Headlines - 12.01.2017

• Critical stage in Kosovo-Serbia relations (Koha Ditore)
• Haradinaj to face court in France today (Zeri)
• Government with no comment on Serbia’s railway line in the north (Koha)
• Thaci meets US Senator McCain, talks of Kosovo armed forces (Koha)
• Rašić: Like Thaçi, Vučić should visit graves of Albanian victims (Gazeta Express)

Kosovo Media Highlights

Critical stage in Kosovo-Serbia relations (Koha Ditore)

On the front page, the paper writes that relations between Kosovo and Serbia have entered a critical stage following the grenade attack on the Kosovo government premises in Mitrovica North and the detention of AAK leader Ramush Haradinaj by French authorities on an arrest warrant issued by Serbia. Kosovo’s Minister for Dialogue, Edita Tahiri, warned the EU of, as she said, Serbia’s destructive acts against Kosovo. She said that if the EU fails to press Serbia on renouncing its actions and returning to the climate of dialogue, “consequences would be unforeseeable.” The paper argues tensions between Kosovo and Serbia reached a new high when the Kosovo Assembly passed the law on Trepca which Serbia vehemently opposes, followed by the construction of the wall in Mitrovica North by Serb representatives.  

Haradinaj to face court in France today (Zeri)

The Serbian Minister of Justice, Nela Kuburović, stated on Tuesday a supplemented extradition request for Ramush Haradinaj will be sent to France. She said that Serbia wants Haradinaj for war crimes committed against the civilian population during 1999, and noted that these are additional accusations that Haradianj was not tried for.  Haradinaj is expected to appear in front of the French judge in Colmar, France, to learn whether he will be released or if further procedures for his extradition to Serbia would continue. 

Government with no comment on Serbia’s railway line in the north (Koha)

Government of Kosovo has not commented on Serbia’s plans to inaugurate Belgrade-Mitrovica railway line on 13 January. The train, donation from Russia and painted with Orthodox religious motives, would run through the railway which are not under the control of Kosovo authorities. While officials from the Regulatory Authority of Kosovo Railways were not available for comment, the head of the Kosovo Railways, Agron Thaci, told Radio Free Europe recently that Serbia has been illegally using the railway infrastructure in Kosovo since 2008.

Thaci meets US Senator McCain, talks of Kosovo armed forces (Koha)

President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, met yesterday the US Senator John McCain with whom he discussed the US support to Kosovo. “A concrete issue which we discussed and agreed on was the necessity to establish Kosovo army which is vital for maintaining out state sovereignty,” Thaci wrote on Facebook.

Rašić: Like Thaçi, Vučić should visit graves of Albanian victims (Gazeta Express)

Kosovo Assembly MP from the Serbian List, Nenad Rašić, said for Gazeta Express that Hashim Thaçi’s visits to the cemeteries of the Serbs killed after the war in Kosovo were a superb action and a behavior fitting for a President. According to him, victims should be respected no matter their ethnicity. He said that he considered that the visit of the Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić at the cemetery of the Srebrenica victims as a positive gesture as well. Rašić added that he expects the Serbian President to undertake a similar action to Thaçi’s and visit cemeteries of the Albanian victims.