Albanian Language Media:

• COVID - 19: One death, 119 new cases (media)

• Latifi: Hoti must be maximally grateful for minimal criticism (media)

• Hoti has not met Thaci about Washington meeting yet (Express)

• Brussels has no timelines, “talks on all open issues” (media)

• Kosovo Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemns burning of Greek flag (media)

Serbian Language Media:

• Four new cases of Covid-19 registered in Serb areas in Kosovo, 11 persons recovered (Radio kontakt plus)

• Djuric: Difficult and unpleasant talks in Brussels (RTS)

• Lajcak: Talks were not simple, but are step ahead (RTS)

• Djuric: Serbia will not tolerate dictate in Washington (Kosovo-online)

• Dedic: Teaching in Serbian schools in Kosovo to start on September 1 (Kosovo-online)

• Balkan Health Authorities to draft border protocol (BETA, N1)

International:

• Europe’s youngest nation to boost testing amid Covid-19 hit (Bloomberg)

Humanitarian/Development:

• EU reconsiders list of third countries that have allowed traveling across its borders (B92)

Albanian Language Media

COVID – 19: One death, 119 new cases (media)

119 new cases of coronavirus and one death were recorded in the last 24 hours in Kosovo, the National Institute for Public Health said in a statement. 154 patients have recovered from the virus during this period. The highest number of new cases is from the municipality of Prishtina (36).

Latifi: Hoti must be maximally grateful for minimal criticism (media)

Blerim Latifi, professor of philosophy at Prishtina University and political commentator, said today that Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti must be maximally grateful for the minimal pressure and criticism against his government for the management of the coronavirus pandemic. Latifi took to Facebook today to react after Bloomberg reported that Kosovo is one of the most deadliest places in the world for coronavirus. Latifi writes: “Hoti must be maximally grateful for the minimal pressure and criticism against his government … because if this data would have come out during Kurti’s mandate as Prime Minister, we would have eaten him alive.”

Hoti has not met Thaci about Washington meeting yet (Express)

The news website reports that Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti is not coordinating with President Hashim Thaci on the eve of the meeting with the Serbian delegation in Washington. Representatives of the President’s Office told Express that the government has not requested a meeting and has not asked Thaci’s office to send a representative for the meeting in Washington.

“The Prime Minister so far has not requested a meeting with the President to coordinate on the representation and state positions for the process of dialogue in Washington. The Office the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister have also not asked the Office of the President, who leads the foreign policy, to send a representative for this meeting. Despite the lack of efforts for coordination, the Office of the President calls for broad-based representation in the dialogue with Serbia because lack of inter-institutional coordination and the lack of political unity weakens Kosovo’s international position,” the President’s Information Office said in a reply.

The news website reports that Hoti will be accompanied in Washington by Deputy Prime Minister Driton Selmanaj, Deputy Prime Minister Albulena Balaj Halimaj, Minister Arban Abrashi, ministers from the AAK, Meliza Haradinaj – Stublla and Selim Selimi, coordinator Skender Hyseni, and advisors and assistants.

Brussels has no timelines, “talks on all open issues” (media)

Peter Stano, lead spokesperson for the external affairs of the European Union, said today that meetings at the level of experts will continue until an agreement is reached between Kosovo and Serbia and that these meetings will discuss “all open issues”.

Stano said the outstanding issues between the two parties must be resolved once and for all in order to pave the way to a legally-binding agreement. “Meetings at the level of experts and senior officials will continue until Prishtina and Belgrade reach an agreement that is acceptable for both sides,” he said.

Kosovo Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemns burning of Greek flag (media)

Kosovo’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned today the burning of the Greek flag by a group of football supporters after a soccer team from Gjilan lost to a team from Cyprus. The Gjilan soccer club too condemned the burning of the flag.

The Ministry said in a statement: “We strongly condemn every act of insult against the national symbols of any state, in this case Greece. Kosovo and Greece have established practical dialogue; they have liaison offices in their capitals and both parties work to further their dialogue.”

Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) leader and former Prime Minister, Ramush Haradinaj, too condemned the incident. “The burning of the Greek flag, or any other flag, is not part of the Albanian tradition and I trust this will remain an isolated incident and never repeated again,” Haradinaj said.

Serbian Language Media

Four new cases of Covid-19 registered in Serb areas in Kosovo, 11 persons recovered (Radio kontakt plus)

According to the latest information four new cases of Covid-19 infection were registered in the Serb-populated areas in Kosovo, while 11 persons have recovered, epidemiologist Aleksandar Antonijevic said today in a press conference in Mitrovica North, Radio kontakt plus reports.

Out of 46 tested samples, four were positive. The four new cases were registered, one each in Mitrovica North, Zubin Potok, Strpce and Gracanica.

Meanwhile, seven patients have recovered in northern Kosovo, including three in Mitrovica North, two in Leposavic, and one person each in Zubin Potok and Zvecan. Four persons have recovered in the Serb areas south of the Ibar River and all four persons are from Strpce.

At the moment 71 persons are staying in house isolation, while 35 patients are being treated at the Clinical Health Center in Mitrovica North, one in Belgrade and three in Nis.

At the moment there are 110 active cases, while 819 persons have recovered.

Djuric: Difficult and unpleasant talks in Brussels (RTS)

Serbian Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija Director Marko Djuric told RTS the talks in Brussels were difficult and unpleasant since, as he said, Belgrade representatives had to face claims there are no problems of internally displaced and expelled persons as well as denial of the claim that there are 18.000 usurped houses and flats in Kosovo and Metohija.

He added yesterday’s talks in Brussels included the missing persons issue, issue of displaced persons and economic cooperation.

Djuric also said the issue of violating a special protective zone around Visoki Decani Monastery was also mentioned, and Community of Serb-majority Municipalities.

“We have mentioned the recent endangerment of Visoki Decani Monastery and the protective zone around it. We placed an emphasis on the need for fast implementation of the Community of the Serb-majority Municipalities, stressing that during the period of the last couple of years since the ZSO has not been implemented Serbian people were deprived of collective, political, economic and social rights, which has lead to the migration of the part of our people towards central Serbia and jeopardized their remain in Kosovo and Metohija”, Djuric said.

Djuric noted that the destiny of more than 500 missing Serbs from Kosovo can’t be revealed without opening KLA archives.

“We do not want to hastily go over all these topics and issue some political declaration for the sake of saying that we have agreed on something, if we didn’t truly resolve the problems of the people”, Djuric said.

He added he proposed that Belgrade and Pristina agree on the content of the statements of representatives of the both sides after the meeting within the dialogue process, in order not to spread misinformation, however, Pristina rejected that proposal.

He also said that his impression from the talks with Brussels representatives was that they are not thrilled by spreading fake news on the content of the talks, Djuric said, having in mind recent statements of Pristina officials that “there would be mutual recognition or the process would fail”.

Lajcak: Talks were not simple, but are step ahead (RTS)

EU Special Envoy for Belgrade-Pristina dialogue assessed that the talks between Belgrade and Pristina held yesterday at the level of experts in Brussels were not simple, but represent a step ahead in normalization of relations, RTS reports.

Following the talks last night Lajcak took it to Facebook saying that the talks lasted several hours and were by no means straightforward.

“Our negotiations lasted several hours and were by no means straightforward. But they generated constructive dialogue and brought us a step closer to the ultimate goal of the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue, which is the normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo”, Lajcak wrote.

Djuric: Serbia will not tolerate dictate in Washington (Kosovo-online)

Office for Kosovo and Metohija Director Marko Djuric said today Serbian delegation led by President Aleksandar Vucic in a meeting in Washington would act responsibly aiming to advance economic issues between Belgrade and Pristina, however, it will not tolerate dictate or unfavorable solutions, Tanjug news agency reports.

“We would act with the aim to advance economic issues in a concrete and tangible manner. We want to create opportunities for young people in the region to be able to travel without borders and administrative obstacles”, Djuric said.

Asked about possible “imposed” solutions of the US for the final solution, Djuric noted that Serbian delegation in this meeting would not tolerate any dictate or unfavorable solutions, but would remain open to constructive and serious talks.

Dedic: Teaching in Serbian schools in Kosovo to start on September 1 (Kosovo-online)

Chief of the school administration of the Serbian Ministry of Education in Kosovo, Jasmina Dedic told Kosovo-online portal that the school year in the Serb areas in Kosovo would commence on September 1, adding everything is ready for the teaching to start.

“Everything would depend upon epidemiological situation on the ground, not only in Kosovo and Metohija, but in the schools as well. In any case online teaching would certainly commence on September 1, and whether there would be a combined teaching process and how the things would go we shall see”, she said.

Balkan Health Authorities to draft border protocol (BETA, N1)

The authorities across the Balkans have agreed to work on a joint border protocol for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic, North Macedonia Health Ministry said on Thursday following a video conference organized by Health Minister Venko Filipce and attended by ministers or senior health system officials from the region, BETA news agency reports.

Minister Filipce said in a Facebook post that the conference concluded that a coordinated approach is needed which would allow the free flow of people across borders but with some level of control because of the pandemic. “We agreed to draw up an initial document for joint border protocols by a working group from all the countries of the Western Balkans, Greece and Bulgaria,” the minister said.

He said the next video conference will be in two weeks at the latest with its participants informing their counterparts about the situation in their respective countries, the start of the school year, health system preparations for the autumn and preparations to procure vaccines,” he added.

See at: https://bit.ly/2EqXgdv

International

Europe’s youngest nation to boost testing amid Covid-19 hit (Bloomberg)

Kosovo is one of the most deadliest places in the world right now for coronavirus. The Balkan state, where more than half of the 1.8 million population is under the age of 25, has recorded 54.2 fatalities per million people resulting from Covid – 19 in the past week – just ahead of second-placed Colombia. While new infections during the same period are better, Kosovo also tops that chart if the range is expanded to a month.

Read full article at: https://bit.ly/3lz1roj

Humanitarian/Development

EU reconsiders list of third countries that have allowed traveling across its borders (B92)

Next week the EU will consider the list of third countries that, regarding their epidemiological situation, have been allowed to travel across the EU’s borders, B92 reports.

That was said to Tanjug news agency in Brussels. It is also stated that Serbia's removal from the “red“ list will be discussed at the meeting of ambassadors of member states, scheduled for September 2nd. According to unofficial information, it is not expected that the list will change, i.e. that Serbia will be on it.

Diplomatic sources in Brussels said that although improved, the epidemiological situation in Serbia still doesn’t meet the EU Council’s criteria when it comes to the number of infected per 100.000 residents, which should be around 16, i.e. under 25.

As required criteria, when opening the EU's external borders with third countries, the epidemiological situation in the last 14 days is taken into account, which should be the same or even better than the EU's average, as well as protective measures during the trip and the principle of reciprocity.

The EU also pointed out that, after adopting the list, every member state of the EU has the right to decide how to implement the recommendations, that is to accept or postpone the possibility of citizens of the proposed third countries entering their territory.

See at: https://bit.ly/2Qvh55s