UNMIK Media Observer, Afternoon Edition, June 21, 2024

Albanian Language Media:

Borrell: We discussed how to build a more united Europe together (media)
EU foreign ministers to meet Western Balkans counterparts on June 24 (media)
Sources: France and Italy against full removal of measures (Koha)
Murati: 5.6% economic growth in the first quarter of the year (media)
Gervalla: Kosovo and Portugal hold their first Economic Forum in Pristina (media)
Clinton Center publishes photo with Kosovo children, families in June ’99 (media)
Citaku: Sexual violence was used as weapon of war by Serbia (media)
Hoxhaj: Letter of EU leaders is a new veto for Kosovo (Telegrafi)
Kurti expresses support for Montenegro’s Democratic Party of Socialists (media)
Serwer: Dodik and Vucic could attempt an attack like Banjska in Bosnia (media)

Serbian Language Media:

Vucic asked Macron to stand by Serbia on the road to preserving peace (RTS, Tanjug, Kosovo Online)
Vucic: With Hecker about the security situation in the country and the region, especially in Kosovo (Kosovo Online, Tanjug)
Mijacic on the possible opening of the Ibar bridge: We are entering a new period of crisis (Kosovo Online)
Petkovic: “Shameless lies of Osmani, 200.000 Serbs expelled from Kosovo, new ethnic cleansing in place” (media, social media)
Milenkovic’s defence: Witness excluded existence of an act that could be qualified as crime (Radio KIM)
Special prosecution dropped criminal prosecution of Rade Basara, defendant in Oliver Ivanovic’s murder case (media)
Austria’s FM: No shortcuts in Belgrade-Pristina dialogue (Beta, N1)
Gashi: The goal of cooperation between Pristina and Sarajevo another UN resolution against Serbia (Kosovo Online)

Opinion:

Iber river bridge: From symbol of division to a symbol of coexistence (Koha)
EU voters are normalising the far right (Kosovo 2.0)

International:

Serbia fans in Munich chant anti-Kosovo slogans (Reuters)
Romanian President withdraws NATO bid, clearing final hurdle for Rutte (RFE)
Serbia urged to recognise wartime sexual violence victims (BIRN)
Pro-Russian Telegram channels push Kremlin’s line in Balkans (BIRN)

Albanian Language Media

Borrell: We discussed how to build a more united Europe together (media)

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, met with Foreign Ministers from the Western Balkans. He wrote in a post on X after the meeting: “Glad to meet with Foreign Ministers from the Western Balkans, the “Friends of the Western Balkans” group, and the “Danube Region Strategy”. We discussed how to build a more united Europe together. Thank you [Austrian Foreign Minister] Alexander Challenberg for gathering us in Austria these days”.

EU foreign ministers to meet Western Balkans counterparts on June 24 (media)

Several news websites report that EU Foreign Affairs Ministers will meet their counterparts from the Western Balkans on June 24 to exchange views on developments. The meeting will be chaired by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell.

Sources: France and Italy against full removal of measures (Koha)

Diplomatic sources told Koha that France, Italy, and non-recognizing countries have opposed the full removal of EU measures against Kosovo. Brussels-based correspondent Augustin Palokaj said according to sources these countries have argued that Kosovo has not met all the requirements presented by the European Union. “What I have heard from diplomatic sources is that countries that were against the full removal of measures, and they include France, Italy, and countries that haven’t recognized Kosovo, but we don’t have confirmation for this, they argued that Kosovo has not met all the requirements that were presented a year ago,” he said.

Palokaj also said that a high-level meeting in Brussels is needed to see where the dialogue stands, and “whether there is an agreement or not, because bearing in mind the insistence of the European Union that the agreement does exist and that it is legally binding for the parties, meanwhile Serbia has proven with actions that they don’t consider the implementation of the agreement as mandatory”.

Murati: 5.6% economic growth in the first quarter of the year (media)

Kosovo’s Minister of Finance, Hekuran Murati, said in a Facebook post that according to the Kosovo Agency for Statistics the economic growth in the first quarter of this year has increased pace by marking 5.62 percent which is visibly higher compared to the previous quarter which was 3.96 percent. “After overcoming the storm of global crisis and the stabilisation of prices, we are gradually turning to the targeted potential and growth. This refutes all sceptical voices and dim prognosis that tried to relate the visa liberalisation with apocalyptic scenarios in the beginning of the year. As can be seen, visa liberalisation is one of the best things that could have happened for the country’s economy recently. In addition to facilitating travel to visit relatives in the diaspora, now businesses and entrepreneurs can find new markets more easily and further their business activities,” Murati writes.

Gervalla: Kosovo and Portugal hold their first Economic Forum in Pristina (media)

Kosovo’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Donika Gervalla, said in a post on X that “Kosova and Portugal held their first Economic Forum in Prishtina. This marks a major step between Kosovo and Portugal and aims to boost economic ties through partnerships in tourism, tech, renewable energy, and more, paving the way for future investments and collaboration”.

Clinton Center publishes photo with Kosovo children, families in June ’99 (media)

Several news websites report that on the occasion of the World Refugee Day, the Clinton Presidential Center published a photo from a visit by the Clinton family “with Kosovar children and families in June 1999 following the successful end of NATO’s mission to end the war in Kosovo. President Bill Clinton committed the U.S. to helping the refugees rebuild their lives and communities”.

See more at: https://tinyurl.com/z5ses23c

Citaku: Sexual violence was used as weapon of war by Serbia (media)

Senior member of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Vlora Citaku, said in a Facebook post today that she visited the arts installation “Thinking of You” by Alketa Xhafa in the Hague. “In one of the main squares of the Hague, you can visit the installation ‘Thinking of You’ by Alketa Xhafa. Thank you Alketa, Anna, and especially [former Kosovo] President Jahjaga for giving echo and heart to the project ‘Thinking of You’ for nine years now. Sexual violence was used as a weapon of war by Serbia. Unfortunately, no one has been convicted for these inhumane crimes,” Citaku writes.

Thinking of You (The Hague, 2024), is a landmark public art installation, taking place in The Hague in June 2024. It will be a homage to survivors of sexual violence in conflict around the world. The installation is created by the artist Alketa Xhafa Mripa, working in close collaboration with the Mukwege Foundation, the Embassy of Kosovo in the Netherlands, and the city of The Hague.

Hoxhaj: Letter of EU leaders is a new veto for Kosovo (Telegrafi)

Vice President of the Kosovo Assembly from the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Enver Hoxhaj, in an interview with the news website, commented on the work of the Kurti-led government, arguing that it has managed “to cut Kosovo’s state-building process in half”. “If there is no new recognition and there will be no new recognition, if there is no membership in international organisations, and Kosovo’s failure at the Council of Europe, if Kosovo doesn’t get the candidate status for the European Union, if there is an agreement between Kosovo and Serbia that has inflicted colossal damages to Kosovo by not requiring mutual recognition, it is not even a legally binding agreement … all these show that during Kurti’s governance the state-building of Kosovo has been cut in half,” he is quoted as saying.

Commenting on a joint letter by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, Hoxhaj said that “it is a new veto of European countries that sponsored Kosovo’s independence”. “If Kosovo at the UN Security Council was faced with the Russian and Chinese veto preventing us from joining the UN … now this letter is a new veto of European countries that sponsored Kosovo’s independence, in relation to Kosovo’s membership in any international organisation,” Hoxhaj argued.

Kurti expresses support for Montenegro’s Democratic Party of Socialists (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister and leader of the Vetevendosje Movement, Albin Kurti, in a video message on X today, expressed support for the municipal election conference of the Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro led by former Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic. Kurti said that “we will always stand alongside those that believe that our shared future is in the European Union, toward whom we are building bridges together based on good neighbourly relations, the well-being of our citizens, the security of the North Atlantic, the fight against crime and corruption, and the fight against extreme nationalism and chauvinism that is trying to take us back to the early 1990s”.

Serwer: Dodik and Vucic could attempt an attack like Banjska in Bosnia (media)

U.S. political commentator on the Western Balkans, Daniel Serwer, said that Bosnia and Herzegovina are not immune to threats that can endanger the peace achieved there. During a conference in Sarajevo, Serwer mentioned the attack in Banjska in the north of Kosovo in September last year and said that a similar attack could be attempted in Bosnia too. “Unfortunately, Bosnia and Herzegovina need to be ready for war. Milorad Dodik and Aleksandar Vucic have clearly revealed their objectives. They are creating a Serbian World that aims to remove Republika Srpska from the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We saw what was attempted in Banjska, in Kosovo, last year. It was a provocation to incite a reaction which would then enable Serbia to intervene … Only when Dodik and Vucic are aware that there will be a swift military response, then we can be sure that they will not attempt a similar action like the one in Banjska,” Serwer said.

Serbian Language Media

Vucic asked Macron to stand by Serbia on the road to preserving peace (RTS, Tanjug, Kosovo Online)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic spoke on the phone with French President Emmanuel Macron and asked him to stand by Serbia "on its difficult path to preserving peace and stability, despite all the difficulties it faces along the way", reported RTS.

Vucic stated that in the conversation he emphasised the importance of continuity in solving issues of importance for Serbia, especially regarding Kosovo, and the conditions in which the disenfranchised Serbian community lives.

"I reiterated that this issue should continue to occupy a high place on the EU's agenda, with strong diplomatic engagement aimed at the final realisation of the Brussels Agreement and the formation of the Community of Serbian Municipalities, as a basis for building sustainable peace and a guarantee of security for the Serbian people," Vucic said on Instagram.

As he added, he pointed out in the conversation that advocacy for dialogue remains the foundation of Serbia's policy in regional relations and the most important factor in solving the difficult issues that are before us all.

"That's why I asked President Macron to stand by Serbia on its difficult path to preserving peace and stability, despite all the adversities it faces along the way," Vucic wrote in an Instagram post.

He added that they discussed pressing issues in the region, the current political changes in the European and global frameworks and the possible impact on Serbia and its place in the given context, as well as the need for strategic cooperation in shaping the future path of our continent and the world as a whole, as well as in solving urgent issues regarding regional security and economic stability.

Vucic: With Hecker about the security situation in the country and the region, especially in Kosovo (Kosovo Online, Tanjug)

The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, met with the General of the NATO Air Command and the Commander of the US Air Force in Europe and Africa, General James B. Hecker, and on that occasion expressed his gratitude for NATO's contribution to preserving the peace and security of the Serbian people in Kosovo, as well as respecting the military neutrality of Serbia, reported Kosovo Online.

Vucic stated on Instagram that the meeting discussed the security situation in Serbia and the region, especially in Kosovo.

"I reiterate my gratitude to the forces of KFOR, which are the guarantor of the peace and security of our people in Kosovo and Metohija, and expressed my satisfaction with the mutual trust and good cooperation that is being developed while respecting the military neutrality of Serbia," Vucic pointed out.

He added that he also discussed with his interlocutor the strengthening of bilateral cooperation between Serbia and the USA in the field of defence.

"We also talked about strengthening the bilateral cooperation between Serbia and the USA in the field of defence, which contributes both to the strengthening of our defence capacities, the preservation of peace and stability, and the improvement of the overall bilateral relations between the two countries," the president of Serbia noted.

Mijacic on the possible opening of the Ibar bridge: We are entering a new period of crisis (Kosovo Online)

Coordinator of the National Convention for Chapter 35, Dragisa Mijacic, said that the new leadership of North Mitrovica has been announcing the opening of the bridge on the Ibar for a long time, although the Serbian community from the north do not agree with that solution, reported Kosovo Online, citing Euronews.

He recalled the international actors' announcements on the issue and their call to resolve the opening of the bridge within the framework of dialogue. However, Mijacic said, considering previous moves made by the Kosovo government, or Kurti's government, that he believes such a decision will be made regardless of a great escalatory potential and regardless of concern of the international community.

He added that ''we are entering a new crisis period, which this time spills over the city of North Mitrovica that all this time was mostly calm during these happenings, that is, there were no violent events".

He points out that this issue is a big test for the international community, but also for the Kosovo government. He adds that at this moment the most important thing is to preserve the peace, but he also believes that it is difficult in "these circumstances".

"We are entering a summer break. The Kosovo side wants that there are no major conflicts in the north of Kosovo during the summer, bearing in mind that people from the diaspora are coming. And in such circumstances, simply, the Kosovo government calms down its activities, there are not many unilateral acts. We could see it the best last year, when all that was happening in the municipalities in the north of Kosovo. Then we had a quiet summer, and then some new activities started, including the activity in Banjska, which simply did not depend so much on the Kosovo government," he explained.

He adds that it is increasingly certain that elections will be held in Kosovo in the coming months, that Kurti is "counting" on the votes of the diaspora, and adds that if there are elections, additional unrest can be expected.

"Because we all know that such moves, first of all, strengthen the popularity of Albin Kurti and bring him votes. So, if there are elections, we can expect some additional pressure and additional violence. If there are no elections, then we will expect a peaceful summer," concluded Mijacic.

Security expert from North Mitrovica Srdjan Simonovic says that the Kosovo Government can do almost anything without the consent of the international community and international factors which, he reminds, are the guarantor of the fulfilment of some agreements and should be the guarantor of security.

"To divert attention from real problems such as, for example, the average salary in Kosovo, which, as far as I know, ranges from 264 to 500 euros, and it is something that a family really cannot survive with. Then it is good to raise tensions somewhere. The bridge is ideal for raising tensions," Simonovic said, adding that this bridge is a symbol of some resistance of the Serbs and the survival of the Serbs.

"If we want to say that in a broader sense, and by its very opening, it is simply made known that the Serbs, especially the Serbs in the North of Kosovo, no longer represent any factor in the entire territory of Kosovo," Simonovic added.

Petkovic: “Shameless lies of Osmani, 200.000 Serbs expelled from Kosovo, new ethnic cleansing in place” (media, social media)

“Shameless lies of Vjosa Osmani who would wish to switch the victims and executioners. Because of KLA crimes 200.000 Serbs have been expelled from Kosovo and they never returned to their home places”, Office for Kosovo and Metohija Director Petar Petkovic said in reaction to remarks of Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani on the World Refugee Day that during the conflict in Kosovo “more than half population had become refugees as result of Milosevic’s genocidal actions”.

In a post on X social platform Petkovic added that today “because of Kurti’s terror, a new ethnic cleansing is in place and 15 percent of Serbs left the north of Kosovo and Metohija”. Petkovic also posted photos of injured Serbian civilians and burned Serbian Orthodox Church shrines in violent actions targeting them in Kosovo, including photos of elderly and children.

Milenkovic’s defence: Witness excluded existence of an act that could be qualified as crime (Radio KIM)

Defence lawyers of Dragisa Milenkovic, Zivojin Jokanovic and Dejan A. Vasic said yesterday following the hearing of a prosecution witness in this case, that proceedings went in good direction, however, it was too soon to make assumptions, Radio KIM reports.

Drgaisa Milenkovic from Kisnica village, in Gracanica municipality is accused of allegedly committing war crimes during the conflict in Kosovo. He was arrested in June, last year and remains in detention ever since.

“It is too soon to make any assumptions or conclusions. Even if a person would wish to tell the whole truth about an event in which he took part 24 years ago, it would be difficult to bring him back to that time to tell exactly what happened”, lawyer Zivojin Jokanovic said.

He added the witness from yesterday subjectively excluded that any act was carried out upon him which could be qualified as a crime, let alone as a war crime.

Lawyer Dejan A. Vasic said proceeding in the case of Dragisa Milenkovic goes in good direction. “We will show to the court that Dragisa did not do what he is accused of and I hope that at the end of this proceedings he will be acquitted”, Vasic added.

Special prosecution dropped criminal prosecution of Rade Basara, defendant in Oliver Ivanovic’s murder case (media)

Pristina special prosecution dropped criminal prosecution of Rade Basara, one of the defendants in the murder case of Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic, because, as the prosecutor Burim Qerkini said, lack of evidence.

He also said it had been proven that at the moment of Ivanovic’s murder, Basara was not in Mitrovica but in Croatia, which had been verified through international legal aid.

In addition to Basara, Marko Rosic, Nedeljko Spasojevic, Dragisa Markovic, Zarko Jovanovic and Silvana Arsovic are accused of being involved in the murder of Oliver Ivanovic.

Austria’s FM: No shortcuts in Belgrade-Pristina dialogue (Beta, N1)

Austrian Minister for European and Foreign Affairs Alexander Schallenberg said in Vienna that there are no shortcuts in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and that it is important that a point of no return had not been reached, the Beta agency reported.

There are no shortcuts, Europe is very active in this regard and fortunately we have not reached the point of no return. There has been progress, but lately the situation in the north is again causing concern, Schallenberg said on the sidelines of the 13th Forum of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR), held in Austria.

He added that Vienna and Belgrade are cooperating closely, and that Austria is one of the largest investors in Serbia.

“We are close partners, we also work together on the issue of migration, and we expect Belgrade to continue on that path – for example on the matter of harmonizing visa liberalization,” Beta quoted him as saying.

The Danube Strategy is the European Union’s (EU) fourth macro-regional strategy (besides the Adriatic-Ionian, Alpine and Baltic strategies) and rallies 14 countries along the Danube River – Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Moldova.

The 13th Annual EUSDR Summit in Vienna brought together ministers, mayors, business representatives, and youth.

Ministers from Danube countries and their representatives are to adopt an EUSDR Declaration at a closed meeting. There are noticeably fewer Serbian representatives attending this year, and Belgrade was absent from the panel of mayors of European capitals on the Danube.

Gashi: The goal of cooperation between Pristina and Sarajevo another UN resolution against Serbia (Kosovo Online)

Lawyer Tome Gashi assesses for Kosovo Online that the goal of signing the cooperation agreement between the Institute for War Crimes in Pristina and the Memorial Center in Srebrenica is to bring about another UN resolution against Serbia.

"Since we already have a United Nations resolution for war crimes in Srebrenica, I think everyone from the former Yugoslavia should have the same goal – to uncover all the crimes, whoever committed them, but in this situation, we are talking about the Serbian army," Gashi says.

He adds that "it is not in the interest of the Serbian people to hide these crimes."

"25 years after liberation, there is cooperation with everyone who contributes to peace in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, and I think that is in the interest of all peoples in any territory. I believe the goal is to prepare and possibly bring about another resolution by the United Nations against Serbia for crimes, for the genocide that was committed during the war in Kosovo," the lawyer from Pristina says.

Opinion

Iber river bridge: From symbol of division to a symbol of coexistence (Koha)

Political commentator and columnist Arben Qirezi writes in an opinion piece that Mitrovica needs more attention from donors, the Kosovo government, international organisations and countries with influence, and that “the Iber bridge, with a little political willingness, can very easily turn into a symbol of coexistence instead of being a symbol of division”.

Qirezi argues that the opening of the main bridge over Iber river is more of a symbolic issue than a political problem that would require a high-level decision. “Those that have not visited Mitrovica imagine the main bridge over Iber as a fortification that no one can pass through. However, when you stand on the bridge you can see that it is used by pedestrians all the time … The bridge is closed only for vehicles. And this is not the only bridge that links the two banks of the city. There is another bridge, which is open, both for pedestrians and vehicles, and which is used by people to go from one side of the city to the other, a city that is symbolically divided into the Serbian and the Albanian part since 1999”.

Qirezi notes that the European Union hastily reacted to an initiative to open the bridge by saying that this should be a topic of the dialogue in Brussels and that the opening of the main bridge over Iber should be decided at the high-level. “Perhaps, officials of the European Union are not very familiar with the situation on the ground, and they give more importance than necessary to the symbolics of the bridge …,” he argues.

Qirezi suggests that the only way to overcome the dividing symbolics of the bridge is to open it for free movement of people, however they choose, be it on foot or with vehicles. “The dividing symbolism of the main bridge over Iber is a shameful symbolism first of all for the international community which insists to maintain the symbolism and that ‘the solution’ should be found through the high-level dialogue, by overly politicising the issue”.

The problem of Albanians and Serbs getting closer, according to Qirezi, does not rest at the community level. “At the community level there is communication. In Mitrovica there are a dozen of interethnic projects including both Albanians and Serbs. The local leaders have no problems communicating with each other. The problem of the lack of approximation rests exactly at the high political level which is expected to resolve the problems of the people. This level supports divisive symbolism in order to achieve their political objectives, without caring for the well-being of the people, who need communication, freedom of movement and the feeling that they live in a normal country,” he concludes.

EU voters are normalising the far right (Kosovo 2.0)

Opinion piece by Nicholas Kulawiak.

The left is failing to attract disaffected voters.

Centre-right, hard-right and far-right parties had strong showings during the 2024 European Parliament (EP) elections. The hard-right and far-right groups in the EP, which are made up of individual national parties, are set to hold over 18% of EP seats. More surprisingly, the centre-right also gained a small number of seats, outperforming projections.

As has often been the case with EP elections, the immediate consequences and implications fall more on the domestic political level in individual European Union (EU) members than at the EU level. In this cycle, the results in France have grabbed headlines, as President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party received less than half of the number of votes than the far-right National Rally party, led by Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella. Macron called a snap election, hoping to galvanise voters against the far right, betting that he can show that the National Rally cannot win at the domestic level in France.

At this point, the policy implications are unknown, and will remain so until the majority coalition forms and candidates for the top EU institutional jobs are selected and confirmed. What is more clear, however, is that EU states who style themselves as liberal democracies are facing serious challenges from within, their pledges to uphold supposedly universal values challenged by their own citizens, those they are supposed to serve.

What do voters want?

None of it would matter if people didn’t vote for these parties. Amid the hand-wringing and political analysis focused on Macron dissolving parliament, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo resigning after his centre-right party was soundly defeated by a hard-right rival in national elections that coincided with the EP ones, or German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s governing coalition being humiliated by the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the centre-right Christian Democrats, it’s easy to lose sight of that fact: none of it would matter if people didn’t vote for them. Voters, who may feel like they have been abandoned by their political leaders, left with nowhere else to turn to, voted for them because of what they offer at a policy or rhetorical level.

Democratic societies rest on the premise of everyone’s vote counting equally, every vote having an equal moral and legal weight. In most democracies across the EU — Hungary under Viktor Orbán being the clearest exception — this idea of democracy is married to the idea of liberal values; democracy is not just an end, but it is a means for building a society on universal human rights. It’s a value statement as much as it is an institutional structure.