UNMIK Media Observer, August 30, 2023

Albanian Language Media:

Kurti concludes Bled visit “with greater hope about Kosovo’s bright future” (KSP)

Gervalla and Lajcak optimistic about end of dialogue, Dacic wants Association (Koha)

“Western Balkans must use momentum for enlargement” (Kosovapress)

Rama: Better in the EU bus without a seat than in a Russian plane (media)

“Delay of school books, a mismanagement by the Education Ministry” (Kosovapress)

Osmani, Konjufca and Kurti to pay homage at Missing Persons Monument today (media)

Lushaku-Sadriu: Opposition of LDK differs from other parties (Nacionale/TV Dukagjini)

Klinaku: I’d rather kill Albin Kurti than leave Kosovo (Kallxo)

“When the army returns to Kosovo” graffiti appears in Leposavic (Kallxo)

NATO official in Serbia: We expect full de-escalation in north of Kosovo (RFE)

Serbian Language Media:

Vucic: Elections because opposition wants them; Kurti delaying a meeting deliberately (N1, Blic, media)

Panel of WB FMs in Bled: Gervalla and Lajcak optimistic unlike Dacic on the next year's normalization in spring (KoSSev)

New personnel decisions: Maric on the “Mreza-Most” board; Simic still at the Academy of Vocational Studies (KoSSev)

Kosovo: The number of drug addicts seeking help increasing (KiM radio, Beta, RFE)

International Media:

Commission snubs Charles Michel’s 2030 EU enlargement target (politico.eu)

Among the Dead: Forensic Scientists Recall Horror of Kosovo’s Mass Graves (BIRN)

Roma Protesters Allege Police Brutality in Kosovo Town (BIRN)

Start-up nation – how Kosovan companies are defying expectations to lead the country into the future (Economist Impact)

What After Migrating to Germany? Experiences from Kosovar Nurses (Prishtina Insight)

Albanian Language Media

Kurti concludes visit to Bled “with greater hope about Kosovo’s bright future” (KSP)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti wrote on Tuesday about his visit to Bled, Slovenia, where he attended the Strategic Forum. He commented on his meetings there and said that he concluded his participation “with greater hope about Kosovo’s bright future”.

Kurti said in his meeting with UK Special Envoy for the Western Balkans, Stuart Peach, they discussed regional cooperation, current issues, and the process of dialogue. “With EU envoy Miroslav Lajcak I talked about the EU-facilitated dialogue, the implementation of the Basic Agreement in Brussels and the Annex agreed in Ohrid, and the next high-level meeting which will be held next month. With the U.S. Ambassador to the OSCE, Michael Carpenter, we talked about the de-escalated situation in the four municipalities in the north and the importance of preventing a potential re-escalation,” Kurti wrote in a Facebook post.

“With messages for the EU as a union of shared values and principles, with the request for the Western Balkans to focus on reforms and the rule of law, and the vision for the membership of the Western Balkans by 2030, we concluded our participation at the Bled Strategic Forum with greater hope about the bright future of our Republic,” Kurti said.

Gervalla and Lajcak optimistic about end of dialogue, Dacic wants Association (Koha)

Kosovo’s Minister of Foreign Affaris, Donika Gervalla, and the EU Special Representative for the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Miroslav Lajcak, said on Tuesday that they are optimistic that there will be important developments in the dialogue by spring next year. However, their optimism was not shared by Serbia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ivica Dacic, who reiterated that progress is not possible without the formation of the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities.

At the “Bled 2023” Strategic Forum, Gervalla said there is a good chance that the dialogue will end way earlier than 2030, a year that the President of the EU Council, Charles Michel, proposed as a deadline for the enlargement of the Western Balkans. Gervalla said: “We have very good chances of achieving success in the dialogue way earlier than that [2030]. And we are committed to work in this direction. The Prime Minister [Albin Kurti] said here that there should be normalisation [of relations] next spring”. Lajcak agreed with Gervalla’s remarks, saying that with commitment to implement the agreements reached in February and March, Kosovo and Serbia can make great strides forward. But Dacic disagreed, asking what will happen with the agreements reached in the dialogue 10 years ago, to which Lajcak said that Article 10 of the February agreement says that “all previous agreements must be implemented”. Dacic said: “We are constructive in the dialogue, but the Association comes first. We cannot move forward without this. It is something that we have signed 10 years ago”.

Gervalla also said that Kosovo is ready on its path toward EU membership and that after its application bid last year, Kosovo now expects the EU to make the next step. “We are optimistic that it will happen soon, it needs to happen soon [the step by the EU]. We in Kosovo are ready, as a sovereign country, to decide about our fate. We are optimistic that internal developments in Kosovo are positive. Kosovo is ready to assume its duties and join the EU with priority by 2030,” she argued.

“Western Balkans must use momentum for enlargement” (Kosovapress)

Countries of the Western Balkans have been asked to use the momentum that has been created and to be ready to join the European Union by 2030. At the Bled Strategic Forum in Slovenia, in a panel with EU representatives and chief diplomats from countries in the region, it was said that the enlargement is a priority for the EU.

Slovenia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and host of the summit, Tanja Fajon, said that now is the political momentum for EU enlargement and the countries of the Western Balkans must use this. “We have a unique political momentum. There is political maturity and creativity. The message that the EU will be ready by 2030 is historic,” she said.

Rama: Better in the EU bus without a seat than in a Russian plane (media)

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama shared on Tuesday an article by Politico titled “Commission snubs Charles Michel’s 2030 EU enlargement target” and commented: “Yeah of course, that’s why the bus can never become a plane… Anyhow trust me, at the present status of affairs standing in the EU bus even without a seat is safer than sitting in a Russian plane, because the trip may be too slow and our destination too far, but one thing is sure like death: This bus will never crash.”

“Delay of school books, a mismanagement by the Education Ministry” (Kosovapress)

Kosovapress reported on Tuesday that on the eve of the start of the new school year, Kosovo’s Minister of Education, Arberie Nagavci met on Tuesday with the directors of the municipal directories of education, to discuss monitoring the supply with school books in all municipalities. Following the meeting, the director of education in Pristina, Besiane Musmurati, said the situation with the purchasing of school books shows that there has been mismanagement by the Ministry of Education. According to her, even the minister does not know what will happen in municipalities that don’t have bookshops. Musmurati also said that there are many applications for school books and that parents are also running into difficulties during the application process. Director education in Klina, Qemajl Sejdiu, said after the meeting that he has requested the Ministry of Education for the new school year to start on September 4, claiming that it is impossible to start on September 1. Sejdiu also said there are concerns that some parents could make copies of the school books for their children and not buy them.

Koha reported that according to the municipal directors, the new school year will start on September 1 but without school books, as the funds to subsidise the parents for buying the books will be distributed by the government on Friday.

Indeksonline quotes deputy leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Jehona Lushaku Sadriu, as saying that the government’s inability is costing the citizens of Kosovo €9 million more than the budget foreseen to buy the school books. She argued in a Facebook post that the families of 260,000 pupils are forced to play the role of the Minister of Education, by buying the books themselves. “This is an unprecedented and damaging experiment that has never happened in Kosovo before,” she said.

Osmani, Konjufca and Kurti to pay homage at Missing Persons Monument today (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, Assembly Speaker Glauk Konjufca and the government will pay homage today at 10:00 at the Missing Persons Monument in Pristina on the occasion of the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearance.

Lushaku-Sadriu: Opposition of LDK differs from other parties (Nacionale/TV Dukagjini)

Leader of the Women’s Forum of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Jehona Lushaku-Sadriu, said on Tuesday that the LDK is following a new path to change and reform itself through a program called ‘The New Road’ and that the opposition by this party is different from that of other parties. “Our model is not the opposition of Vetevendosje. We are doing opposition in our own way and I think it is the most useful and we are never promising something that is unrealistic,” she said during a debate on TV Dukagjini. “Our program will be different even from previous programs that the LDK had, because time requires us to come up with more innovative programs and this is why we have called it the ‘New Road’.”

Lushaku-Sadriu argued that the “continuous propaganda by the ruling party cannot cover the failures and scandals of the government”. “Kosovo was never under sanctions, and normally we are critical of the government. There is irresponsibility, inability to govern and inability to manage different situations,” she added.

Klinaku: I’d rather kill Albin Kurti than leave Kosovo (Kallxo)

“ … I would rather kill Albin Kurti than make way and leave Kosovo,” acting head of the KLA War Veterans Organisation, Faton Klinaku, wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday evening. He said in his post that a voter of Prime Minister Kurti was so disappointed that he said he had no other choice but to leave Kosovo. “I told him: I did not vote for him and I certainly did not expect any change for the better from him, and as far as leaving is concerned, I would rather kill Albin Kurti than make way and leave Kosovo,” Klinaku wrote.

“When the army returns to Kosovo” graffiti appears in Leposavic (Kallxo)

The news website reports that the nationalistic slogan “When the army returns to Kosovo” has recently appeared in Kosovo too. Several weeks ago, the slogan was considered to be a call with inciting motives at a time when the situation in the three northern municipalities was tense and there were many attacks and incidents. The graffiti containing the nationalistic chant “when the army returns to Kosovo” was painted with yellow color on an uninhabited building in the village of Dren along the Leposavic-Jarinje main road.

The slogan was first seen during a football match in Belgrade and authored by fans of the Crvena Zvezda club, on July 26, during a friendly match with Italian club Fiorentina. The slogan “when the army returns to Kosovo” painted with the colors of the Serbia flag, a tank behind it, was held for several minutes by the football fans during the match. Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Minister of Culture Hajrulla Ceku had reacted in Twitter posts to the action.

In a different article titled “Insulting messages against NATO and Special Units in Leposavic”, the news website reports that across the police station in Mitrovica North there can be seen a graffiti with the message “NATO go home”. Similar graffiti can also reportedly be seen on the road to Leposavic.

NATO official in Serbia: We expect full de-escalation in north of Kosovo (RFE)

We are still waiting to see a full de-escalation of the situation in the north of Kosovo, head of the NATO liaison office in Belgrade, Giampero Romano, said in an interview with Radio Free Europe on Tuesday. “All parties must work to prevent any re-escalation. Violence can destabilise the Western Balkans and threaten the Euro-Atlantic aspirations of the region,” he said.

Romano welcomed the steps taken by Kosovo’s institutions to reduce the number of Kosovo police officers in and around the municipal buildings in the north of Kosovo and the work to organise new local elections in the north. “The only way forward is that of the EU-facilitated dialogue which NATO strongly supports. We believe that Serbia, as a long-term partner of NATO, will engage constructively in the dialogue,” he said.

Serbian Language Media

Vucic: Elections because opposition wants them, Kurti delaying a meeting deliberately (N1, Blic, media)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday that elections will be called because the opposition wants them.

Speaking in the village of Veliki Radinci in Vojvodina, Vucic said that he isn’t the one who calls elections but that they will happen.

“First, they said they won’t let me call elections and I said that’s OK, you’re so strong I have to obey you. Then they said they want elections, and I will give them elections but I’m not the one calling elections. The right conditions have to be in place and since I see that they do want them, they’ll get them…. Since they’re the favorites I wish them success,” Vucic said.

Earlier on Tuesday in Petrovac na Mlavi, Vucic said that the opposition was undecided about the elections.

"Kurti is deliberately delaying his meeting with me in Brussels"

"They offered me a date to go to Brussels, but no. Kurti has better things to do, because he buys time to implement his threats, I'm sure of that," said Vucic, reported Blic.

- In a few months, someone will try to talk, and in the meantime, how many Serbs have been arrested, wounded, injured, how many medicines are left in Serbian hospitals and what new measures have been adopted, from the law on expropriation and the implementation of expropriation to the fact that his deadlines are ending for Serbs to leave the premises, so he can take them etc. - Vucic said during his tour of the village of Veliki Radinci.

Panel of WB FMs in Bled: Gervalla and Lajcak optimistic unlike Dacic on the next year's normalization in spring (KoSSev)

"We are constructive and want to participate. But first, the Community/Association of Serbian Municipalities (CSM). Before that, nothing further can be done. Something that was signed 10 years ago. How much longer will you avoid it," Serbian FM Ivica Dacic said yesterday in the Bled Strategic Forum, reported KoSSev.

It was the last day of the strategic forum, the last panel gathered FMs of the WB - Serbia, Albania, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as from Kosovo. The panel was attended also by the EU envoy for dialogue between BG and PR, Miroslav Lajcak, as well as the MFA of Slovenia, Tanja Fajon.

The central topic was their attitude to yesterday's statement by the President of the EC, - that the EU should be ready to accept new members by 2023.

The participants of the panel had divided opinions about this statement, and the least optimistic was the MFA of Serbia, Ivica Dacic, according to KoSSev.

In a series of criticisms of the EU, repeating several times that Serbia has been participating in similar panels for 10 or 15 years, he said that he did not believe in the imminent European integration of the region because the criteria were constantly changing.

"I really think that it makes no sense to organize meetings like this anymore. Like, you from Brussels do not know that we want to join the European Union?" said Dacic.

He was distrustful of the agreement, of which the EU was the guarantor for Serbia, clarifying that he was referring to the Brussels agreement.

"I was here 10 years ago with Hashim Thaci and Catherine Ashton. I signed the Brussels Agreement. And what? So, what is the authority of the EU, which is the guarantor of that agreement. We are at the beginning again," said Dacic.

KoSSev reported that Dacic was the only one, unlike Gervalla, and Lajcak, who did not affirmatively answer the question of whether he believes that relations between Pristina and Belgrade will be normalized by next spring.

"I believe that we have a chance to achieve sufficient success in the dialogue even before the date for European integration. Yesterday, the Prime Minister mentioned next spring here, so let's work in that direction," said Gervalla, asking Miroslav Lajcak if he also agreed with that.

Lajcak agreed:

"I totally agree. We know what needs to be done. We have an agreement from February and March. All of that could be put into practice, if there is political will and commitment, within just a few months."

Contrary to them, Dacic asked for an answer to the question - What about the previous agreements?

"What about that, what I signed 10 years ago with Catherine Ashton and Hashim Thaci? Is that not valid?" he asked, requesting an answer from the European envoy.

Lajcak reminded him that Article 10 of the new agreement also included the necessity of maintaining all previous agreements.

Dacic, when asked persistently whether he believes that normalization will occur by next spring, reminded that the ongoing dialogue is not about status, but about normalization.

"Our every agreement with Pristina was status neutral. Some of you in the audience can laugh, but you also know that there were six republics in Yugoslavia," said the Serbian minister.

Belgrade, he continued, was a constructive party and wanted to participate, but what, as he emphasized, must be done first is the CSM.

"Before that, nothing further can be done." Something that was signed 10 years ago. How much longer will you avoid it?" said Ivica Dacic.

Repeating several times that Serbia, when it comes to the war in Ukraine and sanctions against Russia, takes care of state and national interests, and now he reminded that Serbia condemned the attack on Ukraine.

Likewise, he pointed out, Serbia condemns the violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, but at the same time expects the European Union to condemn the violation of the territorial integrity of Serbia.

He requested that Serbia be told exactly what it needs to do for European integration.

"I have been involved in the story of European integration for 20 years. I've listened to it a hundred times. Topple Milosevic - Milosevic was overthrown. Arrest Milosevic - Milosevic arrested. Arrest Karadzic- Karadzic arrested, Mladic arrested," he said.

He said that they used to say from Brussels that Kosovo and the European Union are two tracks.

"Now someone says Serbia should recognize Kosovo in order to enter the EU. Let's hear, is that a condition?" he asked.

During the panel he also mentioned that out of six representatives from Balkans, four are Albanians, from Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo. ''And you still mentioned 'Great Serbia'?!", reported Kosovo Online.

New personnel decisions: Maric on the “Mreza-Most” board; Simic still at the Academy of Vocational Studies (KoSSev)

The Government of Serbia has made another series of staffing decisions. At the last session, new and old members of the Academy of Vocational Studies of Kosovo-Metohija were appointed, including Srpska Lista Vice President, Igor Simic. The company Mreža-Most Beograd obtained a new member of the board – the current member of the Serbian Parliament from Kosovska Mitrovica, Ljubomir Maric.

At the sessions held recently, the Government of Serbia adopted a series of personnel decisions related to Kosovo. Members of the Provisional Authorities in several municipalities were appointed and dismissed, as well as members of the Faculty Council within the University of Kosovska Mitrovica, including some of the top officials of Srpska Lista.

New personnel decisions were made at the previous session of the Government of Serbia, which was held last Friday.