• Assembly to vote today on motion against energy price increase (media)
• Rizvanolli: Energy tariff increase is inevitable (KTV)
• COVID-19: 2,243 new cases, two deaths (media)
• Kosovo defends new COVID-19 measures for visitors against backlash (BIRN)
• Mehaj-Hovenier: KSF, partner of NATO for regional and global security (RTK)
• Court closes ‘Pronto’ affair without convictions (Prishtina Insight)
• Not wanted: Roma graduates remain jobless in Kosovo (BIRN)
• Cameras blacklisted by the U.S. monitor the Government of Kosovo (RFE)

Assembly to vote today on motion against energy price increase (media)

The Kosovo Assembly is expected to vote today on the opposition’s motion against energy price increase. The motion vote could not be held on Monday due to lack of quorum. Abelard Tahiri, head of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) parliamentary group, presented the motion on Tuesday on behalf of three opposition parties (PDK, LDK and AAK) and called on the government to offer other alternatives to the energy price increase.

Koha Ditore reports on its front page this morning that the opposition wants the implementation of new energy tariffs to be postponed for several months. It notes that opposition MPs on Monday accused Prime Minister Albin Kurti of being irresponsible and incapable of managing the energy crisis. There were also calls for his resignation. Kurti and Energy Minister Artane Rizvanolli meanwhile highlighted the reasons behind the crisis and said that Kosovo is faced with two choices: increased energy prices or severe power cuts.

Rizvanolli: Energy tariff increase is inevitable (KTV)

Kosovo’s Minister of Economy, Artane Rizvanolli, said in an interview with KTV on Monday that the increase of energy tariffs is inevitable and that this is painful for both the people and the government. “But this is the situation we are faced with. We have not built new production capacities in the last 22 years. We don’t have sufficient capacities to cover the energy consumption, especially during winter. We have also removed the bloc tariff. This has left us exposed to an external crisis. Traders don’t ask what your GDP is; you have to buy electricity with the market price. The increase is inevitable if we want to maintain the energy supply,” she said. Rizvanolli also said that another option is for the government to completely subsidize the energy import but that this would amount to €130 million.

COVID-19: 2,243 new cases, two deaths (media)

Kosovo has recorded 2,243 new cases with COVID-19 and two deaths from the virus in the last 24 hours. 465 persons recovered from the virus during this time. There are 19,519 active cases with COVID-19 in Kosovo. Meanwhile the Ministry of Health has issued a statement noting that all COVID-19 measures have been taken as a result of a careful analysis and consultation process with health professionals and the advisory committee. “The decision doesn't necessarily ask for proof of three doses of the vaccine to enter Kosovo, having also the possibility of entering with two doses and the possession of a RT PCR negative test no older than 48 hours, a rule also applied by other countries,” it said. The Ministry recalled that the current measures will be reassessed on 4 February.

Kosovo defends new COVID-19 measures for visitors against backlash (BIRN)

Government stands by its new tough restrictions on entry to the country despite complaints from citizens and mayors of ethnic Albanian towns outside Kosovo that the new rules are hindering people's daily lives.

Kosovo will not withdraw its decision to demand three COVID-19 vaccine doses or two doses together with a negative PCR test for foreigners entering the country or for citizens who have spent more than 12 hours abroad, despite complaints from people and businesses in the region who frequently pass the border.

“All the undertaken measures have been a result of regular analysis of the epidemiological situation in the country,” the Ministry of Health said on Monday. The ministry said the “decision foresees facilitation for those with three vaccine doses due to their significantly lower risk of becoming infected”.

Following months of lower daily infections in the region, Kosovo was recently hit by a new wave of COVID-19 infections, with more than 2,200 infected on Monday. Currently, there are 19,519 active cases in the country.

The government on Friday approved new measures obliging every individual entering Kosovo to possess proof of three vaccine doses. If they have had only two COVID-19 vaccine doses, they need to provide a negative PCR test done 48 hours before reaching the border.

Ethnic Albanians in the region are especially aggrieved. A group of citizens from Kukes in northern Albania, 15 kilometres from the border, protested on Monday at the Vermica crossing point, asking Kosovo to review the measures.

Some people who enter Kosovo are exempt from the new rules, if they are only in transit, are passing via organized transport, or are foreign diplomats or members of NATO’s mission in Kosovo, KFOR.

On Monday, the mayor of the Albanian-majority municipality in southern Serbia of Bujanovac, Nagip Arifi, posted a letter on Facebook asking Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti to ease the restrictions.

“The obligation for a third vaccine dose, or even for those who have received the second dose for a negative PCR test, is disabling the movement of our citizens. Alongside random citizens, our students and businesses who move almost every day towards Kosovo are being damaged,” Arifi wrote, calling for “a more acceptable one [system]”.

On Sunday, Ardita Sinani, mayor of another Albanian-majority municipality in the southern Serbia, Presevo, also shared a request on social media for Kosovo to ease the measures. Sinani said Friday’s decision had “visibly affected the free movement of the citizens of Presevo”.

Sinani added that some citizens cannot receive a third COVID-19 vaccination dose because at least six months are needed to pass from the second dose.

“Many of our citizens do not have the financial means to have a PCR test every time they cross the border,” Sinani went on, urging the Kosovo government to “review” or “update” the measure.

Bekim Sali, the ethnic Albanian Minister of Health of North Macedonia, on Sunday in a Facebook post said he had asked Kosovo’s Minister of Health, Rifat Latifi, in a phone call, to reconsider the measure.

“I also conveyed … the concerns of the citizens of North Macedonia, who have family, business and other obligations related to Kosovo, whom this measure has significantly limited,” Sali wrote.

Over the weekend, Kosovo and Albanian media reported that at least dozens of citizens were not allowed to cross the Kosovo-Albania border because of the new rules. Several citizens told media they had not received a third dose because six months had not passed since they received the second one.

Kosovo started issuing third COVID-19 doses on December 9. According to the Ministry of Health, citizens can receive the third vaccine dose only when six months have passed since the reception of the second dose. They can receive a booster dose after the second only with a doctor’s request.

Mehaj-Hovenier: KSF, a partner of NATO for regional and global security (RTK)

Kosovo’s Minister of Defense, Armend Mehaj, met on Monday with U.S. Ambassador, Jeff Hovenier, and expressed deep gratitude for the U.S. and its irreplaceable support for Kosovo in building, developing and advancing the Ministry of Defense and the Kosovo Security Force. Mehaj said the U.S. support has been crucial in building operational capacities for cooperating with the forces of allied countries and NATO member states and the first participation of a KSF contingent in a mission abroad with U.S. military forces.

Mehaj also said that the KSF will always be a professional forces in line with the values and standards of NATO member states, under civil democratic control and always in the service of all the people of Kosovo.

Ambassador Hovenier wrote in a Twitter post: “With Minister @armend_mehaj, reaffirmed our commitment to U.S.-Kosovo defense cooperation, including future co-deployments & other means to assist the KSF becoming an even stronger, multi-ethnic NATO-interoperable partner contributing to regional and global security & stability.”

Court closes ‘Pronto’ affair without convictions (Prishtina Insight)

The biggest nepotism affair in post-war Kosovo, known as the ‘Pronto’ case, has ended with an acquittal after the Supreme Court freed the only convict.

On January 20, the Supreme Court of Kosovo closed the so-called “Pronto” case with no convictions after it acquitted Ilhami Gashi of two offences of violating the equal status of citizens.

The country’s top court overturned the previous judgment of the Court of Appeals, which had sentenced Gashi to probation of one year and four months, plus a ban on exercising functions in public administration or public service for two years.

The Supreme Court found that none of the prescribed crimes based on the evidence administered had been proven.

The “Pronto” affair, as it was nicknamed, became known through the publication of phone calls of political officials by online media in 2016, where senior officials of the ruling parties employed relatives without participating in any competition processes.

The Special Prosecution filed an indictment in April 2018. Eleven persons with important official functions were charged, among them former MP Adem Grabovci, former minister Besim Beqaj and former MP Zenun Pajaziti.

According to the Special Prosecution, the 11 – Grabovci, Beqaj, Arbenita Pajaziti, Ilhami Gashi, Njazi Kryeziu, Zenun Pajaziti, Fatmir Shurdhaj, Sedat Gashi, Ismet Neziraj, Xhavit Dakaj and Rexhë Abazi – committed the crime of violation of equal status of citizens and residents of the Republic of Kosovo in co-perpetration with one another.

According to the indictment, the defendants abused their official positions by cooperating with each other to grant illegal privileges and advantages to persons competing for important positions.

The court of first instance on January 3, 2020, released the defendants from the charge of violating the equal status of the inhabitants of Kosovo.

The Supreme Court found that the Court of Appeals did not establish the political affiliation of any of the employed persons, i.e. their connection as a member or proximity to the political entity that was the reason for granting the privilege or priority, enabling their employment on this basis.

According to the Supreme Court, the candidates who were not hired also did not initiate any legal proceedings to oppose the selection of employees and so also, through no fault of their own, were not part of this trial, and were not heard as witnesses or injured parties during the investigative procedure nor during the court procedure.

The issue of employment and segregation of posts, based on party affiliation and personal relationships, is a problem that has long dogged Kosovo law enforcement agencies, media and civil society.

Not wanted: Roma graduates remain jobless in Kosovo (BIRN)

Even with university degrees, most Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian youngsters say getting a job in Kosovo is mission impossible.

A graduate in both Sociology and Infirmary, 27-year-old Fatlum Kryeziu’s is one of many members of Kosovo’s minority communities with higher educational qualifications seeking a job in vain.

For this member of the Roma community, having university diplomas in his CV has not helped at all.

Kryeziu says he has applied multiple times for a job in public institutions, without success.

The most frequent answer he has received for rejection was that a Bachelor’s degree is not enough for the positions he has applied for.

Many other young people from his community have a similar problem.

Even if highly educated, they remain on the fringes of mainstream society, as well as being targets of anti-Gypsy prejudice and discrimination.

Kosovo’s Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities have faced problems with employment for years. Even with university degrees, they remain excluded from society.

Read full article here: https://bit.ly/3rMkjUG

Cameras blacklisted by the U.S. monitor the Government of Kosovo (RFE)

The building of the Kosovo Government and the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor are monitored by security cameras which are included in what is known as the U.S. blacklist, the news website reports. These cameras are manufactured by Chinese companies Dahua and HikVision. These cameras, according to photos secured by the news website in January this year, are also located in the premises of the Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade, as well as in the Ministry of Health. The main squares of Prishtina – “Skenderbeu”, “Mother Teresa” and “Zahir Pajaziti” - are also monitored by cameras produced by the company HikVision. Radio Free Europe has managed to see that Dahua type security cameras are also located at the main bus station in Prishtina. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Dahua Technology and HikVision are on the U.S. blacklist since 2019, due to their connection with human rights violations in China, respectively with the repression against the Muslim Uighurs in the Xinjiang province.