Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz hailed the decision of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to grant Kosovo a dialing prefix as historic, the Austrian news agency APA reported. Kurz recalled that Austria applied on behalf of Kosovo on 1 January 2016 and that the ITU decision will enable cheaper and simpler telephone calls. Furthermore, he said the agreement reached between Kosovo and Serbia under the EU facilitation stipulates the establishment of a new telephone operator, part of the Serbian Telecom, which will be licensed by the Kosovo Regulatory Authority.

Kosovo’s President, Hashim Thaçi, during an interview with Austrian Press Agency said that all those that will be indicted by the special court for war crimes, must surrender to justice, even if they are politicians. The news site reports that during the interview, Thaçi avoided the question whether he would continue to hold the post of the President if an indictment against him would be filed. He said he does not want to prejudge anything or give statements that would affect the judicial process.

The Austrian News Agency (APA) has quoted reports of the daily paper Tiroler Tageszeitung which said that the outgoing prime minister of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, has a good chance to win Sunday’s elections. “Compared to the charismatic Thaci, Isa Mustafa from the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) cannot hope to become prime minister of Kosovo,” wrote the paper. It added that the main race will be between the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) and LDK but that Mustafa is behind in the polls.