• COVID-19: 22 deaths, 1,894 new cases (media)
• Kosovo’s COVID surge: What happened? (BIRN)
• Kosovo PM Kurti remarks at Bled Strategic Forum (media)
• Kurti, Michel discuss foreign policy issues and Kosovo role in security (media)
• Kurti meets Varhelyi, asks for visa liberalisation for Kosovo (media)
• Lajcak holds separate meetings with Kurti and Vucic (media)
• Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani participates at Swiss Economic Forum (media)
• Aliu: Construction of the Peace Highway to begin in spring next year (media)

COVID-19: 22 deaths, 1,894 new cases (media)

22 people have succumbed to COVID-19 in Kosovo in the last 24 hours. 1,894 new cases were confirmed in this period. There are 27,404 active cases with COVID-19 in Kosovo.

The Ministry of Health issued a video message on Wednesday calling on women that are pregnant, breastfeeding or planning pregnancy to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

1,220 patients are being treated for COVID-19 in Kosovo hospitals. 1,051 of them are on oxygen therapy and 59 are under intensive care.

Most media outlets quoted Health Minister Arben Vitia on Wednesday as saying that over 130 thousand doses of Astra Zeneca vaccines have been thrown away because they have expired.

Kosovo’s COVID surge: What happened? (BIRN)

Kosovars are now paying a price for their casual attitude to government measures aimed at curbing the virus.

On August 29, Kosovo’s Ministry of Health reported that 36 people had died of COVID-19, double the previous day’s 18 deaths – bringing the cumulative death toll to 2,477 and the number of infections to 143,603 since the pandemic’s outbreak in early 2020.

As a result, Prime Minister Albin Kurti, together with Health Minister Arben Vitia, has imposed a series of new measures, including mandatory masks, a 10pm-5am curfew and a ban on large gatherings and wedding celebrations. But will these new restrictions be enough to stop the spread?

Evidently not. For one thing, while many countries began vaccinating their people in early January 2021, Kosovo received its first few doses only in late March. A global vaccine shortage made it difficult for the Western Balkans to secure jabs any earlier, leading Serbia to buy Chinese and Russian vaccines and briefly sharing them with some of its neighbours. Kurti, however, was adamant about waiting for help from Washington and Brussels.

Finally, in late March, Kosovo received its first batch of 24,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine through the COVAX facility. Then, in late May, the government announced a deal for 1.2 million Pfizer doses, enough to vaccinate 60 per cent of the population by year’s end. The US gave Kosovo 500,000 doses, with the first batch arriving August 19.

Yet, having a sufficient supply of vaccines doesn’t mean enough people have actually been inoculated. As the highly contagious Delta variant fueled an explosion in new cases, the Kosovo government issued a series of measures every month, progressively relaxing them as more people were vaccinated.

Read full article at: https://bit.ly/3zHEo1c

Kosovo PM Kurti remarks at Bled Strategic Forum (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti made the following remarks at the Bled Strategic Forum in Slovenia on Wednesday:

We believe the EU should be protected and defended and to this end we need to do reforms in our country but at the same time have the enlargement of the EU. External enlargement of EU and internal reforms in our countries go hand in hand. But I believe likewise a certain reform in the EU decision-making system so bold steps are more likely and easily to see in the future.

We have taken 2,000 Afghan refugees in Kosovo. We are a poor country but we believe that when it comes to humanitarian issues we should not ask why but just say how. Plus, our partnership with the United States is very important and very strong.

I believe the inclusion of the Western Balkans 6 into the EU will have two big benefits for both. First is that the outer border of the EU would get smaller by thousands and thousands of kilometers because the WB6 is not a neighbor of the EU, we are surrounded by the EU. So the outer border of the EU, security wise, will get much smaller, and in this way it would be better for both. In addition, more or less every third citizen of WB6 countries is not a resident in the WB6. Generally, they live in the EU, mainly in Western Europe. So with the inclusion of the WB6 into the EU, our nations and our diaspora would be living in the same entity and this would be very good for the economy.

In WB6 these four elements which could bring us really great progress are rule of law against oligarchs, democratisation against autocrats, facing of the past against war criminals in power, and the last but not least important, is a certain symmetry or reciprocity of minority rights all over the WB6 against national hegemonies.

I proposed in the Tirana Summit of the WB6 a SEFTA agreement instead of CEFTA – South East European Free Trade Agreement – where all the six countries of Western Balkans will move together towards the EU. I believe that is the safest path forward. I don’t want to neglect particular negotiations of different countries but nonetheless I believe that SEFTA would help a great deal. To this end, four things are most important I believe. In order to have EU funds but also with EU values, not EU funds without EU values.

Kurti, Michel discuss foreign policy issues and Kosovo role in security (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti took to Twitter on Wednesday to say that he met with European Commission President Charles Michel on Wednesday and “discussed Europe’s most pressing foreign policy issues and the constructive role of Kosova in the European Union – Western Balkans 6 security cooperation.”

A press release issued by the Prime Minister’s Office quotes him as saying that political hesitations of EU member states are keeping hostage the citizens of Kosovo by depriving them of freedom of movement in the EU. Kurti also said that the SAA signed between Kosovo and the EU is not giving its desired effects because due to visa limitations it is impossible for Kosovo businesses to move freely within the EU.

Kurti meets Varhelyi, asks for visa liberalisation for Kosovo (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti met with Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi at the margins of the Bled Strategic Forum on Wednesday and discussed the situation with COVID-19 and the importance for the people of Kosovo of getting support through funds to combat difficulties from the pandemic and to move toward economic recovery.

Kurti reiterated the request that member states in the Council of the EU should make a positive decision for visa liberalisation for Kosovo as soon as possible. He also thanked the Commission for its work in convincing the skeptical member states.

Kurti briefed Varhelyi about the engagement and commitment of the Kosovo Government for reforms and appreciated the continuous support of the European Commission in finalising the process.

Kurti also said that in terms of enlargement, the countries of the Western Balkans should be treated as future members of the European Union.

Varhelyi pledged that the European Union will continue to support Kosovo in its reforms.

Lajcak holds separate meetings with Kurti and Vucic (media)

The European Union Special Representative for the Prishtina – Belgrade Dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, said in a Twitter post on Wednesday that in the margins of the Bled Strategic Forum in Slovenia, he held “two important and substantial separate meetings with the President of Serbia the Prime Minister of Kosovo to discuss the next steps in the coming weeks in the Dialogue on normalization of their relations”.

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani participates at Swiss Economic Forum (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani is participating at the Swiss Economic Forum where she talked about Kosovo’s economic potential and the attraction of foreign investment. “At the @SwissEconomic Forum today, I had the pleasure of talking to potential investors from Switzerland. I highlighted that Kosovo represents a great investment opportunity and emphasised that Kosovo institutions are ready and willing to support export-driven and sustainable investments,” Osmani wrote in a Twitter post.

Aliu: Construction of the Peace Highway to begin in spring next year (media)

The Kurti-led government will implement the construction of the Peace Highway, one of the points of the Washington Agreement reached a year ago at The White House. Kosovo’s Minister of Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure, Liburn Aliu, said on Wednesday that Kosovo has entered contractual obligations to build the Besi – Merdare highway and according to him construction is expected to begin in spring next year.

“With regards to the Washington agreement and the Peace Highway, Kosovo has entered contractual obligations to build the Besi – Merdare road. The process can be delayed because of financial reasons, but it is a process that will be concluded. At the same time, the other party (Serbia) must do its part of the project, but so far it hasn’t done anything … I cannot say with great certainty, but I think that in spring next year we will have a good opportunity to start building the highway,” Aliu told a press conference in Prishtina.