• EU to ask Kosovo and Serbia for concrete progress on final agreement (Koha)
• McKee: U.S. partnership with Kosovo, stronger than ever (KTV)
• Kurti meets USAID Assistant Administrator McKee (media)
• Kurti to meet Lajcak in Pristina today (media)
• Lajcak meets Vucic in Belgrade (media)
• Michel: Progress is being made on visa liberalisation for Kosovo (media)
• Host Albania has high hopes for EU-Western Balkans summit (AP)
• Serbian President Will Attend EU-Balkan Summit in Tirana (BIRN)
• Bajrami reacts to EU asking Montenegro and North Macedonia to introduce visas for Kosovo (media)
• Bislimi to report on dialogue and French-German plan today (media)
• Police, CEC municipal officials will go to offices in north today (Koha)
• Albanian chased by several masked persons in north of Kosovo (media)
• Dejan Jankovic could become head of Kosovo Police (Albanian Post)

EU to ask Kosovo and Serbia for concrete progress on final agreement (Koha)

The daily reports on its front page this morning that it has secured a copy of the draft statement which is expected to be adopted at the EU-Western Balkans Summit, in Tirana, Albania, today. One of the points of the draft statement calls on Kosovo and Serbia to make concrete progress toward a final agreement.

“We continue to fully support the efforts of the EU High Representative and the EU Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and other regional issues of the Western Balkans, and we expect concrete progress from both parties toward a comprehensive and legally binding agreement for the normalisation of their relations. This is crucial for the stability and development of the whole region and to make sure that the parties can continue on their respective European paths,” the point reportedly notes.

McKee: U.S. partnership with Kosovo, stronger than ever (KTV)

The friendship and partnership of the United States with Kosovo will not be for 10 or 20 years, but for 100 years and for many generations to come, USAID Assistant Administrator for Europe and Eurasia, Erin E. McKee, said in an interview with the TV station Monday.

McKee talked about her visit to Kosovo and meetings with heads of state institutions and representatives of civil society. She said she was impressed by the government’s political readiness to build strong democratic institutions and its commitment to fight corruption. “I see that strong steps are being made to fight corruption, and to institutionalise the elements that are crucial in the fight against corruption,” she said.

Asked about the relations with Serbia, McKee said that Kosovo’s future is rooted in the future in Europe. “The way to move forward is to be ready to engage in dialogue and to make sure that mutual recognition will happen so that stability and peace can be the foundations upon which we will build the future,” she said.

Kurti meets USAID Assistant Administrator McKee (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti met on Monday with the USAID Assistant Administrator, Erin E. McKee. Kurti said the Kosovo government shares the same values, orientations, and interests with the United States of America. “We share with the American people the strong convictions for freedom, justice, and democracy,” he said.

The meeting highlighted the strong partnership between Kosovo and the United States, focused on ways how to further the cooperation and progress in areas such as justice, economy, democracy, energy, and governance, a government press release notes.

Kurti briefed McKee about the latest economic and democratic indicators, progress in the rule of law and the fight against corruption, reforms so far and also future reforms in the judiciary and the legal framework, good governance and the government’s plan for investments in the energy sector.

Kurti to meet Lajcak in Pristina today (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti will meet today in Pristina with EU Special Representative for the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Miroslav Lajcak. A government press release notes that the meeting will start at 09:00. Lajcak stayed in Belgrade on Monday where he met Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

Lajcak meets Vucic in Belgrade (media)

EU Special Representative for the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Miroslav Lajcak, stayed in Belgrade on Monday where he met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. “In Belgrade today, I discussed the way forward on normalisation of relations as a follow-up to the last Dialogue meetings with President Vucic. We also spoke about current issues, including return of Kosovo Serbs to Kosovo institutions, Energy Roadmap and missing persons,” Lajcak tweeted after the meeting.

Michel: Progress is being made on visa liberalisation for Kosovo (media)

President of the European Council, Charles Michel, said on Monday that the European Union will give an update on visa liberalisation for Kosovo. “We will announce more information on Tuesday, but I can say that progress is being made,” he told a press conference after meeting Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob, on the eve of the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Tirana, Albania. “We can see that important steps forward have been made recently. Tomorrow we want to have a joint declaration that will bring the Western Balkans even closer to the European Union.”

Host Albania has high hopes for EU-Western Balkans summit (AP)

Albania’s prime minister said Monday that a European Union summit in his country’s capital this week demonstrates the EU’s heightened geostrategic interests in the Western Balkans region during Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama is set to host the one-day meeting on Tuesday that is aimed at rekindling the EU’s expansion process.

“The moment is fantastic. Nobody could imagine this only until two years ago, and now it’s happening,” Rama said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Rama previously criticized the EU for dragging its feet on admitting new member nations. The six countries that are the focus on the summit - Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia - received assurances for years but saw their steps toward membership stall.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3P20ns7

Serbian President Will Attend EU-Balkan Summit in Tirana (BIRN)

After angrily refusing to attend the EU-Balkan summit in Tirana owing to his dispute with Kosovo, President Vucic has done a u-turn, and announced he will participate after all.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has announced he will participate after all in the EU-Western Balkans summit in Tirana on Tuesday after earlier saying he would not go.

“I’m not sure, but there will certainly be some benefit, or I hope that there will be some benefit from my going to Tirana, and if I didn’t go to Tirana, I repeat, there might not be any benefit if I were to go, but there would certainly be great harm to our country,“ Vucic told the media after watching a military drill in Nikinci on Monday.

In an angry telephone statement on Thursday, Vucic had told Pink Television that “nobody from Serbia will be in Tirana on December 6”.

“And you come, take your daily wages, travel by plane, talk nonsense, talk whatever you want, all of you from Europe, all of you from the Western Balkans, talk piffle about how Serbia is to blame for something, but you can’t find anything that Serbia is to blame for, it’s all in the best order, just do it without Serbia,“ Vucic continued.

This furious statement came after the EU failed to condemn Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti for appointing a Minister for Communities and Returns who was not from the main Belgrade-backed Kosovo Serb party.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3B8JlT9

Bajrami reacts to EU asking Montenegro and North Macedonia to introduce visas for Kosovo (media)

Kosovo’s Ambassador to Belgium, Agron Bajrami, took to Twitter on Monday to react to the European Commission reprimanding Montenegro and North Macedonia for not introducing a visa regime for Kosovo citizens. “Absolutely unacceptable for the EU Commission to list Kosovo as one of visa-required third countries asking Montenegro and North Macedonia to introduce visas for Kosovo! Especially disturbing as for years Kosovo was unjustly denied visa liberalisation! Double so as all this comes after Berlin Process agreements!” Bajrami tweeted.

Bislimi to report on dialogue and French-German plan today (media)

Kosovo’s First Deputy Prime Minister, Besnik Bislimi, will report today to the Kosovo Assembly Committee for Foreign Affairs and Diaspora about the dialogue with Serbia and the French-German plan for the normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia. The meeting is scheduled to start at 13:00.

Police, CEC municipal officials will go to offices in north today (Koha)

Head of Kosovo’s Central Election Commission (CEC), Kreshnik Radoniqi, said on Monday that Kosovo Police and municipal election officials from the four northern municipalities will go to the CEC offices in the north on Tuesday. He said that the operational plan for the activity was prepared jointly by the police and the CEC secretariat. “We have to see if we will be able to access our offices and in the coming days it remains to be seen whether we will access to the polling centers in the north,” he said.

Albanian chased by several masked persons in north of Kosovo (media)

Several news websites published a video on Monday in which a Kosovo Albanian is chased by several masked persons in the north of Kosovo. A Kosovo Police spokesman said the case, which was qualified as a threat, happened last Sunday, and that investigations are ongoing to identify the suspects.

Dejan Jankovic could become head of Kosovo Police (Albanian Post)

Dejan Jankovic, current Deputy Director General for Administration in Kosovo Police, could very soon become the head of the Kosovo Police, the news website reported on Monday evening. Current acting head of Kosovo Police, Fehmi Hoti, said he wants to leave the position, because he does not prefer it and also because he has no ambitions to become Director General. According to the news website, if Hoti withdraws from the post, according to the legislation, Jankovic is appointed acting head. The latter is a member of the Kosovo Serb community.

Albanian Post asked the Ministry of Interior Affairs when the new director will be appointed, but they were not willing to respond to the question. Ministry officials only said that “the appointment of the Director General of Kosovo Police will be made in line with the respective legislation in force”.