UNMIK Media Observer, Morning Edition, July 10, 2023

Albanian Language Media:

Escobar: KFOR not leaving! Partner with people, not parties, figures (media)

Konjufca: We are in very important battle for state orientation, we must win it (T7)

Svecla: I’m not against Serbian people (media)

Borrell: We must be united for de-escalation of situation in north (Reporteri)

Sunak: Kurti and Vucic have responsibility to reduce tensions (media)

Peach: It's painful that army had to be used in north 30 years after the war (media)

Opposition slams Gervalla for calling the EU a paper tiger (Koha)

Lajcak: Effort to return on path of normalisation of relations continues (media)

PDK accuses government of interfering in judiciary (KTV)

Serbian Language Media:

Petkovic: Svecla waging a hybrid war from Pristina (Blic, NMagazin, KoSSev)

Svecla: “The special police are deployed in the north to ensure that the law prevails” (KoSSev)

KP is expanding the Bistrica checkpoint, Arsenijevic to submit a report on alleged violations of the Law on Water (KoSSev)

Vucic: Tajani asked Serbia to do everything to maintain stability in the region (RTS)

Zakharova: Vucic's initiative for the UNSC session on Kosovo is timely (RTS)

Petkovic: UNSC session to raise issue of Kurti’s campaign against the Serbs (N1, Beta, Kurir)

Serbia’s Vucic talks to France’s Macron about Kosovo (Beta, N1)

Vucic: We started changing things after decades of silence in Serbian-Albanian relations (Tanjug)

International Media:

Abdullah bin Zayed, Kosovo Prime Minister discuss bilateral relations (zawya)

From Strife to Success: KFV Prishtina Girls Pave the Way for Multiethnic Harmony Through Football (Prishtina Insight)

Albanian Language Media

Escobar: KFOR not leaving! Partner with people, not parties, figures (media)

U.S. Envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, said that the European plan for Kosovo is good and that it "doesn't suit either party" and that the prime minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, will "lose the opportunity" if he does not agree to implement it. He also announced that the punitive measures for Kosovo due to disregard for the demands of western allies, will not include the departure of the KFOR peacekeeping forces.

Escobar said this on Friday in a conversation with Croatian journalists in Zagreb before leaving for the Dubrovnik Forum, Hina agency reported on Saturday. He said that there are "positive indications" that Belgrade can accept the EU's demands for an exit from the crisis, but that he cannot say the same for Kosovo Prime Minister Kurti.

"We hope that (Kurti) will at some point meet the European and American demand," Escobar said.

Asked what consequences this could have for Kosovo and if one of them would be the withdrawal of the NATO mission in Kosovo (KFOR), Escobar said that this possibility "is not on the table". "Our partnership with Kosovo is a partnership with the Kosovar people, not with a party or a political figure,” he said.

"This is not a punitive measure, it is a lost opportunity. This is happening to Kosovo now because it is not coordinating with its partners,” Escobar added.

Konjufca: We are in very important battle for orientation of state, we must win it (T7)

Kosovo Assembly Speaker Glauk Konjufca said in an interview with T7 that the speed of realizing the promises of the Vetevendosje Movement (LVV) is probably "not as expected". "As a majority, we came out there with some promises to the citizens. Perhaps the speed of the realization of those promises is not as expected, but I think that we are now in a very important battle, even at this moment when we are talking, and that battle must be won. This battle is really very important for what orientation the state of Kosovo will have. This is a battle for the character of the state,” Konjufca said.

Konjufca mentioned the fight against negative phenomena such as corruption and also other developments such as the creation of jobs which he said he hopes the people see and appreciate.

"There are several parameters that show that the citizens who believed in this political option approximately in 2021 are, with a few changes, here and there, almost the same," Konjufca said.

Svecla: I’m not against Serbian people (media)

Kosovo’s Minister of Interior Affairs, Xhelal Svecla, said on Sunday that he is not against the Serbian people, but against "Serbia's chauvinist projects and criminals”. "Criminals have no nationality, because they are mixed. They are the ones who want to portray their activities in nationalist colors,” he said.

"Now you have the biggest criminals who are the biggest patriots. We have to stop it. We need the attention of ordinary citizens, attention to normal life, to support such categories and to fight against these other categories,” Svecla argued.

He does not agree that he is probably the most hated Kosovar official in the north. He claims that he is constantly in contact with Serb citizens, NGOs and officials of various levels, but that these meetings are not public.

"I am very direct. The truth is the truth. A lie is a lie. A violation is a violation. We are not running away from this,” Svecla said.

Borrell: We must be united for de-escalation of situation in north (Reporteri)

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell met with the Prime Minister of Croatia, Andrej Plenkovic, with whom they exchanged ideas about the situation in the north of Kosovo and in Bosnia and Herzegovina. "[We are] at a time when we should be united, focused on de-escalation and feasible solutions to the situation in the north of Kosovo," Borrell wrote on Twitter.

Borrell also said that the power of the European Union is best shown by the consolidation of the Croatian state. "Croatia's success story is a clear demonstration of the EU's transformative power,” he said.

Sunak: Kurti and Vucic have responsibility to reduce tensions (media)

UK MP Alicia Kearns asked Prime Minister Sunak if there will be a commitment from him to extend the mandate of KFOR, in order to deal with what she called smuggling of weapons from Serbia into Kosovo.

"As prime minister, will you commit now to join EUFOR, where I would add that both Turkey and Chile are members, and will you also consider lobbying for an extension of KFOR's mandate in Kosovo so that they can face the illegal issues, i.e. the weapons that are sent from Serbia to Kosovo, which are being illegally financed by Belgrade and the militias in Kosovo are being armed,” Kearns asked.

In his answer, Sunak said that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic have a responsibility to reduce tensions in the north of Kosovo. "We are particularly concerned, I am particularly concerned about the situation in the north of Kosovo, which you know and we strongly condemn the unprovoked attacks by protesters against KFOR personnel. The Foreign Secretary has already told the Prime Minister of Kosovo and Serbia that the leaders in Belgrade and Pristina have a responsibility to reduce the tension and prevent further violence,” Sunak said.

Peach: It's painful that army had to be used in north 30 years after the war (media)

UK Special Envoy for the Western Balkans, Stuart Peach, has participated in the Dubrovnik forum in Croatia where security in the Western Balkans region has been discussed. Peach said he fully agrees with the findings given by US and EU envoys, Gabriel Escobar and Miroslav Lajcak, and added that the United Kingdom has been an active supporter of security in the region since the wars of the 90s.

Peach has put forward his hypothesis of “what if Russia is looking for a second war front, to divert attention from the failure of the war in Ukraine”. He called for the region not to fall into Russia's trap.

He said that there should be no return to provocations and hate speech and a plan should be made. In the end, Peach has asked everyone to show respect for the dialogue. “Let's stick to the dialogue. Let's see more reconciliation, more programs for reconciliation. Let's not go back to the provocations and hate speech of the past, and make a plan. My simple message is to ask everyone to show respect in our dialogue for multilateral organizations and institutions, such as the OSCE and NATO, in their efforts to provide a secure region,” he argued.

Opposition slams Gervalla for calling the EU a paper tiger (Koha)

A statement by Kosovo's Foreign Minister Donika Gervalla, made at the Forum in Dubrovnik, has sparked numerous criticisms. Gervalla stated that the EU is a "paper tiger" in terms of security without the United States and NATO. The opposition has called her statement scandalous and irresponsible.

PDK representatives argued that this is a continuation of the scandalization of Kosovo internationally. LDK and AAK have asked the Presidency and the government to declare whether they have the same position as Gervalla. Coordinator of the PDK Department for Justice, Perparim Gruda, told Koha that the statement further breaches Kosovo’s relations with its partners. He recalled that China's communist leader of the last century used the paper tiger definition for "American imperialism".

"The creation of scandals by Mrs. Gervalla is already a norm, it is not an exception to the scandal,” he said, adding that first Prime Minister Kurti used this insulting language against Secretary Bliken and Donika Gervalla, only furthers the policy produced by him.

LDK spokeswoman Sibel Halimi in her reaction wrote that Gervalla received the right response from the international community and stated that Kosovo is in a dangerous and diplomatically miserable state.

AAK Secretary Muharrem Nitaj said the government and the Office of the President must publicly say whether or not they agree with Gervalla's statement at the Dubrovnik Forum. "Not only undiplomatic, but scandalous and very harmful assessments of the EU by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Donika Gërvalla! The least that would be needed is a statement by the president and the prime minister where they would clarify that what the foreign minister said is not the official position of the Republic of Kosovo. After such distancing, even Mrs. Gervalla will find it easier to find her own way,” he said.

There were also reactions from the chairman of the "Serbian Survival" party, Aleksandar Arsenijević, who has shown that the former Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and the leader of the Radical Party, Vojislav Sesel, have used the wording "paper tiger" in relation to the European Union.

Even the former mayor of Pristina has ironized Gervalla's statement on social networks, asking ironically that "if the EU without the USA is a paper tiger" what is Kosovo without the EU and the USA?".

Gervalla’s statement was opposed by EU and U.S. envoys, Miroslav Lajcak and Gabriel Escobar. Escobar in his reply included Kosovo among the three countries of the Western Balkans that have leadership that believes that populism, nationalism and ethnic rivalries are the way forward. While Lajcak has said that the European Union is a dream for the Western Balkan states.

KOHA has requested a position from the Presidency and the Prime Minister regarding these statements, but has not received an answer.

Lajcak: Effort to return on path of normalisation of relations continues (media)

EU Special Representative for the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Miroslav Lajcak, said in a Facebook post on Sunday that earlier last week, he “traveled to Kosovo and Serbia to follow up on our EU efforts on finding a solution to the tense situation in the north of Kosovo. The main focus were my meetings with President Vjosa Osmani and Prime Minister Albin Kurti in Kosovo, as well as President Aleksandar Vucic in Serbia to explore options on the way forward in line with the EU requests for de-escalation, new local elections with the participation of Kosovo Serbs and return to the Dialogue. I appreciated our in-depth exchanges on concrete steps.”

Lajcak said that in Kosovo he also met with the new Head of the EU Rule of Law Mission, Major General Barbano and the Commander of KFOR Major General Ristuccia. “We discussed the security situation in Kosovo, the urgent need for all parties to take concrete steps for de-escalation, and we explored options for our organizations to contribute.”

“The trip helped me to get better clarity on the situation on the ground and the necessary next steps. Our effort to return on the path of normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia continues.”

PDK accuses government of interfering in judiciary (KTV)

Representatives of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) accused the government of political interference in the judiciary. Coordinator of the PDK Department for Justice, Perparim Gruda, said the dismissal of the head of the Special Investigations Unit in Kosovo Police, Shemsi Haziri, is aimed at preventing investigations against other government officials and members of the Vetevendosje Movement, and to intimidate independent investigators in Kosovo Police.

Gruda argued that Haziri’s dismissal at a time when he was investigating corrupt officials “is a political attempt and a political intervention in the investigations by the government to cover up the Martin Berishaj scandal and to prevent further investigations into Berishaj’s scandal and also the corruption scandal of Nagip Krasniqi, former CEO of the Kosovo Power Corporation”.

Gruda said that the PDK will not allow the case to be silenced.

“I call on the government of Kosovo to give up on political interferences against investigative bodies and to stop the practice of dismissing and degrading people with the aim of covering up a corruption scandal,” he said.

Serbian Language Media

Petkovic: Svecla waging a hybrid war from Pristina (Blic, NMagazin, KoSSev)

The Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, said that Kosovo's Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla, has nothing to look for in the north of Kosovo, reported daily Blic on Sunday.

Petkovic added that the ''only goal of Svecla's obsessive attempts to criminalize Serbs from the north of Kosovo and Metohija is to justify the illegal presence of his parapolice units in the north of Kosovo, where they terrorize the Serbian people day and night".

"Speaking of crime, it would be best for Svecla to walk away from himself and the indictments that have been filed against him for years for attacking members of the so-called of the Kosovo Police, but also due to the overturning of the EULEX mission vehicle. Well, instead of Svecla illegally bringing Serbs to the supposed knowledge of justice and rights, he should first stop running away from that same right and justice,'' said Petkovic in a written statement.

- Is the rule of law right when Kurti's special forces shoot Dragisa Galjak, Miljan Delevic, Milan Jovanovic, the Stojanovic brothers from Gotovusa in the back? Or when they brutally beat Serbian children Dara and Christian? The hybrid war that Svecla cowardly leads from Pristina against everything Serbian and especially the north of Kosovo and Metohija, has resulted in the fact that there is no honest Serb who would neither publicly nor secretly agree to be Svecla's alibi in his sick obsession of occupying the north and expelling Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija . He will never succeed in that,'' said Petkovic.

Svecla previously stated that he is not against the Serbian people, but, as he stated, he is against Serbia's chauvinist projects and criminals, reported NMagazin, citing KoSSev portal.

Svecla: “The special police are deployed in the north to ensure that the law prevails” (KoSSev)

I am not against the Serb people, Xhelal Svecla said in an interview with KoSSev. The Kosovo Interior Minister says that he is against the “chauvinist projects of Serbia” and criminals. “Criminals have no ethnicity but are a mixed group. They are the ones who want to portray their activities in nationalist colors,” he claims.

“You have the biggest criminals who are also the biggest patriots. We need to put a stop to this. We need the attention of ordinary citizens, attention for a normal life, in order to support such categories and fight against these other categories,” the Kosovo Minister of Interior underlined in an exclusive interview for KoSSev.

He stated that he disagrees with the fact that he might be the most hated Kosovo official in the north. On the contrary, he claims that he is constantly in contact with Serb citizens, NGOs, and officials at different levels, noting that these meetings are not public.