ba)

International:

Regional Policy Forum about anticorruption in the Western Balkans will take place on 7 April in Skopje (EWB)

Humanitarian/Development:

''Howdy, neighbor'' series – The lives of Serbs in Cernica (KoSSev)

Albanian Language Media

UN: Kosovo on the Security Council agenda in April (Deutsche Welle)

The United Nations Security Council will discuss about Kosovo on April 20 and new UNMIK chief Caroline Ziadeh will brief the Council about the latest developments in Kosovo. Representatives from Serbia and Kosovo are expected to attend the session. The last session on Kosovo was held in October last year and since then there haven’t been any major changes in the relations between Kosovo and Serbia. One of the issues that has preoccupied the parties in recent months has been the participation of Kosovo Serbs in the elections that took place in Serbia.

Serbia does not recognise Kosovo’s independence and continues to see it as its autonomous province. This was the latest position of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in the Prishtina-Belgrade talks, held last July.

The war in Ukraine has raised concerns about the possible escalation of tensions in the Western Balkans. EU countries and the U.S. have expressed concern that Russia could destabilise Kosovo. As a condition for guaranteeing peace and security, Kosovo has asked to become a member of NATO and to have a permanent U.S. base.

The main goal of the UN in Kosovo is to maintain stability. The lack of success in the EU-mediated talks between Prishtina and Belgrade could prompt members of the Security Council to urge both sides to resume diplomatic talks and issue a statement saying that they will not use violence against each other.

The positions of the five permanent members of the Security Council are known. France, the United Kingdom and the United States recognise Kosovo and support its government, while Russia and China do not recognise Kosovo’s independence and support Serbia and its position. Of the 10 temporary members of the Security Council, five recognize Kosovo's independence (Albania, Gabon, Ireland, Norway and the United Arab Emirates), while the other five do not recognize it (Brazil, Ghana, India, Kenya, and Mexico).

Osmani hails the resolution calling on Islamic countries to recognize Kosovo (media)

The President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani has hailed the voting of the resolution of the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation which calls on the member countries to recognize the independence of Kosovo.

“I welcome &commend the @OIC_OCI resolution calling on members that are yet to recognize the irreversible independence of the Republic of Kosovo to do so & supporting Kosovo’s memberships to intl’ organisations.

We look forward to working with member states to foster closer relations,” Osmani wrote on Twitter.

Kurti: Rezalla massacre, proof of Serbian genocide in Kosovo (media)

Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti, today paid homage to 98 Albanian men and women from Rezalla village, executed 23 years ago by Serbian forces.

He said that Rezalla Masacre is the evidence of Serbia’s genocide committed in Kosovo and requested further from the local and international justice to act with perseverance in order to bring the perpetrators in front of the justice.

“After being executed the bodies were sent to Serbia. So through cruel execution, they first stole their lives and then their bodies. Serbia’s genocide is known throughout the world therefore the local and international justice should act with perseverance in order to try and sentence the perpetrators. Glory to the martyrs of the nation,” Kurti said.

Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani and Kosovo Assembly President Glauk Tahiri also remembered victims of Rezalle .

Kosovo and Albania discuss coordination possibilities (RTK)

Kosovo’s Committee for Foreign Affairs and Diaspora hosted a delegation from Albania’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.

Head of the Committee Haki Abazi said after the meeting that they discussed about the possibilities of cooperation and coordination with Albania.

"Our entire conversation focused on the possibility and potential of cooperation and coordination of our work towards the United Nations, where Albania is now a member of the Security Council. It is certainly a long list of actions that have taken place and are taking place, but it is a moment of intensification especially towards international institutions. We are not here to raise hopes in terms of Kosovo's membership in the United Nations, we know very well that it is a long and difficult process. But the circumstances that we are in enable a greater interaction of the two countries in this direction", he said.

Albania’s representative Gazmend Turdiu said they are interested on consolidation of the independence of Kosovo in the international arena.

"We are interested in contributing to the stability and security of the Western Balkans, of course the issue of consolidating the independence and statehood of Kosovo is a major issue and a positive impact on the security and stability of the entire region. We gladly openly, fraternally and amicably exchanged views, and discussed how we could coordinate to advance our common agendas in international organizations, including the Security Council," Turdiu said.

Israeli Ambassador Tamar Ziv visiting Kosovo today (Express)

Israeli Ambassador to Kosovo Tamar Ziv is expected to visit Pristina today. Ziv will be hosted by Kosovo Assembly Speaker Glauk Konjufca.

The Assembly’s Press Office announced that Speaker Konjufca will host Israeli Ambassador Tamar Ziv today at 14:00. Israel has not opened its Embassy in Kosovo although the two countries have established diplomatic relations and Kosovo opened its Embassy in Jerusalem.

The decision on mutual recognition between Kosovo and Israel was achieved in September 2020 at a summit of Kosovo-Serbia leaders at the White House in the presence of then-US president Donald Trump.

Serb judges in Mitrovica court return to work after 7-day boycott (Betimi per Drejtesi)

All Serb judges at the Mitrovica Basic Court have returned to work after their boycott which started on March 25. The Vice President of the Court, Bekim Veliqi, confirmed the information to the news website. He also said he has scheduled a meeting with the Serb judges.

EULEX: Merdare and Mutivode Common Crossing Points, fully operational (media)

EULEX mission in Kosovo informed today that the Merdare and Mutivode Common Crossing Point (CCPs) are now fully operational.

“This is a positive breakthrough in terms of the implementation of the IBM Technical Protocol of the EU-facilitated Dialogue. On 21 March, the Belgrade Party took ownership of the new premises at Mutivodë/Mutivode and on 14 March the Serbian authorities successfully opened both sides of the Merdarë/Merdare.

EU Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue and other Western Balkan regional issues (EUSR-DWB), facilitated the decision to fully operationalize the two CCPs, while the Dialogue Support Unit currently under the helm of the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (#EULEX) assisted in the coordination of the transition process at both CCPs, whose full operationalization is expected to considerably reduce waiting times for passengers, making a difference to the lives of all citizens using them

The Kosovo authorities took ownership of the Merdarë/Merdare CCP in October 2018 and of the Mutivodë/Mutivode CCP in July 2019,” EULEX informs.

Weidinger: Austria firmly supports Kosovo's EU integration and visa liberalisation (Telegrafi)

Christoph Weidinger, Austria's Ambassador to Kosovo, said relations between Kosovo and Austria are excellent in many important fields. He said Austria is the fourth largest investor in Kosovo and the country also supports Kosovo's integration in the European Union as well as the visa liberalisation process.

"Austria fully supports Kosovo's European path, as stated clearly in the Austrian federal government programme. Austria cooperates closely with other European partners in ensuring Kosovo's European aspirations are heard. We make every effort to ensure the EU enlargement issue is of a high priority in EU's agenda."

Asked about Austria's position on the final agreement between Kosovo and Serbia, Weidinger said that normalisation of relations between Serbia and Kosovo is crucial for their EU integration and that the parties need to jointly and constructively resolve all outstanding issues through the EU-facilitated dialogue.

Mustafa: If Association is formed, it will be based on 2013 agreement (Teve1)

Isa Mustafa, former leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) and former prime minister, said that if the Association of Serb-majority municipalities is formed it should be done so in line with the 2013 agreement between Kosovo and Serbia.

"We all have a clear picture of whether to form the association or not. If formed, it should be according to the 2013 agreement. The agreement is quite general because it says principles need to be set out. In the agreement of 2015 we worked on the principles, and not in the agreement for establishment, because that was covered in 2013," he said.

Mustafa added that the 2015 agreement was a document that was supposed to serve as a mediator between the 2013 agreement on establishment of the association and the statute of the association. "The Constitutional Court becomes an arbiter of the Association and subsequent changes done by the Assembly of the Association would be subject to the assessment of the Constitutional Court. And this was signed by Serbia. To me, other issues were of minor importance, because it was important that Serbia accepts the authority of the Constitutional Court over the Association, meaning it cannot be formed outside what the Constitutional Court and our Constitution specify."

COVID-19: 20 new cases, no deaths (media)

20 new cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in Kosovo in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said. 27 persons recovered during this time. There are 545 active cases of COVID-19 in Kosovo.

Serbian Language Media

The US welcomed the election results and reminded that Serbia condemned the war in Ukraine (VoA)

"Serbia has joined democracies around the world, including all its neighbours, in condemning Putin's war in Ukraine," the State Department said in response to an inquiry which, among other things, referred to a part of the address of Aleksandar Vucic, the presidential candidate and leader of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), during the declaration of victory after Sunday's elections, reported VoA.

At that time, Vucic, among other things, said that Serbia would be neutral and friendly towards Russia, recalled VoA.

An unnamed spokesman for the State Department reminded that Serbia's declaration in the UNGA was a strong and unique message, as well as a confirmation of Serbia's aspirations for membership in the European Union.

"We expect Serbia to be united with us in a strong message of support for Ukraine - against the war chosen by the Russian side," it was pointed out in a response to the VoA.

Also, the response of the State Department said that the US welcomed the outcome of the elections in Serbia and at the same time expressed concern over the conclusions of the observation mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

"The United States is pleased that more candidates and parties in the presidential, parliamentary and local elections, which support Serbia's accession to the European Union, received significant support in the elections - which is clear support for Serbia's strategic priorities," the response said.

It was also pointed out that the US agreed with the preliminary conclusions of the OSCE observation mission that the vote as a whole was peaceful and that fundamental freedoms were largely respected.

"We share the mission's concerns about the combined impact of unequal access to the media, unjustified pressure on public sector employees to support officials, significant financial inequalities and misuse of state resources that have resulted in unequal conditions for participants," the State Department told Voice of America.

It was also said that the US welcomed the cooperation of the Government of Serbia with the OSCE Monitoring Mission and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODHIR).

"We call on the authorities to address the shortcomings identified by the OSCE mission. The United States supports Serbia's path to the European Union and we look forward to continuing our efforts to build productive relations with Serbia and improve our relations," the Voice of America was told.

Serbian election commission releases preliminary results for parliament (N1, media)

The Republic Election Commission (RIK) said on Monday evening that the coalition around President Aleksandar Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) won 42.97 percent of the vote at Sunday’s parliamentary elections, media reported last night.

The RIK said that the preliminary results based on 96.85 percent of the votes counted showed that the SNS won 1,576,082 million votes. According to RIK data, a total of 6,268,496 million Serbian nationals are eligible to vote. It said that 3,675,064 people cast ballots with 109,294 invalid ballots.

The RIK statement said that the coalition around Ivica Dacic’s Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) won 11.5 percent of 421,697 votes, United for Serbia’s Victory headed by Marinika Tepic 13.57 percent or 497,797, the NADA coalition 5.39 percent or 197,536, Oathkeepers (Zavetnici) 3.74 percent or 137,243, We Must (Moramo) 4.63 percent or 169,812, Bosko Obradovic’s Dveri/POKS coalition 3.83 percent or 140,597.

The other parties and coalitions on the ballot did not cross the 3 percent threshold to win seats in parliament. National minority parties have a different threshold which means that the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (SVM), Usama Zukorlic’s Mufti’s Heritage, Together for Vojvodina (Democratic Union of Croats), SDA Sandzak.

N1 reported that for the first time since it came to power in 2012, President Vucic’s SNS will not be able to form a government on its own following Sunday’s parliamentary elections.

With the 120 seats won in the parliament, Vucic’s party can only get to the required 126 by forming a coalition with its existing partners – the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (SVM) which has six seats or Ivica Dacic’s Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) which is projected to win 32 seats.

N1 recalled that the SNS came to power in 2012, winning 73 seats in parliament with then party leader Tomislav Nikolic taking over as Serbian President. The SNS formed a coalition with the SPS and Dacic became prime minister. Just two years later, the SNS election ticket named A Future We Believe won 158 seats and Vucic took over as Prime Minister. The elections in 2016 brought the SNS 131 seats and in 2020 the opposition boycott of the parliamentary elections helped Vucic’s party win 188 seats.

Belgrade election commission says SNS won most votes

The Belgrade City Election Commission (GIK) said on Monday evening that preliminary election results showed that the coalition around President Aleksandar Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) won 48 of the 110 seats in the City Assembly.

A statement from the GIK meeting said that United for Belgrade’s Victory won 26 seats, the We Must (Moramo) coalition won 13, Ivica Dacic’s Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) 8, NADA coalition 7, Oath Keepers 4 and the Dveri/POKS coalition won 4. No one else crossed the 3 percent threshold required to win seats.

The city government’s Beoinfo portal said that the results were based on the votes counted at 1,037 (88.63 percent) of the 1,170 polling stations. It said that 1,393,409 residents of the Serbian capital were eligible to vote and that 807,873 cast ballots. Just 16,933 ballots were invalid.

Protest in front of Serbian central election commission

A crowd of several hundred people gathered in front of the Republic Election Commission (RIK) last night to protest the commission’s decision not to release any results of the elections on Sunday night, N1 reported.

The protest was organized by the Assembly of Free Serbia and Ecological Uprising. The RIK headquarters is in the old Serbian parliament building across the street from the presidency. Police cars were parked at two intersections after the crowd blocked the street.

Ecological Uprising official Aleksandar Jovanovic Cuta told N1 that his organization would demand a public recount of all ballots. He said the protest was organized to ask the RIK chairman who decided to close the commission to the media overnight.

“We are waiting for official data on turnout along with irregularities which definitely happened,” he said, adding that he will defend every vote and not permit election fraud in Belgrade or the rest of Serbia.

The crowd was addressed by officials of the We Must (Moramo) coalition who said that their controllers were still at work and actress Bojana Novakovic.

Borrell, Bilcik, Sheikh Mohammed congratulated Vucic on winning the election (B92, NMagazin)

The President of the Republic of Serbia received congratulations from numerous world officials on winning the elections, reported B92.

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, congratulated President Aleksandar Vucic on his victory in the presidential elections held on April 3.

European Parliament Rapporteur for Serbia, Vladimír Bilcik, also congratulated President Vucic on re-election, saying in a twitter post that ‘’it was great that people voted in large numbers in Serbian elections’’. He also congratulated all political parties that will form a more representative Serbian parliament.

Bilcik was a member of the international election observation mission in Serbia, which assessed that fundamental freedoms were largely respected, but that a number of shortcomings led to unequal conditions for participants, recalled NMagazin portal.

Vucic received congratulations from the United Arab Emirates, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Ambassador of Palestine to Serbia: We are not changing our position on the issue of Kosovo (Kosovo Online, RTS)

Palestinian Ambassador to Serbia Mohammed Nabhan said that the position of Palestine, which did not recognize the independence of Kosovo, does not change, and the fact that Foreign Minister in Pristina Donika Gervalla recently met with Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al Maliki will not change that position, reported Kosovo Online.

Mohammed Nabhan told Kosovo Online that Palestine, when it comes to Kosovo, is guided by two principled things - respect for UN Resolution 1244 and commitment to negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina.

"Secondly, the issue of opening the so-called Kosovo embassy. This lady does not know enough what Jerusalem means for Palestine and the Arabs. She needs to know the position of Palestine and Palestinian Muslims and Christians, and only then say something about it," Nabhan said.

He reiterated that the issue of Jerusalem for Palestine is a red line that no one can cross, reported the portal.

Petkovic: ''Kurti to save his nerves because Vucic will defend Serbian interests in Kosovo and Metohija for a long time'' (KoSSev)

"Just as Kurti sees some military threats from Serbia, and in fact Kurti is the one who threatens all the time, Vjosa Osmani sees three solutions that so-called Kosovo allegedly offered to hold elections in the province," said today, Petar Petkovic, director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, thus responding to statements by Kosovo officials over the past two days regarding Serbia and Sunday's elections, reported KoSSev portal.

In these elections, Serbian citizens in Kosovo were again denied the right to vote in the territory where they live. On Sunday, they traveled to Raska, Tutin, Bujanovac and Kursumlija.

While this time, too, Serbia blames the authorities in Pristina for such a scenario, Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani reiterated yesterday that it was Serbia that prevented Serbs from voting in Kosovo, after it did not agree to any of the three options given by Pristina.

"Kosovo institutions have given the right to citizens of Serbia who have dual citizenship to vote through the liaison office, either by mail or by signing a bilateral agreement that would respect the best international practice in that regard. So, there were three options, none of which Serbia accepted," Osmani said at a press conference on the anniversary of her mandate.

Petkovic, on the other hand, points out today that it was well known that all Quint countries and the EU have clearly stated that ''the only and exclusive responsibility for not holding elections in Kosovo and Metohija is on Pristina'', while, as he claims, Belgrade has shown a constructive approach.

Petkovic also referred to the comment of the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, who said two days ago that he believed that "due to the lack of democracy, the winner of the elections in Serbia is known in advance".

The director of the Office for KiM believes that the main reason for such "synchronized attacks and lies" of Albanian politicians was that the policy of President Vucic, whose pillar, as he emphasized, was the defense of Serbian national interests in Kosovo, "gained steel legitimacy and the full support of the people. "

"It is clear that Kurti and other politicians in Pristina would have preferred their favorites Ponos and Djilas to win the elections in Serbia, because that would make it easier for them to realize their interests that in Kosovo and Metohija there are no Serbs and get recognition on the plate. Desires are one thing, and reality is something completely different," stated Petkovic in his reaction.

He adds that no one is to blame for the fact that Kurti and his party Self-Determination lost half of their electorate in just a few months, while Vucic won in the first round with almost 60 percent of the vote.

Petkovic also pointed out that Serbs from Kosovo chose Vucic, because, as he said, they know that he will fight for their rights.

"As long as President Aleksandar Vucic is at the head of Serbia, Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija know that he will fight for their rights, security and economic progress, which is why they gave full confidence to President Vucic again," he said.

The director of the Office therefore had some advice for Kurti, wrote the portal.

"Let Kurti save his nerves because Aleksandar Vucic will defend Serbian national interests in Kosovo and Metohija for a long time to come. And no of Kurti's lies help here," he underlined, reported KoSSev.

International election observers warn of shortcomings (N1)

Observers from international organizations at the Serbian elections said on Monday that there were a number of shortcomings but that fundamental liberties were largely respected, reported N1.

“Fundamental freedoms were largely respected in Serbia’s 3 April presidential and early parliamentary elections, and voters were presented diverse political options, but a number of shortcomings resulted in an uneven playing field, favouring the incumbents. The combined impact of unbalanced access to the media, undue pressure on public sector employees to support the incumbents, significant campaign finance disparities and misuse of state resources resulted in unequal conditions for contestants,” the observers said in a joint statement. The observers were sent to Serbia by the OSCE and Council of Europe (CoE) Parliamentary Assembly (PACE).

It said that key aspects of the electoral process require further reform and implementation. “While media covered all electoral contestants, most public and private broadcasters with national coverage favoured the incumbent president and the ruling coalition, limiting the opportunity of voters to make a fully informed choice, it added.

The head of the OSCE observers Kyriakos Hadjijianni said that the competitive campaign included opposition candidates “but the pervasive influence of the ruling parties gave them undue advantage”.

Opinion

On the track of the proposal to abolish the visa regime between BiH and Kosovo (oslobodjenje.ba)

By Vildana Selimbegovic, Sarajevo based daily Oslobodjenje Editor in Chief

Osmani "boasted" that a meeting was held, but what she ''kept silent'' about?

‘’They wanted much more than a visa-free regime with BiH. To make matters even more cynical, the current Kosovo government has rejected requests from Merkel, Macron, and the entire international community to agree to this regional agreement …’’

‘’In a statement for Radio Free Europe, the President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, said that she had a meeting with members of the Presidency of BiH, Zeljko Komsic and Sefik Dzaferovic, on finding a solution to abolish the visa regime between BiH and Kosovo.’’

‘’Osmani said that ‘citizens should not pay the price for not recognizing Kosovo's independence’ on the occasion. There is nothing strange in this statement, it could even be praised. But what is more important here is what Osmani kept silent about. And that is that it was her government that broke the regional agreement on freedom of travel with ID cards, which was supposed to solve this issue - to lead to the abolition of visas between Kosovo and BiH. Osmani did not say that the representatives of the institutions in Kosovo in the negotiation process with contempt stated that they would not agree to regional agreements that put Kosovo in an unequal position, just to get a visa-free regime with BiH.’’

‘’They wanted much more than a visa-free regime with BiH. To make matters more cynical, the current Kosovo government has rejected requests from former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, and the entire international community to agree to the regional agreement, which was due to be signed in July last year at the German-chaired Berlin Summit.’’

‘’Everything was ready, only that Kosovo said a fateful YES, but the Kosovo representatives resolutely rejected the offered agreement, they asked for more. That Serbia implicitly recognizes them through that agreement.’’

‘’So, they did not ask for the modality "so that the citizens would not pay the price of non-recognition". Because if they wanted it, they would already have it. Does this now mean that the Kosovo president has realized that the zero-sum game is leading them nowhere, or is she so naive as to believe that she will resolve this issue bilaterally with BiH?’’

‘’Unless she is even more naive in her decision to unilaterally abolish visas for BiH citizens, relying on the false hope that BiH will do the same for Kosovo citizens. Perhaps it would be right to tell her right away that it will not, so that a woman does not waste time looking for modalities or throwing dust in the eyes of nations blinded by big words and small deeds.’’

International

Regional Policy Forum about anticorruption in the Western Balkans will take place on 7 April in Skopje (EWB)

SKOPJE – What do recent US anticorruption efforts mean for the Western Balkans? What are the expected effects of an enhanced focus on anticorruption? Can we expect that focus to move anticorruption higher on the agendas of local governments? What can the EU and the US do to prevent democratic backsliding and promote good governance to fend off authoritarian influence and corrosive capital in the region?