• Kosovo Police conducting operation in Shterpce area (media)
• Kosovo, Denmark sign prison rent agreement (media)
• Ministry urges refrain from actions that "could undermine Kosovo recognition process" (Klan)
• U.S. removes from blacklist Croatian-based company (Koha)
• A convoy of KFOR vehicles to arrive in Kosovo (media)
• Rival Albania Opposition Leader Leads Protest Against ‘Diabolical’ Serbia (BIRN)
• Protesters burn Serbian flags in rally called by former DP leader Sali Berisha (euronews.al)
• COVID-19: Three new cases, no deaths (media)

Kosovo Police conducting operation in Shterpce area (media)

Several news websites report that the Kosovo Police has launched a large-scale operation in Shterpce this morning.

According to sources, the operation is related to corruption allegations in the field of construction at the Brezovica ski resort area. Kallxo.com reports that as part of the operation, more than ten locations have been raided, including property owned by the former Shterpce mayor and other senior officials of the Serbian List. Several persons are reported to have been arrested.

Chief prosecutor for the Ferizaj region, Shkuri Jashari, said this is the one of the largest anti-corruption operations in Kosovo this year.

Kosovo, Denmark sign prison rent agreement (media)

An agreement enabling Denmark to rent 300 prison cells in Kosovo was signed in Pristina yesterday. The move is aimed to help Denmark deal with an overpopulated prison system while Kosovo would be paid €210 million, funds which are expected to be used to support the justice sector and energy projects.

Kosovo's Minister of Justice Albulena Haxhiu said Kosovo was selected after a satisfactory evaluation of its rule of law system. "The correctional facility will accommodate 300 inmates for a period of 5+5," she underlined. Haxhiu added that the agreement with Denmark would also have to get the approval of the Assembly of Kosovo.

Danish Justice Minister Nick Haekkerup said they reached out to several countries to assist in coping with their overburdened prison system and that Kosovo was the first to respond positively. He said the management of the prison cells will be carried out by the Danish authorities but "there will be training for the local staff too."

Ministry urges refrain from actions that "could undermine Kosovo recognition process" (Klan)

Kosovo's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora has refused to comment on the issue of recognition of Kosovo's independence which the leader of the New Kosovo Alliance (AKR) Behgjet Pacolli said he has secured, Klan Kosova reported.

"We do not comment on this topic. Neither in the concrete case, nor in similar cases, where the flow of information seriously jeopardizes the process. We urge everyone to refrain from any action that could undermine such sensitive processes," the Ministry said in a written reply to the news website.

In an open letter to Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti, published on Facebook, Pacolli said that he had previously sent a letter to Kurti informing him that the president of a yet unspecified country has confirmed readiness to recognise Kosovo during a visit next week. "Everything is settled, Mr. Prime Minister, I have worked for a long time for this recognition and only your approval is necessary," Pacolli wrote.

He subsequently added that the country that is ready to recognise Kosovo is from the African continent.

U.S. removes from blacklist Croatian-based company (Koha)

The United States Department of the Treasury has removed from its list of sanctions a company, based in Croatia, initially believed to be owned by Zarko Veselinovic, brother of controversial businessman from the north of Kosovo Zvonko Veselinovic, Koha reports quoting N1.

The Croatian company from Rijeka, "Nautikacentar", is indeed owned by a person named Zarko Veselinovic but who, according to the media, is not related to the Veselinovic brothers from the north of Kosovo.

A convoy of KFOR vehicles to arrive in Kosovo (media)

KFOR announced that military vehicles and equipment, including armoured personnel carriers (BTR), will enter Kosovo between December 21-29, 2021 as part of the pre-deployment of the assets of the Kosovo Force Operational Reserve Forces.

"During next year the first echelon of the reserve units will be provided by Hungary ensuring a very high readiness capability for KFOR that will safeguard secure environment and the freedom of movement in Kosovo," KFOR said in a statement, adding that all movements are approved, coordinated, and supported by all applicable local and national authorities.

Rival Albania Opposition Leader Leads Protest Against ‘Diabolical’ Serbia (BIRN)

Protesters supporting a rival leader of Albania’s main opposition Democratic Party gathered at party headquarters on Monday and marched towards Prime Minister Edi Rama’s office, denouncing a meeting in Albania of the three leaders of countries supporting the “Open Balkan” initiative.

Some of them burning Serbian flag, they called it a “diabolical” attempt to establish Serbian hegemony over the Balkan region. “The diabolical project of the Open Balkan is an adventurous attempt to oppose the Berlin initiative,” Sali Berisha said referencing an earlier move by Germany to revitalize Balkan-EU ties.

Meantime, the three leaders, Albanian PM Rama, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and North Macedonian PM Zoran Zaev were having dinner far from Tirana in the central Albanian town of Elbasan.

Berisha called for a “national protest” against the Open Balkan initiative, and the “affair of the incinerators”, after a torrid weekend, when he had attempted to dismiss the current leader of the Democratic Party, Lulzim Basha, through a referendum, but was also dismissed by him.

“Today, Tirana and Albania will protest against the trilateral Belgrade-Tirana-Skopje Alliance, Open Balkans – Vucic-Rama-Zaev! Against the embezzlement of 430 million euros by the Medusa leader [referring to PM Rama] and his government thieves,” Berisha wrote on Facebook.

He said the main reason for the protest was that Serbian President Vucic had never asked for forgiveness for Serbian war crimes towards Albanians in Kosovo in the 1990s.

The Open Balkan project strengthens Serbia and shows Rama is Vucic`s puppet, he said.

Another separate for the protest, he went on, was the so-called “incinerators issue”; last week, a former Minister of Environment, Lefter Koka, was arrested for corruption related to waste incinerator contracts.

Having started two years ago, originally nicknamed a Balkan “Mini-Schengen” scheme, the Open Balkans project aims for the free flow of people, capital and goods in the Balkans, echoing the EU’s passport-free Schengen area. So far, only Albania, Serbia and North Macedonia have signed up.

Basha and Berisha remain locked in a bitter struggle to control the main centre-right opposition party. It started when Basha excluded Berisha from the party’s parliamentary group on September 9, some four months after Berisha was blacklisted by the US State Department “for involvement in corrupt acts”.

After his blacklisting by the US, Berisha started holding meetings with supporters in town halls all over Albania, which divided the main opposition party into two. One camp supported Basha and the other supported Berisha.

Berisha then held an assembly on December 11, where he said that 4,446 party delegates had voted to dismiss Basha as leader of the party.

The final decision would be voted on by party members through a referendum on December 18 – the same day Basha planned another assembly with his own supporters, with the goal also of promoting “new changes” within the party.

Some of the changes voted on were “not recognizing Berisha`s Assembly, and not allowing anyone to hold any kind of position within the party who is designated “non–grata”.

Berisha and his supporters than on Monday headed to the party headquarters, where Basha was holding a meeting with party members following his rival assembly. There, Berisha read out the voting results, saying around 44,000 party members out of around 75,000 had voted, and around 99 per cent of them had voted to dismiss Basha.

Berisha has meanwhile created a so-called “Re-founding Commission” of the party to lead the party until March 22, when he has called another assembly.

Protesters burn Serbian flags in rally called by former DP leader Sali Berisha (euronews.al)

Protesters managed to climb on an electric pole and tear down Serbian flags hanged on the capital’s main boulevard as third Open Balkan meeting convened in Tirana.

Demonstrators swarmed the main boulevard after ex-PM Sali Berisha, also one of the main founders of the Albanian Democratic Party, called for a nationwide rally to condemn the Open Balkan initiative.

Initially, they gathered in front of the party’s headquarters chanting slogans against Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic as well demanding from Lulzim Basha, the current leader of the Democratic Party to step down.

Vucic is on an official visit to Tirana as part of the Open Balkan initiative signed between Serbia, Albania, and North Macedonia to facilitate the movement of capital, goods, services, and peoples of the region’s some 12 million inhabitants.

The State Police deployed around 1,000 officers to control potential rowdy protesters and according to an official statement released to the media to have detained “several protesters”.

COVID-19: Three new cases, no deaths (media)

Three new cases with COVID-19 were recorded in the last 24 hours in Kosovo, the Ministry of Health said in its daily statement. Four persons recovered from the virus during this time.

There are 311 active cases with COVID-19 in Kosovo.