Headlines - 17.03.2014

Serbs in Kosovo voted for Assembly of Serbia (dailies)

Koha Ditore reports on the front page that Kosovo Serb citizens have voted to elect leaders in Serbia in a process managed by the OSCE in Kosovo which opened 10 “collecting centers” for the purpose.

The entire voting process was called “collection operation” by the OSCE and the Kosovo Government, although in these centres it was voted under the same procedures as in any other election process. With the exception of an incident in Mitrovica North triggered by the placing of a Serb flag in the entrance of the voting centre, the process was peaceful.

Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister, Slobodan Petrovic, was in Gracanica to follow the voting process. “We also said earlier that we are going to be active in this process, above all, because it is important for the people in Kosovo to know who is going to form the government in Belgrade and who is going to lead the state. They want to know who is going to be the future guarantor for people living in these areas,” said Petrovic.

Vucic’s party wins about 50 percent of votes (Koha Ditore)

Serbia’s centre-right Progressive Party SNS) led by Aleksandar Vucic has won about 50 percent of the votes in yesterday’s parliamentary elections in Serbia, announced the Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID). Referring to the partial vote counting, CeSID director, Marko Blagojevic, said that Progressive Party has won about “fifty percent of casted vote” and this result translates into an even greater percentage of seats in the next composition of the Parliament.

Blagojevic added that a sufficient number of votes have been counted in order to give the percentage. Meantime, Socialist Party of Prime Minister, Ivica Dacic, has come in the second place with about 15 percent of votes, said Blagojevic. SNS in this way has consolidated the power for next four years, while its main promise in election campaign was radical reform of economy in Serbia.

Decision on elections and Tribunal, this week (Tribuna)

Based on reliable sources close to the Government, Tribuna reports that the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, is expected to invite this week the leaders of the political parties in Kosovo, to decide on the date of dissolving the Parliament of Kosovo.  He will call on this meeting as the leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo.

Also, during this week, the contributing countries for EULEX, are expected to conclude discussions on the shape of the court which will treat eventual accusations deriving from a three year investigations based on the accusations of the former rapporteur of the European Council, Dick Marty. Sources of this daily claimed that some of the powerful members states are convinced that establishment of the court should not go through the UN Security Council. The same4 countries are convinced that the court should allow Kosovo judges to be part of EULEX. One of the powerful countries with the right of veto both at EU and the UN SC, supports the idea of having one of the court rooms in Kosovo. All contributing countries of EULEX are convinced that the eventual trial should independent and complete.

Election reform to be voted on Thursday? (Epoka e Re)

Presidency of Kosovo Assembly is to meet today but according to its agenda, there will be no discussion on election reform. At the same time, members of the legislation commission claim there is no reason to postpone approval of election reform by the Assembly. PDK’s representative in the commission, Halit Krasniqi, said he was hopeful election reform will be on the agenda of the upcoming session of the Assembly on Thursday. “I expect the presidency of the Kosovo Assembly to include this law on the agenda of the next session,” he said.

Northern Serbs want their own security forces (Bota Sot)

Representatives of four Serb majority municipalities in northern Kosovo have supported the request of the Serbian Government and Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic to have Northern Security Forces there.

“The ethnic composition of Security Forces in the north would reflect the ethnic percentage of the population there and its existence would guarantee security,” a communiqué issued by Serb political representatives in the north noted.

Belgrade-based B92 reported that according to the communiqué the Association of Serb majority municipalities would appoint a Kosovo Serb as chief of the security forces.

Bildt against comparison of Kosovo with Crimea (dailies)

Swedish Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt, said that Sunday’s referendum in Crimea is illegal and violates Constitution of Ukraine, while saying that sanctions against Russian leaders would be difficult to be avoided. In an interview for the Swedish Radio Ekot, Bildt has dismissed parallels with Kosovo which broke away from Serbia and it is recognized by Sweden and about half of the UN member states.

“There are crucial differences. After a major war in 1999, Kosovo was placed under UN administration, a long political process underlying its independence, with the EU, Kosovo and Serbia all having participated. Crimea in contrast, has been subject to Russian military intervention,” said Bildt.

Greece to accept Schengen visas in Kosovo passports (dailies)

Greece has decided to accept Schengen visas in Kosovo passports. Implementation of this decision will start to apply on 20 March of this year. Deputy Prime Minister of Greece, Evangelos Venizelos has confirmed this news to Kosovo’s Foreign Minister, Enver Hoxhaj. So far, Kosovo citizens were obliged to receive Greek visas. Greece is among the five EU member countries that have not recognized Kosovo. Venezilos also stated that despite the non-recognition, Kosovo will not be impeded on its European aspirations.

Krasniqi: Do not insult intelligence of this nation! (dailies)

Kosovo Assembly Speaker, Jakup Krasniqi, has opposed holding of early elections of Serbia in Kosovo, saying that in this way is insulted intelligence of the people of Kosovo. In his profile in Facebook, Krasniqi wrote that it should be told the truth to the people about these elections, because lies don’t work anymore. “It is said that Serbia is not organizing elections, it is collecting votes”. Can votes be collected without elections? What should we say to this next fraud? While political analysts, Behxhet Shala and Shkelzen Maliqi, even that they have criticized this process, they have accepted that this was the only way to enable Kosovo Serbs to participate in these elections.