Thaçi: Meeting with Dacic opens a new chapter (dailies)

In an interview for Radio Free Europe, Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi said the resumption of dialogue with Serbia constitutes a new chapter. Thaçi said there is consensus among political parties in Kosovo and confirmed at the Parliament to initiate this dialogue.

“This meeting was in full compliance with the Constitution and laws of Kosovo for good neighborly relations and with the resolution of the Kosovo Parliament to normalize relations between Kosovo and Serbia. This meeting opens a new chapter, a new era in the process of normalizing inter-state relations between Kosovo and Serbia,” Thaçi said about his meeting with Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic.

“We waged war against each other. Kosovo won the war, now it has to build peace, develop and move toward integration in NATO and the European Union,” Thaçi added.

Kuçi: Dialogue to end with peace treaty (Epoka e Re – front page)

In an interview for the paper, Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister Hajredin Kuçi announced that the political dialogue with Serbia will end in a peace treaty between two countries. He said it would be senseless if the dialogue of the most senior level doesn’t end in a historic agreement which would lay out a permanent peace and mutual recognition. “Every conflict between two countries, two people, has resulted in a peace treaty. Republic of Kosovo and Serbia should sign peace treaty at the end of this dialogue,” noted Kuçi.

He also added that Kosovo’s platform in talks with Serbia will be its Constitution and Ahtisaari’s plan.

Speaking about the recent meeting between Kosovo PM Hashim Thaçi and Serbia’s Ivica Dacic, Kuçi stressed that it paves the way for continuing of dialogue, building permanent peace and rehabilitating relations between the people. “We have to accept the fact that this meeting marks a good symbolic and we now have to focus on implementing respect for sovereign countries, territorial integrity and legal-constitutional internal arrangements of each other,” Kuçi said.

Kosovo is late with request for dialogue platform (Koha Ditore – front page)

The paper writes that Kosovo yet again entered the dialogue with Serbia without a platform for talks. The dialogue started off with the meeting of Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi with Prime Minister of Serbia Ivica Dacic, on Friday in Brussels. The paper notes that all political parties have consistently requested from the Government a clear platform for talks with Serbia.

Government has promised that the platform will be prepared with full consensus with all political entities and that it will be submitted for approval in Kosovo Assembly. The platform, if there is one, has not been made public and has not been submitted to Kosovo Assembly. Instead, the ruling party, PDK, submitted to the Assembly a proposal for talks which was approved also by opposition parties LDK and AAK, but failing to condition talks with the platform which the parties have requested continuously.

Opposition parties seek accountability from Thaçi (Express – front page)

Opposition parties - LDK, Vetëvendosje and AAK - are planning to call on Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi to the Assembly to explain the meeting he had with Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic. The parties insist on Thaçi revealing the topics of the meeting and what is expected to be discussed in upcoming rounds. Government officials said PM Thaçi stands ready to report to the Assembly anytime he is requested to.

The north, the forbidden apple (Zëri – front page)

Zëri reports on the front page that former members of the Rambouillet Conference don’t want to preempt the outcome of talks between Kosovo and Serbia, but warn that any deviation from the Ahtisaari Plan will produce new and unpredictable problems for the region. They also argue that the northern part of Kosovo can under no circumstance be a topic of high-level political talks expected to begin in November.

“We cannot talk about Kosovo’s internal affairs with an outside factor. If there are attempts to address the problem of the north at the talks, then there should inevitable talks about the problem of Albanians in Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac. The north and Eastern Kosovo are equivalent issues which require equivalent solutions. One cannot address the same problems from different angles,” said a former member of the Kosovo delegation at the Rambouillet Conference.

Dilemma over north’s inclusion in the dialogue (Koha Ditore – front page)

The paper carries a report originally aired by KTV which speaks of the situation in the north and the prospects for finding a solution for it through dialogue. In this respect, the report quotes head of Kosovo Government administration office in the north Adrijana Hodzic as saying that dialogue is necessary to overcome the current situation. “Sincere talks are needed that would result in improvement of living conditions for those that live here,” said Hodzic who added that the office she leads is concerned with day-to-day issues of citizens in the north and is not of political nature.

Nikolic is looking for allies in Macedonia about Kosovo (Koha Ditore – page 3)

Koha Ditore reports that Serb President, Tomislav Nikolic, stated on Sunday that for Serbia in its path towards European integration is the fact that it does not accept to give up a part of its territory. In an interview for a Serb television in Skopje, Sitel, Nikolic said that he made it openly clear in talks with European officials that it is impossible that in the 100 hundred coming years in Serbia, there would be someone that would accept independence of Kosovo.

Nikolic said Serbia has understanding for Macedonian state problems though the country has recognized independence of Kosovo. “I know that you will not implement the condition that would humiliate Macedonia and I appreciate this, but make sure sometimes that you push your politicians to value the stance of Serbia that without Kosovo it will not join EU”, said Nikolic.