• COVID-19: 50 new cases, five deaths (media)
• A third of people in Kosovo believe COVID-19 is a hoax, according to poll (AFP/EuroNews)
• Zemaj: All set for the start of new school year (media)
• Osmani: There is danger of a Republika Srpska in the north of Kosovo (RFE)
• Veseli: Kosovo delegation failed to reach final agreement with Serbia (media)
• Nagavci: Fall of Hoti-led government, a matter of days (Kosovapress)
• “Specialist prosecutors investigating files case sent to KLA associations” (media)
• Op-ed: Kosovo Serbia Agreement Could Sway US Election (Balkan Insight)

 Kosovo Media Highlights

COVID-19: 50 new cases, five deaths (media)

The National Institute for Public Health informed yesterday that 50 people in Kosovo resulted positive with COVID-19 over the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, 117 recoveries and five deaths have been recorded over the same time period.

There are currently 3,008 active cases of COVID-19 in Kosovo.

A third of people in Kosovo believe COVID-19 is a hoax, according to poll (AFP/EuroNews)

Kosovo, a former Serbian province home to 1.8 million, has recently seen some of the highest COVID-19 death rates in Europe - while having one of the weakest healthcare systems.

In Pristina, relatives, many from rural areas, told AFP that they took shifts waiting outside the infectious disease clinic to be close to their sick loved ones and on hand to buy medicine as the hospital reserves were almost empty.

Read more: https://bit.ly/3c30lNf

Zemaj: All set for the start of new school year (media)

Minister of Health Armend Zemaj said all preparations are in place for the start of the new school year on Monday.

In a visit to a Pristina primary school along with Minister of Education Rame Likaj, Zemaj said that as thousands of pupils will return to schools as of next week there is a need for increased caution.

"In this situation with the pandemic, each of us should be extra careful and I therefore urge all the personnel in the country's schools to respect health protocols and encourage students to keep hygiene, masks, and social distance." 

Osmani: There is danger of a Republika Srpska in the north of Kosovo (RFE)

Kosovo Assembly Speaker Vjosa Osmani said it is important there is a more active role of the United States in the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia but noted that more was expected out of the recent White House meeting. Osmani also said she was concerned with the course of the dialogue in Brussels following Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti's remarks on the Association of Serb-majority municipalities.

Osmani said PM Hoti has repeatedly said he would not sign anything that does not include mutual recognition with Serbia, guaranteed that Kosovo's constitution would not be touched, that he would not accept a mini-Schengen.

"I think it is a success and very important that we have a much more active role of the United States. The economic part is also important which is welcomed for the entire region of ours but where our delegation has failed is in the parts which have to do with the constitutional name of our country, the mutual recognition, and mini-Schengen."

"Our main concern today, I think, should not be what happened in Washington. Our primary concern today is what is happening in Brussels because information coming in every day from officials there show we have a lot of reason to be concerned," Osmani said.

She said PM Hoti is the only Kosovo public official who has agreed to reopen the issue of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities and the only one that has come out against the Constitutional Court on the matter. "This agreement was completely rejected by the Constitutional Court, it was ruled out from the title up to the last item - almost every part of it was found to be in violation to the Constitution. Now the current prime minister comes out and says we should implement a document which was signed in Brussels and which, according to the Constitutional Court, is in full violation to our Constitution."

Osmani said the agreement on the Association, signed in 2015, gives the mechanism executive powers which she said is a step towards a territorial autonomy with executive competencies for the Serbs in the north and "a type of prelude, a pre-step towards partition of Kosovo because we all know what is happening today in the Republika Srpska."

"More or less, Serbia aims to build the same model in the north of the country," Osmani warned.

Veseli: Kosovo delegation failed to reach final agreement with Serbia (media)

Leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Kadri Veseli said the Kosovo delegation failed to achieve a final agreement with Serbia in Washington.

"We have made the position of the PDK clear. We think the meeting in Washington is a lost opportunity. At the peak of the world politics where our delegation had a chance to be, a great deal was expected by the citizens and there was hope that a painful process would end in a positive outcome. There would be a final agreement and mutual recognition between Kosovo and Serbia without undermining the countries' sovereignty and integrity. We think it was a failure on the part of our delegation, we had a backing down, an unpleasant surprise," Veseli told Kanali 10, as reported by Telegrafi news website.

Nagavci: Fall of Hoti-led government, a matter of days (Kosovapress)

Vetevendosje's Arberie Nagavci told Kosovapress that her party considers that the days of Avdullah Hoti's leadership of the Kosovo government are numbered despite a month having past since the Vetevendosje initiated a motion of no-confidence against the government.

"The fall of this government is only a matter of days and the sooner it happens, the better for the country," she said.

Nagavci accused Hoti of inconsistency in his statements on dialogue with Serbia. "It is already clear that unfortunately the statements of Prime Minister Hoti change on daily basis. He had promised that the dialogue would continue focused only on final recognition. However, he ended up with something that hampers Kosovo to even complete its constitutional rights. Prime Minister Hoti never brought to the Assembly a platform and he never made it clear in a documented way what precisely are the issues Kosovo cannot overcome," she said. "His statements were always general and such that they avoided the truth."

 “Specialist prosecutors investigating files case sent to KLA associations” (media)

The Special Prosecution of Kosovo issued a statement saying that it has received many media enquiries regarding the files dropped off anonymously to the KLA War Veterans' Associations offices and added that the Specialist Prosecutor's Office in The Hague is dealing with the case.

The Special Prosecution of Kosovo said it was ready to provide assistance, if required.

It also underlined that unauthorised disclosure of confidential documents relating to protected witnesses constitutes a criminal act punishable by the Criminal Code of Kosovo.

Op-ed: Kosovo Serbia Agreement Could Sway US Election (Balkan Insight)

The US President’s description of the agreement as a ‘great day for peace in the Middle East’ shows its intended audience was not in the Balkans but in key US ‘swing states’, writes Fron Nahzi, Senior Director of Global Development at the McCain Institute for International Leadership at Arizona State University.

"While the agreement might nudge Kosovo and Serbia along the long road to normalized ties, the main purpose became clear as Trump and his spin-doctors promptly packaged the deal to serve his re-election campaign.

While the ink was still drying, the US President sold it as a win not for Serbia and Kosovo but for Israel and its Arab neighbors.

“Another great day for peace with the Middle East – Muslim-majority Kosovo and Israel have agreed to normalize ties and establish diplomatic relations,” he crowed on Twitter. “Well done! More Islamic and Arab nations will follow.”

The Tweet builds on the recognition of Israel by the United Arab Emirates in late August, and gives the perception that Kosovo is somewhere in the Middle East and identifies itself as a Muslim state.

Read more: https://bit.ly/3iv28gs