• COVID – 19: 249 new cases, 3 deaths (media)
• Biden sends letter to Vucic, urges Serbia to recognise Kosovo (media)
• Vucic reacts to Biden letter (media)
• Osmani: Only outcome of dialogue is a recognition treaty (media)
• Kurti: Independence of Kosovo is the final status of our country (media)
• Hoxhaj: Incredibly important development (media)
• Kosovo election candidates call for alliance against corruption (The Guardian)
• Kurti: We don’t need to form a coalition with anyone (media)
• Hoxhaj: EU unjust towards Kosovo (media)
• Rasic: Kurti promised 10% quota for non-Albanian communities (media)
• Selimi: I was only minister opposed to disbanding the task force (media)
• Kosovo’s Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians need real change (Prishtina Insight)
• Ongoing procedures to extend Lajcak’s mandate (media)

COVID – 19: 249 new cases, 3 deaths (media)

249 new cases of COVID – 19 and three deaths from the virus were recorded in the last 24 hours in Kosovo. 274 persons recovered from the virus during this time. There are 7,063 active cases of COVID – 19 in Kosovo.

Biden sends letter to Vucic, urges Serbia to recognise Kosovo (media)

All media covered a letter that U.S. President Joe Biden sent to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Serbia’s national day on February 15, highlighting Biden’s remarks about mutual recognition between Serbia and Kosovo. Below is the full text of the letter:

Dear Mr. President,

On behalf of the American people, I extend my heartfelt congratulations to you and your fellow citizens as you celebrate Serbia’s national day on February 15.

As we commemorate 140 years of partnership between our two countries, the United States maintains its enduring commitment to promoting economic cooperation, regional stability, and democratic values. We remain steadfast in our support of Serbia’s goal of European integration and encourage you to continue taking the hard steps forward to reach that aim – including instituting necessary reforms and reaching a comprehensive normalisation agreement with Kosovo centered on mutual recognition. The strength of our relationship is built on deep contributions Serbians have made to American society across many fields. We also our value close cooperation in combatting the COVID – 19 pandemic as we jointly confront this unprecedented global challenge.

I look forward to working with you to deepen the bonds of friendship between our countries and to strengthen the relationship between Serbia and the United States. I wish you and the people of a joyful celebration.

Koha Ditore reports on its front page that Biden’s letter was not well received in Serbia while political leaders in Prishtina saw it as reconfirmation of Washington’s support for Kosovo.

Vucic reacts to Biden letter (media)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic commented on a letter he received from U.S. President Joe Biden, urging Serbia to recognise Kosovo’s independence. “It is not very pleasant to realise that US foreign policy is aimed at having Kosovo’s independence recognised,” Vucic said. “We understand this is America’s new policy, and there were attempts in Washington, too, to force the term upon us as something that we were supposed to accept as a final solution. I made it very clear at the White House what I thought about mutual recognition and my answer would be no different this time.”

Osmani: Only outcome of dialogue is a recognition treaty (media)

Kosovo’s Acting President Vjosa Osmani welcomed US President Biden’s letter to Serbian President Vucic saying that Serbia’s recognition of Kosovo is the only way to a final agreement between Kosovo and Serbia. “It is clear that the only outcome of the dialogue is a recognition treaty,” she added.

Kurti: Independence of Kosovo is the final status of our country (media)

Vetevendosje Movement (VV) leader Albin Kurti said on Sunday that Biden’s letter to Vucic showed the essence and that is that the agreement for normalisation with Kosovo must be centered on mutual recognition. “I believe we have reached a point where we don’t have to discuss Kosovo’s status. If there is anything to discuss then it is Serbia’s status, the problem with Serbia’s Constitution, and parts of it which mention Kosovo as part of Serbia,” Kurti added.

Hoxhaj: Incredibly important development (media)

Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Acting Leader and candidate for Prime Minister, Enver Hoxhaj, took to Twitter to welcome U.S. President Biden’s letter to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. “Thankful to President Biden for reiterating that Kosovo and Serbia must reach a final agreement centered on mutual recognition. This is an incredibly important development as the Western Balkans can only move forwards in its European integration path when all disputes are solved,” Hoxhaj tweeted.

Kosovo election candidates call for alliance against corruption (The Guardian)

A new political alliance is the only way to tackle a “huge wall of corruption” in Kosovo, the leading candidates for prime minister and president have said ahead of elections next week that may for the first time since the Balkan state declared independence deliver a majority to a single party.

The joint ticket between Albin Kurti for prime minister and Vjosa Osmani for president is proving popular in polling as furious campaigning and rallies that show few signs of meeting any social distancing rules enter the final week before the 14 February vote.

Kurti and Osmani come from different traditions and parties, but have said they share a determination to end endemic state capture by a corrupt elite.

Kurti comes from the left and is heavily focused on jobs and justice, especially for youth. Nearly half of Kosovo is aged under 30.

He rose to fame as a long-haired student activist in the late 1990s, demonstrating against the mounting repression of Kosovo Albanians by Slobodan Milošević’s Serbia. He led student protests at the University of Pristina, worked for the political wing of the Kosovo Liberation Army and was imprisoned by Milosevic’s regime for almost three years.

Now suited and hair shorn, he insists he has not lost his determination. “It’s better to go forward even though you suffer some near epic death because you will get the chance for resurrection. Rather than staying in power by all means with compromises and concessions to everybody.”

Osmani, who is aged 38, a mother of two and fluent in four languages, is from the centre right and conducted her first interview, with the Guardian, when 17, after her family had been forced to flee their home in northern Kosovo. She is a rare female force in a male-dominated polity and became acting president after Hashim Thaci was forced to stand down to face war crime charges in The Hague.

If elected prime minister, Kurti has insisted he wants Osmani appointed president by the assembly.

Read full article at: https://bit.ly/3cN8PdH

Kurti: We don’t need to form a coalition with anyone (media)

Vetevendosje Movement (VV) leader Albin Kurti said in an online conversation with citizens on Sunday that his party will not form a coalition with anyone after the February 14 parliamentary elections. “There is no one to form a coalition with,” he is quoted as saying.

“At exactly this time in one week we will find out the election results, which will be in the favor of the Vetevendosje Movement – so everything is good and we don’t need any coalition because there is no one to form a coalition with,” Kurti said, adding that he formed a coalition with Vjosa Osmani’s initiative. “Now it is the people that is going out in a referendum”.

Hoxhaj: EU unjust towards Kosovo (media)

Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Acting Leader and candidate for Prime Minister, Enver Hoxhaj said in a video on Sunday that the PDK’s top priorities is the economic recovery of the country which was hit hard by the COVID – 19 pandemic. Hoxhaj also criticised Brussels for delays in visa liberalisation for Kosovo’s citizens. “The European Union has been unjust towards us when it comes to visa liberalisation and this approach must end,” he said.

Rasic: Kurti promised 10% quota for non-Albanian communities (media)

Several news websites quote Nenad Rasic, leader of the Progressive Democratic Party, s saying that Vetevendosje Movement (VV) leader Albin Kurti promised him a 10 percent quota of representation for non-Albanian communities.

“An important thing for us, the Kosovo Serbs, is that the next Prime Minister [referring to Kurti] personally promised that there will be a 10 percent quota of representation for non-Albanian communities in all institutions, ministries, in local government and public enterprises,” Rasic said.

Selimi: I was only minister opposed to disbanding the task force (media)

Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) candidate for MP and outgoing Minister of Justice, Selim Selimi, said on Sunday that he was the only minister in the Hoti-led government that opposed the dissolution of the anti-corruption task force. “With all the question marks surrounding its functioning, it was wrong to disband the task force. Disbanding it with a government decision created legal uncertainty which then leads to other gaps,” he argued.

Kosovo’s Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians need real change (Prishtina Insight)

Opinion piece by Isak Skenderi, executive director of Voice of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian NGO

The Kosovo Constitution guarantees seats in the parliament for Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians, but this has not provided a true voice for these communities.

Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians in Kosovo continue to struggle at the margins of society, hindered by poverty and unemployment, an issue highlighted by the European Commission’s 2020 Progress Report on the country.

Low participation in education presents a real challenge for the overall inclusion of these communities in society. UNICEF’s last Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey pointed to a considerable gap in participation in education among children from Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities compared to the general population.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created further barriers to education, and it goes without saying that the current situation only reinforces the vicious cycle of poverty these communities find themselves in. Just as an illustration, almost a third of officially documented Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians in Kosovo are registered under some kind of social support scheme, compared to one seventeenth of the general population.

Read full piece at: https://bit.ly/3aMSvab

Kosovo loses €7.5 million from IPA due to government’s failure (Koha)

The paper reports in one of its front-page stories that by the end of last year Kosovo’s budget was supposed to get €16.5 million from the European Commission but over half of these funds were lost because the government failed to undertake the majority of necessary reforms in public administration. Kosovo’s authorities were supposed to undertake 23 specific reforms to win the funds but a study prepared by the Kosovo Institute for European Policies, which has yet to be published, found that only eight of these reforms were implemented.

Ongoing procedures to extend Lajcak’s mandate (media)

European Union officials in Brussels have confirmed that there are ongoing procedures to extend the mandate of the EU Special Representative for the Belgrade – Prishtina Dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak. A spokesman for the European Commission told Belgrade-based Tanjug news agency that once the EU Council takes a decision, they will announce it.