• Lajcak, Bislimi meet in Brussels; discuss next steps in dialogue (media)
• Scholz indicates agreement on Berlin Process: Summit in November (Express)
• French ambassador gives positive signals for visa liberalisation (Kosovapress)
• Govt barely gets votes for bureau on confiscation of unjustifiable wealth (Koha)
• OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Rau to meet leaders today (Kosovapress)
• Vetevendosje MP calls for media control, Journalists Association reacts (Koha)
• Kosovo Govt, European heritage network argue Orthodox monastery (BIRN)
• Von Cramon meets Europa Nostra Secretary General (media)
• Observatory in Prishtina reopens after 35-year gap (Prishtina Insight)
• Old, ugly, obsolete, but Pristina satellite dishes part of collective memory (BIRN)
• Hague Court President: Recognising Srebrenica genocide is necessary (BIRN)

Lajcak, Bislimi meet in Brussels; discuss next steps in dialogue (media)

EU Special Representative for the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Miroslav Lajcak, and Kosovo’s Principal Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi, met on Thursday in Brussels. Lajcak tweeted after the meeting: “Had a long and detailed discussion with @BislimiBesnik today in Brussels about the state of play and next steps in the Dialogue.”

Scholz indicates agreement on Berlin Process: Summit in November (Express)

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday that a summit of the Western Balkans will be held in November to give a new impetus to the Berlin Process. After meeting Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob, Scholz said that a new agreement can be reached on further concrete steps for the European integration of the Western Balkans.

French ambassador gives positive signals for visa liberalisation (Kosovapress)

French Ambassador to Kosovo, Marie-Christine Butel, said on Thursday that Kosovo has made visible progress on visa liberalisation. “Visible progress has been made for Kosovo on visa liberalisation. In fact, discussions under the French presidency, during the meeting of the EU Council on June 23, have laid the foundations to push forward this issue, while always having in mind our concerns in terms of migration and security. The issue of visa liberalisation has returned clearly at the table of European discussions and in conditions that are more favorable than ever before. This is also a result of the work that Kosovo has done to be more proactive on the international scene,” Butel said during a reception for the National Day of France.

Butel also talked about the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia saying that they won’t be able to integrate in the European Union as long as they have disputes. “The war in Ukraine recalls the urgency to end disagreements between the two countries. There is no alternative to the dialogue. As long as the dispute remains, there won’t be any integration for Kosovo and Serbia in the European Union,” she said.

Govt barely gets votes for bureau on confiscation of unjustifiable wealth (Koha)

The daily reports on its front page that with 58 votes from 61 MPs present at the voting session on Thursday, the Kosovo Assembly adopted the draft law on the State Bureau for the Verification and Confiscation of Unjustifiable Wealth. Three MPs from the ruling coalition, including Assembly President Glauk Konjufca, abstained from voting. The majority secured enough votes to adopt the bill despite calls from opposition parties to withdraw the draft law. Opposition MPs did not take part in the voting.

OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Rau to meet leaders today (Kosovapress)

The news agency reports that OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Foreign Minister of Poland, Zbigniew Rau, arrived for a two-day visit in Kosovo on Thursday. Today, Rau is scheduled to meet President Vjosa Osmani, Assembly President Glauk Konjufca, Foreign Minister Donika Gervalla and Returns and Communities Minister Goran Rakic.

Vetevendosje MP calls for media control, Journalists Association reacts (Koha)

MP from the Vetevendosje Movement, Fitore Pacolli, said on Thursday that the Kosovo Assembly and Government must take measures as investments in the media in the last couple of years have resulted in interventions in some of the media and that they were used for blackmail. She also called for government regulation of the media, especially news websites. The Association of Journalists of Kosovo reacted to Pacolli’s statement saying that it is unacceptable and that it constitutes a threat to the freedom of the media. “Any attempt by the government to exert control over the media is unacceptable … This is a serious threat by the government against the media,” their statement notes.

Kosovo Govt, European heritage network argue over Orthodox monastery (BIRN)

The Kosovo government has strongly criticised a European cultural heritage organisation, Europa Nostra, for insisting that a medieval Serbian Orthodox monastery is an endangered site.

Environment Minister Liburn Aliu said on Wednesday that the Kosovo authorities are “extremely concerned” about the inclusion of the Decani Monastery on the European cultural heritage organisation Europa Nostra’s ‘endangered sites’ list.

A visit last week by a delegation from Europa Nostra, a federation that represents groups around Europe involved in safeguarding cultural heritage, has rekindled arguments over the medieval Serbian Orthodox monastery.

“The key issue discussed with various interlocutors [during the visit to Kosovo] was the inclusion of the 14th Century Serbian Orthodox Monastery of Visoki Decani on the 2021 List of Seven Most Endangered sites in Europe and the options to improve the situation,” Europa Nostra said in a statement on Wednesday.

Europa Nostra argued that its concerns remain valid because “no final solution has yet been agreed by all parties” about a planned increase to traffic movement in the protected zone around the monastery, or about a riverside development project which “could negatively affect the natural environment of the monastery”.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3Rx7hpX

Von Cramon meets Europa Nostra Secretary General (media)

Rapporteur of the European Parliament for Kosovo, Viola von Cramon, met on Thursday with the Secretary General of Europa Nostra, Sneska Quaedvlieg-Mihailovic. Von Cramon tweeted after the meeting: “Open and productive meeting with the SecGen of @europanostra about the need to improve the protection of endangered #CulturalHeritage throughout #Europe, with the particular focus on @DecaniMonastery and destroyed cultural heritage in Ukraine.”

Observatory in Prishtina reopens after 35-year gap (Prishtina Insight)

Kosovo’s astronomical observatory in Prishtina has finally reopened after decades in disuse thanks to the efforts of the local Astronomy Club, UNMIK and City Hall in Prishtina.

Just a few days after NASA revealed the first five full-colour images and spectrographic data from the James Webb Space Telescope, the astronomical observatory for celestial observations in the Kosovo capital was reopened in the Palace of Youth and Sports on Wednesday.

This observatory was first set up in 1977 but functioned only for 10 years until 1987. During that time, however, it served as an important scientific and educational centre and as a hub for cooperation between East and West during the Cold War.

Revitalization of the observatory is the result of the collective efforts of the multi-ethnic youth team of the Astronomy Club of Kosovo, ACK, with support from the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, and the Prishtina Municipality.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3yEZ6PL

Old, ugly, obsolete, but Pristina satellite dishes part of collective memory (BIRN)

Authorities in the Kosovo capital want them removed, but some in Pristina are reluctant to let go of the satellite dishes that broke a media blackout in the 1990s.

They might be old, rusty and, in most cases, no longer in use, but Ismet still has a place in his heart for the satellite dishes that pepper rooftops, balconies and facades across his hometown, the Kosovo capital Pristina.

“It was a joy not only for my family but also for many of my neighbours when I installed it,” Ismet, who declined to give his surname, said of the satellite dish he rigged up on his balcony in the early 1990s after Serbian authorities under strongman Slobodan Milosevic shut down Albanian-language media in Kosovo.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3RNR7Jd

Hague Court President: Recognising Srebrenica genocide is necessary (BIRN)

Accepting that genocide was committed against Bosniaks from Srebrenica in July 1995 is necessary if there is to be meaningful post-war reconciliation, the new head of the UN court in The Hague, Graciela Gatti Santana, tells BIRN.

Ten days after her term in office began, one of the first tasks undertaken by Graciela Gatti Santana, the new president of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, was to deliver a speech at the commemoration of the 27th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide.

As the first female head of the Hague-based war crimes court that was established by the United Nations Security Council to complete the work of the UN’s tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, Santana emphasised during her speech how much she was affected by the stories she had heard about the women of Srebrenica, some of whom have struggled for decades to preserve the truth about what happened in July 1995.

“Preservation of the truth is really the essence of our presence here,” Santana said in her speech.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3o1oQAT