Headlines - 08.09.2016

• Prime Minister Mustafa seeking consensus on border demarcation (Koha)
• Opposition to Mustafa: We can meet only to reconsider demarcation (Epoka)
• Mustafa: Ruling coalition will have enough votes for demarcation (Epoka)
• Mustafa discusses demarcation with bordering municipalities (Kosova Sot)
• Haradinaj: The current version of the border demarcation is dead (Epoka)
• Fajon: Visa liberalisation depends on Kosovo (Zëri)
• First indictments of special court by year’s end (Koha/Politika)
• Kosovo journalists association condemns lynching of journalists (Koha)

Prime Minister Mustafa seeking consensus on border demarcation (Koha)

Prime Minister of Kosovo, Isa Mustafa, said on Wednesday that he will initiate a round of meetings with the Serbian List and opposition parties “to clarify all dilemmas” before the government resends to the Assembly the draft law on the ratification of the border demarcation. “I will talk with the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, the Initiative for Kosovo and the Vetevendosje Movement. We will also talk with the Serbian List before we move forward so that we can exhaust all options,” Mustafa said on Wednesday. The paper recalls that when he withdrew the draft law from the Assembly last week, Mustafa had said that the Serbian List had presented conditions in exchange for their votes. Mustafa however denied this on Wednesday. “If conditions are presented to us I will make them public. There are no conditions, neither from the Serbian List nor from the others, we will try to resolve this issue based on facts and arguments,” he said.

Opposition to Mustafa: We can meet only to reconsider demarcation (Epoka)

Opposition parties expressed reservation regarding Prime Minister Mustafa’s invitation to meet once again before the government resends the border demarcation bill to the Assembly. Representatives of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), and the Initiative for Kosovo (NISMA), Muharrem Nitaj and Bilall Sherifi, said on Wednesday that their parties would meet Mustafa only to reconsider the demarcation agreement. Otherwise, they said everything would be in vain. They also said they would decide once they see the content of the invitation.

Mustafa: Ruling coalition will have enough votes for demarcation (Epoka)

In a front-page interview for the paper, Prime Minister of Kosovo, Isa Mustafa, said he would make all institutional efforts to create room for all political and social stakeholders to give their contribution to the issue of the border demarcation with Montenegro. Mustafa said this would pave way to visa liberalisation for Kosovo, the transformation of the Kosovo Security Force into the Kosovo Armed Forces, the strengthening of Kosovo’s international role and reconfirmation of the strategic partnership with the U.S. Mustafa informed that the coalition government did not back away on demarcation of the border and establishment of the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities. He further argued that the ruling coalition will have enough votes to ratify the demarcation deal. Asked about the possibility of new elections in case that demarcation does not pass, Mustafa said that he does not fear elections and added that the opposition’s causes are fictive and that their goal is to bring down the government.

Mustafa discusses demarcation with bordering municipalities (Kosova Sot)

Prime Minister of Kosovo, Isa Mustafa, met yesterday the mayors of  Peja/Peć, Deçan/Dečani, Istog and Junik municipalities and discussed with them the border demarcation process with Montenegro. PM Mustafa spoke in the meeting about the need for coordination to enable full and unobstructed use of land along the Kosovo-Montenegro border strip by the local residents.

Haradinaj: The current version of the border demarcation is dead (Epoka)

Ramush Haradinaj, leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), said on Wednesday in Peja that the current version of the border demarcation with Montenegro is dead. According to Haradinaj, prior to the signing of the agreement, he realised that there were mistakes and he wrote to then-Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga, to Prime Minister Isa Mustafa, Assembly President Kadri Veseli and former Foreign Minister Hashim Thaçi, to ask them not to continue with the agreement. He said he also wrote to COMKFOR and the Quint embassies, and also to then-EU Representative Samuel Zbogar. Haradinaj now says it would be better if the Kosovo Assembly declares the agreement null and void. “If they do not have the power, let them reconsider it. Reconsidering means bringing back the border to Çakorr, to Kulla,” Haradinaj said.

Fajon: Visa liberalisation depends on Kosovo (Zëri)

European Parliament rapporteur for visa liberalisation, Tanja Fajon, told the paper that there can be no visa-free travel for the people of Kosovo without ratification of the border demarcation agreement with Montenegro and concrete results in the fight against corruption. Fajon said the ball is now in Kosovo’s court. “We have sent a powerful message to Kosovo of our determination to this process,” said Fajon.

First indictments of special court by year’s end (Koha/Politika)

Citing an article published in Serbian newspaper Politika, Koha Ditore reports today that the special prosecutor, David Schwendiman, is expected to file the first indictments for war crimes committed by the KLA by the end of this year. Politika quoted Nemanja Stjepanovic, from the Human Rights Fund, as saying that eight indictments have already been prepared.

Kosovo journalists association condemns lynching of journalists (Koha)

The news website reports that the Association of Journalists of Kosovo issued a press release on Wednesday saying that it received with concern the information from RTK journalist Ridvan Berisha that he is feeling insecure “since the last lynching coming from the Vetevendosje Movement”. “The AJK supports our colleague, Ridvan Berisha, and condemns any ‘lynching’ of journalists in Kosovo. At the same time, we call on all political parties to stop attacking public media journalists as in the last couple of days we have witnessed increased pressure on them,” the press release said.