UNMIK Media Observer, Afternoon Edition, April 7, 2022

Albanian Language Media:

U.S., German ambassadors react to nomination of new Chief State Prosecutor (media)
Prime Minister Kurti participates in the Delphi Economic Forum (Klan)
Kurti and Dzaferovic talk about cooperation between Kosovo and BiH (RTK)
Kusari-Lila comments on why Serbian elections weren’t held in Kosovo (Telegrafi)
Serbian List MPs return to Kosovo Assembly (Zeri)
Haziri: If government is ready, we can go to new elections (media)
COVID-19: 27 new cases, no deaths (media)

Serbian Language Media:

Petkovic met UNMIK chief: Human and political rights of Serbs in Kosovo drastically regressed (Kontakt plus radio, media)
Vucic scores 81 pct of Kosovo Serbs’ votes on Sunday presidential elections (Beta, N1)
How did the Serbian citizens in Kosovo vote: Turnout severely affected by impractical voting arrangement (New Social Initiative)
Vucic to respond to opposition call for talks on new vote in Belgrade (Danas, N1)
ODIHR chief observer notes positive and negative aspects in elections (Beta, RTV, N1)
Abbott: I regret the refusal of the Government of Kosovo to hold Serbian elections (Kosovo Online, RTK2, TV Most)
Von der Leyen asks Sofia to enable start of EU talks with Skopje (Beta)
Dzaferovic: Without consent on the recognition of Kosovo in BiH (RTV, Kosovo Online)

International:

EU, Civil Society, Criticise Kosovo’s Choice of Chief Prosecutor (Balkan Insight)
BIRN Fact-Check: Can Kosovo reopen its border deal with Montenegro? (BIRN)
UN to Vote on Expelling Russia from Human Rights Council (VoA)

Humanitarian/Development:

62% of citizens experienced worsening of socio-economic situation due to COVID-19, report suggests (media)

Albanian Language Media

U.S., German ambassadors react to nomination of new Chief State Prosecutor (media)

The United States Ambassador to Kosovo, Jeffrey Hovenier, reacted today to the nomination of the new Chief State Prosecutor by the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council. Hovenier said: “International representatives, including members of the U.S. Embassy, were invited to attend the KPC April 6 proceedings to select the next Chief State Prosecutor. Our presence as observers should not be regarded as endorsement of the process or proceedings. On several occasions the United States expressed expectations for the selection process of the next Chief State Prosecutor that we believe are shared by Kosovan citizens: that it be fair, objective, transparent, and merit-based. The fact that KPC members disregarded legitimate appeals and the recommendations of the review panel falls short of that standard. The U.S. did not have a preferred candidate nor did we judge the qualifications of individual candidates. We are concerned that the manner in which the KPC conducted these proceedings has damaged the confidence of the Kosovan public and our confidence in the KPC as a public institution.”

The German Ambassador to Kosovo, Jorn Rohde, too reacted today to the KPC decision to nominate Blerim Isufaj as new chief prosecutor of Kosovo. Rohde wrote on Twitter: “This is indeed disappointing and not the way forward. Especially when also well-known Kosovo NGOs like https://t.co/5IpegehjrF Institute & GLPS have voiced similar concerns.”

Prime Minister Kurti participates in the Delphi Economic Forum (Klan)

The Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti has travelled to Greece to participate in the Delphi Economic Forum. During his stay there, he will hold official meetings with various representatives.

The first Delphi Economic Forum was initiated under the auspices of the President of the Hellenic Republic, Mr. Prokopis Pavlopoulos, on 25 February 2016 at the European Cultural Center in Delphi. Since then, the forum is considered a political, social and financial event within the wider region with international attraction. Participants from 32 countries and more than 200 media representatives typically attend the meetings each year.

Kurti and Dzaferovic talk about cooperation between Kosovo and BiH (RTK)

The Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti, accompanied by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Donika Gërvalla, met on the sidelines of the Delphi Economic Forum with the President of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Shefik Dzaferovic.

On this occasion they discussed the relations between the two countries and the possibilities of strengthening and advancing cooperation despite political obstacles.

"The meeting discussed the political and security situation in the region, after the Russian invasion and aggression in Ukraine, which both strongly condemned," the Prime Minister's Office of Public Communication announced.

Prime Minister Kurti said that he should continue to show solidarity and support for the national liberation war of the Ukrainian people and to stand against the wide and deep ties of the Russian Federation with Serbia.

Kusari-Lila comments on why Serbian elections weren’t held in Kosovo (Telegrafi)

Mimoza Kusari-Lila, head of the Vetevendosje parliamentary group, said in today’s session of the Kosovo Assembly that Kosovo was interested to find a solution for Serbian elections to be held in Kosovo’s territory based on its laws and best European practices, but that Serbia did not agree to refer to Kosovo and its government by their name.

Kusari-Lila also said that elections in Serbia revealed that 6,000 Albanians from Presevo Valley were deleted from the voters’ registry and according to her that was “a barbaric act”.

Serbian List MPs return to Kosovo Assembly (Zeri)

Serbian List MPs are taking part in today’s session of the Kosovo Assembly, the news website reports. Two weeks ago, the political party said Serbs will boycott Kosovo’s institutions as Serbian parliamentary and presidential elections were not allowed to be held in Kosovo’s territory and they also called for a decision to suspend Serb judge Liljana Stevanovic to be annulled.

Haziri: If government is ready, we can go to new elections (media)

Deputy leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Lutfi Haziri, said in an interview with Kanal 10 that the Kosovo Government is led by a Prime Minister who has always threatened with new elections. “On the first day he threatened to take us to new elections. When the President was elected, he said that if the law on elections is not voted on, we will go to elections. Even before entering the government, he was thinking about going to new elections. This is nothing new. We are ready [to go to elections]. We don’t need to raise dust or say whether the time is right. A political party wanted to take the country to new elections whenever it stood good in the polls. Is it ready to risk another €7 million to take the country to new elections? Let them do the math, and we can go to elections. For one year now, people have seen their way of governance,” Haziri said.

COVID-19: 27 new cases, no deaths (media)

27 new cases with COVID-19 were confirmed in the last 24 hours in Kosovo, the Ministry of Health said in a statement. 15 persons recovered from the virus during this time. There are 550 active cases with COVID-19 in Kosovo.

Serbian Language Media

Petkovic met UNMIK chief: Human and political rights of Serbs in Kosovo drastically regressed (Kontakt plus radio, media)

The Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, met today with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Head of the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), Caroline Ziadeh, reported Kontakt plus radio.

Speaking about the position of the Serbian people in Kosovo, Petkovic pointed out the fact that their human and political rights have drastically regressed, which was confirmed by Pristina's recent decision to ban the elections of the Republic of Serbia in Kosovo.

"In that way, the Serbian people were denied one of the basic civil and democratic rights, the right to participate in the elections," Petkovic emphasized.

He also recalled the recent decision of Albin Kurti "to replace the president of the Basic Court in Kosovska Mitrovica, Ljiljana Stevanovic, and only because she attended the meeting of Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija with President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade, which is political violence of unprecedented proportions".

He also emphasized that 163 incidents aimed at Serbs have been recorded since the beginning of last year, and that this negative trend continues every day.

He pointed out that "Serbia is sincerely interested in stabilizing the situation in Kosovo and Metohija" and added that Belgrade has fulfilled all obligations undertaken so far from the Brussels dialogue, while the political set in Pristina has refused to form the Community of Serbian Municipalities for almost nine years.

"Besides that, Pristina refuses to implement the provisions related to justice, energy, respect for freedom of movement and visits of officials to the province," stated Petkovic.

According to him, the resolution of the issue of missing persons was initiated at the insistence of Belgrade, and Pristina does not allow the search of nine locations in Kosovo where, according to Belgrade, the remains of Serbs missing during the conflict are located, "while Belgrade, without hesitation, acted on every such request of Pristina ".

"All this together leads to the complete meaninglessness of the progress made so far in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina," Petkovic said.

"Although Pristina continuously and openly shows that it is not interested in substantial normalization of the situation on the ground, Belgrade will remain consistently committed to resolving disagreements at the negotiating table and creating preconditions for permanent stabilization of the situation in the region, but at the same time will never give up the legitimate right to take care of the security and interests of its citizens in Kosovo and Metohija," concluded Petkovic.

The Director of the Office for KiM thanked the UNMIK chief "for the consistent status neutrality of the Mission she heads, emphasizing that the United Nations is an important interlocutor and guarantor of the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1244".

The meeting was also attended by the representative of the United Nations Secretary General and the head of the UN Office in Belgrade, Mari Yamashita.

Vucic scores 81 pct of Kosovo Serbs’ votes on Sunday presidential elections (Beta, N1)

Serbia's Election Commission (RIK) preliminary results showed that 15,851, or 81 percent of voters from Kosovo, supported President Aleksandar Vucic in Sunday elections, while his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) parliamentary list got 12,651 votes.

RIK listed 93.527 eligible voters from Kosovo, and the turnout in the parliamentary and presidential elections was 21.01 percent.

Voters with Serbia’s citizenship had to vote outside Kosovo at polling stations in southern and southwestern towns of Tutin, Raska, Kursumlija and Bujanovac after Pristina authorities banned Serbia’s election on Kosovo territory.

The runner-up in the presidential race was Milos Jovanovic, of the right-wing ‘HOPE’ (NADA) coalition with 5.5 percent of the votes.

In the early parliamentary elections, the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), the SNS main coalition partner, came second with 16.1 percent of the vote, while the 'HOPE' coalition won 5.4 percent of the vote, and the leading opposition coalition 'United for Serbia's Victory' Serbia coalition won 3.13 percent of Kosovo Serbs' votes.

How did the Serbian citizens in Kosovo vote: Turnout severely affected by impractical voting arrangement (New Social Initiative)

Serbian citizens residing in Kosovo who were eligible to vote could not exercise this right twice in 2022. The long-lasting 2012 agreement on the organization of Serbian elections in Kosovo was considered an infringement of its sovereignty by the current Kosovo government, and the international community’s efforts to broker a new agreement failed.

Consequently, the Kosovo government was criticized by Quint states for “failing to demonstrate its commitment to the principle of protecting the civil and political rights of all its citizens”. At the same time, eligible voters with Serbian citizenship were forced to repeat vote in polling stations in Tutin, Raška, Kuršumlija, and Bujanovac.

According to the reports of the local commissions of the polling stations, 93.527 eligible voters from Kosovo were registered in the Serbian Republic Electoral Commission, and they were distributed in 46 polling stations in the four cities. The highest turnout was measured in Zubin Potok, Novo Brdo/Novobërdë, and Skenderaj/Srbica, while the lowest turnout was measured in Ferizaj/Uroševac and Gora.

Overall turnout for both the Serbian parliamentary elections and the presidential elections was 21,01%. This is a significant reduction from 57% turnout in 2020 indicating that a large number of voters were deterred from voting due to the absence of a more practical arrangement. The solution offered by Serbian REC resulted in voters losing 4 to 10 hours on travel and waiting in traffic in order to vote.

Read the report at: https://bit.ly/3KhjQll

Vucic to respond to opposition call for talks on new vote in Belgrade (Danas, N1)

Aleksandar Vucic, the leader of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and the head of state, will respond to a call for talks by Dragan Djilas, an opposition leader, about the possibility to repeat of the elections for the Belgrade City Assembly at hundreds of polling stations, the Danas daily reported on on Thursday.

N1 broadcaster, citing the daily, reported that Vucic’s cabinet told Danas that the President would answer the call on Thursday night during his address at the state RTS TV, the first after Sunday’s vote in which he overwhelmingly won the second consecutive term, but his party did not win a majority in the Parliament and was neck-to-neck with the opposition in Belgrade.

After Djilas’ call to Vucic, Aleksandar Jovanovic of the Ecological Movement and the member of the opposition ‘We Must’ (Moramo) coalition told the Nova daily that there would not be any negotiations or agreements about people’s votes with either the President or anyone else.

Djilas, the leader of the Party of Freedom and Justice (SPP), and one of the main opposition politicians said on Wednesday the Belgraders voted for the change of power in the capital, adding his ‘United for Belgrade’s Victory’ coalition filed objections to the results at 258 polling stations, where, he believed, the vote should be repeated.

“I am prepared to talk to Aleksandar Vucic to ease tensions. He is President of all citizens and should take care of things like this,” he said, adding that the vote at those polling stations should be repeated or early elections should be called in six months.

Djilas said that he would defend every vote with all election means and did not rule out the possibility of protecting the will of the citizens in the street. Another option, as he said, was to repeat the total vote in Belgrade by the end of the year.

ODIHR chief observer notes positive and negative aspects in elections (Beta, RTV, N1)

The head of an OSCE observer mission said on Wednesday that positive and less positive aspects and processes had been registered at the Serbian elections on April 3.

ODIHR observer mission chief Douglas Wake told the state Radio TV Vojvodina (RTV) that basic liberties were respected but that political players were not afforded equal access to the media and that political parties did not have equal access to financing for their campaigns. He said that there was pressure on voters, especially on public sector employees, and that state resources were used to benefit parties. He noted very small improvements in terms of the use of those resources in campaigns by the ruling parties.

The opposition had more airtime on the state TV (RTS) as well as on some private stations, but airtime was limited for all parties. He noted negative aspects in the media such as reporting on activities by state officials as part of the campaign.

According to Wake, the opposition and civil society organizations feel isolated because the media have been turning them into enemies for years and their campaigns have a limited effect on the public.

Wake said that his observers did not report any case of people voting more than once but did not exclude the possibility.

Abbott: I regret the refusal of the Government of Kosovo to hold Serbian elections (Kosovo Online, RTK2, TV Most)

The Ambassador of Great Britain in Pristina, Nicholas Abbott, stated that he regrets the refusal of the government of the temporary Pristina institutions to hold Serbian elections in Kosovo and Metohija.

“There is a precedent for the elections in Serbia since 2012, where Quinta and the OSCE were collecting ballots, but in the talks we had with the government, they made it clear to us that they no longer want that. We considered other options and offered them to the government, but they refused. This is unfortunate because I think it was an opportunity for Kosovo to show that it is ready to show that minorities, in this case Serbs, can vote ...,” Abbott said in an interview with RTK Prime, TV Most cited.

He pointed out that they did not reach an agreement, although, as he states, Quint was in favor of the idea proposed by Serbia.

“In diplomacy, there is always a moment when we want to bring the parties closer. What we saw on Sunday was Plan B, where a large number of voters, probably more than expected, managed to go to Serbia and vote. It is not that it was a clear rejection of the Government, because there were many talks with Prime Minister Kurti and others, but in the end, we did not achieve the progress we wanted,” Abbott emphasized.

He said that in such cases, Pristina must prove its maturity and clearly show the perspective of its future.

“We have heard a lot in the political dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia about the past, but we have not heard so much about the future and I believe that it is extremely important to have a kind of debate about what Kosovo wants in the future. What we want is for Kosovo to be a multiethnic democracy, a country where decisions are made in the interests of minorities, as these rights are ensured to be protected and promoted. And this was an example where we thought that Kosovo did not fulfil these values,” Abbott said.

Von der Leyen asks Sofia to enable start of EU talks with Skopje (Beta)

The head of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, asked Bulgaria on Thursday to help implement the European Council's decision on opening accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania.

“The European Council decided in 2020 to start negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania,“ Von der Layen told a joint news conference after meeting Bulgarian Prime Minister Kirill Petkov in Sofia. She added it was important that EU member states “fulfil their promise to their neighbours, in these difficult times,” Skopje media reported.

Von der Layen added that “nothing will be the same as before the war in Ukraine“, that the promise to the partners from 2020 should be fulfilled and that she counted on Bulgaria to lead the process skillfully.

She said that the rights of minorities were at the core of European treaties and values and that their protection was a fundamental value in the focus of attention.

In early April, Bulgarian Prime Minister Petkov, and Prime Minister of North Macedonia Dimitar Kovacevski separately underlined they had made significant progress in negotiations on the dispute between the two countries.

In December 2020, Sofia vetoed the start of accession talks with North Macedonia, demanding that Skopje meet the Neighbourhood Agreement's conditions and recognise Bulgaria's Macedonian roots and language. Last year, it modified the requirements and formulated them in the "Five plus one" document.

Bulgaria demands that Skopje recognizes that the history of North Macedonia before 1944 is the history of Bulgaria. As Sofia put it, Skopje should stop usurping some Bulgarian historical figures.

Sofia's condition for unblocking EU negotiations with Skopje is to stop alleged hate speech against Bulgarians and make constitutional changes to protect the Bulgarian minority. According to Bulgaria, the EU should provide mechanisms to control whether Skopje adheres to those obligations.

Dzaferovic: Without consent on the recognition of Kosovo in BiH (RTV, Kosovo Online)

No agreement of all political actors in BiH on the recognition of Kosovo's independence, said Bosniak member and chairman of the BiH Presidency Sefik Dzaferovic during a meeting with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti on the sidelines of the economic forum in Delphi, portal Kosovo Online reported, citing Radio Television of Vojvodina (RTV).

Dzaferovic believes that this should not be a reason to prevent the improvement of cooperation between the citizens of Kosovo and BiH, as well as a greater degree of communication between officials who, as he says, have been participating together on multilateral regional platforms for a long time.

According to the Anadolu agency, Dzaferovic talked with Kurti about the current situation in the Western Balkans region, emphasizing the implications of "Russian aggression against Ukraine".

The interlocutors agreed that the path of the Western Balkans region is in Euro-Atlantic integration.

During the meeting, they agreed on the need to improve the flow of people, goods, capital, and services between BiH and Kosovo, as the current visa and customs regime is the most rigid in Europe, harming all people in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.

International

EU, Civil Society, Criticise Kosovo’s Choice of Chief Prosecutor (Balkan Insight)

The EU office in Kosovo criticises Blerim Isufaj's election as Chief Prosecutor, calling the process neither 'fair, transparent nor merit-based' – a claim supported by civil society organisations.

The European Union has expressed concern about the election of Blerim Isufaj as Kosovo’s new Chief Prosecutor on Wednesday, and local civil society organisations have urged President Vjosa Osmani to consider the evident shortcomings of the process when she decides to decree the decision or not.

Isufaj was unanimously chosen on Wednesday by the 11 members of the Prosecutorial Council, putting an end to a process marred by complaints from others in the race.

Humanitarian/Development

62% of citizens experienced worsening of socio-economic situation due to COVID-19, report suggests (media)

62.5 percent of citizens interviewed by the Kosovo-based Democracy for Development (D4D) said their socio-economic situation deteriorated by the COVID-19 pandemic while 11.2 stated their situation improved. Meanwhile 25.3 percent said the pandemic did not affect their socio-economic situation.

D4D said in the research that while the pandemic has negatively impacted citizens globally, this effect was more noticeable in Kosovo “due to the high level of unemployment and the social situation in the pre-pandemic period.”

“While in 2019 the unemployment rate at the national level was 25.7%, one of the highest percentages in the region, during 2020 a large number of citizens and businesses were hit due to the economic crisis and preventive measures approved by the Government of Kosovo for preventing the spread of the pandemic. In addition to the economic impact, the citizens of Kosovo, especially women and other vulnerable groups, experienced deteriorating living conditions. Numerous studies during this period conducted by D4D have shown that the burden on women has multiplied,” the report said.

The research included 1,065 respondents across Kosovo and was carried out in March 2022.