Prince Charles to visit Kosovo (Koha)
The Prince of Wales is expected to visit Kosovo this March as part of his tour to several Western Balkans countries. During the Kosovo visit, Prince Charles will meet the most senior local leaders.
Procurement review body chief resigns (Koha/Kallxo)
The chairman of the Kosovo Procurement Review Body, Hysni Hoxha, has resigned from his post today. Sources told Koha that Hoxha cited health reasons in his resignation letter. Hoxha has been indicted by the Special Prosecution of Kosovo with “abuse of position or authority”. Pristina-based news site Kallxo quotes Hoxha as saying, “my resignation has nothing to do with the charges against me. Those charges are nonsense and are not related to this”.
Koenders: Situation in Kosovo, somewhat unstable (Koha/RLE)
The Netherlands Foreign Minister, Bert Koenders, while speaking at the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee today said the current situation in Kosovo is somewhat unstable. “In regards to Kosovo, we welcome the signing of the Stabilization and Association Agreement,” Koenders said. He also said Serbia has made progress last year and mentioned its agreements with Kosovo. “Montenegro has continued to progress steadily in its negotiations on EU membership.
Over 17 thousand asylum-seekers returned to Kosovo (Koha)
Asylum seekers and their reintegration has been a topic of discussion at a table with Interior Minister Skender Hyseni and mayors of several municipalities. Hyseni said his ministry together with the municipalities will have to continue with awareness campaigns on repatriation benefits. "The reintegration and repatriation process will continue even after the Europpean Commission recommends visa liberalization for Kosovo.
Unconditioned dialogue, including early elections (Koha Ditore)
Halil Matoshi writes today that quarrels and aggressive discourse against the opposition cannot overcome the situation “of the small and clashed country” as referred to Kosovo in the western media. He considers that the solution stands in an offer for a political, unconditioned discussion, which would not exclude early elections.
Vetevendosje: Integration of Civil Protection members, offensive to other communities (Koha)
The Vetevendosje Movement through a press release today said the integration of the so-called Civil Protection members into Kosovo Police, allows the Serbian List to take its share in Kosovo. According to Vetevendosje, Kosovo government is integrating the former members of the Civil Protection without verifying whether they committed crimes in Kosovo. “The dialogue in Brussels in not integrating Serbs in Kosovo, but is integrating Serbia and its structures in Kosovo state institutions.
Government to present report on visa liberalization on 15 January (Koha)
Representatives of the Kosovo institutions have pledged to prepare a final report on the fulfillment of the criteria for visa liberalization by 15 January 2016. A press release issued by the government said that Prime Minister Isa Mustafa met with representatives of the institutions in charge for fulfilling the visa liberalization criteria where it was said that concrete results on this regard will be published on 15 January.
Opposition leaders: Protest will be massive (Telegrafi/Koha)
Leaders of opposition parties – Visar Ymeri from Vetevendosje, Ramush Haradinaj from the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), Fatmir Limaj from the Initiative for Kosovo (NISMA) – said today in a press conference in front of the National Theatre that they expect massive turnout in tomorrow’s protest. Haradinaj said the protest will begin at 14.00hrs in front of the National Library and move to the front of the Government building. Opposition leaders said the protest will be peaceful and that they will insist on the government stepping down.
Kosovo farmers to join opposition protest (Koha)
Kosovo farmers’ trade union in a statement to the media said it is joining tomorrow’s opposition protest in Pristina. The statement said Kosovo farmers have many reasons to protest because that Isa Mustafa-led government has left agriculture in a miserable condition. “A large part of the budget allocated to agriculture has been stolen, another part has gone to wrong investment and the remaining part is going to party militants,” the farmers’ trade union said.
Kusari-Lila calls for peaceful protest to Serb pilgrims’ visit (Koha)
Mimoza Kusari-Lila, the Mayor of Gjakova/Djakovica municipality, wrote on her Facebook account today about the announced protest by Gjakova residents against a visit by Serb pilgrims to the city on Orthodox Christmas. Kusari-Lila argued that the right to protest is equal to the right for freedom of movement. “Gjakova has paid a high cost for all processes in Kosovo, but we need to gradually resort to normality. It is essential to continue to search and identify missing persons and to bring to justice those responsible for these crimes.