Minister of the Kosovo Security Force, Haki Demolli, said that the Serbian List refused 18 requests to meet with the cabinet of the KSF Minister. “From April to July 2016, our cabinet sent around 18 invitations, be them by e-mail, written and different invitations. We have sent the invitation to ministers as well as to the Kosovo Assembly MPs from the Serbian List, in order to discuss the possibility of an agreement for their vote on constitutional mandates. We have never received a positive reply.

Kosovo Assembly’s Serbian MP, Nenad Rasic said today that Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaci and people of the political scene in Kosovo, appear to have lost their way.

“No one from the PDK-LDK coalition has discussed with the Serbian List about the army,” Rasic said.

The leader of the Vetevendosje movement, Visar Ymeri, said today at the roundtable organized by this party that the law on KSF is not transforming it into an army as expected, instead it is only expanding its competencies.

Ymeri said that creation of the army has been promised ever since the liberation of Kosovo. According to him, constitutional amendments that would allow creation of Armed Forces were made before the 2014 elections.

The Commander of the Kosovo Security Force, Rrahman Rama, stated that KSF agrees completely and supports the adoption of the draft law on Kosovo Security Force.

Insajderi: Was there any initial coordination between Kosovo authorities, namely the Office of the President, with the U.S. Embassy Pristina regarding the future steps on creating the Kosovo Army?

President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, said today at an open debate with representatives of Serbian media and civil society, at the Medeia Center based in Caglavica,, that the creation of a Kosovo army is legal and fully in line with the Constitution of Kosovo. He said he expects NATO to continue supporting the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) as it did since its establishment. “Transformation will be done by preserving partnership with our allies. We will have both the army and partners,” Thaci said.

Ministry of Finance and Ministry of European Integration have given their assessment of the Kosovo Security Transformation (KSF) bill saying the budget can cover expenses for its implementation and that it is in line with EU legislation. The government of Kosovo had requested three ministries – Ministry of Kosovo Security Force, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of European Integration – to review the draft law and give evaluations.

In an interview to Insajderi news website, the US Ambassador Greg Delawie said that Kosovo should have an army but that this should be done through constitutional amendments and in consultation with all communities in Kosovo. Delawie dismissed statements by Kosovo officials that the creation of the Kosovo army is happening in full coordination with international partners. “This is not how we envisaged the process to take place. This does truly not reflect the content of discussions we had with Kosovo Government officials more recently,” he said.

The President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, said at a panel for transformation of the Kosovo Security Force that works on this matter have been going on for 17 or 18 years now. He also added that Kosovo was very close to this transformation in 2014, adding that at that time, international community also supported the transformation. Thaci said that Serbia is impeding every initiative of Kosovo. “We cannot accept to coordinate and consult Serbia on Kosovo’s army,” he said.

Chairman of the Kosovo Assembly’s commission for internal affairs, security and Kosovo Security Force (KSF) supervision, Daut Haradinaj, said at a debate today that the aim of the KSF transformation is to create security inside and outside of Kosovo and not to endanger anyone. Haradinaj urged the international community not to misunderstand the creation of Kosovo army. “The army of Kosovo will not present a threat to any country in the Balkans and the region,” Haradinaj said.