Headlines - 29.10.2015

Jahjaga to seek opinion from the Constitutional Court (Kosova Sot, Bota Sot)

President of Kosovo Atifete Jahjaga confirmed that she will send the agreement on the establishment of the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities to the Constitutional Court to assess its legality. She also called on the political parties to sit together and find a way to overcome the current situation in the Assembly. However, Jahjaga said her invitation for a joint meeting between the ruling and opposition parties has not yet been accepted by the latter. President Jahjaga made the comments after a meeting with Austrian President Heinz Fischer who is visiting Kosovo. On the same issue, Bota Sot writes today that Jahjaga will also ask the Constitutional Court to temporarily suspend the process for the establishment of the Association/Community until the court reaches a verdict.

After the SAA comes the visa liberalization (dailies)

Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Isa Mustafa, together with Deputy Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and European Integration Minister Bekim Collaku, held a press conference yesterday where they presented the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA), which finally opens the chapter of the EU integration, as the biggest achievement of Kosovo. According to Prime Minister Mustafa, this agreement has many positive effects and will contribute to strengthening the state of Kosovo. In this conference it was said that after signing the SAA, Kosovo will be granted visa liberalization in 2016.

Opposition will not impede ratification of SAA (Epoka e Re)

Vetevendosje Movement, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo and the Initiative for Kosovo confirmed that they would not block the process of voting the ratification of the draft law on Stabilization Association Agreement. The three opposition parties, however, made it clear that this does not mean that the opposition has changed its position for the agreements on the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities and the demarcation of the border with Montenegro. “We request from the parliamentary majority not to try our readiness not to block the ratification of the SAA by smuggling other issues at the same meeting,” stressed the parties.

Opposition with a different plan to block the Assembly (Zeri)

The opposition parties will be back in the Kosovo Assembly today to take part in a solemn session organized in honour of the Austrian President Heinz Fischer. However, they said that their actions to block the Assembly will continue on Monday. Sources within the opposition told the paper that there is a new plan for Monday to try to block the entrance from the outside and not allow the MPs and ministers to enter the building. If this doesn’t work, then the alternative would be throwing teargas in the Assembly hall again. The MPs of the ruling coalition have started to collect signatures requiring the President of the Assembly Kadri Veseli to create normal working conditions in the Assembly.

O’Connell: Violence will stop, people are against it (Klan Kosova)

The Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Kosovo, Ruairi O’Connell, said in an interview for Klan Kosova that he expects that the violence seen recently at the Assembly and outside it to stop during the coming days. “I hope that the violence will not continue further, we said that it is unacceptable, but I am also optimistic based on the statements of the citizens that violence should not be used. I always trust in the Kosovars who say that they do not want violence. In a survey, 70 percent of them expressed that they are against the actions of the opposition, but not against the opposition. I have continuously seen after the war that there was a possibility to create a way of cooperation for significant processes. Currently, the situation is very serious and dangerous, because the use of violence causes violence, when violence starts, things always get worse. It creates a culture where violence becomes the means of solving problems.

Kosovo soon to introduce provisional license plates for Serbia (Zeri)

Kosovo’s Minister without portfolio, Edita Tahiri, said that the government of Kosovo will soon impose reciprocal measures against Serbia by forcing vehicles entering from Serbia to use provisional license plates. She has not specified any dates on when this process would start, but according to her, first she needs some additional consultations with European Union officials. “It is a matter of days when we will impose reciprocal measures for vehicles from Serbia, " she said. Tahiri also said that the Serbian state is lacking political will to normalize relations with Kosovo.

Kosovo drops two spots in Doing Business report (Kosova Sot)

The World Bank has published its annual Doing Business report that assesses the ease of doing business in 189 world economies, which puts Kosovo two spots lower than its ranking last year at 64. Head of World Bank office in Kosovo, Jan-Peter Olters suggested that Kosovo should avoid tactical policy-making and focus more on the challenges of a socio-economic longer term strategy.