• Bislimi: Agreement on energy in the north is very close (media)
• Haradinaj: All citizens must be included in a single energy system (media)
• European Parliament foreign committee to discuss report on Kosovo (RFE)
• Kosovo leaders meet to coordinate actions on foreign policy (media)
• Foreign Minister Gervalla reacts to critics, shares video praising KLA (Telegrafi)
• Kurti’s opposition to Open Balkan leaves Kosovo looking isolated (BIRN)
• Austrian Foreign Minister to visit Kosovo today (media)
• Assembly President Konjufca to visit former KLA leaders on June 17 (media)
• A determining week for the pension trust and the minimum wage (Koha)
• Draft strategy on transitional justice aimed in three months (Koha)

Bislimi: Agreement on energy in the north is very close (media)

Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo, Besnik Bislimi, said on Monday that Kosovo is very close to finalizing the agreement for the implementation of the energy roadmap, which aims to solve the energy supply and payment of energy in the four northern municipalities of Kosovo. He said that “an eventual agreement between Kosovo and Serbia on the issue of energy issue will not change even a single comma beyond what was already agreed in Brussels in 2013 and 2015”.

“Only the Government negotiates on behalf of Kosovo. The meeting between KEDS and the Serbian side, organized in Istanbul on June 9, was focused only on providing guarantees for the four services agreed upon in 2015: installation of energy meters, maintenance of meters, billing and collection of funds, and this obligation has been met. There will be no additional operators except Elektrosever and no additional service in the area of distribution, beyond the four services mentioned earlier, which were agreed in 2015 and beyond the four municipalities in the north of the Republic of Kosovo,” he said.

Bislimi also argued that the coming days are critical to finalizing the agreement on launching the implementation of the energy roadmap and that there could be misinformation campaigns aimed at damaging the process.

Haradinaj: All citizens must be included in a single energy system (media)

Leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), Ramush Haradinaj, said on Monday that all citizens of Kosovo, regardless of their ethnicity, must be included in a single energy system and respect the market rules.

“We secured Kosovo’s energy independence years ago and thanks to continuous efforts that were not easy. Therefore, the current government had all the conditions, since the start of its mandate, to include the citizens of the north in Kosovo’s energy system, whereby they would pay for the services offered to them … Technical administrative issues must not be turned into political problems,” Haradinaj argued.

European Parliament foreign committee to discuss report on Kosovo (RFE)

The European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee will discuss reports on Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia today, including hundreds of amendments proposed to be included in those reports. In the draft report previously presented by the rapporteur for Kosovo in this body, Viola von Cramon, it is said that Kosovo has met all the criteria for visa liberalization since 2018, but that a decision on freedom of movement has yet to be approved. The document calls on the EU Council to urgently take a decision granting visa liberalization for the citizens of Kosovo. The document also includes support for Kosovo’s membership bid in the Council of Europe, Kosovo’s aspirations to join the European Union, as well as calls for the five non-recognizing member states of the Union to recognize Kosovo’s independence. At the same time, Kosovo is called to continue the process of reforms, the fight against organized crime and corruption, and it is also concluded that Kosovo has made progress in this respect. Kosovo has been criticized for the situation in the judiciary.

Kosovo leaders meet to coordinate actions on foreign policy (media)

President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, held a coordination meeting on Monday on foreign policy with Assembly President Glauk Konjufca, Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Foreign Minister Donika Gervalla. Osmani’s office said in a statement that the meeting focused on Kosovo’s membership in international organisations, coordinating actions with partner countries and the developments in the dialogue with Serbia.

Foreign Minister Gervalla reacts to critics, shares video praising KLA (Telegrafi)

Kosovo’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Donika Gervalla, came under heavy criticism for not mentioning the former Kosovo Liberation Army in her Facebook post on the 23^rd anniversary of the liberation of Kosovo. Some opposition representatives accused Gervalla for being against the KLA and even called for her resignation.

In a reaction on Monday, Gervalla said the debate against her was tendentious and she also shared a video of her clash with the Serbian representative at the United Nations Security Council in which she praises the former Kosovo Liberation Army. “The truth always wins over lies no matter how loud the latter are,” she wrote in her reaction.

Kurti’s opposition to Open Balkan leaves Kosovo looking isolated (BIRN)

With Montenegro on board and Bosnia mulling its position, pressure is mounting on Kosovo PM Albin Kurti to reconsider his resistance to joining the Western Balkan ‘mini-Schengen’.

Two details of events from a hotel in North Macedonia caught the eye of the Kosovo public last week.

The first was a photo of the US Ambassador to Serbia, Christopher Hill, seated at a table in the Ohrid hotel with Albania’s Prime Minister, Edi Rama, and Montenegro’s Prime Minister, Dritan Abazovic. The second came the next day, and featured Gabriel Escobar, the US State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary overseeing the Western Balkans.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3mNV0iV

Austrian Foreign Minister to visit Kosovo today (media)

Austria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alexander Schallenberg, will visit Kosovo on Tuesday. He will be welcomed by his Kosovo counterpart, Donika Gervalla, and will give a press conference after the meeting. Schallenberg is also scheduled to meet President Vjosa Osmani.

Assembly President Konjufca to visit former KLA leaders on June 17 (media)

President of the Kosovo Assembly, Glauk Konjufca, on June 17, will visit the former KLA leaders who are awaiting trial at the Specialist Chambers in The Hague. “Together with Assembly President Konjufca, we will visit the former KLA leaders on June 17,” Konjufca’s chief of staff wrote in a Facebook post.

A determining week for the pension trust and the minimum wage (Koha)

The daily reports on its front page that the Kosovo Assembly Presidency decided on Monday that three plenary sessions of the Assembly will be held this week. The draft law that paves way to the increase in the minimum wage will be discussed today, while on Thursday, the MPs will discuss the legal initiative to withdraw funds from the pension savings trust. The ruling party and the opposition have clashed for weeks now as they have different positions on the two issues.

Draft strategy on transitional justice aimed in three months (Koha)

The Humanitarian Law Centre in Kosovo published on Monday the guideline “Toward a national strategy for transitional justice in Kosovo”. At the event, civil society representatives and senior international officials called on the Kosovo Government to prepare the draft strategy on transitional justice as soon as possible. Government officials said the first draft is expected to be finalized before September. Minister of Justice, Albulena Haxhiu, called for aid in developing policies for transitional justice, arguing that there is no lack of political readiness but that greater capacities are needed.