UNMIK Headlines 27 June
Vetevendosje conditions with reformatting of dialogue and privatization (Koha)
The paper reports that Ramush Haradinaj might not be able to serve his mandate as a Prime Minister even if the ruling of the Constitutional Court gives him the right. This daily claims to have seen a copy of a document drafted by Vetevendosje movement on 19 June and sent to the Quint states which suggests that the coalition between the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) and Initiative for Kosovo (Nisma) will have Vetevendosje’s support at the Assembly only if they agree to reconsider the dialogue with Serbia and privatization process. If their conditions are not met, Vetevendosje plans creation of “an emergent government” which would start a direct dialogue with Kosovo Serbs. The document also suggests continuance of the dialogue with Brussels “to redefine current relations between Kosovo and EU into complete contractual relations as with the other countries in the region.” The document also requests interpretation of legitimacy of the reached agreements with Serbia by the Venice Commission.
Certification of elections might delay due to complaints of parties (Koha)
The Central Election Commission has announced Thursday the final results of the 8 June elections which confirm that the coalition gathered around the Democratic Party of Kosovo has won majority of the seats at the Assembly, with 37 deputies. The Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) will have 30 deputies, Vetevendosje 16, Alliance for the Future of Kosovo 11, Serbian Citizens List 9 while Initiative for Kosovo (Nisma,) will be represented by six deputies. The last step prior to the constitution of the Assembly is certification of the results, however this process could take time in case of eventual complaints by the parties and their candidates. The paper notes that Behxhet Pacolli’s Alliance for New Kosovo (AKR) which did not manage to pass the threshold, has already announced that it will undertake this step.
UN requests finding of the missing to be a priority (Tribuna)
United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has presented its findings from the visit to Kosovo, which stress the need for re-identification and importance of the dialogue in order to receive information on enlightenment of the fate of 1711 missing persons, 532 of them being from Serb community. Jasminka Dzumhur stated that this is a difficult and a painful process, especially for the families of the missing and called on all stakeholders to treat the matter of finding the missing as a priority. According to her, relevant institutions should have financial resources and technical support in order to improve their capacities. “There should be a strengthened direct dialogue among the prosecutors in order to reach a political platform and the role of UNMIK and EULEX should be to facilitate establishment and strengthening of the current dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade,” said Dzumhur. Head of this Working Group, Ariel Dulitzky, said there is more need for powerful political determination than for calculations which could justify delays on this problem. ”We believe that there should be more stimulation and better conditions which would allow people to come up with concrete information that could lead to the enlightenment of the fate of the missing persons, and we believe that different international factors, including the Hague Tribunal and KFOR should open all their archives and files to offer potential information that could lead to the enlightenment of the fate of the missing,” said Dulitzky.
Only 45 bodies found in Raska so far (Tribuna)
Forensics expert, Arsim Gerxhaliu, said in an interview for this daily that there are suspicions for another mass grave of Albanians killed during the conflict in Kosovo at in Rudnica. He said that exhumation at a new location in called Rudnica 2, will start next week. “We have found 45 bodies so far, and we have taken DNA samples from 87 mortal remains. After analysis we can tell if these remains belong to the found bodies or to some other person in particular,” he said. According to him four to six weeks are required for the results of DNA analysis.
The Framework is more clear than the Constitution (Tribuna)
The front page article of this daily reports that the Constitutional Framework drafted during UNMIK’s administration in 2001, appears to be more clear than the Constitution of Kosovo, at least on the two current issues that the latter is requested to give its interpretation. The 30 page Constitutional Framework signed by UNMIK chief at that time, Hans Hackeroup, clarifies in detail each step for the creation of the free democratic institutions. The document did not leave room for interpretation on the matter of establishment of the government and the Speaker of the Assembly. According to the Framework, the position of the Assembly Speaker belongs to the party with majority of seats, while the government can be created by those who have majority of votes at the Assembly.