Albanian Language Media:

• Osmani says she’ll meet opposition parties over Association draft statute (media)
• CEC says requests for dismissal of mayors must be made to municipal assemblies (RFE)
• Lajcak meets members of Bundestag, discuss “dialogue and next steps” (media)
• Baerbock: Vucic cannot sit on two chairs at the same time (Koha)
• Sources: INTERPOL issued arrest warrant for Milan Radoicic (Kosovapress)
• Krstic: “SL, Vucic ordered Serbs in north of Kosovo to vote in Serbian elections” (Koha)
• Kurti: Proud to see Kosovo named as of one of Europe’s top destinations (media)
• Osmani: Our collective voice is our most powerful weapon (media)
• “Stop Femicide! Enough” protest march to be held in Pristina today (media)

Serbian Language Media:

• Vucic: Two countries pushing for the Ohrid Agreement to be part of the negotiation chapter (KiM radio, NIN)
• EU Ambassador says regional economies to integrate before accession (N1, FoNet)
• Hill: US companies sure Serbia will join EU (FoNet, N1)
• Does the visit to Kosovo bring patriotic votes to the "Serbia against violence" list? (Danas)
• "Serbian List trying to return to the throne with a petition to remove the mayors" (KiM radio)
• Former OSCE official: Thaci persistently denied in 1999 that the KLA committed crimes against Serbs and Roma, and the atrocities became a pattern (KoSSev, N1, Beta)
• CEC: To dismiss the mayor in the north, turn to the municipal assemblies (KiM radio)
• Criminal prosecution for reporting a crime? (KiM radio, RTS)

Albanian Language Media

Osmani says she’ll meet opposition parties over Association draft statute (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani said on Wednesday that she will invite leaders of opposition parties to a meeting to discuss the draft statute of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities. She told reporters that the aim of the meeting is to hear the opposition’s concerns about the document presented by the European Union and the United States. “I will soon invite opposition parties to a meeting to hear their assessments because they too have received the draft. I want to hear their comments and issues that they would like to be explained. I will incorporate them in my comments, certainly with those that we agree so that we can have a shared assessment and strengthen our voices on all the issues that we believe must be improved in the draft,” she said.

Osmani said she had meetings with Kosovo’s friends and allies to underline what parts of the draft statute need to be explained in order not to have problems during its implementation in practice. 

Osmani also talked about the Serbian elections, which will be held on December 17, saying that preparations were made with Kosovo’s security institutions and allies to eliminate any possible attempt for new tensions in the north.

CEC says requests for dismissal of mayors must be made to municipal assemblies (RFE)

Kosovo’s Central Election Commission (CEC) confirmed on Wednesday that it had received several written requests for the removal of the mayors of the four Serb-majority municipalities in the north of Kosovo. On Tuesday, a group of citizens from these municipalities said they tried to submit a request for “the dismissal of the current mayors”. The Albanian mayors started working in municipal premises in the north which triggered protests by local Serbs there. 

A spokesperson for the CEC told Radio Free Europe that they received the requests but said that their authors need to address the chairpersons of the municipal assemblies in the respective municipalities as they are the competent authorities to address the issue. The spokesperson cited the legal acts of the Ministry for Local Government.

Lajcak meets members of Bundestag, discuss “dialogue and next steps” (media)

EU Special Representative for the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Miroslav Lajcak, said in a post on X on Wednesday that he had an open and insightful exchange with members of the EU Affairs Committee of the German Bundestag in Brussels. “We spoke about the new momentum for EU enlargement, the state of play in the Dialogue and next steps. Grateful for Germany’s support to my work and the EU path of the entire region,” Lajcak said.

Baerbock: Vucic cannot sit on two chairs at the same time (Koha)

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Wednesday that Serbia cannot play with both Europe and Russia, while stressing the geopolitical importance of the membership of the Western Balkans in the European Union. “When we talk about enlargement, it is clear that you cannot sit on two chairs at the same time. Therefore, talks for membership must be accompanied by an engagement for peace, security, and the values of the European Union. I am exceptionally concerned about the latest developments in Serbia, in terms of nationalistic propaganda tendencies,” she said during a visit to Ljubljana, Slovenia.  

Sources: INTERPOL issued arrest warrant for Milan Radoicic (Kosovapress)

Citing unnamed sources “from relevant institutions”, the news agency reported on Wednesday that INTERPOL has issued an arrest warrant for Milan Radoicic, former deputy leader of the Serbian List who led the armed group that attacked Kosovo Police in Banjska on September 24.

Krstic: “SL, Vucic ordered Serbs in north of Kosovo to vote in Serbian elections” (Koha)

The daily reports that Serbs in the north of Kosovo have expressed readiness to go to Serbia to vote in the December 17 elections. They said they were ready to go with buses or their own cars, as Kosovo did not allow the holding of Serbian elections in its territory. Some others meanwhile said they were not certain if they will go to Serbia to vote. Branislav Krstic, a reporter and political analyst based in the north of Kosovo, claimed that “the Serbian List and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic gave orders to citizens in Mitrovica North, Leposavic, Zubin Potok, and Zvecan, to go to vote in the December 17 elections”. Koha tried to contact the Serbian List to comment on the claim, but received no response.

Kurti: Proud to see Kosovo named as of one of Europe’s top destinations (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in a post on X on Wednesday that “Europe’s newest country has sky-scraping peaks, pastoral countryside, and heart-warming hospitality." Proud to see Kosova named by Conde Nast Traveler as one of Europe's top destinations in 2024. We look forward to showing the world what our country has to offer.”

Osmani: Our collective voice is our most powerful weapon (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani said in her address at the regional conference on fighting gender-based violence that “our collective voice is our most powerful weapon”. “At today’s regional conference on fighting gender-based violence, as part of #16DaysOfActivism, I stressed that we must unite around a clear message: we won't rest until every woman and girl is safe!” Osmani said.

“Stop Femicide! Enough” protest march to be held in Pristina today (media)

A protest march “Stop Femicide! Enough is enough” will be held in downtown Pristina today, most news websites report. The organizers of the march said in a statement on Wednesday that “the killing of women and the systematic violence of the patriarchate must stop! Femicide, misogyny and toxic masculinity continue to terrorize us daily. The lives of women are threatened everyday, at home, in the streets, at work, and in public and private spaces. It is high time for our institutions and society to address with the highest level of seriousness the killing of women and the violence against them, and to deliver the highest penalty for the criminals in accordance with the law”. The protest march comes one week after the murder of a Kosovo Albanian woman near Pristina.

Serbian Language Media 

Vucic: Two countries pushing for the Ohrid Agreement to be part of the negotiation chapter (KiM radio, NIN)

The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, stated that there is a possibility that the Ohrid Agreement becomes part of the negotiating chapter 35, and thus a condition for Serbia's admission to the EU, but that he clearly stated what he cannot accept.

"First, let's see what will happen, because they can't ignore something they discussed with me. After each of their visits, after Ohrid itself, I came out and clearly said what we accept and what we cannot accept, because my verbal explicit statement is also the state's position and you cannot go beyond that," Vucic said in an interview for NIN. He added that in the Serbian Parliament he also told the deputies that Kosovo's admission to the United Nations was out of the question and stated:

"I met the French, the Germans, the Italians, all Europeans, and the Americans. Everyone knows everything."

He said that there is a possibility that the Ohrid Agreement will become part of the negotiation process.

"Some of them want it. It's not for me to say now which two countries are pushing it hard, I'm not sure if others want it too, so we'll see," said Vucic.

Vucic also said last evening on TV Prva that the Government of Serbia made a decision to increase the number of doctors and medical staff and that 50 more people will be employed in the Clinical Hospital Center in North Mitrovica.

EU Ambassador says regional economies to integrate before accession (N1, FoNet)

European Union Ambassador in Serbia Emanuel Giaufret told Wednesday’s AmCham conference in Belgrade that the economies of the Western Balkans should integrate into a single market before joining the Union.

He said that the single regional market is the initial idea of the development plan for the Western Balkans and added that the region is too fragmented. Giaufret said the plan is not an alternative to the EU but a way to speed up accession. According to the head of the EU Delegation in Serbia, the region needs to integrate by adopting European standards and should make changes to the business environment, especially in terms of state aid, managing state-owned companies and public investments. He said that Serbia needs to de-carbonize its economy and make sure all vulnerable groups are integrated into a liberal market with the skills needed by the economy.

Hill: US companies sure Serbia will join EU (FoNet, N1)

US Ambassador Christopher Hill told Wednesday’s AmCham conference in Belgrade that American companies are sure that Serbia is going to join the European Union while its public is not convinced, reported N1.

The Ambassador said that Washington is a major advocate of Serbia’s integration into the EU and added that greater effort towards membership in the Union will send a strong signal to the American companies already present in the country. According to Hill, the Serbian authorities should make sure that young people want to stay in the country and should have the choice of places to live if Belgrade is too expensive for them. He said that the government should develop other cities and towns.

Does the visit to Kosovo bring patriotic votes to the "Serbia against violence" list? (Danas)

Danas daily recalled yesterday that some of the representatives of the opposition list "Serbia against violence" (SPN) visited Kosovo at the beginning of this week. Although that trip, which was not planned as the official visit, as Danas was told, the fact that it took place during the election campaign and that it sent a certain message cannot be ignored.

Professor of the Faculty of Political Sciences,  Dusan Spasojevic and political analyst Dragomir Andjelkovic replied to the question of Danas whether this visit influenced the campaign and whether it brought at least a fraction of patriotic votes to the SPN list. Spasojevic said that he saw the visit more as a symbolic one.

- As sending a message to the Serbs in Kosovo that the SL and the SNS are not the only option and perhaps as a response to criticism that the SPN would accept Kosovo's membership in the UN. Therefore, the move is more preventive than aimed at gathering votes from the "patriotic" bloc - said Spasojevic.

Andjelkovic also sees the visit as symbolic but because of the message that Kosovo for them is an inalienable part of Serbia.

- In support of this, there is also a clear position that the citizens of Serbia from the area of Kosovo and Metohija should know that on December 17, they too will elect the government. In other words: Kosovo is Serbia. The Vucic regime surrendered all Serbian positions in Kosovo and is now leading us towards the de facto recognition of the false independence there, which was declared by the Albanian separatists. Despite that, he cynically to the extreme brazenly accuses the opposition, and above all, its so-called the pro-Western part, of betrayal of Kosovo and anti-Serb course - he states.

As he points out, among other things, it is important that the SPN demonstrated during the campaign that, if not the whole, at least a significant part of the members of that coalition, does not accept Vucic’s unconstitutional policy of undermining the territorial integrity of Serbia. He concluded that the visit more importantly talks about the intentions of the relevant members of that opposition coalition to insist on a nationally responsible policy, contrary to what ''the anti-Serb and authoritarian Vucic regime'' is doing, reported Danas.

"Serbian List trying to return to the throne with a petition to remove the mayors" (KiM radio)

Representatives of some Serbian opposition parties and initiatives in the north view the petition of citizens in four municipalities with a Serb majority in the north of Kosovo demanding the resignation of the Albanian mayors as an attempt by the Serbian List to return to the political throne. Nenad Radosavljevic and Aleksandar Arsenijevic believe that the SL is behind the initiative, reported KiM radio.

Nenad Radosavljevic, director of the Department for Sports and Youth in Leposavic Municipality and president of CI People's Movement, believes that the petition is a legitimate act, but does not believe in its success. He says that the SL is the one most responsible for the whole situation, and that it is also behind the collection of citizens' signatures for the removal of the mayor.

Aleksandar Arsenijevic from Serbian Democracy points out that the people in the municipalities in the north, including Mitrovica itself, were not aware of the initiation of the petition, which, he says, raises doubts as to how the signatures were collected in the first place. Arsenijevic says that this procedure shows an evident agreement between Belgrade and Pristina regarding the holding of elections in four municipalities with a Serbian majority in the north of Kosovo.

"I see this as an attempt to return the Serbian List to the throne again, and it turns out that we had that period of a year and few days, which was paid for in blood, so that the Serbian List could better position itself and better negotiate its affairs, and not that it was about the rights of the Serb people," Arsenijevic told KiM radio.

CEC: To dismiss the mayor in the north, turn to the municipal assemblies (KiM radio)

The Central Election Commission of Kosovo (CEC) announced that citizens from the north of Kosovo should contact the presidents of the Municipal Assemblies to start an initiative to replace the mayors in North Mitrovica, Leposavic, Zvecan and Zubin Potok.

CEC spokesman Valmir Elezi told RFE that on December 5 on the official email address four letters arrived with a request to start an initiative to replace the mayors, which the CEC considered and concluded that they should report to the competent authorities, that is, to the Presidents of the Municipal Assemblies, reported KiM radio.

On December 5, a group of citizens tried to launch an initiative to replace the current mayors in the municipalities in the north, but as they later stated, they were not able to do so.

Sanja Krtinic from North Mitrovica said in a statement to some local Serbian-language media that no one in the municipality wanted to receive them and talk to them, and that they were referred to the Ministry for Local Self-Government Administration.

The President of the North Mitrovica Municipality Assembly, Nedzad Ugljanin, explained in a statement to RFE that the citizens' initiative was not addressed to him, as provided for in the Administrative Instruction of the Government of Kosovo for the removal of the mayor.

Former OSCE official: Thaci persistently denied in 1999 that the KLA committed crimes against Serbs and Roma, and the atrocities became a pattern (KoSSev, N1, Beta)

Former OSCE official, Sandra Mitchell, testified at the trial of former KLA commander Hashim Thaci in The Hague that Thaci denied in the fall of 1999 that the KLA was committing crimes against Serbs and Roma, claiming that they were committed by criminals who misused the uniform of the KLA, reported KoSSev, citing N1. Mitchell stated in the courtroom that, after the withdrawal of Serbian forces from Kosovo in June 1999, she had several conversations with Thaci during which she pointed out that people in KLA uniforms were mass attacking, abusing, and killing the remaining Serbs and Roma.

"Tachi did not agree with those accusations. He claimed that it was not the KLA that did it, but people impersonating its members, opportunists, criminals, and gangs who use KLA uniforms to commit atrocities," said Mitchell.

The witness emphasized that OSCE officials faced such "persistent denial" of the KLA's responsibility for crimes every time they pointed out to KLA leaders the crimes against minorities that had become a "pattern" throughout Kosovo. She received the same explanation from Thaci when she found two members of the KLA in her apartment in Pristina examining her computer, ahead of the publication of the OSCE report on human rights violations in Kosovo. The witness indicated that the apartment, which was rented by the OSCE, was the property of the Serbs, and that the KLA intended to confiscate it, as well as the apartments and property of other Serbs who left Kosovo. Mitchell said that, in the end, she had to leave the apartment.

According to the witness, the climate after the withdrawal of Serbian forces from Kosovo was marked by acts of "revenge and retaliation" against Serbs, Roma and Albanians who were labeled as "collaborators".

Over time, the OSCE received reports of "systematic" violence against minorities.

"A pattern emerged throughout Kosovo - men in black KLA uniforms arrested or kidnapped, burned houses, intimidated Serbs and Roma to force them to leave..." described Mitchell.

The witness specified that since February 1998, "157 Serbs" have disappeared in Kosovo and that this was a "huge issue" for the OSCE mission.

The exact number of the missing was difficult to determine due to "the persistent denial of the KLA to detain Serbian civilians." Mitchell confirmed that the KLA targeted supporters of Ibrahim Rugova and his Democratic Union of Kosovo because, according to KLA leaders, "they did not contribute to the liberation of Albanians." Thaci - at that time, the head of the provisional government of Kosovo - and other leaders of the KLA promised the OSCE mission that they would investigate these accusations, but, according to the witness, they never did.

At the invitations of the OSCE to condemn all those attacks, Thaci and Agim Ceku "made some statements", but it happened that they were not published in the local media, Mitchell said.

Criminal prosecution for reporting a crime? (KiM radio, RTS)

KiM radio reported last night that Snezana Jovanovic, president of the Local Committee for Public Safety for Kisnica, Susica and Badovac, in the presence of lawyer Ljubomir Pantovic, gave a statement at the police station in Gracanica regarding the knowledge of the shooting near the House of Culture in mid-September, and for which, as she pointed out, she is now being threatened with criminal charges.

She explained to the gathered citizens in front of the police station in this place, including the president of the municipality of Gracanica Ljiljana Subaric, and the media that on October 4 this year, she informed the police about the case of a bullet being fired from a firearm in Gracanica on September 15 from a moving vehicle.

She says that eyewitnesses reported the shooting and the bullet casing to the traffic patrol the same evening, but there was no reaction.

After she took the case to a higher level and reported it to President Subaric, then the police summoned her for a hearing and informed her that she would be prosecuted by the Prosecutor's Office for "failure to report the crime and findings about the perpetrator".

"I believe that I am not guilty and that they have no right to prosecute me. I reported the case, I acted as a conscientious citizen as soon as I received information and as soon as that information was confirmed. I publicly requested that all of us from the Municipal Security Committee discuss that topic and to publicly invite the police station in Gracanica to investigate," Jovanovic said.

She adds that she acted in accordance with the Criminal Code, but that the prosecution and the police believe that she violated the law in the sense that she did not report.

"The positions do not match. I did report, and they interpret that I did not report in a timely manner," explained Jovanovic after giving her statement at the police station.