• Thaci ‘revives’ border correction idea (Zeri)
• Mustafa says Thaci should give up border correction, Thaci reacts (social media)
• Djuric to Thaci: Kosovo will never be part of Albania (Kosovapress)
• Assembly Speaker Veseli to meet UN ASG Jenca (media)
• Wilson: Great compromises are needed in dialogue (Koha)
• Association/Community could return to negotiating table (RFE)
• Serbian President to present plan on Kosovo to parliament today (media)
• Kosovo Tax Administration staff arrested in Serbia (media)
• PDK’s Haliti says videos published by Koha are false arguments (Koha)
• Montenegro Army chief to visit Kosovo today (media)

Thaci ‘revives’ border correction idea (Zeri)

President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci reiterated his view on border changes as part of the final agreement with Serbia saying it was his ‘life’s commitment’ to ensure the Presevo Valley joins Kosovo.

Speaking in an event in the region of Has in Albania, Thaci said: “I would like to reaffirm before the men and women of Has my life commitment for Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac joining the territory of the Republic of Kosovo without undermining a single milimiter of the Republic of Kosovo territory”, Thaci said adding that Trepca, Ujman/Gazivoda Lake, Mitrovica will remain in Kosovo.

Mustafa says Thaci should give up border correction, Thaci reacts (social media)

Leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Isa Mustafa, called on President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci to give up the idea of border correction as an ‘unacceptable’ option.  “We are not in a flea market but in a very delicate moment our country is going through”, Mustafa wrote adding: “I have also told President Thaci as did the whole of Kosovo publicly that his political discourse on border correction is very wrong and unacceptable. He needs to correct himself. If not, he will be the one to face the consequences, not the others”.

Thaci responded to Mustafa’s statement, by ‘thanking’ him for the advice. “I reiterate that no evil will come to the country from the debate and presentation of different views on achieving a common goal. Correction of injustices towards Presevo Valley and Albanians is my unstoppable commitment”, Thaci wrote.

He said Presevo Valley should join Kosovo just as “Kosovo should naturally join Albania under the joint EU umbrella or only under the Albanian umbrella, if the EU continues to close its doors to us”. “National unification is in the mind and spirit of every Albanian. Let’s make this a reality together”, Thaci concluded.

Djuric to Thaci: Kosovo will never be part of Albania (Kosovapress)

Head of the Serbian Government’s Office for Kosovo, Marko Djuric, responded to President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci’s statement of Kosovo joining Albania saying that “Kosovo will never be part of Albania”.

Djuric said Thaci should be aware that “Serbia has no intention of joining Albania and that any form of separatism is in violation to national and international legal norms”.

Assembly Speaker Veseli to meet UN ASG Jenca (media)

Kosovo Assembly Speaker Kadri Veseli is expected to meet today the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas, Miroslav Jenca, online media report.

According to Kosovapress, the meeting comes at a time when the initiative of Veseli for establishment of an international tribunal for the Serb ‘genocide’ in Kosovo is being discussed. It also adds that during his visit to Kosovo, Jenca will only meet Veseli and no other Kosovo official.

Wilson: Great compromises are needed in dialogue (Koha)

The paper runs as its leading front-page story an interview with Damon Wilson, executive vice president of the Atlantic Council, highlighting his remarks that Kosovo and Serbia will have to find themselves the way toward a final and comprehensive settlement and that great compromises are needed in dialogue. “Every agreement, especially an agreement that aims for historic reconciliation, inevitable requires great compromises,” said Wilson, who is visiting Kosovo together with his team as part of efforts to renew the U.S. engagement in the Balkans. According to him, neither Brussels nor Washington should impose a solution on the two sides.

The paper also notes Wilson has recently suggested a new strategy that the U.S. should follow in the Balkans to avoid Russian influence and to promote reforms that enable integration in Euro-Atlantic structures.

“The biggest challenge that the Western Balkans faces is internal – the courage and capacity of local leaders to build a steady democracy in the region. But there is no doubt that the region also faces the great threat of Russia that wants to obstruct progress,” Wilson was quoted as saying.

Association/Community could return to negotiating table (RFE)

Establishment of the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities, according to Radio Free Europe, has remained in the margins of ideas for border changes as part of an agreement between Kosovo and Serbia.

With the Paris summit approaching, Kosovo government officials say they have no agenda of the meeting but do not rule out the possibility of the Association/Community being one of the items to be discussed.

“We should always be mindful that the Constitution and laws of Kosovo are the basis for any action. With respect to the Association, the same principle will apply. Kosovo will implement or will agree to implement this as it has taken on international obligations for this but always by respecting the country’s laws and Constitution”, Kosovo government spokesperson Donjeta Gashi said.

At the same time, political analyst Ramush Tahiri said he doesn’t think the issue of establishment of Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities will be discussed in Paris. He said the meeting will most likely touch on general topics.

“Kosovo is undergoing a reassessment of everything it has done so far in talks with Serbia. On the one hand we have the statement of the Kosovo President Hashim Thaci saying that for as long as he is president there will be no Association of Serb-majority municipalities with or without executive powers. He says this is because ‘we had certain promises from the European Union, and none were delivered’. On the other hand, the government of Kosovo has also stated, through the prime minister, that if the Association is formed, it will be in line to the opinion of the Constitutional Court”, Tahiri said.

Kosovo Serb analyst Randjel Nojkic said the Association/Community issue could be returned to the negotiating table. “[President of Serbia Aleksandar] Vucic has admitted he has no solution. There is nothing left except for Vucic to pick up the issue of Community of Serb-majority municipalities. However, the Community of Serb municipalities, based on the model Vucic wants, is outdated. Community of Serb municipalities will never be formed. If, however, there is agreement to establish it, it will not be different to what is stipulated by the Constitution of Kosovo and its laws”, he said.

Serbian President to present plan on Kosovo to parliament today (media)

Most news websites report that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic will present to the Serbian Parliament today a report on the negotiations in Brussels and for the resolution of the Kosovo issue.

Kosovo Tax Administration staff arrested in Serbia (media)

All media report that Serbian authorities arrested on Sunday a staff member of the Kosovo Tax Administration. Kosovo’s Foreign Minister, Behgjet Pacolli, wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday: “I was just informed that Serbian state authorities have arrested Marjan Gjokaj, a staff member of the Kosovo Tax Administration, as he was travelling back to Kosovo. I condemn Serbia’s continuous actions against the citizens of Kosovo, and I demand his immediate release. The intimidation and provocation by Serbian security structures against Kosovo’s citizens that travel through Serbia is a reminder of the mindset of the 1990s”.

PDK’s Haliti says videos published by Koha are false arguments (Koha)

Xhavit Haliti, Vice President of the Kosovo Assembly and deputy leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), commented on Sunday on recent videos published by Koha which showed members of a suspected criminal group mentioning his name and the name of PDK leader and Assembly President Kadri Veseli. Haliti said the arguments are false and that there is an intentional campaign aimed at staining his and Veseli’s authority. “It is absurdity, a dirty campaign in which you have involved MPs, the representatives of the people, with a group of thugs, a group of swindlers,” Haliti told the paper. The paper carries a separate box within the same article saying that the videos are part of the police and the prosecution files and that Haliti’s remarks are pressure on the freedom of press.

Montenegro Army chief to visit Kosovo today (media)

Several news websites report that Brigadier General Dragutin Dakic, Chief of the General Staff of the Montenegro’s Armed Forces, will visit the Kosovo Ministry of Defense today and meet Kosovo Security Force (KSF) Minister, General Rrahman Rama.