Albanian Language Media:

• Kurti lists the government's work for municipalities and regional development (media)
• Government keeps silent about U.S. initiative to discuss Association (Koha)
• Qalaj justifies the police: The persons tried to kill the police officers (EO)
• Rohde pleased that Minister Rasic will discuss the Association (Express)
• Government approves Draft Law on Religious Freedoms (media)
• Murati invited to report to the Budget Committee about property tax increase (Koha)
• Hoti reacts harshly: We can't continue like this, lift VAT and increase wages (media)
• Media boycott Minister Murati’s press conference (media)
• War veterans’ organisation requests police protection of their facilities (media)

Serbian Language Media:

• Vucic: I regret they did not understand the state outweighs party interests (N1)
• Dacic: Serbia's role to remain constructive (Tanjug, media)
• Petkovic: Gervalla’s statement shows essence of Kurti's policy (Tanjug)
• When sweets turn into bullets – another campaign to boycott Serbian products in Kosovo (KoSSev)
• Hill: Serbia started paying too high a price for not imposing sanctions on Russia, EU serious about the sanctions (Blic, Tanjug, NMagazin, Beta, RTV)
• Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung journalist: It won’t be end of the world for Serbia if it does not sign new agreement (Danas, N1)
• UNS complaint on article accusing Serbs of committing war crimes without grounds partially accepted (Radio KIM)

Opinion:

• Rising hopes can be realised or dashed (peacefare.net)

Humanitarian/Development:

• Why investing in the early years of children’s lives is critical in Kosovo (blogs.worldbank.org)

 

 

Albanian Language Media  

 

Kurti lists the government's work for municipalities and regional development (media)

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, has said that throughout 2022, the government of Kosovo has continued with grants and aid for regional development. In a post on Facebook, he has listed some of the works carried out by this government, for the development of municipalities.

Among these achievements, he mentions the Municipal Performance Grant worth 8 million euros, the allocation of 1.5 million euros for the "Municipal Program for the development of socio-economic infrastructure and inter-municipal cooperation" and the implementation of the Project "Municipality 4 Youth" worth 2.7 million dollars, Regional Development Program: 17 capital investment projects in 16 municipalities, worth 1.4 million euros.

"The Program for Balanced Regional Development worth 3 million euros. 335 businesses benefited and we generated 770 new jobs; The program for cooperation with CSOs, in the amount of 107 thousand euros. From 38 projects, 200 young people and women benefited; We advanced cross-border cooperation with Albania, North Macedonia and Montenegro. More than 25 million euros have been planned," Kurti writes.

The head of the government also mentions the initiation of the development of the E-Municipalities portal for digitization at the local level, the support of communities through the 1-million-euro Fund, as well as the strengthening of the rights of communities in the municipalities.

"We drafted the National Action Plan for the Partnership for Open Government - POG with the aim of membership in the international organisation POG; We approved the National Strategy for the management and control of dogs with and without owners," he wrote.

Government keeps silent about U.S. initiative to discuss Association (Koha)

The daily reports on its front page today that the Kosovo government has not yet commented on the discussions organised by the U.S. Embassy about the Association of Serb-majority municipalities. Meanwhile, Minister Communities and Returns, Nenad Rasic, has confirmed he will attend the discussions. The daily notes Prime Minister Kurti so far has refused to discuss the Association, insisting that the dialogue should be held about a final agreement centred on mutual recognition.

Koha also quotes experts of the Constitution of Kosovo as saying that the Association cannot be formed by sidestepping the government. “There is no doubt that this effort aims to amnesty the current government because it tries to use a constitutional competency of the government. Citizens and civil society have no constitutional competency to propose or implement the foreign policy of the country,” former President of the Constitutional Court, Enver Hasani, told the daily. “The Constitution is clear about the competencies of the Kosovo Government: it proposes and implements the foreign and domestic policy of the country. No one can avoid this constitutional obligation. Moreover, there is a clear ruling of the Constitutional Court … which notes that the government’s competency to propose and implement foreign policy cannot be alienated or transferred to others.”

Qalaj justifies the police: The persons tried to kill the police officers (EO)

Former Kosovo Police Director and MP from the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Rashit Qalaj, said in an interview with the news website that Kosovo Police officers were forced to use their firearms when they were hit by a moving vehicle in Bistrica, in the municipality of Leposavic. He argued that the police officers were under threat and that they acted according to the police law.

“In my opinion, the issue is not why police reacted that way. I think that whenever the police are attacked, regardless of the attack, the police are legally obliged to react and protect themselves and I think it was a legitimate reaction,” he said. 

Qalaj said that Kosovo Police, “especially in the northern municipalities, is subject to a very high threat because of the civil disobedience there and because of a hostile reaction by criminal elements against the Kosovo Police.”

Qalaj further argued that the nationality or community of the suspects is not important and that perpetrators are suspects and criminals. “Anyone who tries to attack the police is a criminal,” he said.

German Ambassador pleased that Minister Rasic will discuss the Association (Express)

The German Ambassador to Kosovo Jorn Rohde, is pleased that Minister Nenad Rasic accepted the invitation to discuss the establishment of the Association, which will be held at the U.S. Embassy.

The Minister for Return and Communities is one of the guests for a discussion about the formation of the Association of Kosovo Serb-majority municipalities, which was called by the American Embassy in Pristina.

"I completely agree: It is very important to move forward with the discussions on the Association of municipalities with a Serb majority. I am glad to hear that Kosovar Minister Nenad Rasic has confirmed his participation in the discussion planned for KAS on January 31 at the American Embassy in Pristina," Rohde wrote on Twitter.

Government approves Draft Law on Religious Freedoms (media)

The government of Kosovo has approved the Draft Law on Religious Freedoms. This draft law passed today's government meeting with a majority of votes, while three members of the cabinet abstained.

In his speech, the Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti said that one of the most important goals of the draft law is the goal to preserve and promote religious pluralism.

"Different thoughts and beliefs are constantly entering and circulating freely among our citizens. Pluralism of belief, as many philosophers have observed, is an immutable fact of a democratic society. The respective draft law will offer different religious communities the opportunity to be officially registered,” he said.

Murati invited to report to the Budget Committee about property tax increase (Koha)

After the property tax increase, the Committee for Budget, Labor and Transfers has invited the Minister of Finance Hakuran Murati to report. The report is expected to be held on Friday at 1:30 p.m.

The invitation was approved after the request of the MP of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) Avdullah Hoti.

At the beginning of this week, many citizens reacted on social networks, as their property tax bills doubled compared to last year's bills.

After numerous reactions, the Ministry of Finance, Labor and Transfers has announced that, based on the Law on Property Tax, it is obliged to assess real estate on a regular basis, while the tax rate is determined by the municipalities themselves.

Hoti reacts harshly: We can't continue like this, lift VAT and increase wages (media)

The former Prime Minister of Kosovo Avdullah Hoti has asked the Kurti government to remove the VAT for basic products, increase wages in line with inflation and reduce taxes.

"The LDK's proposals have been rejected so far not because they were not adequate, but because they were LDK's. We cannot go on like this. We need to remove VAT on basic products, reduce any tax burden now, and raise wages in line with inflation. This is the LDK plan, a plan on the side of families and working people. Kosovo deserves better; Kosovo can do more!" he wrote on Facebook.

Hoti's reaction comes at a time when the Ministry of Finance has made the revaluation of properties, causing property tax bills to increase.

The LDK asked Murati to suspend this decision since it was made at a time of tremendous inflation. So far, the Ministry of Finance has not made any move in this regard.

Media boycott Minister Murati’s press conference (media)

Journalists accredited to the government of Kosovo boycotted on Wednesday the press conference of the Minister of Finance, Labor and Transfers, Hekuran Murati, because of, as they said, the usual delays of government ministers.

Even though the spokesperson of the government Perparim Kryeziu has invited the journalists to return to the conference, all the journalists have not agreed to return, on the grounds that most of the journalists have already left the government building.

Kryeziu later went on to explain the reasons for the delay: "We regret what happened today. The delays in starting the press conference were reasonable since after the end of the government meeting there was an internal meeting of the government cabinet. The holding of the conference after the government meeting was announced in advance. With all the consideration for the media workers who were present in the government building, I strongly believe that this situation could have been avoided", he wrote. According to him, there was no media conference today because, as he said, the public interest was not put first.

The Association of Journalists of Kosovo however said that "AJK supports the journalist colleagues for today's action, since this is not the first time that the government delays the conferences without any explanation" it is stated in their announcement.

"AJK also asks the government to respect the work of journalists by organizing press conferences, at a reasonable time after the end of the meetings. The government must put the public interest first, accepting questions from journalists about the decisions it makes," AJK responded. 

War veterans’ organisation requests police protection of their facilities (media)

Faton Klinaku from the War Veterans Organisation has asked the Kosovo police to protect the facility where the headquarters of this organization is. The reason for this, according to him, is to prevent a repeat of what happened in 2020, when a masked person had sent special court files to the facility where they are located.

Klinaku has also mentioned here the recent theft of a laptop of one of the Specialist Chambers’ judges in Paris and demanded from the police to prevent repetition of 2020 case.

Klinaku wrote that 24 hours have passed since their request for security of the object from the Kosovo Police, but so far, the police have not responded to the request.

 

 

Serbian Language Media 

 

Vucic: I regret they did not understand the state outweighs party interests (N1)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he regrets that some opposition parties refused to accept his invitation to consultations on the European proposal for resolving the Kosovo issue. He said he would attend the Parliament session on Kosovo which is to be held in the coming days and answer all questions, reported N1.

In a video posted on his Instagram account Vucic said that two days ago he told the people the truth about all the problems Serbia faces regarding Kosovo and Metohija.

“I hid nothing from you. I told you in what ways and how much we fought and how we intend to fight for our country’s future,” said the Serbian President.

Vucic noted that he had offered all political actors talks and consultations on the European proposal for resolving the Kosovo issue.

“To also inform them about the pressures and all the things Serbia is faced with. They said they do not want to talk, or at least a good part of them, but that they want a public event, a show for their political action. I regret that they did not understand that the state is more important than the political interests of any party, or any one of us,” said Vucic.

He said he would attend the Parliament session on Kosovo nevertheless, which is to be held in the next few days.

“Respecting the Parliament, it is my obligation to meet all their demands – I will appear in the National Parliament, answer all questions, and fight for Kosovo and Metohija, and for our Serbia,” added the Serbian President.

Vucic said Monday that European Union (EU) and US envoys told him that Serbia will face serious consequences if it refuses to accept the European proposal for resolving the Kosovo issue.

Dacic: Serbia's role to remain constructive (Tanjug, media)

Serbia is committed to do everything it can to continue the European path and keep aligning its foreign policy with the EU while looking after its national and state interests, Serbian First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said Tuesday after meetings with EU officials in Brussels.

Dacic held separate meetings with EU Foreign Policy and Security Chief Josep Borrell, EU Envoy for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue Miroslav Lajcak, Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson and the head of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs, David McAllister.

Dacic said both Borrell and Lajcak had noted Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic's highly constructive and responsible role in the most recent discussions about the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue.

"Both Borrell and Lajcak noted the responsible approach by Serbia, as well as a desire not to have to deal with solving conflicts occurring in Kosovo and Metohija on a weekly basis - which, in our opinion, are solely the fault of Pristina's PM Albin Kurti - but that we try to reach a solution that would provide firmer guarantees and enable peace and stability in the region", Dacic said.

He said that, in a clear manner, he had told the EU officials UN membership for Kosovo was a red line for Serbia and that the establishment of a Community of Serb Municipalities should not be a contentious issue.

"I told Borrell that, in the very building where we had the meeting, I had signed the Brussels Agreement at the behest of Catherine Ashton and all other international factors, that they came up with a Community of Serb Municipalities and that, ten years on, it is absolutely unacceptable to us that anyone should say they cannot form a Community of Serb Municipalities", Dacic said.

He said that, despite the statements coming out of Pristina, Serbia's role would remain constructive as it needed peace and stability to protect its national and state interests.

When asked by reporters about the next step in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, Dacic said it remained to be seen whether the establishment of a Community of Serb Municipalities was possible, but noted that this was a question for Pristina.

Speaking about the alignment of Serbia's foreign policy with the EU, Dacic reiterated this was not about the values Serbia was committed to regarding the Russia-Ukraine relationship, but about "the way the issue of our territorial integrity and sovereignty is reflected in our position in other international organisations and institutions, as well as in our relations with countries supporting Serbia's position on UN membership for Kosovo, and Russia is one of those countries".

Petkovic: Gervalla’s statement shows essence of Kurti's policy (Tanjug)

Serbian Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija Director Petar Petkovic said Tuesday the most recent statement of Pristina Foreign Minister Donika Gervalla that Community of Serb Municipalities “was dead” fully demonstrated the essence of Albin Kurti's "militant policy" towards Serbs, Tanjug news agency reports.

He added that “such approach of Pristina is a question exclusively for the EU and the US because it is crystal clear that Kurti is the source of all problems in Kosovo as he is the one saying that dialogue is dead", Petkovic said in a statement.

Petkovic further argued that Pristina deliberately created purported obstacles to meeting its own commitments from the Brussels Agreement and therefore must remove them on its own because the process of dialogue and normalisation of relations cannot progress in case of Pristina politicians persistently continuing to refuse implementing what has been signed.

He said Donika Gervalla Schwarz was "trying to explain that the Community of Serb Municipality is some kind of a caprice rather than a substantial need of endangered people, even though the violence Kurti's regime is carrying out on a daily basis is the very proof of the fact that creating an efficient political and institutional protective mechanism is a condition for the survival of Serbs and protection of their collective rights”.

The Community of Serb Municipalities, including all powers that belong to it under documents agreed through EU facilitation, must be formed, Petkovic said.

When sweets turn into bullets – another campaign to boycott Serbian products in Kosovo (KoSSev)

The campaign to boycott Serbian products in Kosovo continues with another bizarre video, KoSSev portal reports. Number of other Serbian media outlets also reported on this latest campaing. 

The campaign for the boycott of Serbian products in Kosovo intensified on several occasions last year, primarily through social networks. The boycott of products was called not because of their quality, but the country of origin.

“Until now, we have fed our enemy“, “Don’t fund the Serbian army“, “One who gives them money to buy weapons is not a patriot, a patriot is the one who buys the products of this country“, “Don’t forget“ – read some of the messages shared within this campaign which is carried out in several ways.

At the beginning of last year, the Serbian and part of the regional public was disturbed by the video of the group Besa Besi. The video in question shows a girl in a store reminding her father who is reaching toward Serbian products about the crimes committed by the Serbs during the 1999 war.

In the latest video published on Monday by a video editor active on several social networks, the message not to buy Serbian products is conveyed in a very bizarre way. 

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3Jg9Hro

Hill: Serbia started paying too high a price for not imposing sanctions on Russia, EU serious about the sanctions (Blic, Tanjug, NMagazin, Beta, RTV)

The US ambassador in Belgrade, Christopher Hill, said today that the US understands that Serbia has its own historical experience with sanctions, but, as he pointed out, it has begun to pay too high a price for its restraint in the issue of sanctions against Russia, reported daily Blic. 

Hill, answering the journalists' questions, how realistic it is that the EU will impose sanctions on Serbia if Serbia does not accept the new European proposal for the solution of the Kosovo issue, said that he is not in a position to talk about those possible sanctions, but that the EU is serious about sanctions against Russia in which everyone participates even though it is not easy for them.

"The sanctions imposed by the EU on Russia were introduced in order to stop the terrible and illegal aggression against the neighbour Ukraine,'' Hill told reporters before the start of the "Fight against state capture in Southeastern Europe" conference.

He added that as far as the USA and the EU are concerned, the European proposal is the right path to follow in order to solve the problem that has been burdening us all for more than 20 years.

- That's why you should seriously consider this proposal and think about ways to adopt it and work on it - said Hill.

"I wouldn't speak Kurti's views for him"

Answering the question whether it seems to him that Belgrade is more ready to accept the European proposal than Pristina and Albin Kurti, Hill said that the Europeans have made great efforts to bring the two sides closer together, and in this sense, he reminded that advisers for national security visited on two occasions both Belgrade and Pristina. 

- Everyone is trying to find a solution so that we can once again see the establishment of peace and positive situations in the region. The USA supports the EU proposal 100 percent, of course, it is a process, and nothing is finished until it is finished, that is, it will take time. As for Albin Kurti, we had many meetings with him, but I would not speak his views for him - said the American ambassador.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung journalist: It won’t be end of the world for Serbia if it does not sign new agreement (Danas, N1)

Michael Martens, a journalist of German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung told N1 in case that Serbia would agree to the new EU proposal on Kosovo and sign that agreement it would still not see the progress regarding its EU membership, nor Kosovo would, “because we know that this process is dead”.

At the moment he sees no motivation either for Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic or Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti to sign something like that, adding that foreign negotiators must propose something new and concrete if they wish the Kosovo issue to be resolved.

“The West came empty-handed, it has neither carrot nor a stick”, he said.

“I have the impression that foreign negotiators truly want to resolve the Kosovo issue. The problem is that it is not enough to wish for something if you lack idea and conception. It takes something new to invent, to propose something concrete. There is an idea floating around for months for the EU to propose – we can’t offer EU membership at the moment - but we can offer you to become a member of the European market, so there is no difference between Serbia, Kosovo, North Macedonia and let’s say France and Spain in economic sense. But this still doesn’t exist as an official proposal (…)”, he said.

He noted the EU membership is “no longer in prospect” and Serbia may request it but it will not get it.

“It may ask the universe to become Serbian, however that shall not happen. I think there is no appetite for enlargement, that is the end, certainly for the next ten years. There always will be some state to say “we do not want it””, he added.

He also argued that non signing of the agreement would “not be an end of the world for Serbia”.

Commenting that in that case investors would no longer come to Serbia he said the West is not functioning that way. “Investors will come if conditions are good”, he said, adding he does not also see that all EU member states would agree on eventual sanctions on Serbia.

Asked to comment on what would be if Albin Kurti would reject agreement and what sort of pressure can be exerted upon him, Martens responded that “Kurti is not the most important man in Pristina” but rather it is “American Ambassador, no matter who he is”.

“Currently he is the bad guy who is not doing what the West wants. Until now, I didn’t see that he was afraid. I do not know how strong pressure the West wants to use against Kurti and by what they could blackmail him…It is not easy to exert pressure on Kurti, as it was possible on (Hashim) Thaci and (Ramush) Haradinaj, who were threatened by the Hague”, he said, adding that visa liberalisation regime for Kosovo can no longer be a leverage of pressure, given that Kosovo received it. 

UNS complaint on article accusing Serbs of committing war crimes without grounds partially accepted (Radio KIM)

A complaint filed by Association of Journalists of Serbia in Kosovo (UNS) related to the article under the headline “Who is a Serb from Mitrovica arrested last night for the war crimes: He was in Kosovo police”, published on Gazeta Express portal, was partially accepted by Kosovo Press Council, Radio KIM reports.

As UNS stated in the complaint names of 230 Serbs saying that “they have committed massacres in Kosovo” were published in the article and therefore declared guilty on Gazeta Express portal even before the court made a decision, which represents violation of the “codex of print media in Kosovo”.

Kosovo Press Council agreed that this represented a violation of chapter five of the codex, UNS said in a statement.

According to this codex “newspapers, portals and media agencies” can not declare individuals guilty before the court makes such decision. UNS noted that in this very article Serbs were declared perpetrators of the war crimes, although responsible institutions “have not shed the light on those crimes yet”.

In addition to violating presumption of innocence, UNS also said the article included hate speech, incitement to violent actions and ethnic intolerance, as well as prejudices against individuals and groups of people based on their ethnic background. Kosovo Press Council opined that those elements were not present in the article published in Gazeta Express.

Upon UNS' complaint the article was removed from the portal’s online edition.  

 

 

Opinion 

 

Rising hopes can be realised or dashed (peacefare.net)

By Daniel Serwer, U.S. analyst on the Balkans

Here is the latest version I’ve seen of the German-French plan for normalisation between Kosovo and Serbia. It is a step in the right direction, if fully implemented, but with some dubious additions and important missing elements.

What’s new

This latest text has a bit more detail on arrangements for the Serbian community in Kosovo than I have seen previously, especially in Article 7 (the glitch [sic] is in the original):

Both sides advocate for the achievement of concrete arrangements, in accordance with the relevant instruments of the Council of Europe and using existing European experiences, in order to ensure an appropriate level of self-government for the Serbian community in Kosovo and the possibility of providing services in Kosovo. Kosovo.[sic] some specific areas, including the possibility of financial assistance from Serbia and direct channels of communication between the Serbian community and the Government of Kosovo.

The parties will formalise the status of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo and ensure a high level of protection of Serbian religious and cultural heritage, in accordance with existing European models.

The first of these paragraphs isn’t great. It fails to make reference to the Kosovo constitution as the basis for these “concrete arrangements.” It also fails to require reciprocity inside Serbia for the Albanian community there. What conditions would govern “the possibility of financial assistance from Serbia”? Nor is it clear what “direct channels of communication” with the Kosovo government means. There is already a Council of Communities that provides such communication with the Kosovo President, as well as Serb and other community representation in parliament and in the government ministries.

As for the Church, the text lacks reference to the longstanding issue of the Decan/i monastery’s property. It should reference implementation of the relevant Kosovo Constitutional Court decision.

What’s missing

Most important is what is missing. There is no apparent reference to recognition of Kosovo by the five EU members that do not recognize it.

The failure to get recognition by the five non recognizers is a deal breaker. It might not have to be in this text, but it would have to happen in order for Kosovo to be convinced that normalisation was real. Even with those five recognitions, this agreement would not come close to the German/German Basic Treaty it is supposedly modelled after. That entailed the Federal Republic and the Democratic Republic both becoming members of the United Nations. There is no such possibility here, as Russia would require an unacceptable price.

EU negotiator Lajcak is said to have met with the five nonrecognizers this week in Brussels. That’s good, but more is going to be needed. Each one will have to be convinced that the time has come to drop their opposition to Kosovo’s European prospects. Washington and EU capitals, not just Lajcak, will need to engage.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3Hr2BxV

 

 

Humanitarian/Development

 

Why investing in the early years of children’s lives is critical in Kosovo (blogs.worldbank.org)

Era, a little girl from Pristina, starts her morning in a rush. Her parents prepare breakfast and pack her bag for kindergarten. Era is one of the lucky children in Kosovo. Most have no opportunity to attend kindergarten or develop early skills that are foundational for their future. Era’s peers born today will only be 57% as productive when they reach adulthood as they could be if they received full health and quality education services early in their lives.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3H8aaJo