• President Osmani, PM Kurti to meet Secretary of State Blinken today (media)
• U.S. wants role in the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue (Blic/Klan)
• Prosecution explains invitation to interview the former EULEX prosecutor (media)
• ECPMF, EFJ react on the interview process for RTK Board members (RTK)
• Kosovo’s Security Committee meets with Commissioner of German Army (Kallxo)
• Progress on Prishtina-Durres Railway in Kosovo Parliament (Exit)
• Serb, Albanian farmers hit by degradation of river in Strpce (Koha Ditore)
• Kosovo's capital Pristina bursts onto the global art scene with an ambitious Manifesta 14, which is more hit than miss (The Art Newspaper)
• Albania’s Retired President Returns to Active Party Politics (BIRN)

President Osmani, PM Kurti to meet Secretary of State Blinken today (media)

President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani and Prime Minister Albin Kurti will meet U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken today. Osmani wrote on a Twitter post: “Looking forward to meeting with @SecBlinken today to further strengthen our ironclad partnership. Alongside PM @albinkurti, we will discuss ways to bring our two peoples and countries closer together at this pivotal time for democracy, peace and security across the world”.

Several news websites quote the head of the Prishtina-based Kosovo Law Institute, Ehat Miftaraj, as saying that the meeting with Secretary Blinken is the best news in the last two years. “It is a message that things will have a different pace in autumn, especially the dialogue,” he argued.

U.S. wants role in the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue (Blic/Klan)

The United States Ambassador to Serbia Christopher Hill said on Monday that the U.S. should play a role in the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue. Hill says that he is "concerned about the lack of progress and that this is where the cooperation between the European Union and the United States of America is important."

“I am worried about the lack of progress in the dialogue. I don't know what would be the appropriate measure to involve the U.S., but the EU has a specific view on dialogue and its position is that it is dialogue that will pave the way to EU membership. After all, it has had previous experiences from which it has learned that it does not want to include countries that will bring problems, because they already have enough problems of their own. The concept of the dialogue is to clarify the problems before joining the EU,” Hill said in an interview with Blic.

He added that it is most important that Brussels and Washington work together because they have a common interest in ending the dialogue. “It is not appropriate for the dialogue to flow without any results, I think we should all come together and think how to make progress,” Hill said.

Prosecution explains invitation to interview the former EULEX prosecutor (media)

The Basic Prosecutor’s Office in Pristina has issued a clarification regarding the interview invitation of the former EULEX prosecutor, Maria Bamieh. According to the prosecution, the invitation was made in accordance with the legal provisions in force.

“The Basic Prosecutor's Office in Pristina, for the sake of accurate information, informs the public that, regarding the case of Mrs. Bamieh, who was invited for an interview at this prosecutor's office, is acting in accordance with the legal provisions in force, since based on the official documents that the prosecutor of the case has in her possession, on 06.03.2017, Mrs. Bamieh’s immunity has been removed by the United Nations and the same according to local legislation, the prosecution has been instructed to engage a local lawyer, who is licensed by the Kosovo Bar Association, for the further development of the procedure,” the office said.

The Basic Prosecutor's Office of Pristina has invited the former EULEX prosecutor for an interview, while she held a media conference in Pristina.

ECPMF, EFJ react on the interview process for RTK Board members (RTK)

The European Center for Freedom of the Press and Media (ECPMF) through a status posted on the Twitter social network, has reacted regarding the process of interviewing candidates for the RTK Board.

“Today’s interviews of candidates for the board of public broadcaster RTK in Kosovo lacked transparency and ran against established practice and standards for fairness. It risks serious damage to RTK's credibility. Parliament should redo and ensure transparent and merit-based process,” ECPMF wrote.

Ricardo Gutierrez, General Secretary of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) wrote in a Twitter post: “The selection of board members of a public broadcaster requires maximum transparency and the use of objective criteria. This applies to RTK in Kosovo as it does to any other public channel. The Parliament must relaunch this ongoing procedure if it wants to remain credible!”

Kosovo’s Security Committee meets with Commissioner of German Army (Kallxo)

Kosovo’s Committee for Security and Defense Affairs held a meeting with Eva Högl, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces of Germany and Reinhold Robbe, former Commissioner. They discussed the legislative process for the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Kosovo Security Force.

“Today was an exciting day for me, as I have followed Kosovo since 1999, I saw the first soldier who landed here in Kosovo. I heard some of the most painful stories, I came here, I made visits,” Robbe said.  He added further that for him this day was a historic day. “I am very happy, I am happy about the fact that Kosovo has developed a lot,” he said.

Progress on Prishtina-Durres Railway in Kosovo Parliament (Exit)

The feasibility study for the Durres-Prishtina railway will cost in the region of EUR 2 million, according to what Kosovo’s Minister of Infrastructure Liburn Aliu said in parliament last week.

A railway between the two cities was decided upon in October 2022, and a memorandum of cooperation to construct it was signed during a meeting between the two governments.

“This co-financing agreement aims to determine the procedures and share the costs between the two countries for the financing, feasibility study and project idea for this railway line. The total cost for the realization of the feasibility study and the project idea for the construction of the railway line is expected to be 1,980,000 thousand euros,” Aliu said. He also added that the cost would be divided between the two countries.

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

Serb, Albanian farmers hit by degradation of river in Strpce (Koha Ditore)

The daily reports in one of its front-page stories that Albanian and Serb residents in the municipality of Strpce for years now are faced with shortages of water from the Lepenci River, which is the only source for the development of agriculture. Their problems started in 2010 when central and local authorities gave permits for the construction of hydropower plants after which most of the water from the Lepenci River is now in tubes. Albanian and Serb residents protested together against the municipality and the central government over the permits that were given to the operator, who dried off the river, and they continue to speak in one voice against the degradation of the river.

Kosovo's capital Pristina bursts onto the global art scene with an ambitious Manifesta 14, which is more hit than miss (The Art Newspaper)

Against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and increasing global political and social instability, the central theme of this year’s Manifesta biennial, exploring how we create stories and share them across cultures and communities, has never felt more urgent. And as the capital of a new-born country recreating itself after a war in large part founded on conflicting historical and cultural narratives, Pristina is the ideal host city for the nomadic European biennial.

For Kosovo, whose citizens are only able to travel to four countries without a visa, Manifesta is no small matter, bringing collectors, artists, journalists, and art lovers from around the world and offering the tantalising promise that their homeland can become an integrated part of the European and global community.

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

Albania’s Retired President Returns to Active Party Politics (BIRN)

Former Albanian President Ilir Meta has returned to the Socialist Movement for Integration, SMI, the party he used to lead before his presidential term, while it has been announced that the SMI will hold a convention on Monday to re-profile itself as an opposition party to Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama.

At a press event in the party HQ, Meta took back his party membership card. showing it to the journalists and saying he “was proud” of it.

Many in the country have expected Meta to again become active in party politics after leaving the presidency, and his move to give a press conference was not surprising.

He insisted he was not there to retake the party leadership – which is actually held by his wife Monika Kryemadhi – that he left five years ago “of his own free will”, but was there “to deliver the message of the “People of 2 March” – referencing the people that he called to protest against Rama’s government on March 2, 2020.

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