Headlines - 29.07.2015

EU: Delays in formation of special court, unjustified (Koha Ditore)

The paper reports on its front page that the European Union Office in Kosovo finds it unacceptable that Kosovo’s institutions are delaying the establishment of the special court. “For a long time now everything has been ready for the adoption of the constitutional amendments and the law. Further delays cannot be justified,” an EU unnamed official in Pristina told the paper. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) leader, Hashim Thaci, is expected to meet today with his MPs before the scheduling of the second assembly session on the special court.

Kosovo government to discuss special court today? (Epoka e Re)

The Government of Kosovo will meet today (Wednesday) at 09:00 hours for its regular meeting. Although the agenda does not include discussions on the special court, a government minister who preferred to remain anonymous said that if any positive step is made by MPs who initially voted against the special court, then the governing would discuss the matter during the day. “The moment that we are assured that we will have a sufficient number of votes, the government will address and re-submit the issue to the Assembly,” the said minister added.

Special court, only if voted in a package with Armed Forces (Zeri)

The paper reports that another alternative for the establishment of the special court might be voting also the Kosovo Armed Forces in the same package with the constitutional amendments that enable the establishment of the special court. A senior official of the Kosovo government who preferred to remain anonymous told the paper that the MPs of the ruling coalition and the majority of the opposition parties MPs would and vote in favor of the establishment of the special court if it would be put to a vote together with the amendments on Kosovo Armed Forces.

Serbs block Kosovo Armed Forces (Kosova Sot)

Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister, Branimir Stojanovic, told the paper on Tuesday that the Serbian List will vote the constitutional amendment that enable the establishment of the special court, but would not vote for the establishment of the Kosovo Armed Forces. “First of all, a dialogue is required. If someone wants us to support something, then we must take part in that process," Stojanovic said. In regards to the Association/Community of Serb-majority Municipalities, Stojanovic said that this is the most important issue for the Kosovo Serbs. "We will insist that the Association/Community be implemented as foreseen in the Brussels Agreement, despite that some people are trying to scare the Kosovo Albanians saying that this would be an organization that would endanger anyone in Kosovo. This is not accurate,” he said.

Selimi: We put in a lot of work on the UNESCO membership (Klan Kosova)

In an interview for the TV station on Tuesday, Kosovo’s Deputy Foreign Minister Petrit Selimi discussed among other topics on Kosovo’s application to join the UNESCO and noted that Kosovo’s eventual membership will be a great step forward. “It would mark another of Kosovo’s victories as far as interaction with the world is concerned. The ruling of the International Court of Justice was a great victory because it was the legitimate right of our country. The membership of UNESCO would make Kosovo’s voice even more powerful … We have put in a lot of work as far as the membership is concerned. We initiated this in November last year, but I preferred not to talk about it. We had over 130 meetings with different delegations to see where we stand. We noticed that countries that have recognized us, but also many countries that have yet to recognize us, do not want to leave us isolated … The first step [toward membership] is to secure a sufficient number of votes in the [UNESCO] executive committee, 32 out of its total number of members have recognized our statehood. We have already secured the simple majority of votes … We still don’t have guaranteed votes but I believe we will secure them by November,” Selimi said.

Serbs cannot impede Kosovo at UNESCO (Epoka e Re)

Experts of the constitutional issues assessed that claims of Kosovo Serbs that they would impede Kosovo’s membership through their deputies at the Assembly, are ungrounded. Pristina-based political analyst Fisnik Korenica stated that Kosovo’s membership at UNESCO is not related at all to the Article 81 of the Constitution, which foresees votes of the double majority. Afrim Hoti, professor of the international right explained that the membership cannot be impeded within Kosovo nor outside of it.

Dialogue continues (Epoka e Re)

Kosovo’s Minister for the Dialogue with Serbia, Edita Tahiri, said in an interview for this daily that there will be no interruption of the Pristina - Belgrade dialogue in Brussels. She said that the process will continue on the 5 August, when the technical aspects for reciprocal recognition of security policies will be précised. Tahiri explained that there was no official request to interrupt the dialogue

Vucic: Serbia will not recognize Kosovo (Kosova Sot)

Serbia’s Prime Minister, Aleksandar Vucic, in an interview for the German-based Sueddeutsche Zeitung, said that even though Serbia made some compromises, its citizens would never accept Kosovo as an independent state. “Serbia is doing everything in its power to calm the situation. Kosovo Serbs are already part of the Kosovo government and political life,” Vucic said.

Llapushnik residents allow church to be built in their village (Zeri)

The paper reports that there is no obstacle anymore to the project of the Diocese of Kosovo for the construction of the Catholic cemetery or even a church in the village of Llapushnik. Residents in the village announced through a press release that they reached an agreement amongst themselves not to protest against the construction of the Catholic cemetery in this village.