UNMIK Media Observer, Morning Edition, October 28, 2022

Blinken’s advisor calls for postponement of licence plates deadline (media)
Kurti thanks Von der Leyen for supporting Kosovo (media)
Serbs warn they will block roads if license-plate deal not extended (RFE)
Sources: “Northern Brigade”, criminal group terrorising Serbs in north (media)
Incidents on eve of expiry of deadline for re-registration of vehicles (RFE)
Bislimi banned from his visit shortly before arriving to Belgrade (media)
Hovenier congratulates Kosovo on progress in rule of law index (RTK)
“Erdogan may mediate in dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia” (media)
Haradinaj: Final agreement will regulate Kosovo-Serbia relations (Express)
Kurti: Kosovo stands in support and solidarity with Ukraine (media)
Kurti meets with EULEX chief Lars Gunnar Wigemark (media)
Art world came to Kosovo. What happens when it leaves? (NYT)
Manifesta: Turning rubble into art (Prishtina Insight)
Albania opposition parties join forces for 2023 local elections (BIRN)

Blinken’s advisor calls for postponement of licence plates deadline (media)

Derek Chollet, Counselor for the U.S. Department of State, said on Thursday that in his conversation with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti they talked about avoiding tensions and postponing the licence plates deadline. “Spoke with Kosovo PM @albinkurti today to discuss the importance of avoiding tension and postponing the implementation of new license plate rules, without confiscations or fines. Also discussed our partnership and shared goals of advancing Kosovo's European and Euro-Atlantic integration,” Chollet tweeted.

Kurti meanwhile tweeted after the conversation: “Today I spoke with and thanked @CounselorDOS for US’s continued support for Kosovo’s Euro-Atlantic integration. As shown in @TheWJP 2022 report, ranking Kosovo as 1st in WB6 and 2nd most improved globally, we again prove that rule of law goes hand in hand with peace, security, and democracy.”

Kurti thanks Von der Leyen for supporting Kosovo (media)

Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, said on Thursday after meeting the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, that there cannot be neutrality in times of atrocities. “Thank you President @vonderleyen for your straightforward words and outspoken support for our future in the European Union. We agreed that there cannot be neutrality in times of atrocities. Kosova stands firmly along with the EU - in shared values, goals, interests,” Kurti tweeted.

Serbs warn they will block roads if license-plate deal not extended (RFE)

The head of the main Serb political party in Kosovo has warned that members of the Serb minority will again block roads if Kosovar authorities do not agree to again delay the implementation of a rule under which ethnic Serbs must switch their car license plates to local ones.

In July, Kosovo's government declared Serbian identity documents and vehicle license plates would no longer be valid on Kosovo territory.

The move has been met with strong and sometimes violent resistance by ethnic Serbs who live in the northern part of the country.

The government in Pristina agreed to extend until the end of October the deadline for the change of license plates after Serb protesters put up roadblocks and fired their guns into the air and in the direction of Kosovo police officers during the July standoff. No one was injured.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti earlier this week announced the deadline will still expire at the end of the month despite calls by Kosovo's main backers, the United States and the European Union, to delay the rule for 10 months and avoid ethnic tensions.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3fa92eo

Bislimi banned from his visit shortly before arriving to Belgrade (media)

Kosovo’s First Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi has been prevented from visiting Belgrade to participate in the Forum on Ethnic Relations. Bislimi, was banned from a two-day visit to Serbia for "security reasons" shortly before he arrived in Belgrade. After that, he returned to Kosovo.

"The plan was to take part in two important events in Belgrade today and tomorrow. First today at the table of the Forum for Ethnic Relations, in a discussion with the diplomatic corps in Serbia and civil society organizations, where I was supposed to discuss Kosovo and the journey towards Europe for the region. Tomorrow, at the Belgrade Security Forum, I was meant to be part of a debate on the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue,” Bislimi said.

“So, four important concepts: inter-ethnic relations, the journey towards Europe, security, and dialogue. We had planned several other meetings and interviews for the media in Belgrade and the Kosovo media there. For this, we submitted the request to the authorities last week and it was approved. Today everything was in order, until at a certain point when we have been told that Serbia cannot provide security or that security has been compromised, which to us is a signal that Serbia is still not ready to work towards normalization. It is a bit absurd for Serbia to admit that for a conference on security, 1) there are criminal elements that want to undermine security; 2) admit that it is weak to provide security for the participants,” he added.

According to Bislimi, the whole thing “was a manipulation by Serbia”.

Hovenier congratulates Kosovo on progress in rule of law index (RTK)

United States Ambassador to Kosovo Jeff Hovenier has congratulated Kosovo for the improvement in the rule of law index. “Congratulations to Kosovo for ranking among the top improvers globally and most improved in the region in the 2022 Rule of Law Index. This is the 2nd year in a row that Kosovo improved its overall country rank,” Hovenier wrote on Twitter.

“Erdogan may mediate in dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia” (media)

Turkey and its president Recep Tayyip Erdogan may become involved in the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, an advisor for the Blakans to the Turkish President said on Thursday. “We have expressed our interest to help, but for the time being we are waiting for the outcome of the meeting in Brussels between President Vucic and Prime Minister Kurti and to see how far they will come with the agreement and then we can engage as mediators and help in the path of the agreement,” the advisor said in an interview with Klan Kosova.

The advisor also said that Erdogan is expected to visit Tirana, Pristina and Skopje soon.

Haradinaj: Final agreement will regulate Kosovo-Serbia relations (Express)

Leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) Ramush Haradinaj said that the final agreement between Kosovo and Serbia will regulate the relations between them as two independent states.

In a post on Facebook, he said that U.S. involvement in this process is in the interest of Kosovo and accelerates its path towards NATO.

"It has been over a year that the final legally binding Agreement for mutual recognition between Kosovo and Serbia has been worked on. I have been personally engaged on this topic and I have given my contribution,” Haradinaj wrote after his visit to Decan.

“During the conversation, we reiterated our concern about the economic situation, the energy crisis in the country and the government's lack of foresight to take the appropriate measures before winter comes," said Haradinaj.

Kurti: Kosovo stands in support and solidarity with Ukraine (media)

The Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti received in his office the MP of the Parliament of Ukraine Oleksiy Goncharenko.

Kurti thanked him for his interest and closeness to Kosovo, the initiation of the resolution for the recognition of Kosovo by Ukraine and for his support in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Further, according to a press release issued to the media, Prime Minister Kurti informed the Ukrainian MP Goncharenko of all the decisions and actions that Kosovo has taken for solidarity and support to Ukraine; for the immediate imposition of sanctions, the removal of visas for Ukrainian citizens, the acceptance of 11 journalists from Ukraine who are already residents of Pristina and for other forms of solidarity.

It is further reported that Kurti and Goncharenko spoke about the current situation in Ukraine, about the admirable resistance of the Ukrainian people, the importance of continuing support to Ukraine from democratic countries and about the impact that the unprovoked aggression of the Russian Federation has had on the entire continent of Europe. At the same time, Kurti spoke more about developments in Kosovo and governance, the situation in the region, Kosovo's relations with the countries of the Western Balkans, as well as Serbia's close relations with Russia.

“They also talked about the possibilities of parliamentary cooperation within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, an organization in which the Republic of Kosovo has already applied and intends to join. Kosovo and its people stand in support and solidarity with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, said Prime Minister Kurti,” it is announced in the communiqué.

During his visit to Kosovo, Goncharenko also met with the President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani, and held a speech at the Kosovo Assembly.

Kurti meets with EULEX chief Lars Gunnar Wigemark (media)

Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, met on Thursday with the head of the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) Lars Gunnar Wigemark. At the center of the meeting was the World Justice Project report which ranks Kosovo as 1^st in the region in terms of rule of law, and 2^nd in the world in terms of the biggest progress in this area. A press release issued by the government after the meeting quotes Kurti as saying that Kosovo remains committed to implementing reforms in justice and to fight crime and corruption.

Art world came to Kosovo. What happens when it leaves? (NYT)

In a young country with little infrastructure for the arts, the roving art biennial Manifesta has brought an opportunity to develop international connections and build a profile.

For an international art-world gathering, the visitors at Manifesta were younger than what you would expect. Last Thursday, at the Grand Hotel here, dozens of teenage girls roamed the corridors, posing in front of installations and snapping selfie after selfie next to paintings and video works.

Enesa Havoli, 19, said she had “never been to exhibitions before,” and had decided to give Manifesta a try. “It’s so beautiful,” she added, just yards from an installation by the Dutch artist Mette Sterre that featured a grotesque rubber sea monster.

The 14th edition of Manifesta, a roving 100-day event staged every two years in a different European city, opened in July and runs until Sunday. The Pristina edition, spread out across 25 venues, had “become a whole trend” among schoolchildren in Kosovo, said Eliosa Jerliu, 15, who was visiting the show with three friends. Since Dua Lipa, the British-Kosovan pop star, had stopped by the exhibition in August and posted about it on Instagram, “everyone wants to come here,” she added. Jerliu and her friends then headed into a room that the Kosovan artist Laureta Hajrullahu had covered with cotton fluff so that it looked like a cloud. Immediately, the young women struck poses and began taking selfies.