UNMIK Headlines 8 January
Thaçi calls on all Serbs to return to their properties (dailies)
Kosovo Prime Minister, Hashim Thaçi, congratulated two Serb families in the village of Videja within the Klina municipality on the occasion of the Orthodox Christmas. Thaçi said that they are working jointly for a European Kosovo. Thaçi was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister, Slobodan Petrovic, Minister for Communities and Returns, Dalibor Jevtic and the Mayor of Klina, Sokol Bashota. “I wish you success for Christmas. I wish a joint future for all,” said Thaçi. He called on all displaced persons to return to their properties. “Kosovo is ours, it is a homeland for everybody, we are all working together to build a European Kosovo,” Thaçi told the media.
Vucic: Serbs want peace and calm (dailies)
First Deputy Prime Minister of Serb Government, Aleksandar Vucic, said that Serbs want peace and calm and that Serbia does not forget its people in Kosovo. Vucic stayed in Gracanica on Tuesday where the main liturgy of Christmas was held. “Serbia will never give up on its Serb citizens living in Kosovo, who will not be stopped from visiting,” said Vucic. The politician considered the most powerful in Serbia said that Belgrade politics is engaged for peace, negotiations and discussions. “Serbs should react with calmness and restraint, but not because they are weak, but precisely because they are strong”. He added that Serbia wants to build good relationships with everyone.
Insurance policies in Brussels (Tribuna)
Working groups of Kosovo and Serbia are expected to meet in Brussels on 10 January and focus on insurance policies at the border crossings in Jarinje and Bernjak. The date of the meeting was confirmed by Kosovo chief negotiator Edita Tahiri.
Invitations without Kosovo symbols (Zëri)
Inaugural meetings of the municipal assemblies in four northern municipalities will take place on 10 January while the new mayor of North Mitrovica, Krstimir Pantic; event invitations will neither bear Kosovo nor Serbian symbols. “We will send out invitations without the logos of any sides, neither of Kosovo institutions nor of Serbia. Elections have been held and they were status neutral and this is the way we want to hold inaugural meetings,” said Pantic.
12 January deadline (Epoka e Re)
12 January is the deadline to inaugurate municipal assemblies in north of Kosovo. Deputy Prime Minister Edita Tahiri said that elected mayors in the north understand that this process has to be done in the framework of Kosovo laws. “If they don’t respect Kosovo laws, they will not be accepted as legal municipal structures,” said Tahiri. She requested that the new mayors take the EU message on the inauguration of municipal assemblies in the north seriously.
EULEX to restructure in two phases (Tribuna)
Once the decision for restructuring the EU rule of law mission in Kosovo, EULEX, is taken, it is expected to happen no later than next month; the new mission will stop accepting new cases of war crimes and corruption. This will last until 15 June when EULEX’s official mandate ends with the new mission initially taking on a provisional three-month mandate. The confidential strategy that the paper claims to possess stipulates further that the mandate of the new mission, whose name is yet to be decided, will extend to 2016.
Vulin’s mindset should be changed (Lajm)
Gjakova Mayor Mimoza Kusari-Lila said that statements by Serb minister Aleksandar Vulin do not help in improving relations between the two states. According to her, Vulin always uses these visits for political provocations. She says that he does not have the ability to visit Kosovo. The statement of the so-called Minister for Kosovo in the Serbian Government, Aleksandar Vulin, that “Gjakovars are not human” does not help in the normalisation of relations between the two countries. Mimoza Kusari-Lila said that Vulin is to blame for Serbs not being able to enter in the Orthodox Church yesterday.
Vllasi: Serbia is making propaganda (Epoka e Re)
According to political analyst Azem Vllasi, Serbia would not sacrifice the EU for Kosovo. According to him, Serb officials are creating propaganda so that Brussels does not to condition them to recognise Kosovo. He said that the neighboring country should be conditioned with the definition of state borders.