UNMIK Media Observer, Afternoon Edition, March 3, 2023

Albanian Language Media:

Kurti: Kosovo, the first among six WB countries for electoral democracy (media)
Germany: Without the Association, there is no agreement with Serbia (Klan)
Rasic on the European proposal: The agreement is good (Koha)
“Prime Ministers of 27 EU countries planned to participate at the signing ceremony” (Paparaci)
Bislimi on an official visit to Athens (media)
Elections in the north are legitimate even without participation of Serbian List (RTK)

Serbian Language Media:

Vox Pop in Gracanica: No one must give up on Kosovo (Radio KIM)
Survey: Most respondents negatively assess European proposal, claim it would lead to accelerated departure of Serbs from Kosovo, bring nothing good (KoSSev)
Invisible People: Large number of adult persons cannot obtain Kosovo documents (Radio Gorazdevac, Radio KIM)
Women in Media: Sexual harassment, discrimination, extra working hours (Radio KIM, KoSSev)
Synzog on expropriations, EU proposal, development of north (Radio kontakt plus, KoSSev)
Vucic meets with Hill (Tanjug)
Lavrov: ZSO issue in Kosovo and Minsk Agreement same deceptions by West (Kosovo Online, Klix.ba)
We expect implementation of all agreements to date - Slovak MFA (Tanjug)
Abazi: Serbia “colonised” all areas with natural resources and underground ores, which is why SOC wants property (KoSSev)
Sveclla accuses member of “parallel structures” for a brawl in student dormitory in Mitrovica North (Radio KIM, media)
Office for KiM: Request of liaison officer to visit Trajkovic and Adzic denied (Kosovo Online)

International:

Hague Court Publishes Details of Hashim Thaci’s Alleged War Crimes (Balkan Insight)

Albanian Language Media

Kurti: Kosovo, the first among six Western Balkans countries for electoral democracy (media)

The Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti has said that Kosovo is ranked first out of the six countries of the Western Balkans in the Institute of Electoral Democracy for 2023.

Kurti emphasised that a lot of work has been done to achieve this result and added that a lot still needs to be done, Klankosova.tv reports.

"More confirmation of our democratic progress: Kosovo has improved three places and ranks, first among the six countries of the Western Balkans in the V-Dem Institute, Electoral Democracy Index 2023. A lot of work has been done to achieve this result and there is much to be done. Better days—more democracy—are yet to come," Kurti wrote on Twitter.

The V-Dem Institute (Varieties of Democracy) is an independent research institute founded by Professor Staffan I. Lindberg in 2014 that studies the qualities of governance.

Germany: Without the Association, there is no agreement with Serbia (Klan)

In an answer to Klankosova.tv, the German Embassy in Pristina said that Kosovo should be ready to start concrete talks about the Association.

"Kosovo must now show readiness to start concrete talks on the ASM. Because without it an agreement will not be possible," it was emphasised in the response of the German Embassy in Pristina to Klankosova.tv.

After the statement of the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic that Serbia will never allow Kosovo to become a member of the UN, Klankosova.tv has requested the opinion of the sponsoring state of the European proposal, Germany, asking also if this statement constitutes a violation of the agreement.

In a written response from the Embassy of Germany in Kosovo, they said that the parties should adhere to the clear commitments of the proposal, in particular the article on international organisations.

"It was important that both sides came to Brussels on Monday and agreed in principle on the proposal. We call on both parties to actively engage in the further process. This includes respecting their clear commitments on all aspects of the proposal, including those related to international organisations," says the German response.

Germany also said it welcomes the positive outcome of Monday's dialogue meeting in Brussels as "both sides agreed on the German-French Proposal.

The German government, the Embassy says, strongly supports the EU-led dialogue and the efforts of EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak.

"The proposal offers the opportunity to take a big step forward and achieve a comprehensive normalisation of relations. This chance should now be used by the parties," the response of the German Embassy in Pristina emphasises.

Rasic on the European proposal: The agreement is good (Koha)

The Minister for Communities and Return, Nenad Rasic, said that the agreement reached in principle between Kosovo and Serbia, on February 27 in Brussels, is good.

"The agreement is good. In particular, let's not go into other details, but when it is said that the two sides will try not to act in a radical, extreme or whatever way, but this should be regulated only through negotiations. I think that in general the people of Kosovo will only benefit from the point of the agreement and we should hope that no possibility of conflict will arise," he said.

Rasic also spoke about the seventh article of the agreement proposed by the European Union, but said that so far, he does not know how the term "self-government" of the Serbian community in Kosovo will be determined. “I am not part of the meetings where this issue is being discussed, I would not be in a hurry [to talk about it] before I see it, because there is no need", Rasic added.

“Prime Ministers of 27 EU countries planned to participate at the signing ceremony” (Paparaci)

After the agreement on the European proposal reached on Monday in Brussels, the special EU representative Miroslav Lajcak has sent the guidelines to Prime Minister Albin Kurti.

Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi said that Kosovo and Serbia will have fewer problems after this agreement.

"We have to see which version suits us, we will not copy. There are versions which logically cannot be implemented in Kosovo, and which were developed for islands," he said.

Meanwhile, Bislimi, announcing that the next high-level meeting will be on March 18 in which a joint document of the annex will be discussed, said that when the parties agree, the European Union will take over the procedures of signing or finalisation.

Bislim said all 27 prime ministers of the EU countries will participate at the signing ceremony. "This is the idea or the plan, this should be arranged by Mr. Borell," he said.

Bislimi on an official visit to Athens (media)

The Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi travelled to Athens today. The news was announced through a press release from the Prime Minister's Office.

"The first Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, Development and Dialogue of the Republic of Kosovo, Besnik Bislimi, has travelled to Athens.

During this official visit, Deputy Prime Minister Bislimi will have meetings with government officials and MPs from the Greek Parliament," the announcement states.

Elections in the north are legitimate even without participation of Serbian List (RTK)

Kosovo’s Minister for Community and Return Nenad Rashic told Radio Kosova that even without the Serbian List and with the small participation of citizens in the elections for mayor of four municipalities in the north of Kosovo, the result of the elections is legitimate and legal.

"In this case, as far as I know, legitimacy does not prevent legality. Theoretically, it has not happened so far. Yes, with one vote of his own, the candidate for mayor gains the legitimacy," Rashic said.

Thus, the Minister for Community and Return, Nenad Rashiq, said that whatever the result of the elections that will be held, it will be legitimate and legal.

The expert on constitutional law, at the same time the former chairman of the Central Election Commission Mazllum Baraliu told Radio Kosova that participation of a certain percentage is not legally required for the elections to be considered legitimate.

"Another thing is how much democracy and inclusiveness there is in those elections if a part of the citizens who trust the Serbian List do not come out to vote or boycott the elections. So, regardless of the percentage, the elections will be able to be held there and will be handled legitimately and legally," Baraliu emphasised.

Serbian Language Media

Vox Pop in Gracanica: No one must give up on Kosovo (Radio KIM)

Serbs in Gracanica hope that the Community of Serb Municipalities, following support to the European plan by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, will be established, although some of them are not certain what it means, or will it bring anything good to them. Of one thing they are certain and believe that Serbia will never give up from people living here, Radio KIM reports.

“That proposal would probably not be fully endorsed, however, the international community must do something, ours to defend on one side, Albanians to defend their position on the other side. Nothing happened thus far, regardless of negotiations, the agreements were not honoured”, Zoran Maksimovic told Radio KIM.

“I do not have a response, because all of them are lying. As far as I know no one drowned his own child, so neither will they (reference to Kosovo being a protegee of Western powers), but I do hope it will be slightly better for us as well”, a woman from Gracanica said.

“I guess they will get something, we hope he will get what he is asking for (reference to President Aleksandar Vucic). We hope to get a Community of Serb Municipalities, and for other as it be. We wanted it to be formed, and will it bring any good no one knows it”, Desimir Stanojevic said.

“Big nothing”, another resident said.

Others argued that the Community of Serb Municipalities should be established as agreed in Brussels, and not as Pristina requested it, while others said a European proposal should not be signed.

Commenting on the accusation of the opposition that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic by agreeing to the content of the proposal also de facto recognized Kosovo, including its membership in UN, people from central Kosovo, Radio KIM spoke with, are convinced Serbia will not give up on Serbian people living in Kosovo. Some relayed on President Vucic, some said that even in a war situation authorities should not give up on their own people.

“No one must give up on Kosovo”, Miodrag Pavlovic said.

“No, at no case”, Fikret Berisha said.

Survey: Most respondents negatively assess European proposal, claim it would lead to accelerated departure of Serbs from Kosovo, bring nothing good (KoSSev)

“In the most appropriate language – as Serbs in Vukovar benefited following (Slobodan) Milosevic’s signature for peaceful reintegration, here we are in Serbia peacefully reintegrated”, reads a response by one of the KoSSev portal readers to the question - what will Serbs get with so-called European proposal? The portal also urged respondents to use appropriate language in their addresses.

Although international partners, Belgrade and Pristina claim the agreement was made for the benefits of the citizens, those surveyed think otherwise – if one is to judge based on their responses, the portal adds.

Out of total 2.034 respondents, the dominant majority voiced negative sentiment towards the European proposal, adding they think it brings the least benefits to the citizens. The stance that the proposal brings nothing good to Serbs, but only to Pristina was dominant. The portal surveyed citizens on three social networks – Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Asked what they think of the content of the European proposal, 560 persons responded on Instagram. 328 of them, respectively 59 percent, think this proposal is the least good for the citizens, while 31 percent (173 respondents) said this agreement was good for Pristina. Five percent (29 – 30 persons) said the agreement was good for Belgrade, respectively that the agreement was good for both sides.

Results on Twitter were slightly different. Out of 292 total respondents, 39 percent said the proposal was good for Pristina, while 32 percent responded it was the least good for the citizens. Still, 27 percent think the proposal is good for both sides, and only two percent said the agreement was good for Belgrade.

Asked what proposal will bring to Serbs in Kosovo, out of 657 total responses on Instagram, 59 percent (388 respondents) said “nothing good”, while 23 percent (150 persons) said it goes to the favour of Pristina. 78 respondents respectively 12 percent think there will be no changes, while only 6 percent (41 respondents) choosed to say the agreement will improve lives of Serbs in Kosovo.

On Twitter, the response “nothing good” was chosen by 40 percent out of 328 total responses. 22 percent think there will be no changes, while 20 percent think the lives of Serbs will improve. 19 percent think that the agreement goes in favour of Pristina.

Responding to a question posted on Facebook – what will Serbs in Kosovo get if the European proposal is accepted, 197 responses were received. Their opinions were almost unanimous – Serbs will get nothing good.

Some of the respondents argued that once the plan is officially signed Serbs on the ground would depart in six months time, depending on how fast they will sell their properties, and that the plan will bring nothing good but only contribute to accelerated departure of Serbs from Kosovo.

KoSSev portal also said a discussion between Serbian and Albanian visitors opened on the portal, some arguing that Serbs will not live well in Serbia, and others saying it is not all that great in Kosovo either.

One of the Albanian users posting photo of a tractor (reference to Serbs’ mass expulsion from Croatia during Storm operation, when majority of population used tractors to escape) said – Serbs will soon get the latest models of tractors, turbo ones to return to their old places of origin – Carpathian Mountain, the portal said.

Other commented on remarks of Albanians praising the situation in Kosovo and saying there are no inter-ethnic incidents in Pristina by saying there are no inter-ethnic incidents because there are no Serbs left there given that they were all expelled or their properties still usurped therefore they can not return to the city.

Others argued that those having properties in central Serbia will leave, while impoverished people would stay as they have nowhere to go.

See at: https://bit.ly/41IqOc1

Invisible People: Large number of adult persons cannot obtain Kosovo documents (Radio Gorazdevac, Radio KIM)

Many people born in Kosovo or returning to it and living there for longer than a decade and a half can not register in the civil registry books and obtain the right to have Kosovo documents, Radio Gorazdevac reports. Their rights and impeded access to jobs, social programs, subventions and freedom of movement are only some of the problems they encounter, because they cannot obtain Kosovo documents.

Large number of young persons in the Serbian community are unable to obtain Kosovo documents, which they perceive as discrimination by the authorities against them. The law on citizenship envisages the right is obtained by birth, by the birth of one of the parents in Kosovo and in case that a person is born outside of Kosovo, by a written consent that a child can be registered in civil registry books but this can be done latest by 14th year of a person applying for documents.

Due to poor interpretation of this law, many citizens born in Kosovo or returning to live here and living in Kosovo for longer than a decade and half can not obtain documents. They took part in a questionnaire Radio Gorazdevac posted on its website and talked about their problems.

There are numerous examples of parents who returned to Kosovo at the beginning of last decade and have Kosovo documents however their children do not have.

“Such treatment is unjust towards persons who didn’t obtain documents on time although they live in Kosovo. It also fully hampers enjoyment of all their legal rights”, one of the interlocutors, a Serb woman returnee from Istok, told the portal.

Marta Dasic from Brestovic returnee village near Pec is facing the same problems, saying that ever since she turned 18 years she was trying to obtain Kosovo ID card.

“My father, mother, two brothers and sister all have Kosovo documents apart from me. I was born in Kragujevac and this causes a major problem to me”, she told Radio Gorazdevac. She only has a Serbian ID card issued by the police administration for Pec, but often faces problems because Kosovo police dispute the legality of this document.

In northern Kosovo there were cases where requests for registration in the civil registry were rejected because they also requested diplomas of the completed education in Kosovo.

“I was born as a displaced person in Berane (Montenegro) and we returned to Mitrovica. My entire family has documents but me. I am rejected because in my diploma it was written – Kosovska Mitrovica, Srbija”, N.P. from Mitrovica North told Radio Gorazdevac. He also said that because of this he can not find the job.

One of the persons who managed to solve his problem was Damjan Portic from Gorazdevac. He said he went to Pec municipality thirty times, three times to Belgrade where he was born to get different documents from there, an apostille stamp on his birth certificate and many other papers. “I was born in Belgrade and immediately returned to Gorazdevac. I live here my entire life, almost 22 years. I have completed primary and secondary school, entitled at the faculty in Kosovska Mitrovica and yet faced problems obtaining Kosovo documents”, he told Radio Gorazdevac.

He added there are many young people in his village facing the same problems. He also confirmed papers confirming that he completed the education in Gorazdevac were not accepted.

Radio Goradevac said it did not manage to receive a reply from Kosovo Ministry of Internal Affairs on this matter by the time of publishing this article.

Women in Media: Sexual harassment, discrimination, extra working hours (Radio KIM, KoSSev)

One in the three women working in the media sector in Serbia had experienced sexual harassment, while seven in ten women experienced discrimination based of their age or appearance. In Kosovo media, one in four women were victims of sexual harassment, showed the data released by Peaceful Change Initiative (PCI) from the survey on position of women in media in Serbia and Kosovo, Radio KIM reports.

Women journalists, photo-reporters, lectors, montage staff, editors, directors, managers working in different media spheres took part in research titled “Women in Media”.

401 women working in the media sector in Serbia were surveyed, while in Kosovo 365 women were surveyed. Although the survey was anonymous, most of the respondents were reluctant to share details of their experiences.

“This indicates what we feared from, 26.5 percent of women were discriminated against for their physical appearance, 36 percent of them against their age. What was surprising to me is that women equally complained of age discrimination being them young or older. 42.7 percent think they sacrificed their private life for the sake of their job, while 24 percent think that private life affects their job very much. 41.2 percent of women sometimes think and 27.9 often think of changing jobs. And when you put all this together it turns out that 70 percent of women working in the media outlets are dissatisfied with the job they perform”, Tamara Skrozza, author of the research in Serbia said.

The author of the research in Kosovo, Dafina Hallili said they surveyed 365 women, adding that the largest number of women media professionals work on TV stations.

“There are much lower salaries and larger discrimination for those working for the portals. 50 percent of women said their salaries are lower than average. 40 percent of women journalists work more than 40 hours a week, without any financial compensation as required by the Law on Labour. 20 percent of them were discriminated against for their physical appearance, 28.3 percent because of their age. Almost all respondents said they sacrificed private life for the sake of journalism, and all this is linked with a wrong perception of people leading the media who think that those working in the media must be available 24 hours a day, without any compensation”, Halili said.

The survey reports in all three languages for both locations are available at: https://bit.ly/3kQjASG

Synzog on expropriations, EU proposal, development of north (Radio kontakt plus, KoSSev)

The agreement deriving from the European proposal is a good agreement for Kosovo and Serbia, the region and Europe and will bring about tangible results. The current comments and critiques on it are premature, because the negotiations process is still ongoing. In upcoming days we hope we could have an agreement that would include a political part, and an annex on implementation with clear deadlines and goals for implementation of this and previous agreements, head of European Union Office in Kosovo, Tomas Szunyog told Radio kontakt plus.

Ambassador Szunyog visited northern Kosovo yesterday and spoke with Serb political representatives, civil sector, and visited some of the institutions and projects supported by the European Union. This is his first visit to the north, following the crisis in December last year. “We are concerned because of security vacuum in the north of Kosovo, we clearly see the situation is not healthy in a sense that institutions are not working, in particular security ones…We must start working on that in order to reach the point that institutions start working again and offering services to the people”, he said.

According to him, the solution is in the return of Serbs in Kosovo institutions, but also in the implementations of the provisions of the agreement from 2013, including Community of Serb-maority Municipalities.

“Now is the time to establish a Community which is not only international but also the internal, legal obligation of Kosovo”, he said.

Talking about expropriation in northern Kosovo, he said that Kosovo institutions didn’t respect their own laws. “This is something that we can not accept. If there is a law, it must be respected, and in particular institutions must do that”, he noted.

He also said the rule of law is a crucial element for European integration of any candidate or potential candidate. For us, respect for existing legislations and of course harmonisation of that legislation with European standards was of crucial importance for anyone aspiring to join the EU.

Commenting on the COnstitutional Court decision from 2016 on returning the land to Visoki Decani Monastery, Synog said it was unacceptable that the decision of the highest court instance in Kosovo is not respected by the Kosovo institutions, including the government. “(…) I think this has to be resolved as soon as possible, because it is part of the rule of law. If you do no respect decision of the Constitutional Court, it is simply something that is not healthy. I can have opinion about such decisions, but again – this is a matter of the rule of law. If the court decides so, you must implement it”, he said.

Vucic meets with Hill (Tanjug)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic met with US Ambassador to Belgrade Christopher Hill on Friday to inform him of the most recent round of the Brussels dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.

"We agreed that urgent formation of a Community of Serb Municipalities is a priority, as well as that much more effort, work and discussions are needed to solve the accumulated problems in everyday life of citizens in Kosovo and Metohija", Vucic wrote in a post on his buducnostsrbijeav Instagram profile.

Vucic thanked Hill for an invitation to attend an upcoming Summit for Democracy, to be held in an online format this month to discuss the significance of democratic values in the world today, as well as global economic perspectives.

"We also exchanged views on Serbia's plans regarding diversification of energy sources and energy efficiency, as well as on many other matters of mutual interest", Vucic added.

Lavrov: ZSO issue in Kosovo and Minsk Agreement same deceptions by West (Kosovo Online, Klix.ba)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov compared the issue of the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities with the Minsk Agreement, adding it was the “same deception” by the West, Kosovo Online portal reports.

“Same Story: deception of Serbia in the part related to the Community of Serb Municipalities in Kosovo, and deception of Russia in the part related to the Minsk Agreement”, Lavrov said.

According to him, the West didn’t intend to implement the Minsk Agreement. He added in the same manner Western countries did not plan to implement agreement related to Serbs in Kosovo.

The portal recalled that former German Chancellor Angela Merkel was quoted as saying that the Minsk Agreement was an attempt to give time to Kyiv to grow stronger. The same was confirmed by the-then president of France.

We expect implementation of all agreements to date - Slovak MFA (Tanjug)

The Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said the outcome of the most recent meeting in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue was a major step towards normalisation of relations between the two sides.

In a statement sent to Tanjug, the ministry said this could be an impetus to further talks leading to a legally binding agreement on comprehensive normalisation of Belgrade-Pristina relations.

From both parties, we expect implementation of all agreements reached to date and a constructive approach in further rounds of the talks, the ministry said, noting that it fully supported Miroslav Lajcak and Josep Borrell, the EU facilitators in the dialogue.

Abazi: Serbia “colonised” all areas with natural resources and underground ores, which is why SOC wants property (KoSSev)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti held a meeting in Brussels this Monday. After the meeting, it was announced that the parties agreed that “no further talks are needed“ regarding the content of the European proposal – whose full content was published on the same evening under the name “Agreement on the path to normalisation between Kosovo and Serbia.“

The agreement consists of 11 articles, one of which mentions the Kosovo Serb community and the status of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Although this is the only article of the European proposal referring to the Kosovo Serb community, as well as the status of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Kosovo President of Vjosa Osmani, still described it as “not easy”, the portal reports.

The former vice president of the Kosovo government and former supporter of the ruling Self-Determination party, Haki Abazi, also criticised the proposal for a special status for the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo. According to Abazi, “Serbian colonisation“ from the time of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes lies behind the extraterritoriality of the property of the Orthodox Church in parts of Kosovo that are rich in natural resources and minerals.

“In every place where there are natural resources and underground ores in Kosovo, the Serbian King has placed Serbian colonisers. Gracanica, Novo Brdo, Pec, Mitrovica, Strpce, Klokot, Obilic, and other places where there are gold, silver, chrome, bauxite, lignite, and rare minerals – this is the reason for the extraterritoriality of the property of the Orthodox Church“, he alleged.

International

Hague Court Publishes Details of Hashim Thaci’s Alleged War Crimes (Balkan Insight)

A less redacted version of the indictment of ex-President Hashim Thaci and three of his former Kosovo Liberation Army guerrilla comrades discloses details of alleged beatings, murders and a mass grave, as well as the identities of some victims.

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague has published a less redacted version of the indictment of former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, who goes on trial with three other Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA ex-officers next month, giving more details of the war crimes and crimes against humanity charges against them.

The latest version of the indictment, filed by the prosecution on February 27, also discloses the names of some of the ethnic Albanian, Serb and Roma victims in the case, as well as details of alleged threats and pressure they exerted against the KLA’s political rivals.