Albanian Language Media:

• Osmani: Secret vote is allowed but consensus among MPs required (media)
• Kosovo leaders congratulate US on Independence Day (media)
• Kurti: KSF is transforming into a modern army (Sinjali)
• Rama: Morine-Vermice, one of most successful examples of cooperation (media)

Serbian Language Media:

• Members of Serbian Democracy called to the police to give statements (KiM radio)
• Djuric spoke with a delegation of French MPs about cooperation and the situation in Kosovo (Tanjug, Blic, media)
• Djedovic Handanovic, Russian ambassador discussed cooperation in energy sector (Tanjug)
• "Vucic adding fuel to the fire”: Do the tactics of increased repression extend or shorten his rule? (Danas)

International:

• Roadblocks replace rallies as Serbian protesters demand new elections (BBC)

Albanian Language Media 

Osmani: Secret vote is allowed but consensus among MPs required (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani said today that a secret vote for the election of the new Assembly Speaker is allowed but that there needs to be consensus among the MPs for this. “It is allowed as a possibility but there needs to be a decision at the session and the MPs must be asked,” Osmani told reporters at the swearing-in ceremony of 18 new cadets of the Kosovo Security Force. She also said that if the new Assembly is not constituted within the timeline set out by the Constitutional Court there will be legal consequences. 

Kosovo leaders congratulate US on Independence Day (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani congratulated the United States on their Independence Day. “From the most pro-American nation on Earth: Happy Fourth of July to President Donald Trump and our allies in the United States!” See more at: https://shorter.me/0Wv3m

Kosovo’s caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti wrote in a post on X: “Happy Independence Day to all Americans. Today marks a celebration of the Declaration of Independence, a document that has inspired countless acts of courage and the ongoing pursuit of freedom. The values enshrined in the Declaration resonate more than ever in a world facing heightened threats to global security. We in Kosova are grateful for the enduring friendship that has only grown stronger through the many stages of our country’s journey. From our struggle to end genocide, through our own declaration of independence and state-building efforts, the United States has consistently stood as a steadfast ally by our side. Today, as a thriving democracy, we are proud to contribute to this partnership. Areas such as military cooperation, foreign policy, and economic collaboration, among many others, continue to deepen the bonds between our countries.

Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) leader Lumir Abdixhiku said in a Facebook post that the United States is the most meaningful example of engagement for a more righteous, peaceful and safe world. “For many countries, including our country, the Republic of Kosovo, the United States are a model of inspiration and support. The U.S. contribution for the freedom, state-building and strengthening of the Republic of Kosovo is outstanding and irreplaceable,” he wrote”.

Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) leader Ramush Haradinaj said in a Facebook congratulatory note that the United States is a historical and irreplaceable friend of Kosovo.

Kurti: KSF is transforming into a modern army (Sinjali)

Kosovo’s caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti highlighted today the progress in the area of defense and the development of capacities of the Kosovo Security Force. “We have increased the budget of the Ministry of Defense to €208 million. We have made over €300 million investments in the last four years,” he said at the graduation of the new generation of KSF cadets. “Our army is moving rapidly toward development and full capacity as a professional army. You are the pillar of the structural and professional growth of the KSF, and you will accompany our army in becoming a member of NATO”.

Rama: Morine-Vermice, one of most successful examples of cooperation (media)

Most news websites report that Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said today that the Morine-Vermice customs is one of the most successful examples of cooperation between Albania and Kosovo, and that this customs point has facilitated the movement of people and reduced the time of customs clearances for businesses on both sides of the border. “Finance Minister Petrit Malaj and Finance Minister Hekuran Murati, during a joint visit at this customs point, confirmed the shared commitment and increased quality of services to guarantee full functioning 24/7 and to eliminate any possible delay,” Rama said.

Serbian Language Media

Members of Serbian Democracy called to the police to give statements (KiM radio) 

Serbian Democracy announced that members of their party Vladimir Radosavljevic and Aleksandar Lazovic from Leposavic were summoned to the police station in this place to give a statement, reported KiM radio today.

As they state, they were told to come to the interview accompanied by a lawyer.

At the same time, Serbian Democracy claims that their members, including Lazovic, were "kidnapped in Vucitrn after returning from Gazimestan".

"We see this move as a continuation of political persecution and an attempt of intimidation, along with continuous targeting of representatives of the Serbian democracy," the announcement states.

Serbian democracy calls on all international missions and representatives of the international community in Kosovo to urgently respond to what they say is systematic political violence being carried out against representatives of the Serbian community in the north of Kosovo.

Djuric spoke with a delegation of French MPs about cooperation and the situation in Kosovo (Tanjug, Blic, media) 

Minister of Foreign Affairs Marko Djuric spoke with a delegation of representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of France about the most important topics in the field of bilateral relations and regional cooperation, as well as about the worrying situation in which the Serbian people are in Kosovo. 

- France is our strategic partner and one of the key pillars of support among the large countries of the European continent, which is why it is in our national interest to continue to improve bilateral cooperation in all areas of mutual interest - emphasized Djuric. 

In the context of the importance of parliamentary cooperation as a key segment of bilateral relations in recent years, Djuric pointed out that Serbia highly appreciates the active engagement of French deputies in the process of normalizing relations between Belgrade and Pristina, as well as their understanding of the importance of preserving the Serbian cultural, religious and historical heritage in Kosovo. 

- It is an alarming fact that, only in the last two and a half years, 20 percent of the Serbian population left the territory of KiM, which is a direct consequence of the continuation of unilateral actions, constant provocations, unprecedented pressures and systematic persecution of the Serbian people orchestrated by the regime of Albin Kurti - pointed out Djuric. 

French MPs Frédéric Petit, Marin Amelie, Pierre Pribetich and Jean-Louis Roumegas, appointed by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the French Parliament, are on an official visit to the Republic of Serbia with the aim of assessing the overall situation and parliamentary contribution to the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina.

Djedovic Handanovic, Russian ambassador discussed cooperation in energy sector (Tanjug)

Serbia's Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic met with Russian Ambassador to Belgrade Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko on Thursday to discuss bilateral cooperation in the energy sector, reported Tanjug agency.  

Djedovic Handanovic noted that US sanctions on Serbia's Russian majority-owned oil company NIS had been delayed until July 29 and that discussions with the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department needed to be continued to reach a sustainable solution for the long term, the Ministry of Mining and Energy said in a statement. 

"Being taken off the sanctions list is the only solution for NIS that is sustainable for the long term. NIS is an important company for regional energy stability, and the most important company for keeping our market supplied with oil and oil derivatives. We will continue discussions to achieve more certainty," the minister said.

The parties also discussed a Serbia-Hungary oil pipeline, a strategic project that would provide Serbia with its first alternative crude oil supply route.

"The oil pipeline project has been defined and Serbia has already invested resources in it, and it is important that all three governments - the governments of Serbia, Hungary and Russia - be involved in further discussions and project development, which will be strategically important for Serbia in the decades to come," Djedovic Handanovic said.

Botsan-Kharchenko said lifting the sanctions on NIS was the only sustainable long-term solution for the company's development and that the activities of the Serbian side were very important in that regard.

"Vucic adding fuel to the fire”: Do the tactics of increased repression extend or shorten his rule? (Danas)

Reacting with increased repression and police brutality against peaceful demonstrators, who from the Vidovdan rally moved to the next phase of the fight against the regime, blockades and barricades throughout Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic decided to extinguish the fire with fuel, reported Danas today.

The interlocutors of Danas also believe that his behavior is unusual, given that he presented himself to both the domestic and international public as someone who is a factor of stability, calm, who turns out to be a necessary savior.

According to interlocutors of Danas, the way he decided to get out of the problem his regime fell into, i.e. the general socio-political crisis, which is repression - even though he had and still has at his disposal the calling of elections - does not reflect a sign of wisdom in dealing with the problem, but a hint of a faster descent into his own ruin, i.e. falling from power.

"Vucic pours fuel to the fire and creates even more chaos in society"

Historian Dragan Popovic told Danas that we witnessed that the government has been intensifying repression all the time, since the protests started thus practically pouring fuel to the fire and creating even greater chaos in society.

Seemingly inexplicable, he noted, because the chaos does not suit Vucic's rule. 

- He built his political image on the idea that he is a guarantor of order and stability, a firm hand that people need in difficult and unstable times. That is why his propaganda is aimed at constantly instilling fear in people, so that he can offer them himself as a necessary savior. It sends the same message to the international community, offering apparent stability in exchange for ignoring the collapse of democracy - explained the interviewee of Danas.

Now all this has been called into question by the general student and civil rebellion, he believes, which clearly shows that the regime has no legitimacy and that the country is in some kind of state of emergency due to autocratic and corrupt rule that leaves behind a bloody trail like those killed under the Novi Sad canopy.

- I believe that resorting to ever-increasing repression is a sign of weakness and an acknowledgment of Vucic's government's inability to find a way out of a deep crisis. Repression is always at hand for authoritarian authorities, and they often resort to it, because they do not want dialogue or political solutions to the crisis. However, even a wise authoritarian ruler will limit repression when it is certain that it does him more harm than good - Popovic told Danas. 

Many characteristics have been attributed to Aleksandar Vucic in the last 30 years, he added, but wisdom has never been one of them.

- We are approaching the inevitable end of this regime. It doesn't mean that it will be quick and easy, but I believe that this level of repression is a subconscious acknowledgment by Vucic himself that he has run out of tricks up his sleeve and that he can't come up with any solution to save his government - concluded Popovic. 

Danas writes that ''the way the police reacted on the night between July 2 and 3 across Serbia, arresting, ruthlessly beating citizens and even detaining minors, marked the final turning point when it comes to how Vucic is trying to quell the protests. It is certain - by fear and beating''.

For some time, it can work for him, according to the interlocutors of Danas, but not for a long time.

According to Dejan Bursac, a researcher at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, there are three ways to get out of the crisis.

- The first is the one that the regime has always resorted to in solving crises - announcing elections. That is, to confirm their legitimacy in the elections. Now, of course, they will not do that because they are not sure that they can win such elections - said Bursac.

He further points out that the second way out of the crisis would be to fulfill the original demands.

- To arrest those responsible for the fall of the canopy in Novi Sad, to prosecute those responsible for corruption for the fall of that canopy, as well as for violence against students. However, SNS will not do that either, because they are protecting their own, partly because they have shown that they are not political but some other kind of organization, and partly out of ego, out of pure ego - said Bursac. 

According to him, the third way out of the crisis consists in "what we have now".

- It is repression. With the fact that repression cannot last long. You cannot maintain an authoritarian and repressive regime for months and years. I really don't know what Aleksandar Vucic's idea is, you can't beat up a few hundred citizens and arrest them and think that hundreds of thousands and millions of others should sit at home... Even the police would not want to act like that for months... You can see that they are already exhausted, they don't even know what they are doing - believes Bursac, adding that with repression, Vucic also gets into trouble with the international community. 

- You can see that Ursula von der Leyen treats him as if he was contagious. Therefore, Vucic wants to solve the crisis with repression, but he will not succeed in that - believes Bursac.

"The beating of students and citizens only strengthened the resistance and civil disobedience"

The beating of students and citizens only strengthened resistance and civil disobedience. At the same time, this accelerated the overthrow of the now openly dictatorial Vucic regime. Essentially, every day Vucic is losing support, the later he calls the elections, the weaker he will be - lawyer Aleksandar Olenik told Danas.

- Vucic's plan is to suppress civil disobedience by force and then improve his position with several months of propaganda. This plan is not realistic, nor does he have the capacity to realistically assess the situation. If he had even a little sense left, he would not have ordered a bloody attack on students in front of, but also inside, the Faculty of Law, as well as on other faculties. What we all see and know is that brutal force will cause a commensurate reaction of civil disobedience - believes Olenik.

He added that in addition to ''all the crimes of his regime, the corruption that is killing us all'', he will be remembered as a dictator who tried to shut down higher education in Serbia by cutting off finances, force and arrests.

- Stalin, Hitler, Ceausescu and even Putin did not do that - concluded Olenik.

International

Roadblocks replace rallies as Serbian protesters demand new elections (BBC)

As Serbia's anti-corruption protests enter their ninth month, they show no sign of abating – and are instead changing in their leadership, composition and tactics.

At the climax of last weekend's 140,000-strong protest in Belgrade's Slavija Square the students who led the protests since November declared that they would no longer spearhead the rallies.

They had set a deadline of Saturday for the government to call for fresh elections.

When that was not met, they invited other groups to take on the protest mantle - and called for a campaign of "civil disobedience" from anyone opposed to the leadership of President Aleksandar Vucic and his long-governing Progressive Party (SNS).

Since then roadblocks have been popping up in cities across Serbia this week and people have been deploying dustbins, chairs and other improvised barriers to block junctions in major cities including Belgrade, Novi Sad and Nis. Local residents' associations - known as "citizens' assemblies" - have been heavily involved.

As soon as the police dismantle one blockade, another one pops up somewhere else.

Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/vezny9mh