UNMIK Media Observer, September 13, 2023

Albanian Language Media:

Escobar: Resignations of mayors in north, shortest and easiest way (VoA)

Kurti: Pristina will never be behind re-escalation (Deutsche Welle)

Kurti, Peach talk about high-level meeting in Brussels on September 14 (media)

Vela on differences between Presidency and Govt on dialogue (KTV)

Tahiri: Kurti used dialogue to shift attention from internal problems (media)

Serwer: Vucic wants to invade north of Kosovo (RTK)

Mustafa: My phone was taken on order from Specialist Prosecutor’s Office (media)

Serbian Language Media:

Attacks on Serbs, the main topic for Belgrade - what will be on the table in Brussels (RTS)

Lucic: Response to Telekom Srbija appeal due in 15 days (Tanjug)

Jevtic: Pristina's long-term plan to never allow the Serbs to return to Kosovo (Kosovo Online)

Antonijevic: Kurti leading a campaign against Serbs and on the tragic murder of Anna Lindh (Kosovo Online)

Joseph: Little prospect of progress in Brussels (N1, RFE)

US Embassy denies Serbian election claims by former diplomat (N1)

International Media:

Romania-Kosovo soccer game in Euro 2024 qualifying stopped because of home fans’ pro-Serbia chants (AP)

Talks with Kosovo to be difficult, Serbian premier says ahead of EU-sponsored peace talks (AA)

Albanian Language Media

Escobar: Resignations of mayors in north would be shortest and easiest way (VoA)

On the eve of the meeting between Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Brussels, the U.S. Envoy for the Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, said in an interview with the Voice of America that he expects the parties to seriously address their commitments from the comprehensive agreement for the normalisation of relations and to start implementing them in order to achieve progress.

Escobar said that “the United States continues to strongly support the EU-facilitated dialogue as a way to achieve a peaceful and fruitful agreement between the two countries”. “We would like to call on the parties to be serious about their obligations from the agreement and to start progressing in the implementation of existing and previous obligations from the dialogue and the agreement and to start making progress this year,” he said.

Asked about the petition for the mayors in the northern municipalities and if resignations would be a less complicated solution, Escobar said: “if you want to have new elections with the participation of Serbs, I think that resignations are the fastest and easiest way. The petition as an initiative has not been tried before. In fact there is not much in terms of regulations and laws about this. However, we are looking for any possibility within the Constitution that would enable the holding of new elections. We are asking the Serbs to take full part in the elections when they are decided to be held. How we will get there is an issue that will be discussed between the parties. But nevertheless I think that resignations would be the fastest way. We are closely following the situation”.

Kurti: Pristina will never be behind re-escalation (Deutsche Welle)

Following recent tensions, Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti told DW that sanctions against his country should be removed and pressure on Serbia increased to ensure implementation of the EU-backed Ohrid agreement.

See full interview at: https://shorturl.at/zASWX

Kurti and Peach talk about high-level meeting in Brussels on September 14 (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti had a telephone conversation with the U.K. Special Envoy for the Western Balkans, Lord Stuart Peach, on Tuesday and discussed current affairs, including Kosovo’s relations with Serbia and the high-level meeting in dialogue on September 14 in Brussels. “The need for the fast, full and unconditional implementation of the Basic Agreement in Brussels and its Annex agreed in Ohrid was highlighted. They also talked about the political and security situation in the region,” a press release issued by Kurti’s office notes.

Vela on differences between Presidency and Govt on dialogue (KTV)

Chief of staff to Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, Blerim Vela, in an interview with the TV station on Tuesday, said there are differences between the Office of the President and the Government about the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia and that through internal consultations President Osmani aims to reach an agreement to overcome the differences.

Vela said that the first point of differences is the content of the Basic Agreement. “We had our expectations and we communicated them directly to the facilitator that the agreement should be explicit about recognition. In the comments prepared for the first version in September, the Office of the President provided its input, trying to strengthen the articles and the content. What we saw was a weakening o the agreement. There were some changes in the agreement in the version of December and January, and that it was weakened further. It is not even in the standard of the agreement of two Germanies which was the basis,” he said.

Vela said that the Serbian side tried hard to change Article 4. “In the first sequencing draft that was submitted one day prior to the meeting in Ohrid, the facilitator included Serbia’s request. The implementation foresees that Article 4 should be implemented in relation to European organisations. Of course Kosovo did not accept it, it refused it. The document that emerged from Ohrid is an exceptionally diverse document. It doesn’t have the structure or the logic of an implementation plan,” he said. “The Brussels agreement includes an article that foresees reaching a final legally binding agreement. The argument of the facilitators was that they were looking for a legal space to move toward that direction. To reach an agreement. When we discussed the sequencing we asked that it should be defined in time, and not to say to implement Article 7 and then the other articles, because this gives Serbia a kind of veto”.

Tahiri: Kurti used dialogue to shift attention from internal problems (media)

Head of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) parliamentary group, Besnik Tahiri, said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti used the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia to shift away public attention from internal problems. He argued that the government “through tactics in the dialogue, simply replaced an opposition populism with a government populism”. According to Tahiri, Kurti will make the latest tactic in his meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Brussels on September 14.

Serwer: Vucic wants to invade north of Kosovo (RTK)

U.S. commentator on the Balkans, Daniel Serwer, said in an interview with the TV station on Tuesday, that there are low expectations from the meeting between Prime Minister Kurti and Serbian President Vucic in Brussels on Thursday, and that he doesn’t see preparations for a successful result from both parties. “I don’t see any major moves from Belgrade, and also no serious action in terms of the Association [of Serb-majority municipalities]. I simply don’t see any efforts for some kind of compromise,” he said.

Asked to comment on phone calls that Kurti gets from international representatives and envoys, Serwer said there is a great deal of pressure on Kurti. “We have now seen some of the consequences and there could be more, but I don’t think they will work, because neither Pristina nor Belgrade are ready for a compromise,” he said.

Serwer argued that Belgrade is enjoying great support from the U.S. and EU and without any consequences, especially for the attacks against NATO troops or the arrest of Kosovo police officers. “Vucic has made it clear that he is not ready to recognise Kosovo and has explicitly said that he is interested to keep the north, to invade it, and I think there is a chance he can do that,” he said.

Mustafa: My phone was taken on order from Specialist Prosecutor’s Office (media)

Former commander of the KLA Operational Zone in the Llap region, Rrustem Mustafa, said on Tuesday evening that investigators of the Specialist Chambers of Kosovo appeared in front of his house on Tuesday and told him they have orders from the prosecution to control his phone. “They told me we need to have an official interview in EULEX premises,” he wrote on Facebook. Mustafa said his phone was confiscated at EULEX premises and that after the interview he returned home. He also said that the staff of the Specialist Chambers treated him with respect.

Serbian Language Media

Attacks on Serbs, the main topic for Belgrade - what will be on the table in Brussels (RTS)

RTS reported that the subject of talks in Brussels, where President Aleksandar Vucic and Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti will meet with EU mediators on Thursday, will be the implementation of the Agreement towards normalization, as well as other current issues of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, announced EU. And while PM Ana Brnabic expects difficult talks, the president announces that he will impose attacks on Serbs in Kosovo as the main topic.

At the last meeting in Brussels, Vucic and Kurti did not sit at the same table. Ahead of the new round of dialogue, the EU announces a trilateral meeting and states in a terse statement: "The meeting will discuss the implementation of the Agreement towards the path of normalization, as well as current issues."

Ensuring peace for Kosovo Serbs will be a key topic for Belgrade, said Vucic. He said that he already discussed new attacks with Lajcak.

Those who monitor the situation on the ground do not expect results from the announced talks, nor any recent developments in the relations between Belgrade and Pristina.

The President of the Government Commission for Missing Persons, Veljko Odalovic, says that the north of Kosovo is "institutionally occupied by Kurti's special forces, mayors and institutions, who terrorize the Serbs".

"What is the de-escalation of the situation in the north of Kosovo and Metohija, when 50 special forces raid the 'Lola' factory in Zubin Potok?" Odalovic said.

Stefan Surlic from the Faculty of Political Sciences assesses that there is no visible step towards calming tensions.

"On the contrary, all these issues, from land expropriation, through illegal mayors, to the problems of medicines, transport and everything else - remain, and there is no desire at all to solve them in depth and permanently," believes Surlic.

The EU's punitive measures did not bring a solution to the already four-month-old crisis. Since July 1, Pristina has been excluded from certain international gatherings, from working bodies, and visits have been suspended.

Although red lines have been set, analysts assess that there is no readiness for more serious sanctions against the authorities in Pristina, reported RTS.

Lucic: Response to Telekom Srbija appeal due in 15 days (Tanjug)

Telekom Srbija CEO Vladimir Lucic said the company had been informed by Business registration agency in Pristina on Friday that its appeal following the agency's decision to ban the operations of MTS doo - a Telekom Srbija daughter company in Kosovo - was due in 15 days, and expressed the confidence the appeal would be accepted.

"A two-week battle for the survival of MTS is ahead of us. I am fully confident we will survive as a company because this was an attempt to shut down our company here in an absurd, unlawful way," Lucic said in Leposavic, after Telekom Srbija donated an interactive whiteboard to a local primary school.

He noted a decision to erase MTS doo from the business register was not only a violation of the Brussels Agreement but also an absurd breach of the Pristina administration's own laws.

"I think the international community is also facing a test here because, if someone wants to shut down a Serbian company in that way, violating not only agreements but their own laws as well, then how can they be trusted, at any meeting, to comply with the articles of any agreements at all?" Lucic said.

He noted that, for that reason, he was "fully confident the Pristina administration will eventually realise the seriousness of the move and accept the appeal" and added that shutting down the company would be "a kind of a serious escalation."

He explained that 30,000 Serb households in Kosovo were subscribed to MTS internet, mobile telephony, and television services and that shutting down the company would leave them without communication and access to Serbian television channels.

In early August, the agency ordered that MTS.doo be erased from the register due to documentation with "unconstitutional content".

Jevtic: Pristina's long-term plan to never allow the Serbs to return to Kosovo (Kosovo Online)

The mayor of Strpce and the former minister for communities and return in the Kosovo government, Dalibor Jevtic told Kosovo Online that since Prime Minister Albin Kurti has been in power, no one is talking about the return of Serbs to Kosovo, and those who live in Kosovo face pressure almost every day, new arrests, and attacks on property.

On the occasion of the recent burning of the house of the returnee Janackovic family and the attack on a Serbian young man from Gracanica, Jevtic indicates that the Kosovo PM has recently increased the pressure on the Serbs in order to divert attention from the key issues, which are the continuation of the dialogue and formation of the Community of Serbian Municipalities.

"The incidents are just a continuation of the constant pressure on the Serbian people living in Kosovo and Metohija, especially on those who want to return or have returned. On the other hand, in a political sense, such actions are aimed precisely at diverting attention from those topics that are important in the continuation of the dialogue, if it is to be successful, and that is the formation of the CSM. Therefore, that is the overriding goal of Kurti and the current regime in Pristina when it comes to incidents like this," said Jevtic.

He added, among other things, that it was not only about physical attacks on Serbs and burning of returnees' houses. He states that there are also arrests, both of prominent Serbs who live in Kosovo, and of those who want to return and settle the issue of property that has been usurped from them.

Antonijevic: Kurti leading a campaign against Serbs and on the tragic murder of Anna Lindh (Kosovo Online)

Lawyer Milan Antonijevic said that Albin Kurti, by placing the murder of Anna Lindh in the context of Serbia and running a campaign against Serbs on the tragic murder of a young and successful Swedish politician, shows that he has no desire to sit down at the negotiating table with Belgrade, reported Kosovo Online.

Antonijevic addressed the Kosovo PM Albin Kurti on X (Twitter), who said that "Anna Lindh died after being fatally stabbed by an extremist of Serbian origin for supporting the NATO intervention in the Balkans."

"Let me clarify what I mean when I write that these days you do not interpret the history fairly and successfully, Albin Kurti. Placing the murder of Anna Lindh in the context of Serbia and running a campaign against Serbs on the tragic murder of a young and successful Swedish politician does not show a desire to sit down at the negotiating table with Serbia," replied Antonijevic on Kurti's post on X (Twitter).

He adds that it would be fair for Kurti to say that Anna Lindh was in Belgrade on March 12, 2003, when Serbian PM Zoran Djindjic was assassinated, and that on that day they were supposed to have a meeting at the Anti-Corruption Agency, as an indication of friendly and very close relations and cooperation between Serbia and Sweden

"A fair attitude towards Serbia and the Serbs living in Kosovo is the minimum that is needed in order to get back to the negotiating table in Brussels, and I'm sure you know that very well. Finally, I refer you to the text of the great Borka Pavicevic, about the three murders that shook the world," added Antonijevic.

Joseph: Little prospect of progress in Brussels (N1, RFE)

N1 reported that conflict management expert Edward P. Joseph told Radio Free Europe that he would be surprised to see any progress later this week when Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti meet with European Union officials in Brussels.

Joseph said that the EU should remind Belgrade and Pristina that they have an agreement which has to be implemented. It’s important for the EU to stop talking about a dialogue because there is an agreement which was reached early this year and includes obligations for both sides, he said adding that it would be important for the EU to remind both sides that they are obliged to implement the agreement.

The Johns Hopkins University lecturer said that both sides have to do their part of the job to resolve the situation in northern Kosovo. He said that the crisis suits both Vucic and Kurti. Vucic benefits from everything that keeps him from implementing the agreement that the EU and US say he accepted and Kurti benefits because the focus is on de-escalation in the north not on the Community of Serb Majority Municipalities, he said.

According to Joseph, Kurti was irresponsible in his approach to resolving the problem of northern Kosovo but that does not mean that Vucic is innocent in terms of creating the crisis.

US Embassy denies Serbian election claims by former diplomat (N1)

The US Embassy in Belgrade denied claims by a former diplomat that Washington would not allow early parliamentary elections in Serbia.

Nebojsa Vujovic, a former diplomat, told the Beta news agency that the US would not allow the Serbian authorities to call elections this year because they failed to implement the Ohrid Agreement. He also claimed that President Aleksandar Vucic had received serious warnings from Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and his envoys not to call elections before the agreement was implemented.

“The US will not allow a repeat of (former presidents) Boris Tadic and Vojislav Kostunica who failed to meet US expectations on the Kosovo issue,” the former Yugoslav ambassador in Washington said, adding that the US is afraid that Vucic’s option could be defeated.

“Reports of alleged contacts between American and Serbian officials and attempts of exerting US influence on the decision to call elections in Serbia are not true. This is an issue which will be decided solely by elected Serbian officials and the US has no role in that process,” the embassy said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

International Media

Romania-Kosovo soccer game in Euro 2024 qualifying stopped because of home fans’ pro-Serbia chants (AP)

The Romania and Kosovo teams were taken off the field for 45 minutes during a European Championship qualifying game in Bucharest on Tuesday when home fans aimed pro-Serbia chants at the visiting players.

“Due to discriminatory behavior from supporters, the match has been suspended,” UEFA said in an in-game report on its website.

Romania fans chanted and displayed a banner with the “Kosovo is Serbia” slogan and the game was stopped after 18 minutes when the score was 0-0.