Albanian Language Media:

• Kosovo government dismisses boards of Trepca, Infrakos (media)
• Osmani: Important for coalition partners to take joint decisions (media)
• Judah: Kurti defies Grenell's team while Palmer's team keeps quiet (media)
• Kosovo requests information from Romania on the killing of two protesters in 2007 (Zeri)

Serbian Language Media:

• Vucic: Western allies will come out with agreed plan for Kosovo (FoNet, Beta, N1)
• A slap from America: "Kurti is making a serious mistake" (Tanjug, B92)
• "No willingness to create conditions for Serbs to live better" (KIM radio, Kontakt plus radio)
• Joseph: Kurti’s decision indicator of US power (Tanjug, Dnevnik)
• Russian MFA Spokeswoman comments on Kosovo Specialist Chambers’ readiness to initiate proceedings (Serbian media)
• Nova.rs website publishes new details about Serb politician murder in Kosovo (Nova.rs, N1)

International:

• Kosovo to partially remove tariffs on Serbian-made goods (Reuters)
• U.S. Envoy Calls Kosovo's Decision To Partially Lift Serbian Import Tariffs A 'Serious Mistake' (RFE)
• Mixed reactions to Kurti’s tariff plans (Balkan Insight)
• EU's Varhelyi: Accession Talks With Two Balkan States Could Open in Weeks (The New York Times)
• Life in the Shadow of Kosovo’s new Border/Boundaries (Balkan Insight)

Humanitarian/Development:

• Mehmet Bogujevci: Boxers from Kosovo will participate in the championship in Belgrade (RTK2, Kosovo Online)
• "Turkey will no longer stop refugees" - migrants already heading towards Europe (Tanjug, B92, Reuters)
• Social Media a Help and Hindrance in Balkan Coronavirus Fight (Balkan Insight)

   

Albanian Language Media

  Kosovo government dismisses boards of Trepca, Infrakos (media)

The government of Kosovo voted in today's meeting in favour of dismissing the oversight board of the Trepca enterprise.

Minister of Economy, Employment, Trade, Industry, Entrepreneurship and Strategic Investment, Rozeta Hajdari, said that 80 percent of Trepca's shares are owned by Kosovo and the government can dismiss directors of the board when "there is reason to believe they abused fiduciary duties." 

The government today also decided to dismiss the board of directors of the publicly-owned enterprise of Infrakos (Kosovo Railways Infrastructure) citing misuse of duties. 

"The board has breached its duties after failing to take measures towards the chief executive officer of the enterprise accused of abuse of post," Hajdari said. 

The government has decided to set up a group of experts to design guiding principles for the vetting reform of the justice system. 

Osmani: Important for coalition partners to take joint decisions (media)

Kosovo Assembly Speaker Vjosa Osmani said that the details of the decision for partial revocation of the import tariff on Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina will be discussed today in a meeting with Prime Minister Albin Kurti.

Osmani underlined the importance of coalition partners taking joint decisions. 

"As Assembly we will come out with a position once we are officially informed about these decisions. I view cooperation between coalition partners as being very good. I consider that coalition partners have a common goal to protect joint interests and preserve partnership with the U.S. and the EU," Osmani said during a visit to Peje. 

"I am convinced that any difference that could exist on how to protect the interests of the country and international partners will be resolved very quickly," she added.

Judah: Kurti defies Grenell's team while Palmer's team keeps quiet (media)

Tim Judah, Balkans correspondent for The Economist, commented on Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti's announcement that Kosovo would lift tariffs on imports of raw materials from Serbia and from Bosnia and Herzegovina as of 15 March. 

Judah wrote on Twitter: "Fascinating moment. PM @albinkurti has defied the US’s @RichardGrenell team while US team #2, the Palmers, are keeping quiet. The EU and UK aren’t say in public but think Grenell is making problems by encouraging @HashimThaciRKS  whose power has drained away. What next #Kosovo?"

Kosovo requests information from Romania on the killing of two protesters in 2007 (Zeri)

Kosovo's Ministry of Justice has sent a request to Romania's Ministry of Justice requesting information about the legal proceedings regarding the killing of two Vetevendosje activists, Arben Xheladini and Mon Balaj, during a protest in 2007.  

Noting that the two activists were killed by Romanian police officers part of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, the Ministry of Justice recalled that in 2009 the District Court in Pristina approved the request of the Ministry of Justice of Romania to forward all the case file for the purpose of prosecuting suspected police officers before relevant authorities in Romania. 

"Therefore, in light of what has been stated above, please inform us on the stage of development of the aforementioned proceedings, or whether such proceedings have been completed by a final judgment," the letter signed by Minister Albulena Haxhiu reads.

   

Serbian Language Media

  Vucic: Western allies will come out with agreed plan for Kosovo (FoNet, Beta, N1)

It doesn't matter when 'Ahtisaari plus, plus, plus plan' will appear, but it will surely be an approved document by the Western allies, Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic has told reporters while visiting the newly opened 'Mona Plaza' hotel in Belgrade, the news agencies reported on Thursday.

"You always ask non-essential questions, like you're in a hurry. It doesn't matter when that plan will appear, maybe in three months, three years, but that will happen, and the Western allies will come out with an agreed plan," Vucic told journalists at 'Mona Plaza hotel.

Gerrard M. Gallucci, a retired U.S. Senior Foreign Service official, wrote in his publication 'The Ahtisaari Plan and North Kosovo,' that "the Ahtisaari Plan derived a formula that would allow Kosovo Serbs to have their own local institutions and communal life with continued linkages to Serbia but within the framework of a multi-ethnic Kosovo. The Plan called for new Serb-majority municipalities – including North Mitrovica – with important elements of self-rule in health, education and social issues, plus a role in choosing the local police chief."

Vucic on Thursday also said it made no difference whether the Europeans or Americans would come out with a plan.

Asked what they could blackmail Serbia with into accepting it, he said that everything that would jeopardise peace, stability "or (cause) any sanctions, would be a terrible problem for Serbia."

Vucic added that he did not accept Kosovo's membership to the UN in 2013 and that now, "the situation for us is tough."

"But those who destroyed everything and gave them everything (his opposition) while having no offer, shouldn't lecture me," he said.

Commenting on his visit to the US, Vucic said he would fight for Serbia's interests, and that Kosovo would be the main issue, but that the relations and the economic cooperation with the U.S., "which is excellent" would also top the list.

"Kosovo will be the most important, and an uneasy topic since our opinions on it differ," he added.

See at: https://bit.ly/2VB556a A slap from America: "Kurti is making a serious mistake" (Tanjug, B92)

"We do not support Prime Minister Kurti’s half measure on suspending fees to the goods from central Serbia"

This was stated by U.S. Special Envoy for Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue Richard Grenell.

"We do not support Prime Minister Kurti’s half measure. Our position is quite clear: the tariffs must be completely dropped. Mr Kurti is making a serious mistake - and that was made clear to President Thaci at the White House today", Grenell wrote on his Twitter account on the decision of Kurti to announce the gradual and conditional abolition of tariffs on goods from central Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

See at: https://bit.ly/398hEdm "No willingness to create conditions for Serbs to live better" (KIM radio, Kontakt plus radio)

There are two key problems in Kosovo when it comes to the position of the Serb community, which, according to Nexhmedin Spahiu, is "the inability of the majority community to integrate the Serb community and Belgrade's insistence that Serbs do not integrate into Kosovo society." Nenad Rasic, however, believes that the "biggest problem is that "someone else is managing our lives''.

Professor and analyst Nexhmedin Spahiu and Progressive Democratic Party President Nenad Rasic spoke at a conference organised by NGO Aktiv presenting a report on the rights and freedoms of the Serb community in Kosovo.

At the beginning of the conference, the organizers pointed out that the report, which indicated insufficient security, lack of freedom of movement and problems with documents, non-compliance with the Law on Language, insufficient returns and pressure on independent media, aims to influence on the newly formed government in order to solve these problems. 

"This is a form of reminder not only to the government but to the entire Kosovo public, what are the government's obligations to the right on respecting communities and what we generally need to do as a community in order to achieve full respect of what lawfully belong to us," said executive Director of Aktiv, Miodrag Milicevic.

Nexhmedin Spahiu said that the majority community in Kosovo has a wrong approach to minorities because, as he points out, they do not see their problems as their own. In addition to this, Spahiu sees two other key problems.

"First is the inability of the majority community to integrate the Serb community and the second is Belgrade's insistence that this community do not integrate in Kosovo. Although Belgrade has accepted that Serbian political representatives should be in the Assembly of Kosovo and other institutions, all this is being done with great reserve," said Spahiu.

On the other hand, former Kosovo Minister and MP Nenad Rasic sees the greatest responsibility in Serbian political representatives in Kosovo's institutions.

"Our problem is that we do not have adequate representatives, either at political levels or at institutional levels. Combined with a lack of accountability, we get what we have today. The people who are representatives in the institutions have no responsibility either towards you NGOs, or to the voters, the citizens ... and that is why this chronic problem of ours does not stop but deepens. "

Talking about a future solution for Kosovo, Rasic says he fears that it could be reached at some improvised international conference.

"Whether it will be in Paris, Berlin or Washington, it absolutely does not matter to us. Basically, there will be some new 2.0 Dayton agreement in which we will be the ones implementing it or mute observers," Rasic said.

Spahiu criticized the Kosovo government for not wanting to offer Serbs better conditions.

"There is no objective in the program or idea of any political force in Kosovo to expel Serbs from Kosovo. I do not see anyone having this political agenda, but there is a lack of willingness to create a better life for the Serb community in Kosovo," said Spahiu. 

Recommendations from the report "Assessing Rights and Freedoms in Kosovo Serb Communities" were addressed to representatives of the international community, the Government of Kosovo and Serbian representatives in Kosovo institutions. The project of the NGO Aktiv was supported by the International Center Olaf Palme. 

See the report Assessment of rights and freedom in Kosovo Serb communities in three languages here: https://bit.ly/2vfiZR3 Joseph: Kurti’s decision indicator of US power (Tanjug, Dnevnik)

Decision of Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti to partly lift the tariffs on goods from central Serbia is an indicator of US power and influence, John Hopkins University Professor Edward Joseph assessed, Tanjug news agency reports.

Joseph told Voice of America that, however, “it is necessary to see if Kurti will introduce some reciprocal measures and what the US reactions would be on that” because it is clear that US Special Envoy Richard Grenell wants the dialogue to move ahead and the agreement between Belgrade and Pristina be reached.

According to Joseph, the fact that Kurti agreed to lift the tariffs without introducing reciprocity he spoke about, is very significant.

“It points out that perhaps Kurti is not so much defiant regarding the dialogue related topics as it seemed while he was in opposition. There are drastic differences in criticizing from outside (opposition) and accountability you have after taking over the job,” Joseph concluded.

Russian MFA Spokeswoman comments on Kosovo Specialist Chambers’ readiness to initiate proceedings (Serbian media)

The Hague-based Kosovo Specialist Chambers’ Specialist Prosecutor Jack Smith is ready to initiate proceedings as part of the investigation into the crimes of Kosovo Liberation Army, Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zahkarova said yesterday during the press briefing, Serbian media report.

“Russia believes that bringing charges in the case is a long overdue step,” Zahkarova added. 

She recalled that the Specialist Chambers were created under the auspices of the European Union in order to bring to justice those guilty of such atrocities as kidnapping people for the purpose of harvesting and selling their organs in the black market. The establishment of the Chambers was prompted by a PACE report issued back in 2010.

“We firmly believe that hushing up the brutal crimes in Kosovo and leaving them without an investigation and punishments is unacceptable. Illicit organ harvesting must remain a matter of scrutiny for the world community. What is at stake is the reputation of the international justice system, the European Union as a guarantor of the specialist court performing its duty and the general capability of European institutions to adequately assess the reality. All the individuals involved must suffer severe punishments, regardless of the positions they currently hold in Pristina,” Zahkarova underlined.

See at: https://bit.ly/386dMbA Nova.rs website publishes new details about Serb politician murder in Kosovo (Nova.rs, N1)

On the first day of its work, the nova.rs website reported that on January 16, 2018, when the Kosovo Serb opposition politician Oliver Ivanovic was gunned down outside his office in the divided northern town of Mitrovica, two cars were parked in front of Ivanovic’s home, drove around and then followed him.

Mahmut Halimi, the lawyer of one of the accused Marko Rosic, told nova.rs website that that information was in the documents with evidence material prepared by Kosovo Special Prosecutor’s Office.

He added that all defence lawyers had access to those documents of 12,500 pages.

Pristina’s Prosecutors indicted eight Serbs suspected of involvement into the assassination but did not say who killed Ivanovic or who ordered it.

https://bit.ly/2uHbbqQ

International

  Kosovo to partially remove tariffs on Serbian-made goods (Reuters)

Kosovo’s prime minister said on Thursday the government will partially remove the 100 percent tariffs on goods produced in Serbia, bowing to demands from the United States and European Union, which mediate talks between Belgrade and Pristina on normalising ties.

In November 2018 Kosovo introduced the tariffs after Serbia blocked its former breakaway province’s membership in international organizations including Interpol and UNESCO. The tariffs were also introduced for goods produced in Bosnia, whose Serb-run half is blocking recognition of Kosovo.

See at: https://reut.rs/3adx9AG U.S. Envoy Calls Kosovo's Decision To Partially Lift Serbian Import Tariffs A 'Serious Mistake' (RFE)

The U.S. special envoy for Serbia and Kosovo says the United States does not support the Kosovar government’s decision to temporarily and partly lift the import tariff on products from Serbia.

In a tweet late on February 27, Richard Grenell, who also serves as U.S. ambassador to Germany and has recently been appointed as President Donald Trump's intelligence chief, called the move a “half measure.”

See at: https://bit.ly/3adIocC Mixed reactions to Kurti’s tariff plans (Balkan Insight)

The EU has welcomed plans announced by the Kosovo Prime Minister to remove part of the 100 per cent customs tariff on Serbian goods, while the US has described it as a “serious mistake,” with coalition partner LDK claiming it was “not a government decision.”

The decision to partially lift the 100 percent customs tariff on goods imported to Kosovo from Serbia was publicly criticised by US President Donald Trump’s Special Envoy to the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Richard Grenell on Thursday night.

“We do not support Prime Minister Kurti’s half measure. Our position is quite clear: the tariffs must be completely dropped. Mr Kurti is making a serious mistake – and that was made clear to President Thaci at the White House today,” Grenell tweeted.

See at: https://bit.ly/2T53TXh EU's Varhelyi: Accession Talks With Two Balkan States Could Open in Weeks (The New York Times)

The European Union could open accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia within weeks as both countries have made good progress in their preparations, the European Commission's enlargement chief, Oliver Varhelyi, said on Thursday.

France, which blocked the opening of talks with Tirana and Skopje in October, indicated earlier in February that membership talks could start if the European Commission gave them a positive review in March.

Varhelyi said that the Commission's report, due to be released next week, was encouraging.

See at: https://nyti.ms/3895pMh Life in the Shadow of Kosovo’s new Border/Boundaries (Balkan Insight)

This fourth extract from Ian Bancroft’s new book, ‘Dragon’s Teeth: Tales from North Kosovo’, explores some of the realities of life in the shadow of the newly erected border/boundary with Serbia.

https://bit.ly/2vob186

Humanitarian/Development

  Mehmet Bogujevci: Boxers from Kosovo will participate in the championship in Belgrade (RTK2, Kosovo Online)

We have many clubs, we have young boxers, we just need to work with them, organize competitions and tournaments, because without that there are no results, not only here, but everywhere, the Secretary General of the Boxing Federation of Kosovo told RTK2. 

One of the best boxers of former Yugoslavia and the winner of the silver medal at the 1978 World Championships in Belgrade, Bogujevci said that the choice of the Serbian capital to host the 2021 World Cup was a great thing for the affirmation of the sport and added that if  Kosovo boxers qualify, they would be there.

"If we qualify, we will certainly participate in the World Cup in Belgrade, because we are athletes and we are not interested in politics. After all, we are full members of the European and World boxing organization and we have the right to that. We should let young people compete and socialize, and let politicians do their job," Bogujevci said.

He pointed out that he did not doubt the good organization of the championship in Belgrade, as it was in 1978.

"And then, in 1978, Belgrade was a great host, I'm sure it will be this time too. The championship will raise the quality of boxing in the region, but also bring the audience back to the halls, because there is none now, there is none in Serbia, BiH and North Macedonia, Kosovo. Only big sporting events, but also big matches and names draw the audience to boxing," says an experienced boxing worker, noting that he is in constant contact with all boxers of his generation from the former Yugoslavia.

"Turkey will no longer stop refugees" - migrants already heading towards Europe (Tanjug, B92, Reuters)

Turkey has decided to stop preventing refugees from Syria in trying to reach Europe by land and sea, a Turkish official said, Reuters reports

An official said this in anticipation of a massive movement of refugees from the Syrian province of Idlib, where there are one million displaced people.

"Turkish police, coastguard and border security officials had been ordered to stand down on refugees’ land and sea crossings towards Europe," he told Reuters. A local Syrian governor announced earlier that 29 soldiers had been killed in the attack on the Turkish army in Idlib.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, however, said that 34 soldiers had been killed.

https://bit.ly/2TqHUsP Social Media a Help and Hindrance in Balkan Coronavirus Fight (Balkan Insight)

Coronavirus rumours are spreading like wildfire on social media in the Balkans, while governments, scientists and concerned citizens use the same medium to keep people better informed.

Serbia has no confirmed cases of coronavirus yet, but on Tuesday a WhatsApp voice message began doing the rounds on social media claiming several people had already died from the virus in the capital, Belgrade.

“Doctors are strictly forbidden to talk about the virus,” the woman is heard saying on the message, which was published on several Serbian news portals.

A similar thing happened in neighbouring Croatia, where another WhatsApp message contained the claim that the first case had been recorded in the coastal city of Split, before authorities actually confirmed the first case in the capital, Zagreb, on February 25.

With its epicentre in Italy, Europe is grappling to contain the spread of Covid-19. In the Balkans, cases have been confirmed in Croatia, North Macedonia and Romania.

See at: https://bit.ly/3ce3E3D