• COVID-19: 19 deaths, 703 new cases (media)
• Kosovo government expected to decide on postponing school year (Telegrafi)
• Kurti will meet Merkel in Tirana, spokesperson confirms (Koha)
• Kosovo to abandon license plates agreement with Serbia (BIRN)
• Bislimi's remarks on KLA archives spark reactions (media)
• Hoti: Bislimi’s remarks about KLA archives were misinterpreted (Klan Kosova)
• Petkovic: Pristina finally recognised existence of KLA archives (Klan)
• Kosovo Assembly to end summer recess, convenes next week (media)
• Haxhiu: We will visit KLA leaders in Hague in late September (media)
• Greece supports Open Balkan initiative (Zeri)
• Kosovo: the goal of Serbia's global 'vaccine diplomacy' (EU Observer)

COVID-19: 19 deaths, 703 new cases (media)

19 deaths from COVID-19 and 703 new infections were recorded in Kosovo in the last 24 hours. 2,255 persons recovered from the virus during this time.

There are 20,652 active cases with COVID-19 in Kosovo.

The Ministry of Health announced that vaccination centres will from now on be operating seven days a week and will also be open during official holidays. "This is all aimed at facilitating access to the vaccination process and responding to the high demand of the citizens to get vaccinated," the Ministry said.

Kosovo government expected to decide on postponing school year (Telegrafi)

Kosovo’s National Institute for Public Health has recommended for the current anti COVID measures to remain in force until there is a drop in the number of new cases. According to these recommendations, the new academic year is not expected to start in schools, while a decision on the matter is expected to be made at the meeting of the central government. Kosovo’s Minister of Education, Arberie Nagavci, said in an interview with the news website that she believes the start of the new school year will be postponed.

Kurti will meet Merkel in Tirana, spokesperson confirms (Koha)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Tirana, Albania, next week, a spokesperson for the Kosovo Government said on Thursday. “I can confirm that Prime Minister Kurti will meet Chancellor Merkel in Tirana next week,” the spokesperson said.

Kosovo to abandon license plates agreement with Serbia (BIRN)

Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi on Thursday said the country will not renew a decade-old agreement with Serbia about the car license plates starting from September 15, only accepting number plates that start with the letters RKS, the initials of the Republic of Kosovo.

“We don’t see a reason for continuation of this agreement,” Bislimi told media, referring to an agreement between Kosovo and Serbia allowing the circulation of two types of license plates in Kosovo, starting with KS and RKS, first signed in 2011.

Plates with the letters KS, simply meaning “Kosovo”, were issued under the former UN administration of Kosovo.

Under the agreement, vehicles with KS number plates may freely enter Serbia while those with RKS plates have to change them at the border and receive a provisional paper issued by the Serbian side. Vehicles with Serbian number plates enter Kosovo freely, without extra procedures.

Kosovo said the agreement was supposed to be temporary and meant Kosovo had to accept two types of license plates, “one for its own needs and one according to the preferences of the Serbian side”, as Bislimi put it.

The former Kosovo government, led by Democratic League of Kosovo’s Avdullah Hoti, issued a decision in mid-September 2020 to stop the issuing new license plates that start with KS.

Currently only 2,147 vehicles in Kosovo have license plates starting with KS, which is only 1 per cent of the total cars in the country, according to Bislimi.

Bislimi also called the issue “artificial”, claiming that only 74 of the 2,147 cars belong to ethnic Serbs from the four Serb-majority municipalities; the rest belong to ethnic Albanians who for personal reasons travel very often to Serbia. “Consequently, the need for this to be addressed in Brussels is artificial,” Bislimi claimed.

BIRN contacted Serbian government on the issue but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Meantime, an expected meeting between Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Alaksandar Vucic will not take place as planned in Brussels because there has not been enough of an advance in technical-level meetings.

Kurti on Wednesday said the missing persons issue should be added to the dialogue.

Bislimi and the head of Serbia’s Office for Kosovo, Petar Petkovic, met the EU special envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Bislimi said on Thursday that the Serbian side had agreed to the opening of military archives, including those on the former guerrilla army the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA.

However, Petkovic said after the meeting with Lajcak on Wednesday that only “small progress” was made on the missing people issue.

Lajcak tweeted after the meeting with Bislimi and Petkovic that “positions on a number of pressing issues remain far apart”.

Kosovo proclaimed independence from Serbia in 2008. Serbia has vowed never to recognise it as a state but negotiations between the two sides started in 2011, while the so-called Brussels Agreement – the first document on the principles of normalization of relations between Serbia and its former province – was signed in 2013.

Serbia and Kosovo’s leaders signed separate agreements with the US on mainly economic issues relating to each other at the White House during President Trump’s time in office, but neither appears ready for major compromises.

Bislimi's remarks on KLA archives spark reactions (media)

Kosovo's Deputy Prime Minister and chief negotiator in dialogue with Serbia, Besnik Bislimi, said upon return from Brussels that the Serbian side has agreed in the opening of all its archives but has also insisted on Kosovo doing the same regarding archives of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).

Speaking to reporters following meetings in Brussels, Bislimi said: "The Serbian side has agreed on the opening of all archives, which for them means also the opening of Kosovo state archives that deal with the KLA and I think this is in our interest because the information on the majority of mass graves sites which are suspected of containing the remains of over 1,600 citizens are mainly in Serbia's military archives."

Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) deputy leader Vlora Citaku reacted saying this would be a 'dangerous trap'. "Mr. Bislimi, what archives are you talking about? Belgrade's archives about the KLA? Those are already at The Hague. Kosovo's archives about the KLA? Or archives fabricated by others about the KLA? Do you think that if the KLA had such archives they would not have been out by now?!!!”

"This is a dangerous trap with scary consequences. With your irresponsible actions you have already accepted what Serbia has accused Kosovo and the KLA for years," Citaku continued.

KLA war veterans' associations also reacted to Bislimi with its secretary Faton Klinaku saying that KLA archives are already open and serve as history for Kosovo. However, he added that if it is true that Bislimi has agreed with Serbia to "open" KLA archives, "this would be the same as agreeing that Kosovo is a province of Serbia."

At the same time, head of the Kosovo delegation on missing persons, Andin Hoti, said they have invited the EU Special Representative for dialogue Miroslav Lajcak to have full access to Kosovo's state archives in order to remove any doubt regarding the KLA archives. "Kosovo's archives have been and are open, therefore the agreement is in our interest because it enables us to have access to Serbia's military archives which is the main barrier for shedding light to the fate of our loved ones," Hoti wrote on Facebook.

Hoti: Bislimi’s remarks about KLA archives were misinterpreted (Klan Kosova)

Andin Hoti, head of the Kosovo delegation on missing persons, said in an interview with Klan Kosova on Thursday evening that Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi invited the EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak to visit Kosovo and to see for himself Serbia’s false claims that the KLA has archives. “Mr. Bislimi invited Mr. Lajcak to visit the Kosovo state archives and to see for himself Serbia’s false claims that the KLA has archives and the fate of missing Serbs can be found there,” he said.

Hoti said that Bislimi’s remarks on the issue were misinterpreted and that there are attempts to politicise the issue of missing persons. “It is regretful that there are efforts to politicise this issue too. They are attempts to politicise the fate of missing persons. This does not help anyone or the process. I heard what Mr. Bislim isaid. I was with him in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday … From what I heard, because I also need to say that I am not Mr. Bislimi’s attorney but I am an attorney of what happened in Brussels and for the sake of the families of missing persons and with respect for the KLA War Veterans and with respect for the KLA leaders who are in the Hague today, I need to explain the misinterpretation and misunderstanding that has been made in the last couple of hours,” Hoti argued.

Petkovic: Pristina finally recognised existence of KLA archives (Klan)

Petar Petkovic, head of the Serbian Government's Office for Kosovo, said that the Pristina delegation was utterly unprepared for dialogue and referred to statements of the Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi as provocations, Klan Kosova quotes reports from the Kosovo Online media outlet.

Petkovic said that "what is important is that progress has been made on the issue of missing persons and Pristina finally recognised the existence of KLA archives and has agreed to open them."

Kosovo Assembly to end summer recess, convenes next week (media)

The Assembly of Kosovo is expected to resume activities as of next week, thus ending its one-month summer recess. The Assembly's presidency is scheduled to meet on Monday and discuss the items for the upcoming plenary session.

Haxhiu: We will visit KLA leaders in Hague in late September (media)

Kosovo’s Minister of Justice Albulena Haxhiu met with the President of the Specialist Chambers of Kosovo, Ekaterina Trendafilova, on Thursday, to discuss the functioning of the Specialist Chambers and a visit by the Ministry of Justice to the detainees in the Hague.

Haxhiu said the visit is expected to take place late this month. “We believe it is our institutional obligation to conduct this visit in relation to the requests they have, in relation to their rights, therefore, the visit will take place in late September,” she said.

Greece supports Open Balkan initiative (Zeri)

Greece is reported to have given its support for the recent regional initiative between Albania, Serbia and North Macedonia titled "Open Balkan", Zeri reports quoting Tirana-based Klan.

"All initiatives like the mini Schengen or the Common Regional Market are welcomed and can serve as an added value for further modernisation and regional integration towards the EU," said Militiadis Varviciotis, Greece's Deputy Foreign Minister.

Kosovo: the goal of Serbia's global 'vaccine diplomacy' (EU Observer)

Opinion piece by Vuk Vuksanovic

Foreign policy wonks have already grown accustomed to the term vaccine diplomacy. The term refers to governments trying to increase their prestige and influence by donating vaccines to foreign countries in the age of Covid-19.

This policy has been associated with great powers like China, Russia and India. However, smaller countries like Serbia have also become engaged in their vaccine diplomacy.

On 30 August 2021, Serbian foreign minister Nikola Selaković told the Serbian press that over 11 days, just in Africa, Serbia donated more than 200,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines.

Serbian vaccine diplomacy is no longer a campaign focused on Serbia's neighbourhood in the Balkans, but it went global as Serbia uses it to engage with members of the Non-Aligned Movement in Africa, the Middle East and Asia to pursue its foreign policy interests.

What are the reasons for this ambitious policy?

For starters, Serbia has the luxury to pursue it. Serbia has not been shy of getting Western-made, Russian and Chinese vaccines. China has been decisive on that front.

Of all the vaccines acquired by the Serbian government, the most available one is the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine. According to the Serbian government, Belgrade has received 4.2 million vaccine doses from Beijing so far. Serbia signed an agreement with China on constructing a Sinopharm vaccine production facility in Serbia, and the production of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine in Serbia commenced in June.

As Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić confirmed during his March 2021 press conference with the Chinese ambassador to Serbia, Chen Bo, the Chinese side banned donating Sinopharm vaccines to third parties.

However, the large quantities of Sinopharm vaccines provide Serbia with a surplus of vaccines from other manufacturers. This creates an opportunity for Serbia to donate vaccines to increase its soft power credentials and political sway.

In early 2021, Serbia exercised its own vaccine diplomacy in the Balkans by donating Sputnik V, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca vaccines to its neighbours in Bosnia and Herzegovina Montenegro, North Macedonia and allowing foreign nationals to come to Serbia for inoculation.

Read full opinion piece here: https://bit.ly/3E4XnoH