The Kosovo Assembly chairmanship has decided to continue with the unfinished session on 2 April and start with the new one at 14:00 hours of the same day. Deputies will debate on the 100 days of the new government of Kosovo.

Asked about the possibility of failure on the voting for the special court, Assembly Speaker Kadri Veseli said that it is still unknown what will happen but that it is important for the Assembly to make transparent and legitimate decisions.

Kosovo Assembly deputies decided to postpone election of Kosovo Ombudsperson for Friday. The decision came after the proposal of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) although the opposition insisted on voting for the candidates at todays’ session as originally planned. The postponement is reported to have come as a result of disagreements between the coalition partners, PDK and LDK, on their preferred candidates for the post.

Despite frequent pressure from the West on Pristina to pass the decision on creation of a special court of Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) war crimes, and friendly warnings that such decision would be in the interest of Kosovo authorities in order to avoid creation of a new Hague tribunal by the UN, there is still no majority in the Kosovo Assembly to vote for it. Analysts in Kosovo believe that, in the end, the court will be established despite opposition of the great number of MPs in the Kosovo Assembly.

Ambassadors of the US, Germany, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Italy, and the EU special representative reiterated today in Prizren that if Kosovo authorities fail to establish the special court, this competency will then be transferred to the United Nations. They added that the special court will benefit Kosovo and its future.

Nenad Rasic and Petar Miletic said that the Serbian List should return to the Kosovo institutions in order to defend the interests of the Serbian community. At the meeting in Gracanica were adopted ten points concerning the improvement of the position of the Serbs in Kosovo. The last point envisaged that the draft statute of the Community of Serbian municipalities will be submitted at one of future meetings of the Assembly of the Serbian municipalities. 

Kosovo Assembly Speaker Kadri Veseli is travelling to Panama today, a country which has recognized Kosovo’s independence in 2009. Many countries in Latin America, under the influence of Spain’s position, have yet to recognize the independence of Kosovo. “Promoting Kosovo in this continent and consolidating relations with countries of the region is one of our biggest challenges in international relations,” Veseli wrote on his Facebook account.

Deputy Speaker of the Assembly of Kosovo, Xhavit Haliti, stated that Kosovo institutions will not discuss creation of the special court for war crimes in Kosovo with the authorities of Holland. He said to the journalists that Kosovo authorities will discuss the court with Brussels, even though the headquarters of the court is expected to be in Holland. “Brussels will discuss with Holland, not the Assembly of Kosovo. I believe that this is how it should be,” said Haliti.

Kosovo Assembly Speaker Kadri Veseli, in an opinion piece, calls on the Serbian List to return to the Kosovo institutions “and not deny their constituency a basic democratic right: the right for institutional representation”. “If the goal of the Serbian List is to improve the wellbeing of Kosovo Serbs, it can certainly not achieve this by leaving them without representation and by sentencing them to isolation. Isolation never brings good results … Kosovo Serbs, same as all other citizens, need programs of development, and not political myths and legends.

Lirije Kajtazi head of the Parliamentary commission for the human rights and gender equality, has confirmed that she has received the names of the four candidates for the Ombudsperson of Kosovo.  She added that the commission will meet on Monday to look into the list and then send them to the Assembly for voting. She said that the process has so far been transparent and without political influence. The decision for one of the candidates, Mazllum Baraliu, Suzana Novoberdaliu, Shqipe Mala or Veton Vula, is expected to be made within 30 days.

Representatives of the civil society have requested from the Assembly of Kosovo to discuss with the Serbian List their return to the Assembly, as soon as possible. They assessed Assembly’s start of the new season as very weak.