Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci said that today’s events at the Assembly of Kosovo, were caused by the primitive and ugly behavior of the opposition. “I believe that this continuing primitive and ugly behavior shows the real face of the opposition leaders. We will pursue economic development. No power can stop the work of the institutions, and this situation will be overcome despite what has happened,” Thaci said.

The government of Kosovo is planning to cut maternity leave from 12 to 9 months. Minister for Labor and Social Welfare Arban Abrashi said that an agreement has been reached to cut down maternity leave and change the format of leave pay. According to the plan, the government will provide leave payment for the first half of the leave and the other half will be covered by the employers. Minister Abrashi said the change of the current law was implemented as a result of analysis carried out by the World Bank.

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Isa Mustafa reacted during today’s meeting of the government of Kosovo regarding the decision of a senior court in Serbia to convict eight former high ranking members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), saying that no Serbian court has competences to make decisions on the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo.

The leader of the Vetevendosje movement, Visar Ymeri, said today at a press conference that Isa Mustafa and Hashim Thaci threatened citizens who participated at the protest. “These threats and insults are unacceptable and punishable,” said Ymeri and added that Thaci should give account for his statements made on Wednesday after the protest.

Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo Hashim Thaci, paid homage today in Prekaz. “Every time we go to Prekaz, our strength is renewed by remembering our glorious past and of course the future and state-building of Kosovo,” Thaci said. “We have been tolerant and remained silent until now, giving the opposition possibility to reflect, but we will not tolerate criminal action anymore,” Thaci said.

Deputy President of the Assembly of Kosovo from Vetevendosje movement, Aida Derguti, participated today at the meeting of the Assembly Presidency, which decided to hold the regular session of the Assembly on Friday. Referring to the Agreement on Association/Community of Serb-majority Municipalities, Derguti said that the government is insisting to bring back into life a dead agreement.

A group of 54 civil society activists have signed a letter in support of tomorrow’s opposition protest. In the letter, the undersigned state that as citizens of Kosovo they are deeply concerned with the current political crisis and in an effort to contribute to the resolving of the situation, they have decided to support the opposition protest scheduled for 17 February.

The President of the Assembly of Kosovo, Kadri Veseli, confirmed after the meeting with the heads of parliamentary groups that the regular plenary session will be held on Friday at 10:00 hours. They will discuss 22 points of the agenda.

“We are continuing with a positive atmosphere. Being that tomorrow is a special day, we congratulate citizens for the eighth anniversary of the independence,’ Veseli said.

The news site carries a press release issued by the Pristina-based Kosovo Centre for Security Studies (KCSS) highlighting “the political failure to transform the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) into the Kosovo Armed Forces (KAF)”. The KCSS calls on the Kosovo Government and Assembly to urgently adopt the constitutional amendments required for the transformation of the KSF into the Armed Forces. The Centre recalls that a recent poll showed that over 87% of Kosovo citizens are in favour of the transformation.

The Basic Court in Pristina has issued an arrest warrant against four opposition MPs, three from Vetevendosje and one from the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK). The judge issued the order after it concluded that the defendants - Albin Kurti, Albulena Haxhiu, Faton Topalli and Donika Kadaj – failed to appear at their hearing session scheduled for today. However, the MPs, except for Kurti who the media reported did not show up at all at court, insist they waited for the judge at the set time for fifteen minutes and as he did not show up by then, they decided to leave.