• U.S. Embassy: Kosovo’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, Constitution are sacrosanct (media)
• UK Balkans envoy expected to visit Kosovo next week (Express)
• Bislimi: We are concerned with Borrell's bias (Koha)
• Belgrade-bound, Lajcak visits Kosovo-Serbia common border crossing point (Express)
• Vucic to US and EU envoys: Belgrade responsible, Pristina avoids obligations (N1)
• Lajcak: Kosovo deserves to be granted a visa-free regime (euronews.al)
• EU, US Urge Kosovo to Propose Models for Association of Serb Municipalities (Exit)
• U.S. Envoy urges implementation of all Kosovo-Serbia agreements (RFE)
• Spahiu: Association is the price Kosovo will pay for recognition from Serbia (Klan)
• Commentators assess visit of EU, U.S. envoys, Kurti’s position (Telegrafi)
• EU Election Observation Mission in Kosovo present report on local elections (media)
• Prime Minister Kurti received the leader of the Alliance for Albanians Zijadin Sela (media)
• Albania-Kosovo power exchange ALPEX joins Europex (SeeNews)

 

U.S. Embassy: Kosovo’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, Constitution are sacrosanct (media)

The U.S. Embassy in Pristina has stated that no one is asking Kosovo leaders to compromise Kosovo’s sovereignty, cede its territorial integrity, or violate its Constitution and that the status quo is unsustainable.

In a social media post following the visit of the U.S. and EU envoys to Kosovo, the U.S.  Embassy encouraged all parties to engage towards normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia centred on mutual recognition.

“Wrapped up a productive joint U.S.-EU visit from U.S. Special Representative to Western Balkans Gabriel Escobar and EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak to Kosovo. The U.S. strongly supports the EU-facilitated Dialogue as the best way for Kosovo’s leaders to deliver a European future for its citizens. The status quo is unsustainable; we encourage constructive, flexible, and urgent engagement by all to reach a comprehensive agreement on normalized relations, centred on mutual recognition. No one is asking Kosovo leaders to compromise Kosovo’s sovereignty, cede its territorial integrity, or violate its Constitution. Those are sacrosanct,” the U.S. Embassy said in the statement.

UK Balkans envoy expected to visit Kosovo next week (Express)

Gazeta Express has learned from its sources that United Kingdom Special Envoy to Western Balkans, Sir Stuart Peach, is expected to visit Kosovo next week. The British Embassy has not confirmed the agenda of his visit emphasizing that the Sir Stuart is traveling to the region “to hear priorities and concerns of all parties.”

Gazeta Express has contacted Wednesday the British Embassy in Pristina to learn more about expected visit of Sir Stuart Peach. They did not confirm his agenda, stating however that he is visiting all countries of the region. “Sir Stuart Peach is currently visiting all countries in the region for a first visit in his new capacity to hear from all stakeholders first-hand about their priorities and concerns. He is not planning to make any substantive public comments at this time,” the British Embassy told Gazeta Express. Sir Stuart Peach has been appointed as UK Envoy for the Western Balkans in December 2021. Sir Stuart will work with Western Balkans leaders, others across the region and our allies in the US and Europe to support and strengthen regional stability. His work will also involve promoting strong democratic institutions and open societies, helping to tackle serious and organised crime and other joint security challenges, and encouraging resolution of legacy issues such as war crimes and missing persons.

Sir Stuart’s is expected to visit Pristina days after US Special Envoy for the WB Gabriel Escobar and EU Special Representative for Dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia and other WB issues Miroslav Lajcak who on 2 February concluded their joint three day-visit to Kosovo and travelled to Belgrade with the aim to convince parties resume the stalled EU-facilitated dialogue in Brussels.

Bislimi: We are concerned with Borrell's bias (Koha)

Kosovo's First Deputy Prime Minister and chief negotiator in dialogue with Serbia, Besnik Bislimi, said the Kosovo side is concerned with "bias" displayed by the EU High Representative Josep Borrell. Bislimi said Borrell is expressing views which are not necessarily those of the European Union.

"In recent months we have witnessed a series of situations when Mr. Borell's statements, be it through social media or press conferences, have not necessarily been in the function of trust building in the process and have not necessarily been in line with the position that Mr. Borrell should have, that of an umbrella, and these are also concerns of our international partners. There are some indicators that show that Mr. Borrell is not necessarily managing to maintain impartiality and is not necessarily presenting positions that are those of the European Union," Bislimi said in an interview for KTV.

Commenting on the visit of EU and U.S. envoys, Bislimi said the message was a reconfirmation that a new dynamic is required in the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia. He also said expects the international envoys to press the Serbian side into accepting documents that the parties discussed and also facilitate in arranging a high-level meeting as soon as possible that would focus on final agreement discussions. He said such a meeting may take place in March.

Bislimi blamed the Serbian side for not implementing agreements reached so far. "So far Serbia has not implemented 11 agreements. The Serbian side has zero credibility to demand something from the Kosovo side, when it itself undermined the agreements in Brussels by not implementing them," he said.

Belgrade-bound, Lajcak visits Kosovo-Serbia common border crossing point (Express)

The EU Special Representative for Kosovo-Serbia Dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak has visited the common crossing point of Mutivode on his way to Belgrade. This common crossing point facility has been built with the EU funds, Gazeta Express reports.

Lajcak together with the U.S. Special Envoy to the Western Balkans Gabriel Escobar concluded yesterday a three-day visit to Kosovo where they met institutional and political leaders. They said the visit is aimed at pushing forward the EU-facilitated Dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade.

“On my way from Pristina to Belgrade, I visited the EU-built facilities of the Crossing Point Mutivode. It’s a concrete result of the EU-facilitated Dialogue beneficial to all communities and their freedom of movement. Hope to soon see it fully operational and used by both Parties,” Lajcak said.

Vucic to US and EU envoys: Belgrade responsible, Pristina avoids obligations (N1)

In a trilateral meeting with Gabriel Escobar, the US envoy for the Western Balkans and his European Union counterpart Miroslav Lajčák, on Wednesday night, Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic accused Pristina of avoiding its obligations from the dialogue with Belgrade and praised his country for being responsible.

They discussed critical topics for Serbia’s and  Western Balkans’ sustainable economic future and the stability of the whole region, according to Vucic’s office.

The President underlined that as a serious and reliable partner in all valid and signed agreements, Serbia acted responsibly and fulfilled its obligations while encountering continuous attempts by Pristina’s authorities to provoke and avoid meeting their obligations unilaterally.

That, Vucic said, greatly hindered the further course of the dialogue.

Vucic's office statement added that Escobar and Lajčák said their support of the continuation of a constructive dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina and the integration of the Western Balkans into the EU underling both sides needed to fulfil all obligations.

According to the statement, Lajčák said the EU and the US worked closely together and shared the same vision for the dialogue process and the future of the entire region in the EU, adding that their efforts aimed to achieve a comprehensive agreement the implementation of all previous agreements signed.

Vucic thanked the two officials for their commitment and said he believed only with responsible efforts of both sides in the dialogue could reach a compromise solution and common language in the interest of both Serbs and Albanians and Serbia's and the whole region's European future.

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

Lajcak: Kosovo deserves to be granted a visa-free regime (euronews.al)

“I really think that Kosovo deserved to be granted a visa-free regime a long time ago”, declared EU Special Envoy for the dialogue with Serbia, Miroslav Lajcak at the end of his three-day visit to Prishtina.

“The European Commission has made it very clear that Kosovo fulfilled all the conditions, but you know that this is not related to the talks, but it requires a consensual agreement among 27 member countries”, said the high EU official.

Lajcak emphasized that it won’t be much longer until travel visas are lifted. “I can only tell you that I raise this issue every time I brief member states and I tell ambassadors in Brussels how painful this is in Kosovo. I truly hope that it will not take much more time until we see a full visa liberalization”, declared Lajcak.

The voting process for lifting the visa regime with Kosovo has been blocked by the EU Council for years by a large number of countries.

According to the Croatian EU Presidency, the countries that voted in favor were not enough to achieve the qualified majority vote.

Lajcak and Escobar unanimously declared that the United States and the European Union do not want to impose the establishment of a Serbian republic within the territory of Kosovo.

EU, US Urge Kosovo to Propose Models for Association of Serb Municipalities (Exit)

The European Union and United States have urged Kosovo to propose models for the establishment of the Association of Serb Municipalities (ASM) that would not infringe the functioning of state institutions. Their envoys stressed that they do not want a parallel Serbian state within Kosovo but the latter must find ways to establish the association in compliance with agreements signed in Brussels.

The EU and US envoys, Miroslav Lajcak and Gabriel Escobar, made the statement in Prishtina, following a two-day visit in Kosovo aimed at advancing the dialogue with Serbia, after which they left for Belgrade.

They stressed the EU and US support for Kosovo’s principles in the dialogue regarding non-violation of its territorial integrity, constitutional order and functioning of state institutions.

In their meetings with Kosovo’s leaders, political parties and civil society in the past two days, the senior diplomats received the parties’ full support for the dialogue, which they noted should advance quicker.

Lajcak highlighted that Kosovo is an equal part in the dialogue and should not be afraid that anything would be imposed on it, including an association of Serb municipalities with executive powers that would rival the central government.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti replied later today that Kosovo is not afraid but his government is “responsible, cautious, constructive and serious” in relation to the dialogue and in defending the country’s interests. He stressed that while they have discussed no model for the establishment of the association, the government has presented the envoys with their proposals for the advancement of the dialogue, which he insisted should result in mutual recognition.

In an earlier interview before the visit, Lajcak avoided a direct answer to the question whether the association should have executive powers, noting that it’s up to Serbia and Kosovo to establish that during the dialogue.

The EU and US are not going to propose any model for the association, the two diplomats stressed, but would offer support if asked by parties in the dialogue.

The establishment of an association were Serbs are a majority was agreed in Brussels in 2013 and details were drawn in another agreement in 2015, after which the Kosovo Constitutional Court deemed it in breach of the constitution because it was not inclusive of other ethnicities and could entail executive powers.

Kosovo authorities say they will comply with the court’s rule and prevent the establishment of an association with executive powers that would effectively be a state within the state. However, the EU and US maintain that there are ways to reconcile the 2015 agreement with the court’s ruling.

The dialogue between the two countries has yielded little results since it was launched in 2011 under EU facilitation. It has practically stalled since last summer after Serbia’s insistence for the establishment of the association. Most of the 34 agreements signed between Kosovo and Serbia in Brussels in the last 10 years have only been partially implemented.

The latest joint visits shows that the two powers – EU and US – have rejoined forces and are committed to advance the dialogue with fresh energies. However, a more clear view on how the dialogue could advance can only be expected after the April general elections in Serbia.

U.S. Envoy urges implementation of all Kosovo-Serbia agreements (RFE)

All prior agreements reached under the framework of the European Union-led Kosovo-Serbia dialogue must be implemented, U.S. special envoy Gabriel Escobar said on February 2 at the end of a visit to Kosovo's capital, Pristina.

Escobar, speaking at a joint news conference with EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak, was referring to an agreement on creating an association of Serb-majority municipalities -- an issue which has become a stumbling block in the EU's efforts to push the dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo forward.

The EU has repeatedly called for the association to be established, saying it's Kosovo's obligation under the Brussels Agreement reached in 2013.

Escobar and Lajcak visited Kosovo and are going to Serbia later this week to encourage the two sides to continue the dialogue on normalizing relations facilitated by the EU.

But the current Kosovar government of Prime Minister Albin Kurti insists there can be no association based on ethnicity or anything along the lines of Republika Srpska -- the Serb-dominated entity in Bosnia.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 after a 1998-99 conflict between ethnic Albanian separatists and Serbian forces. Belgrade doesn’t recognize Kosovo and around 120,000 ethnic Serbs living in Kosovo want to be part of Serbia.

The EU has stressed it was willing to organize a new meeting once the Serbian and Kosovar sides showed a willingness to achieve concrete results.

“We did not come here with a set of prescriptions of proposals that we would like to impose," Escobar said.

"In fact, we are asking the two parties to be constructive, to provide their own visions what the [Serb-majority municipalities] association should look like, and then negotiate from there, within the framework of the dialogue”, Escobar added.

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

Spahiu: Association is the price Kosovo will pay for recognition from Serbia (Klan)

Nexhmedin Spahiu, political analyst, commented on Klan Kosova the recent visit of the EU and U.S. envoys to Kosovo, Miroslav Lajcak and Gabriel Escobar, saying that they conveyed the message that the European diplomacy supports Kosovo.

"The key message, what Escobar pointed out, and which is not new as this is the position of the United States since declaration of Kosovo's independence but is new from Lajcak for the fact that he came together with Escobar, is a diplomatic indicator that the European diplomacy is moving forward in the direction of Kosovo's interest in this case. Another novelty is that until now the European Union has used neutral terms such as Belgrade-Pristina, and when such terms are used it is not known whether you are referring to two capitals of two sovereign states or to one capital of a sovereign state and the other of a province. However, when you say Kosovo-Serbia, this closes the ambiguity and this is what Lajcak said, and the best thing is that it comes from a diplomat of a country that has not recognised Kosovo and this is positive," Spahiu said.

He said that the price Kosovo will have to pay for securing recognition from Serbia is establish the Association of Serb-majority municipalities. He said such a move is not easy and takes courage. "This should be the act of a political leader, there is no need to be afraid of it, Albin [Kurti] has shown he is not afraid."

Commentators assess visit of EU, U.S. envoys, Kurti’s position (Telegrafi)

Telegrafi reports that while the Government of Kosovo, led by Albin Kurti, has consistently maintained that there will be no mono-ethnic association, in a press conference he said he is ready to respond to the demands and the needs of all the citizens of Kosovo, including members of the Serb community.

Analyst Imer Mushkolaj said in a debate on RTV Dukagjini that Kurti and the Vetevendosje Movement had an extreme stance when saying that the Association of Serb-majority municipalities would not be established. “The visit of two senior

International officials was aimed at finding a middle-ground solution. I don’t know if the name will the Association or the issue will be renegotiated. But the statement of the U.S. official is not new as the United States has consistently opposed undermining of Kosovo’s unity,” he said.

Former justice minister Selim Selimi meanwhile said Kurti has changed the position on dialogue with Serbia.  “Kurti stated that he will be constructive on the issue of the Association as well. Kurti's language was much more constructive than in the past. He acknowledged the progress of the previous negotiations", said Selimi.

Ylli Hoxha, political commentator, said Kurti was more cautious in his remarks this time in contrast to his past statements. “This is a good thing because he is no longer an oppositionist but the head of the government. However, I doubt that Kurti has changed his stance on the Association. I was impressed by Kurti’s statement that he is ready for an agreement but not for endless dialogue… Kurti must be liberated from the ‘Kurti opposition leader’. He must understand the seriousness of the situation,” Hoxha said.

Analyst Bardhyl Hasanpapaj however did not observe any change in Kurti’s position. “More than Kurti it is the European Union that has changed towards Kosovo. Lajcak in a way stated that Kosovo is equal in the dialogue with Serbia. For the first time he explicitly said that ‘the solution for Association should be in line with the Constitution of Kosovo’. I see positive movement from the European Union in relation to Kosovo.”

Former Kosovo minister Dardan Gashi also said he did not see any changes in Kurti regarding dialogue with Serbia but that he would applaud such a shift.

EU Election Observation Mission in Kosovo present report on local elections (media)

The Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti received in a meeting on Wednesday the EU Election Observation Mission in Kosovo chief observer Lukas Mandl, Konrad Andrej Olszewski and the Head of the EU Office in Kosovo Tomas Szunyog.

Mandel said that the report on the 2021 local elections is positive for Kosovo and that it is the most positive report of the EU election observation missions.

According to a press release from the Prime Minister’s Office, the report's findings show that the 2021 municipal elections were “well-organized, fundamental freedoms were respected during the campaign, and a large number of contestants offered voters a realistic choice.”

The report also assesses that the CEC made the preparations for the elections in a professional manner, respecting all legal deadlines and enjoyed a high level of trust from all stakeholders and that it had a decentralized and competitive campaign.

The report also highlights a number of shortcomings that need to be addressed in electoral reform such as those on the financing of political parties, the qualification of candidates and campaign rules, the voting of citizens abroad, the accuracy of voter lists and other shortcomings in order for the regulatory aspect to be as clear and democratic as possible.

Kurti expressed his gratitude for the observation mission, emphasizing the need for as fair reporting as possible and the commitment to advance the electoral reform process.

The EU Election Observation Mission delegation also met President Vjosa Osmani. According to a statement from Kosovo's presidency, the meeting focused on the local elections which were assessed as being the most democratic ever. "President Osmani underlined she is proud of the level of democracy Kosovo has achieved by transforming into a model for the region and beyond."

Yesterday, the EU Election Observation Mission in Kosovo chief observer Lukas Mandl presented the report to the EU Special Representative in Kosovo Tomas Szunyog. “The EU in Kosovo remains committed to following up on the implementation of the recommendations. We will continue supporting the Assembly of Kosovo throughout the electoral reform with advice and expertise,” Szunyog said on the occasion.

Prime Minister Kurti received the leader of the Alliance for Albanians Zijadin Sela (media)

The Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti received in a meeting on Wednesday the leader of the Alliance for Albanians in North Macedonia, Mr. Zijadin Sela with collaborators, Mrs. Ilire Dauti, chairwoman of the Parliamentary Group of the Alliance for Albanians in the Assembly of North Macedonia and Mr. Arben Taravari, general secretary of the party and chairman of Gostivar.

“The pandemic management in both countries, the vaccination trend and the possibility of easing the measures were discussed at the meeting. Prime Minister Kurti spoke about the institutional stability, progress and reforms launched by the government in various fields,” informs a press release issued by the Office of the Prime Minister.

Regarding the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue process, the Prime Minister “reiterated that mutual recognition between the two countries should be the focus, as the only way to maintain peace and long-term stability in the region.”

Mr. Sela on his part stressed the need for inter-Albanian communication and coordination of political actions in the face of regional developments. Regarding initiatives such as the Open Balkans, Mr. Sela said: “No such initiative makes sense as long as the last mosaic of the Balkan region is not placed, which is the recognition of Kosovo's independence from Serbia. Otherwise, it would have a very harmful effect on the statehood of Kosovo and on Albanians in general.”

Albania-Kosovo power exchange ALPEX joins Europex (SeeNews)

The Albanian Power Exchange (ALPEX), a joint venture of the transmission system operators of Albania and Kosovo, has joined the Association of European energy exchanges (Europex) as an associate member, Europex said.

ALPEX is working to set up a day-ahead and intraday market for electricity in Albania and Kosovo and to become a nominated electricity market operator, with the market go-live currently scheduled for the fourth quarter of this year, Europex said in a statement on Tuesday.

"We look forward to working with ALPEX’s CEO, Sokol Dishnica, and his team to facilitate knowledge sharing and support them in their ambitions to help further integrate Albania and Kosovo with the single European electricity market," Europex secretary general, Christian Baer, said.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3J4uAmd