UNMIK Media Observer, Morning Edition, September 15, 2023

Albanian Language Media:

No results in the dialogue, Borrell blames Kurti for rejecting the proposal (Koha)

Kurti after meeting with Vucic: I cannot compromise with old condition (media)

The U.S. State Department disappointed with lack of progress in dialogue (RFE)

Zulfaj: Document used by Borell, six months old (media)

Murati: Borrell and Lajcak on Serbia’s side, not even trying to hide it anymore (Reporteri)

Vucic announced a visit to Kosovo, Kurti responds (Kallxo)

Krasniqi: Kurti's populist calls to unite against West, madness of its own kind (Koha)

Osmani meets Hovenier, discuss about latest developments in Kosovo (media)

Suspicions of "obstruction of justice," reason for new wave of investigations by Specialist Chambers (Koha)

Serbian Language Media:

Borrell: Kurti rejected, Vucic accepted new proposal (N1, media)

Dacic: It is clear once again that Kurti is main threat to peace and stability (RTV, Tanjug)

Radoicic: Kurti’s threat to Serbian List demonstrates that he does not want dialogue (Radio KIM, media)

Vucic: Serb municipalities will not join Pristina's association (Tanjug)

Serbian List: Illegitimate decision of municipal councilors (Radio KIM)

PKS: Decisions of Leposavic and Zubin Potok MAs have no significance at all (Radio KIM)

Media: Kosovo police beat up and arrested two young Serbs in center of Gracanica (Radio KIM, Kosovo Online)

Martinovic refutes Sinani's allegations about "ethnic cleansing of Albanians in the south" (Radio KIM, media)

Vucic discusses topical issues with Orban (BETA, N1)

International Media:

Serbian, Kosovar Leaders Fail To Reach Agreement Amid Worsening Relations (RFE)

EU blames Kosovo over stalled normalisation pact with Serbia (Reuters)

Talks between Serbia and Kosovo break down again (Al Jazeera)

Albanian Language Media

No results in the dialogue, Borrell blames Kurti for rejecting the proposal (Koha)

The meeting on Thursday in Brussels between the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, and the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, did not yield any results in terms of implementing the Basic Agreement.

While Kurti stated that he could not accept the compromise between his proposal with sequencing and Serbia's precondition for the formation of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities, Vucic insisted on establishing this mechanism.

The High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign and Security Policy, Joseph Borrell, blamed Kurti for the lack of compromise, stating that he had rejected the proposal for both parties to start implementing the requirements simultaneously. According to Borrell, Kurti first demanded "de facto" recognition from Serbia, while Vucic demanded the establishment of the Association.

"We proposed that these be implemented simultaneously, to ensure that both sides give and take. The EU and the wider international community, including American partners, see this as the only way for implementation to work. Both sides must have assurances that actions are rewarded, with measures from the other side. Today, I tried with Kurti and Vucic to find a way forward, based on our proposal. Unfortunately, after a long meeting, Kurti was not willing to move forward, to start a credible process for the establishment of the Association. He insisted on formalizing de facto recognition as the first step," Borrell said after the trilateral meeting.

Kurti after meeting with Vucic: I cannot compromise with old condition (media)

Addressing the journalists after the meeting, the prime minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, said that he could not compromise with what he described as “Serbia’s old condition” for the formation of the Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority in Kosovo.

“There is no proposal from Belgrade. There is a conditional document. There can be no compromise between the proposal and the conditions”, said Kurti.

“I cannot accept such a thing and damage Kosovo as its Prime Minister. We have in hand this old document that presents the condition document that first the Association and then we see, but we were not aware that such a thing existed… Placing the Association in the center contradicts the Basic Agreement that we accepted and launched on 27 February and that became part of the conclusions,” Kurti said.

He said that he was the only one in the meeting who proposed “a sequenced guide for the implementation of the Basic Agreement, reached in Brussels on February 27, and the annex to its implementation, agreed in Ohrid, on March 18.

“Neither from the Serbian side nor from the Brussels side” there were no documents as proposals, said the Prime Minister of Kosovo.

According to him, the conditioning of Serbia has turned into the position of EU emissaries.

“It is a pity that the European emissary, Lajcak, has accepted such a condition”, Kurti said.

He said that Lajcak did this “in encroachment of his function as facilitator and mediator”.

He added that he is always ready to discuss the Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority, but that its draft statute “cannot be negotiated if, first, we do not agree on the roadmap for the implementation of the Agreement”.

“I express my complete willingness to implement each article of the Basic Agreement, each sentence of the preamble and each point of the Ohrid annex as soon as possible – fully, without any conditions”, Kurti said.

Kosovo Prime Minister later published his proposal on the X platform. “This is the sequencing plan for the implementation of the Basic Agreement I proposed today in Brussels. It was the only proposal on the table,” Kurti wrote.

Read Kurti’s proposal here:

https://twitter.com/albinkurti/status/1702351289311506923/photo/2

The U.S. State Department disappointed with lack of progress in dialogue (RFE)

The U.S. Department of State, in a statement given to Radio Free Europe, expressed disappointment that no progress was made in the new round of dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia for the normalization of relations.

"We expect both countries to take seriously their obligations under the Agreement on Normalization of Relations, which they reached earlier this year. Time is running out. We want to see progress on existing and previous obligations undertaken in dialogue and with the Ohrid Agreement, including the establishment of the Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities," a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department told RFE.

"We will consult internally and with our European partners on next steps," he said.

According to him, the dialogue facilitated by the EU is the only way forward for Kosovo and Serbia.

Zulfaj: Document used by Borell, six months old (media)

Jeton Zulfaj, political advisor to Prime Minister Kurti, said that the document used on Thursday by the dialogue facilitator is six months old.

"A six-month-old document was used today by the facilitator to cover up Serbia's lack of participation in efforts for a sequencing plan. However, the document is very useful in understanding how Vucic's condition became the EU's position", he wrote in 'X' attaching also the document.

https://twitter.com/JetonZulfaj/status/1702360360634695842/photo/1

Murati: Borrell and Lajcak on Serbia’s side, not even trying to hide it anymore (Reporteri)

Kosovo’s Minister of Finance, Labor and Transfers, Hekuran Murati, took to X platform to write that the EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak, and the Head of EU Diplomacy, Josep Borrell, are openly supporting Serbia at the dialogue table.

“Instead of a real proposal, EU's HR Borrell presented one of Serbia's 6-month-old requests, masking it as a compromise proposal coming from the EU.

To which proposal Serbia - you've guessed it right - said yes. Borrell and Lajcak aren't even trying to hide it anymore,” Murati wrote.

Vucic announced a visit to Kosovo, Kurti responds (Kallxo)

The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, has stated that he will soon visit Kosovo. He said that as soon as he is given "democratic permission" he will go to Gracanica and then to Pristina, as he added that he will not ask the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, for permission, but his people.

In a response to Vucic’s announcement, Kosovo prime minister Albin Kurti said that when he (the Serbian president) sends the request, he will analyze it with his highest seriousness and sincerity.

"Have you seen the request? When he sends us the request, we will analyze it with the highest seriousness and sincerity," Kurti declared.

Krasniqi: Kurti's populist calls to unite against West, madness of its own kind (Koha)

The leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Memli Krasniqi has said that the current positions of Prime Minister Albin Kurti will cost Kosovo and not him personally.

“What we have told Prime Minister Kurti many times, he has understood only today. On February 27 in Brussels and March 18 in Ohrid, Prime Minister Kurti accepted an agreement and an annex to its implementation, through which he renounced mutual recognition, while placing association and political autonomy for Serbs at the center of the dialogue,” Krasniqi wrote, adding that no one has forced him to accept the agreement and its implementation annex, if he was convinced that they are harmful.

"Now, after realizing that he was wrong, he has decided to make puns and steps back. Unfortunately, this change of attitude will not cost him, but Kosovo. Kosovo and its citizens do not owe anything to Prime Minister Kurti - much less the sanctions that we are already suffering and others that have been warned.

Populist calls to unite against the West and the democratic world in a state that aims for Euro-Atlantic integration are madness of its own kind. Citizens and our state do not need and do not help this course of confrontation with strategic allies. Today, above all, Kosovo needs another government - credible, capable and responsible, which returns the country to the necessary course of development and Euro-Atlantic integration. ", he wrote on Facebook.

According to him, with Prime Minister Kurti, Kosovo is under the focus of international criticism, while Serbia is being freed from pressure.

Osmani meets Hovenier, discuss about latest developments in Kosovo (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani hosted on Thursday the ambassador of the United States, Jeffrey Hovenier, with whom she discussed the latest developments in Kosovo.

The announcement of the Presidency states that the meeting was held "also on the eve of President Osmani's visit to the United States of America, to participate in the high-level week of the United Nations General Assembly in New York".

"President Osmani and Ambassador Hovenier also discussed the grant agreement that will be signed tomorrow with the United States of America, as well as the importance of continuing joint projects," the announcement of the Presidency states.

Suspicions of "obstruction of justice," reason for new wave of investigations by Specialist Chambers (Koha)

The Special Prosecutor's Office (SPO), in coordination with the Specialist Chambers, has raided various locations in Kosovo lately. On Thursday, the house of a former member of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), Behar Berisha, was raided for several hours, the news website reports.

Berisha was a co-warrior of the former KLA commander, Sali Mustafa, known as "Cali," who is currently imprisoned in The Hague and has been sentenced by the first instance to 26 years in prison. Arben Mustafa, the brother of former commander Mustafa, had his phone confiscated under the orders of the Special Chambers, as confirmed by his lawyer, Betim Shala. Shala stated that his client was not raided but was simply summoned to the offices of the EULEX mission, where he surrendered his phone.

The confiscation of Mustafa's phone is related to criminal acts related to obstruction of justice.

On Tuesday, the phones of the former commander of the Llap Zone, Rrustem Mustafa, known as "Remi," and former political prisoner Nait Hasani were also confiscated. Additionally, the family home of the heroes Fahri and Bahri Fazliu was searched.

Since the beginning of this wave of raids and phone confiscations, Koha requested explanations from the SPO and the Specialist Chambers, but none of them accepted to make comments.

Regarding these actions, the acting head of the Kosovo Liberation Army War Veterans Organization (OVL), Faton Klinaku, announced that a protest would be held on Friday.

Serbian Language Media

Borrell: Kurti rejected, Vucic accepted new proposal (N1, media)

European Union High Representative Josep Borrell said on Thursday that he proposed a new implementation plan to normalize Belgrade-Pristina relations which Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti did not accept unlike Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, N1 reports.

“Today I tried with Kurti and Vucic to find solutions on the way forward based on our proposals. Unfortunately, Kurti was not prepared to move forward on the establishment of the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities (CSM) insisting on de facto recognition as the first step”, he told reporters in Brussels yesterday following a meeting with Vucic and Kurti. He added that the Serbian President accepted the proposal.

“It was not possible to bridge differences today”, he said and added Thursday’s meeting focused on the agreement reached in Ohrid which is the key to taking the normalization process forward. “Implementation has not started and this speaks to the absence of commitment by the parties for normalization”, he added.

Borrell said that he and Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak proposed what they see as the only possible compromise today: “Work in parallel on implementation which would ensure that you get something once something is fulfilled”.

Borrell said that the EU and wider international community, including the US, “sees this as the only realistic way implementation can work”. “Both sides need guarantees that their actions will be rewarded by counteractions by the other party”, the EU’s top diplomat said.

Read full Borrell’s remarks at: rb.gy/nsavy

Dacic: It is clear once again that Kurti is main threat to peace and stability (RTV, Tanjug)

Serbian Foreign Affairs Minister Ivica Dacic commenting on the lack of results at yesterday’s high level meeting in Brussels within Belgrade-Pristina dialogue said it was expected, adding Serbia had been warning for months that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti is, as he said, the main threat to the peace and stability, and it had been shown once again, Radio Television of Vojvodina (RTV) reports.

Dacic told Tanjug news agency that Kurti’s concept was not to reach any agreements or compromise, but rather to “achieve his extremists goals, at any price, by force” and that is regardless of the negotiations being status-neutral, or they should be such, to round up the process of what used to be unilateral declaration of independence.

He added Kurti does not honor what had been signed in the past, not even institutions such as the EU, but also some countries that try to maintain a balanced approach.

Radoicic: Kurti’s threat to Serbian List demonstrates that he does not want dialogue (Radio KIM, media)

Serbian List Vice President Milan Radoicic reacted to the statement of Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti that “people from Serbian List should pay and suffer for the mistake they made” by saying that threats which Kurti voiced clearly demonstrated he wishes neither dialogue nor peace, Radio KIM reports.

“99.99 percent of Serbian people decided not to take part in elections under the boots of your special police forces and Serbian List followed that decision because it has always been and shall always be with their people”, Radoicic said in a statement.

He also said he is aware that Kurti’s threat is not naïve as over the previous times he demonstrated “that he can cause chaos, incite to conflict and hatred and misuse institutions by which he persecutes Serbs without any evidence”.

“I want to tell you that you did not scare us at all, neither us in the Serbian List nor the people. That you are yet another occupier who thinks he can subjugate the Serbian people by force, but bear in mind that there are much more of us than how much you can arrest. Long Live Serbia! Long Live Serbian people”, Radoicic said.

Vucic: Serb municipalities will not join Pristina's association (Tanjug)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday that, under the Brussels Agreement, Leposavic, as well as Mitrovica North and Zvecan, were a part of a Community of Serb Municipalities in Kosovo, and that the establishment of, as he said, an ethnic Albanian association of municipalities was a "circus show", Tanjug news agency reports.

"As you saw today, two of four municipalities in the north (of Kosovo) joined Albanian municipalities and I laughed at that and said it was a circus show - in front of Albanian journalists. Those municipalities, like the other two and the remaining six (in the south), will be a part of a Community of Serb Municipalities", Vucic told reporters in Brussels after another round of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.

As he said, false members of local assemblies in Leposavic and Mitrovica North had decided that the municipalities join an ethnic Albanian association on orders from Pristina's Prime Minister Albin Kurti.

Asked if the meeting in Brussels had addressed a withdrawal of Kosovo special police forces from the north, Vucic said he had spoken about that but that five hours had been insufficient to discuss all issues. He noted that he was now even more concerned over the position of Kosovo Serbs and that he expected a reaction from the EU.

Serbian List: Illegitimate decision of municipal councilors (Radio KIM)

Following the decisions of Leposavic and Zubin Potok municipal assemblies to submit a request for membership of these municipalities in the Association of Kosovo Municipalities, the Serbian List in its reaction said “decisions were illegitimate and made by illegitimate councilors”, Radio KIM reports.

Serbian List said in a statement that this way "the escalation of the situation on the ground continues with the aim of deepening the crisis and causing tensions in Kosovo, contrary to the demands of the Serbian people, the European Union and the United States of America".

"Just as in the case when a similar decision was made by illegal and illegitimate councilors in the municipality of North Mitrovica, this decision was not made in the interest of the citizens of Leposavic and Zubin Potok and is considered null and void by all citizens", the statement added.

PKS: Decisions of Leposavic and Zubin Potok MAs have no significance at all (Radio KIM)

Party of Kosovo Serbs (PKS) said yesterday the “decision” of Leposavic and Zubin Potok municipal assemblies to submit a request to join Association of Kosovo Municipalities has no significance at all, Radio KIM reports.

They also said it is fully unbidding for the Serbs who make 98 percent of the population in those municipalities.

“This, same as all other decisions and acts of illegitimate municipal assemblies and mayors will soon be annulled and remain only as a trace and reminder of hatred by some Albanian political cycles against the Serbs”, they said in a statement.

Media: Kosovo police beat up and arrested two young Serbs in center of Gracanica (Radio KIM, Kosovo Online)

Radio KIM reported late last night that Kosovo police beat up and arrested two young Serbs, A.M. and M.M. in the center of Gracanica. Around hundred of people gathered in front of the police station in Gracanica, following the arrest and demanded that police brutality against the local residents ends.

As Radio KIM learnt two young Serbs were driving a vehicle in the town, and according to an eyewitness who wished to remain anonymous, were stopped by police, probably for routine check-up. “The guy who drove the vehicle did not have his seat belt fastened and a police officer issued a fine to him in Albanian. After the guy asked him if he could translate it into Serbian, the police officer asked him – do you know where you live?, and hit him afterwards”.

M.M. was thrown on the street, and later transferred to the hospital in Gracanica because of dislocation of the shoulder, Radio KIM further writes.

Another witness who also wished to remain anonymous said the police used excessive and unnecessary force. He said he saw one young man tied up and taken away to a station in a very harsh manner, while a few of them were “kneeling on the back and neck” of another young man, after which “they pulled him up and tied up like a cattle” took to the police station.

According to a media report, police went to the nearby cafe afterwards and banned present guests from showing or sharing recordings of the incident, eyewitnesses also claimed.

Subaric: People visibly upset, police used excessive force

Gracanica mayor Ljiljana Subaric said that while two young Serbs were brought in, the police used excessive force against one of them, adding last night that he is currently in the hospital.

“He is still under observation and until we get the doctor’s statement we can’t say what his health condition is. We received no report from the police, a response from the regional investigation commission is awaited. People are visibly upset. We will stay here until we do not see the final outcome and young men are released”, she said late last night, Kosovo Online portal reports.

Martinovic refutes Sinani's allegations about "ethnic cleansing of Albanians in the south" (Radio KIM, media)

Serbian Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government Aleksandar Martinovic rejected as "absolutely untrue" claims of the former Presevo mayor, Ardita Sinani, that "administrative ethnic cleansing" is being carried out against Albanians in three municipalities in the south of Serbia, the ministry said in a statement, Radio KIM reports.

Martinovic pointed out that Sinani, current adviser of Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti for Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, launched a campaign in which some American senators joined.

"So-called passivation of residences of citizens of Albanian ethnicity in the south of Serbia is not carried out, and in this sense, citizens of Albanian ethnicity have the right to vote in full capacity, just like everyone else", Martinovic said.

He added that there is not, nor can there be any reciprocity between Kosovo and the three municipalities in the south, considering that according to the Constitution of Serbia and Resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council, both Kosovo and those municipalities are an integral part of Serbia.

Vucic discusses topical issues with Orban (BETA, N1)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that he discussed topical issues with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Budapest on Thursday, BETA news agency reports.

Vucic went to Budapest from Brussels where he took part in a high-level meeting of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue with European Union High Representative Josep Borrell, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and EU envoy Miroslav Lajcak.

He wrote in an Instagram post that they discussed the meeting in Brussels and what he called bold partnership projects.

“With Serbia’s honest and reliable friend Viktor Orban on one of the most beautiful terraces in Budapest discussing topical issues, the meeting in Brussels, developments in Kosovo and Metohija as well as ambitious, demanding and bold plans and partnership projects which will move the borders of the common vision of economic cooperation and links between our countries”, the post said.

Vucic also attended a formal dinner hosted by Hungarian President Katalin Novak as part of the Budapest Demography Conference.

International Media

Serbian, Kosovar Leaders Fail To Reach Agreement Amid Worsening Relations (RFE)

The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo failed to reach an agreement for improving bilateral relations during EU-mediated talks in Brussels on September 14.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that "we tried hard but, unfortunately, it was not possible to bridge the differences today."

Borrell, who mediated the negotiations and has said he sees resolving the long-running dispute between Belgrade and Pristina as essential to their efforts to join the European Union, said that Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti rejected Brussels' compromise proposal.