Albanian Language Media:

• The dialogue in Brussels ends without a tripartite meeting (Radio Free Europe)
• US Embassy calls for real progress on Kosovo-Serbia dialogue (Telegrafi)
• D4D survey on people’s perception of first six months of Kurti government (media)
• Mustafa: Synergy was created not to leave Prishtina to Vetevendosje (Kosovapress)
• EULEX: We’re supporting communication between Kosovo and Serbia (Kallxo)
• COVID-19: 17 new cases, no deaths (media)

Serbian Language Media:

• Vucic: Grenell and Palmer lobbying for Serbia - terrible lie; Pristina does not want to fulfill its obligations (KoSSev, TV Happy)
• Serbian PM expects opening of one cluster in talks with EU, hopes for two (N1)
• Mijacic: Exaggerated assessment that Kurti lost the elections due to non-acceptance of the Washington agreement (Danas)
• “No need to ask your grandfather or grand-grandfather about genocide in Kosovo” (Radio KIM)
• Petkovic: Pristina refused to take part in direct talks, refused to talk about ZSO (Kosovo-online)
• Remains of only 15 missing people from Kosovo have been found over the last two years (RTV Puls)

Opinion:

• Kosovo and Serbia expose Summit for Democracy’s conundrum (atlanticcouncil.org)

Humanitarian/Development:

• Serbian QR COVID-19 code valid in EU with some exceptions (N1)

 

 

Albanian Language Media  

 

The dialogue in Brussels ends without a tripartite meeting (Radio Free Europe)

Talks between chief negotiators from Kosovo and Serbia and European officials ended today in Brussels, but without a tripartite meeting. During the two-day negotiations, the Kosovo delegation was led by the Principal Deputy Prime Minister, Besnik Bislimi, while the Serbian delegation was led by the Head of the Office for Kosovo in the Serbian Government, Petar Petkovic.

Bislimi said that several bilateral meetings were held with European officials and that topics of discussion included energy, missing persons and representation in regional initiatives.

Bislimi rejected Serbia’s accusations that the Kosovo side was to blame for the lack of a tripartite meeting. He said there is an “agreement in principle”, according to which only topics agreed upon by both parties are discussed in joint meetings.

Bislimi said that the Kosovar side does not want to discuss issues related to minority communities now, because, according to him, they should be part of a comprehensive agreement.

Bislimi said that the meetings in Brussels also discussed freedom of movement, as well as the case when Serbia, according to him, flagrantly violated the agreement on free movement, by not allowing boxers from Kosovo to take part in the World Championship of Boxing, which was held several weeks ago in Belgrade.

Bislimi also said he hopes a solution can be found, which will enable the citizens in the north of Kosovo to pay for electricity bills. They have not paid their electricity bills since the end of the war in 1999.

Bislimi said that they also talked about, as he said, the obstacles that Serbia has made to Kosovo in the transfer of €100,000 to Presevo Valley.

Bislimi said he also talked to European officials about allowing Petkovic to visit Kosovo, and explained that Kosovo authorities had barred him from visiting Kosovo because of the “inciting and hate speech” Petkovic had used during previous visits.

US Embassy calls for real progress on Kosovo-Serbia dialogue (Telegrafi)

Nicholas Giacobbe, Chargé d'Affaires in the United States Embassy in Kosovo, shared a Twitter post by the EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak who after meeting chief negotiators from Kosovo and Serbia on Tuesday said that it is high time for real progress in the dialogue. Giacobbe tweeted: “EUSR Lajcak is right, it’s high time for real progress on the Kosovo-Serbia Dialogue. #GetItDone #RealProgress.”

D4D survey on people’s perception of first six months of Kurti government (media)

The Prishtina-based Democracy for Development (D4D) Institute conducted a citizens’ survey in September to understand their assessment of the first six months of the Kurti government. Asked how they assess the first six months of Kurti’s government, 38.7 percent of respondents said poor, 32.3 percent said good, 29 percent said sufficient and 10.9 percent said it was very good. The survey also showed that 52.1 percent of people employed in the public sector said the government’s performance in the first six months was “poor” or “very poor”. 38.1 percent of people employed in the private sector said the government’s performance in the first six months was “poor” or “very poor”.

EULEX: We’re supporting communication between Kosovo and Serbia (Kallxo)

Representatives of the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) and Kosovo Police met today to discuss the importance of international police cooperation. Besnik Sallahu, head of the International Legal Cooperation Unit in Kosovo Police, said Kosovo Police has made progress in the area of international cooperation. “Kosovo has signed 96 agreements with different countries. We think that Kosovo must become a member of Interpol. We are ready for international cooperation and for exchange of information. Although the youngest police force in the region, Kosovo Police was lucky to be trained by very important international experts, including EULEX,” he said.

Sallahu highlighted the agreement with Europol and said they are continuously exchanging information to combat organised crime. “We had 89 cases of exchange of information with Europol, mainly involving cases of financial crime and human trafficking. Kosovo has various means to contribute to the fight against crime and the agreement with Europol enables us to have direct communication,” he said.

Vinicio Ceola, head of the International Police Cooperation Unit in EULEX, said there is a high level international cooperation with EULEX and Kosovo Police. “We are working under the umbrella of UNMIK. UNMIK is competent for this communication. We are working in different channels of communication. We are in constant touch with Kosovo Police to try to find solutions and to exchange information,” he said.

Ceola said that Serbian authorities are also part of the communication to exchange information in the security area. “We are also in constant touch with Serbian authorities in terms of exchanging security information. In 2009, EULEX signed an agreement with the Serbian ministry, on serious crimes and other crimes between Kosovo and Serbia. These channels of communication are very sensitive and EULEX is supporting the communication between Kosovo and Serbia. I think this is the only way of communicating with Serbia,” he added.

Mustafa: Synergy was created not to leave Prishtina to Vetevendosje (Kosovapress)

Isa Mustafa, former leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), said in an interview with Kosovapress that in the recent local elections there was a synergy not only in the LDK, but among other opposition parties too not to leave Prishtina to the Vetevendosje Movement. “This synergy I believe was not only a result of the assessment of governance by the Vetevendosje Movement in Prishtina but also a result of fear from VV. The fear that an arbitrary regime would be installed at the central and local level, being that VV currently has all the power: the government, the parliament and the President. Now it is also trying to get the pillar of justice through a vetting process that is being opposed by the European Union,” he argued.

Mustafa said that the municipalities won by the LDK and also municipalities won by other opposition parties represent a big victory for democracy in Kosovo and for balancing the forces of power.

COVID-19: 17 new cases, no deaths (media)

17 new cases with COVID-19 were confirmed in the last 24 hours in Kosovo. 19 persons recovered from the virus during this time. There are 405 active cases with COVID-19 in Kosovo.

 

 

 

Serbian Language Media

 

Vucic: Grenell and Palmer lobbying for Serbia - terrible lie; Pristina does not want to fulfill its obligations (KoSSev, TV Happy)

President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic said last night, in the TV Happy Show "Ćirilica", that "when Kurti says 'he has only one problem', the problem has its name and surname, the name is Aleksandar, and the surname is Vucic. They know that with anybody else they would realize their interest incomparably easier'', reported portal KoSSev. 

On the other hand, the president admitted that Serbia was not able to realize its interests in relation to Kosovo, because, as he said, Pristina simply refused to fulfill the agreed in Brussels.

The President of Serbia confirmed last night that he was handed an official invitation for the Democracy Summit organized by the President of the USA, Joe Biden. Vucic said that it was good that Serbia was invited, but added:

"It is better that we were invited than not, and it would not be a tragedy if we were not invited nor should we joyfully jump that we are."

Commenting on unofficial allegations about lobbying of certain Americans for Serbia, which Nova.rs also wrote about today, Vucic said that it was a terrible lie that former US envoys for dialogue Richard Grenell and Matthew Palmer, as well as the current Gabriel Escobar were lobbying for Serbia. 

"It's horrible what they're doing. It is clear to everyone who leads this country that they are destroying those who are not 100 percent against us, and aside from the fact that it is a terrible lie, I wonder how they are not ashamed. Their only goal is the complete destruction of Serbia. Everyone who is not against us is immediately a lobbyist," said Vucic.

On the other hand, he confirmed that Escobar supported Serbia on its European path, but also the regional initiative "Open Balkans", reported KoSSev.

Speaking about the relations between Belgrade and Pristina, Vucic said that it did not occur to him to insult the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, just as, he claimed, he insulted him.

The president says that he did not insult Hashim Thaci, Ramush Haradinaj, Isa Mustafa and Avdullah Hoti. Vucic said that he always tried to understand what the Albanians wanted, but also that he fought to get as much as he could for Serbia, however:

"Kurti says 'there is only one problem, he has a name and a surname, the name is Aleksandar, and the surname is Vucic'. They know that with everyone else, they would achieve all their interests incomparably easier. And I know that he was honest when he said that, and in his hatred towards me and Serbia, he is honest. From his point of view - Serbia imprisoned him in Nis. He can love the DOS government (Democratic Opposition of Serbia), because they released him from prison in 2000," Vucic said

On the other hand, the president also claimed that Pristina did not not want to fulfill the obligations from the Brussels agreement, which, as he said, Serbia referred to.

"Today, Kurti tells you - 'I don't want to talk about energy', 'we won't even talk about ZSO'. So why won't he talk about it if it is against Serbian interests. We will insist that everything that was signed be fulfilled, because if you did not fulfill it, what else will you fulfill? To convince us to sign something else?" Vucic asked. 

He stated that Pristina simply did not want to fulfill its obligations.

KoSSev recalled that the same statement was made last night by the leader of the Belgrade delegation in the dialogue with Pristina. He said the Pristina side refused to discuss the A/CSM (ZSO), and that a trilateral meeting was not held as a result.

"They are waiting, I don't know what, maybe to provoke us. They are talking about the aggressive policy of Serbia. What aggressive policy?" Vucic asked

On the other hand, Vucic recalled the last month's action of the Special Units in the North of Kosovo, when there was a conflict with the citizens

"They shot at innocent people, at people who gathered to protest, and they say that it is the fight against corruption and crime," the president said.

Recalling that the special forces carried out similar actions in the North of Kosovo during the time of Hashim Thaci, Vucic said that Pristina's goal was to "show that they have power in the North and to break the resistance of the Serbs".

However, he claimed that Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija were united and reminded that the Serbian List won all ten majority Serb municipalities in the local elections and that this party enjoyed great support from the Serbian community.

Serbian PM expects opening of one cluster in talks with EU, hopes for two (N1)

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said Wednesday she expected the opening of one cluster in Belgrade’s accession negotiations with the European Union, adding she hoped for two to be opened in December, N1 reports.

She based her expectations on what she described as the most positive European Commission (EC) report on Serbia in the last several years, particularly in the rule of law.

N1 further said that some European politicians criticized the report, saying it was a blatant example of how the EC became politicized and how the rule of law standards can be compromised under the Commission’s watch.

Brnabic told TV Pink that Serbia had sent monthly reports on the rule in law reforms to the EC and EU member states for the first time, adding “we worked hard and had concrete results”.

Mijacic: Exaggerated assessment that Kurti lost the elections due to non-acceptance of the Washington agreement (Danas)

Dragisa Mijacic, director of the Institute for Territorial Economic Development "InTER" from Zubin Potok, assessed for Danas daily that Richard Grenell's comments on the result of the local elections in Kosovo was not surprising because he was active in commenting on the political situation in Kosovo. The assessment that Kurti lost the elections due to non-acceptance of the gas project and the Washington Agreement is certainly exaggerated, but the fact remains that the Americans are dissatisfied with the decisions of the Government of Kosovo on these issues, Mijacic told daily Danas, commenting Grenell's statement that Kosovo PM Kurti lost the local elections because he rejected the United States.

According to Mijacic, Grenell's claim of disagreement between Osmani and Kurti has already been denied, although there is a lot of play with words in all these statements.

- The most important thing is how the American administration will act in the coming months, be it related to the gas project and economic normalization within the Washington agreement, as well as related to the political negotiations that are being conducted in Brussels - Mijacic believes.

Igor Novakovic, director of research at the ISAC fund, says for Danas  that Grenell is trying to draw attention to himself and President Trump, since the former president of the United States is not politically passive, and the Washington agreement was one of his administration's rare foreign policy "successes". He believes that Grenell sees in that an opportunity to capitalize it, and to probably spread some kind of influence among the opposition in Kosovo.

- However, what is more important regarding the local elections, there are several other factors that, it seems to me, are not related to the Washington Agreement at all. The first is the nature of the electoral process in Kosovo. So, unlike some other states, there is a separate election for different levels of political power. Votes are mostly for personalities, not directly for parties. The local elections primarily depend on the quality of the candidates at the local, and Kurti, according to all the information, did not offer good enough candidates. On the other hand, we had the phenomenon of uniting the opposition again, as was the case when Isa Mustafa lost the elections for the mayor of Pristina - Novakvic explains.

Political analyst Dragomir Andjelkovic states that Albanians are primarily disappointed in Kurti because it turned out that his party, like all other parties, very quickly fit into the corrupt and inefficient system, and presented itself as a fighter for radical reforms. Which was why, according to his assessment, Kurti won. 

- As far as the attitude towards the Washington Agreement is concerned, that issue is not something that can be of crucial importance among the wider masses - concludes Andjelkovic.

“No need to ask your grandfather or grand-grandfather about genocide in Kosovo” (Radio KIM)

Kosovo officials day after day continue saying that “Serbia has committed genocide in Kosovo” during the conflict. Minister of Interior Xhelal Svecla recently said “Kosovo liberated itself from genocidal Serbian regime”, while Prime Minister Albin Kurit stressed that “we need no historic books to confirm that genocide took place” adding it would happen one day, Radio KIM reports.

Since assuming the duty Prime Minister Albin Kurti and President Vjosa Osmani use almost every opportunity, Radio KIM further writes, to say that “Serbia has committed genocide in Kosovo” although no court, being it domestic or international proved it. Kurti said it once again during the visit of Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic in Pristina.

During the press conference in Pristina responding to a question of KIM Radio journalist – who has confirmed that genocide took place in Kosovo? – Kurti said that “as far as genocide in Kosovo is concerned, it is not about a genocide from XIX century, but about genocide we all here experienced in our lives. Therefore, there is no need to ask grandfather, grand-grandfather or read history books, but we have here in collective memory what happened in 1998 and 19999, when Serbia, respectively Yugoslavia was bombed by NATO for what Serbian forces were doing on the ground. For us, there is no doubt it was a genocide and the day will come when it will be confirmed to those who didn’t see it or didn’t want to see it”, Kurti was quoted as saying.

Similar message was conveyed by Minister of Interior Xhelal Svecla.

“We have liberated ourselves from the Serbian genocidal regime who considered neither age nor gender while fulfilling its aims. For all material and emotional damage inflicted to the Kosovo population Serbia didn’t apologize and also didn’t convict perpetrators of these crimes, the criminals. They used mostly the crimes against women and men for their war goals”, Svecla said on the occasion of marking the anniversary of the UN SC Resolution 1235 on Women, Peace and Security adoption.

In addition to Kurit, Osmani and Svecla, Kosovo Assembly Speaker Glauk Konjufca is also part of the campaign on genocide, the Radio KIM added. Serbian analysts think that such statements have detrimental influence on inter-ethnic relations in Kosovo, adding they are also dangerous.

Petkovic: Pristina refused to take part in direct talks, refused to talk about ZSO (Kosovo-online)

Pristina has refused to take part in direct talks with us, because it refused to talk about the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities (ZSO), Office for Kosovo and Metohija Director Petar Petkovic said last night, Kosovo-online portal reports.

Petkovic told RTS he had met Miroslav Lajcak in Brussels three times yesterday, however no meeting between Belgrade and Pristina delegations took place.

Petkovic added the issue of the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities is a topic above all the topics for Belgrade and the core of the Brussels dialogue.

“If we want to talk about normalization of relations it can only be done if Community of the Serb-majority Municipalities is established, but also all previously reached agreements implemented, as it was the message, inter alia, of the foreign ministers of the EU member states yesterday”, Petkovic said.

Petkovic added that in addition to Community of Serb-majority Municipalities, experts from Belgrade delegation also initiated topics related to the judiciary, energy, missing persons and freedom of movement, concerning official visits as well, and while doing so, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti was sending different message from Pristina.

“The messages (Kurti sends) kill the dialogue directly and place under Prisitna’s feet all reached agreements. How can we then talk about anything else in Brussels if on the same day Kurti says everything contrary to the very agreement. We shall insist on a Community of Serb-majority Municipalities as we said, given that this is a crucial issue for us”, Petkovic underlined.

Remains of only 15 missing people from Kosovo have been found over the last two years (RTV Puls)

The Resource Center for Missing Persons is one of the few multiethnic organizations in Kosovo. It brings together family members of missing and abducted persons during the 1998 and 1999 armed conflicts and immediately thereafter, reported RTV Puls. 

The fate of the missing must be clarified, said from the Resource Center, calling out on the institutions and the international community for not showing enough political will to solve the problem that has lasted for more than 20 years.

Negovan Mavric, coordinator of the Resource Center for Missing Persons, says that this and last year were extremely difficult, because many processes were stopped or limited due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"But that does not mean that excavations could not be carried out at potential locations in Kosovo and Serbia. When we don't have locations, we don't have bodies. Unfortunately, in the last two years, we managed to find and hand over to the families only 15 bodies, 12 Albanian and only three Serbian, which is very little," says Mavric and adds that politics is responsible for such a situation.

The families of missing persons from Kosovo are searching for another 1,632 bodies of their loved ones who went missing during the armed conflicts of 1998 and 1999 and immediately after the arrival of the international mission in Kosovo.

"When politicians don't know what to say or when it's "dense" then they raise the issue of the missing in the first place. Politics should not interfere where it does not belong," says Bajram Qerkinaj, from the Resource Center for Missing Persons.

His colleague Negovan Mavric reminds that the issue of the missing was already on the agenda of the Brussels dialogue.

"The families of the missing closely followed the course of the dialogue and had a lot of expectations from the meeting between Vucic and Kurti in Brussels, and above all to start excavations at locations that have already been marked as potential ones. Now we are in a matte position, so to speak, because everything has stopped," says Mavric.

The coordinator of the Resource Center, Bajram Qerkinaj, points out that although there were no meetings in Brussels on that topic, the analytical teams worked on the cases of finding the missing

"As I was told, the analytical teams of Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro had the last meeting on October 19, then on October 26, in Belgrade on November 2, but so far the families have not received a single report on what is being done. But the Resource Center is not silent, but constantly insists," says Qerkinaj.

 

 

 

Opinion

 

Kosovo and Serbia expose Summit for Democracy’s conundrum (atlanticcouncil.org)

Opinion piece by Agon Maliqi, a policy analyst and chairman of the board of Sbunker—a pro-democracy think tank and new media platform based in Prishtina, Kosovo—as well as a former Reagan-Fascell Democracy fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy.

US President Joe Biden’s defining framework for international affairs as a battle between democracies and authoritarian regimes has encouraged many US partners around the world, especially democracy and human-rights activists. Now Biden is rallying team democracy by inviting his chosen teammates to attend the Summit for Democracy from December 8-10.

The decision on whom to invite into the pro-democracy camp was always going to stir controversy. Biden has to balance admission based on the quality of a country’s democracy against more realist geopolitical considerations. Last week, the Western Balkans exposed this tension for all to see.

According to a preliminary list published by Politico, Belarus, Hungary, Serbia, Turkey, and Bosnia and Herzegovina were not invited to the summit. Kosovo wasn’t either, and its exclusion was surprising because it is both an increasingly vibrant democracy and a US ally. In response, leading Kosovo-based pro-democracy non-governmental organizations applied pressure. Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani also traveled to Washington along with Kosovo’s informal ambassador, pop star Dua Lipa, who spoke of a peaceful and democratic country before an influential crowd at the Atlantic Council’s Distinguished Leadership Awards. The US government course corrected soon after: Both Kosovo and Serbia, its longtime foe, received invitations.

In Kosovo’s case, the reversal made sense. While the rule of law and ethnic relations remain a challenge there, the country has bucked the authoritarian trends of recent years. It has held several free and fair elections, followed by smooth transitions of power. There is a vibrant and pluralistic media scene, although political influence remains a concern. Civil society is vibrant, and youth and women have become a key voting bloc. With that power, they are promoting change by advocating for rights and freedoms. From a foreign-policy perspective, Kosovars remain overwhelmingly staunch supporters of the transatlantic alliance, despite Russian and Chinese influence in the Western Balkans.

By failing to recognize Kosovo’s democratic performance with its initial snub, the United States was undermining its own goals to incentivize democratization across the Western Balkans as a means of advancing the region’s Euro-Atlantic integration. One of the reasons why the European Union (EU) accession process has stalled is that many in the EU are reluctant to admit new members on a similar trajectory as Hungary. But the current Western policy of embracing authoritarians in the Western Balkans for stability reasons has helped entrench exactly that type of illiberalism across the region.

The Biden administration is rightfully worried that the region—overflowing with disputes like the one between Kosovo and Serbia that has simmered since Kosovo’s independence in 2008—is becoming more vulnerable to Russian disruption efforts and Chinese corrosive capital. Recent escalations in Kosovo’s north and threats of a new conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina have raised serious alarms.

Hoping to contain a deterioration, the Biden administration is deploying more high-level diplomats to the Western Balkans; expanding the scope of sanctionable offenses in the region; continuing to prioritize the reduction of dependence on Russian energy sources; and encouraging regional cooperation, including through the Open Balkan initiative. But this approach also treats Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić as a valuable, if not always reliable, partner in striving for US goals, despite his role in facilitating Chinese and Russian influence in the region.

Osmani and Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti came to power this year promising to fight corruption and to reject compromises with Serbia. They are perceived as being uncomfortable with the current US approach to the region, viewing it as too accommodating to Serbia at the expense of US allies. As a result, they have adopted a more assertive sovereigntist posture, undertaking several actions that conflict with US priorities, perhaps to force a change in course. This includes being uncooperative in the dialogue with Serbia and snubs like rejecting a proposed US-financed gas pipeline from Greece.

Many in Kosovo disagree with the leadership’s foreign-policy approach. It does not appreciate Kosovo’s overall weak hand, critics say, and it fails to see that the United States is ultimately on Kosovo’s side. Washington is trying to consolidate Kosovo’s statehood even as it addresses a web of other complications threatening regional peace. This disagreement is feeding into wider public discontent that is already having political consequences: In last month’s local elections, Kurti’s party suffered setbacks.

So is the drama over? Maybe for the time being, but the issues raised by the episode are not going away. By correcting its first slight, the Biden administration has only further highlighted the difficult question that runs through the entire summit: Is this all about geopolitics or is it all about democratic values? Inviting both Serbia and Kosovo does not change the fact that the two countries are on different democratic trajectories. Indeed, the about-face opens new questions on criteria. It is arguably harder to justify keeping Bosnia and Hungary out now.

Still, the administration’s reversal on Kosovo is a welcome development that (among other things) will empower its civil society. With the withdrawal from Afghanistan, Biden signaled a more realistic posture rather than a return to the liberal internationalism of the 1990s. That doesn’t mean he shouldn’t showcase the achievements of that era. Kosovo, with all its flaws, is one of the rare successful cases of US intervention and state-building, and its participation in the summit is a good thing. The summit will help in sustaining the momentum for domestic reforms, while also potentially resetting US-Kosovo relations toward a common outlook and approach to resolving the dispute with Serbia. It may not be a completely new beginning, but it’s a helpful step.

 

 

Humanitarian/Development

 

Serbian QR COVID-19 code valid in EU with some exceptions (N1)

Director of Serbian e-Government Office Mihailo Jovanovic told N1 on Tuesday that people who planned to travel to European Union countries should apply for an EU certificate from Friday.

The old digital certificates would still be valid in Serbia, but also the EU compatible one.

„This also applies to people who come to Serbia from the EU. It will be possible to read the QR at the borders, but our citizens will also be able to move with it,“ he said.

Jovanovic reiterated a document that showed how many vaccines people received but warned that each country treated vaccines differently. Those who travel abroad should look at the countries’ websites or Serbia’s Foreign Ministry portal.

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