UNMIK Headlines 7 January
Consequences of the unconditional dialogue (Koha Ditore)
Feeling powerless towards Serbia’s obstructions and interferences, the government of Kosovo has addressed once again Brussels with a letter requesting to undertake measures that would prevent Belgrade’s actions. This reaction of the executive came after the decision of the Prime Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, to continue with the parallel structures in Strpce municipality. Brussels has not reacted to this interference and analysts consider that this is happening due to Kosovo’s unconditioned dialogue with Serbia.
The “terrorist” had entered Kosovo three times (Koha Ditore)
The paper quotes sources from the investigation process against the Serbian citizen, Slobodan Gavric, who was caught last month with 13 kilograms of explosive in his vehicle, as saying that the suspect had moved in and out of Kosovo with his vehicle full of explosives, three times. During his questioning, Gavric said that he was supposed to hand over the explosives at the Cathedral in Prisitna, and that he was waiting for a phone call. “There is no strong evidence that indicates a terrorist attack so far,” this source said .
Slobodan Gavric was arrested last month, in an operation led by Kosovo’s Intelligence Agency. This daily learned that only two people except for Bashkim Smakaj, the head of the agency were aware of Gavri’s movements.
Zbogar will stay in Kosovo until 16 February 2016 (Koha Ditore)
The mandate of the Special Representative of the European Union in Kosovo, Samuel Zbogar, ends at the end of the next month, however, he will continue to stay in Pristina being that his contract as head of the European Union Office in Pristina ends only on February 2016. Stojan Pelko, Spokesperson of this Office informed that Zbogar has expressed his readiness to continue with his duty until the conclusion of his contract. He admitted that Zbogar faced some health problems during the last months, however he added that he has recuperated and will be back on duty next week.
Thaci: They want to ruin our relations with U.S. (Zeri)
Hashim Thaci, Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of External Affairs, criticized harshly in an interview for Politico.net portal extremist religious groups and some Imams for trying to ruin Kosovo’s relations with the historical ally and strategic partner, the U.S.A. “Propagators of religious extremism, including some imams, receive extreme amounts of money from different channels and lead a luxurious immoral life, while deceiving the poor with religious extremism,” Thaci said.
Jablanovic requests additional budget (Zeri)
Aleksandar Jablanovic, Minister for Communities and Returns at the government of Kosovo, has requested additional budget for his Ministry. He claims that the existing budget can not meet the expectations of the displaced Serbs to return to their homes. “The budget of this Ministry has increased this year for €400.000 and it has reached 3.4 million euros,” said Jablanovic for this daily. He said that PM Isa Mustafa and Deputy PM Hashim Thaci have promised to hand over three million euros to this ministry by the end of this month. According to this daily, increase of the budget was one of Jablanovic’s conditions to join the governing coalition. The other condition was establishment of the Association of Serb Municipalities as soon as possible.