UNMIK Headlines 9 October
Visits start with Nikolic (Tribuna)
Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic is the first Serbian official that will visit Kosovo after the agreement between prime ministers Thaci and Dacic for allowing visits by Serbian officials during the election campaign in Kosovo. Nikolic is expected to visit Gracanica this week.
Officials close to the process of dialogue told the paper that it was unreasonable if Pristina would completely ban visits by Serbian leaders and meanwhile to ask their support in encouraging Serbs to take part in the elections.
Serbia’s Prime Minister Ivica Dacic is stay in Kosovo next week and will visit two Serb settlements, in the southern and northern part of Kosovo.
The European Union and the Government of Kosovo have reportedly received guarantees from Dacic that during his visits to Kosovo he will not campaign for the united Serbian list.
Dacic won and Thaçi did not lose (Koha Ditore)
Koha Ditore reports that a day after the meeting of Kosovo Prime Minister, Hashim Thaçi, with his counterpart from Serbia, Ivica Dacic, diplomats in Brussels expressed happiness that the crisis that threatened the entire process of dialogue has been overcome. EU diplomatic sources consider that the agreement is good for both Kosovo and Serbia as lack of progress would have damaged both parties in the eve of the Progress report that is set to come out in a week’s time. EU diplomats claim that Prime Minister of Serbia, Dacic, can now feel “comfortable” after his emotional reaction has ensured removal of obstacles for visits of Serb politicians in Kosovo, but added that also with this “Thaçi did not lose anything, either.”
Belgrade considers that mini-crisis has passed (Lajm)
Last nights agreement after what was called mini-crisis in the process of the dialogue with Pristina, is considered in Belgrade to be over. One of the spokespersons in Serbia, Milivoje Mihajlovic, stated today that it was proved once again that Brussels could intervene efficiently to the obstacles that Pristina is setting to the election process as well as the entire negotiating process. Mihajlovic stated for the Serbian public broadcaster that these developments come after the reflexive reaction of the Prime Minister Ivica Dacic, towards Pristina’s latest destructive steps.
Return of Serbia to Kosovo under Thaçi’s auspices (Koha Ditore)
Vetëvendosje Movement opposed agreement between prime ministers of Kosovo and Serbia reached on Monday in Brussels allowing officials from the Serbian Government to take part in Kosovo election campaign. “Dacic’s participation in election campaign in Kosovo is in contradiction to the normal logic of relations between two sovereign countries,” said Vetëvendosje in a statement.
According to the movement, the agreement of 19 April gave way to formalizing and legalizing Serbia’s executive presence in Kosovo and this is happening under “strict supervision” of Hashim Thaçi.
Only international observers in the north (Zëri)
Around 100 international observers will be deployed to the northern part of Kosovo on election day while there will be no local ones present during the process. The team of observers will be made of long-term and short-term staff that will arrive to Kosovo from all member states of the EU, including Norway and Switzerland, said spokesperson of the EU observers mission in Kosovo, Florence Marchal.
However, head of CEC Valdete Daka denied reports that local observers will not be allowed to go to the north. “In the northern part, alike the rest of Kosovo, there will be accredited observers from all communities,” she said.
Pacolli: Old election law, bad omen (Epoka e Re)
First Deputy Prime Minister and head of New Kosovo Alliance, Behgjet Pacolli, said that it is bad luck for the state of Kosovo that also these elections will be held with the old legislation on elections. Pacolli said that the present law on elections does not create any transparency, but he called that in these elections not to be made manipulation with votes. “For the sake of our path towards EU and the wish to build a civilized state, the votes of citizens should not be touched, not to make pressure on them and not to manipulate with their votes,” stated Pacolli.
Krasniqi calls for tolerance in Western Balkans (Tribuna)
In his address at the Conference of the six parliament speakers of Western Balkans countries, Kosovo Parliament Speaker Jakup Krasniqi said, “for a long period of time, our region has had the bad image of a powder keg because of dangers, endless conflicts and the lack of stability and political readiness. But this belongs to the past now. I want our region to be different.”
Krasniqi said peoples of the Western Balkans and their political leaders should maintain stability in the region in order to strengthen peace and cooperation and ensure economic development that brings perspective and well-being.
“When Balkans was engulfed by wars, Europe too was part of that. The past of the region has shown us that fighting over foreign lands is not the solution; the people of the Balkans and South-East Europe desperately need peace, partnership, tolerance and development,” Krasniqi added.
Russian pilgrims win the battle at the Kosovo border (Koha Ditore)
Russian pilgrims that travelled from Moscow to visit orthodox monuments in Kosovo without visas to enter into territory of Kosovo, have been allowed by border authorities to enter Kosovo but were denied journey on foot to the Peja patriarchy. “After intervention of the Office of European Union in Kosovo and few embassies, customs authorities have allowed the entry of these Russian citizens,” said a source of the newspaper. “The entry has been allowed, but not their insistence to go to the Peja patriarchy on foot.”
Kosovo police have not explained this case in details while officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that they know about the case, but they did not explain reasons that led to the violation of the decision of Government on visas. They did however admit that European missions in Kosovo have been involved in this matter.