Headlines - 21.06.2016

Special court to shake Kosovo by year’s end (Zëri)

The paper reports in a front-page story that by year’s end the special court for war crimes is expected to file its first indictments against former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leaders. According to the paper, these indictments will shake Kosovo as it is being said that the detainees will be high-profile officials.  European Union Special Representative in Kosovo, Samuel Žbogar, said the establishment of special court may be finalised by the end of this year. “We are now waiting for the Netherlands to ratify the agreement with Kosovo, because this is quite a complicated procedure in the Netherlands, but it must be finalised by end of this year,” he said. Kosovo lawyers say that the Special Investigative Task Force proved to be very serious until now because no information was leaked so far.

Ratification of border demarcation deal could be postponed (Epoka)

The head of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) parliamentary group, Adem Grabovci, warned of the possibility that the border demarcation agreement with Montenegro is put to the Assembly not before the end of summer holidays. He said the MPs have not yet received the relevant materials required prior to the scheduling of the Assembly session. “According to my estimates, it is unlikely this material will be distributed before the holidays”, said Grabovci.

President Thaçi to meet Mogherini and Schulz today (RTK)

Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi travelled to Brussels today to meet EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini and President of European Parliament, Martin Schulz.

Visa liberalisation after two final criteria are met (Koha)

European Commission officials said on Monday they believe Kosovo will meet its obligations in the visa liberalisation process. “The European Commission submitted the visa liberalisation proposal for Kosovo on 4 May 2016. And after the proposal was accepted by the European Parliament and the EU Council, Kosovo is expected to ratify the border demarcation agreement with Montenegro and to strengthen the fight against organized crime and corruption. The current proposal is being discussed by the European Parliament and Council,” Tove Ernst, spokesperson for Migration, Internal Affairs and Health in the European Commission, told the paper on Monday. “The European Commission is confident that Kosovo will soon ratify the border agreement and will step up efforts in the fight against organised crime and corruption”. Ernst also said that when the visa liberalisation roadmap for Kosovo was drafted, EU member states strongly supported the inclusion of the request for ratifying the border agreement with Montenegro.

Agani relieved of minister’s post (Kosova Sot)

Prime Minister of Kosovo, Isa Mustafa, has relieved of his duty the Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning, Ferid Agani, after he was indicted on abuse of position charges. Agani maintains he is innocent of the charges but nevertheless is ready to step down until all legal proceedings against him are over and he is declared innocent. President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, hailed the move as an example of institutional ethics and good governance. He said the rule of law remains crucial for the Euro-Atlantic perspective of Kosovo and that no one who is indicted or convicted should be part of Kosovo institutions.

Janjić: Court’s decision on Monastery property must be respected (Zëri/RFE)

The Deçan/Dečani Monastery Abbot, Father Sava Janjić, told Radio Free Europe on Monday that the decision of the Constitutional Court to transfer 24 hectares of land to Monastery’s ownership must be respected. He said the Monastery has welcomed the Court’s decision and that this decision was completely legal, not political. “The decisions of the Constitutional Court are decisions of the highest body of justice in Kosovo and must be respected,” Janjić said.

IMF seeks clarifications over KLA veterans’ lists (Kosova Sot)

A delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) met yesterday Prime Minister of Kosovo, Isa Mustafa, and discussed the budgetary implications arising from the list of Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) veterans which has been finalized and numbers over 46,000 members. Earlier, Mustafa said such a figure exceeds all estimates and may pose a risk to the stability of the Kosovo budget.

Government wants control over Central Procurement Agency (Koha)

The paper reports on its front page that Mursel Rracaj, director of the Central Procurement Agency (CPA), is under pressure from Finance Minister Abdullah Hoti to sign three procurement contracts amounting to over €12 million. According to the paper, Rracaj risks losing his job in the event he doesn’t sign off the contracts. Minister Hoti wrote in a letter to Rracaj: “I call on you in the capacity of director of the Central Procurement Agency to sign off without further delay the contracts mentioned in point 1 of this letter, otherwise you will be held responsible for failing to implement the respected legal provisions”. Hoti later wrote another letter to Rracaj, which according to a source in the Ministry of Finance, is “pure blackmail”. The source added: “In the letter, the Minister asked Mr. Rracaj to prepare a detailed report about his work and the work of the Agency … He asked for the report to be prepared on the same day. This is blackmail.”

Government turned down €140 million investment in Brezovica (Koha)

In one of the front-page stories, the paper reports on the failure of the Brezovica ski resort project. According to the paper, the government turned down a proposal by the Turkish company, “AkGirisim”, which pledged to invest €140 million in Brezovica. The winning consortium had asked for an additional period of five months to document the first funding part of the project. Meanwhile, local economy experts in Pristina argue that the failure of the Brezovica project is “an indicator about the failed economic policy” in Kosovo.