• Bolton to visit Kosovo when tariff is removed and government formed, KTV learns
• Hoti: We won’t give away up PM post (media)
• They won’t agree to a solution outside elections (Zeri)
• Hehir: Elections need to bring change, not stability (Prishtina Insight/Kallxo)
• Krasniqi: Belgrade is guilty about the tariff (media)
• Rama: Kosovo Army to take part in missions in Iraq or Afghanistan in 2021 (media)

Bolton to visit Kosovo when tariff is removed and government formed, KTV learns

John Bolton, National Security Advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump, was expected to visit Pristina and Belgrade to discuss the resumption of dialogue between the two parties but his visit has been cancelled and it will not happen this month, Pristina-based KTV learns. The TV station claims to have seen a correspondence from Washington according to which Bolton would visit Pristina only after a new government is formed and the import tariff on Serbian goods is lifted.

Hoti: We won’t give away up PM post (media)

Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) parliamentary group chief, Avdullah Hoti, said in an interview to Ekonomia Online that political parties have agreed to go to early parliamentary elections and that there is no international pressure to form a provisional government. “There are no such requests, and our position is very clear. Local stakeholders and international partners are convinced that processes cannot move forward and the country cannot be led by a government that lacks legitimacy. [Party] leader Mustafa is already meeting foreign ambassadors in Pristina to reconfirm the position of the Democratic League of Kosovo for free elections and for the important processes that we are going through as a country”. Hoti said the post of Prime Minister belongs to the biggest party and that “secondly, we prefer to go to elections alone and then depending on the will of the people we will see what we will do”. Hoti said there is mutual readiness between his party and the Vetevendosje Movement to cooperate but added that they have substantial differences on key topics. He also said that the LDK will not cooperate with the Democratic Party of Kosovo “because of previous bad experiences”.

They won’t agree to a solution outside elections (Zeri)

The paper reports in one of its front-page stories that representatives of opposition parties have expressed concerns that the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), in the remaining 12 days before the Kosovo Assembly session, will try to make a deal for the election of a new Prime Minister without going to early parliamentary elections. Opposition representatives said they would mobilise the people in the event of such an attempt by the PDK. Unlike the PDK, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) and NISMA have already submitted the signatures of their MPs for an extraordinary session that will vote on dissolving the Assembly. “I believe the MPs will vote in favour of the dissolution of the Assembly,” AAK parliamentary group chief Ahmeti Isufi told the paper. He also said that the AAK is in favour of early general elections and that they would not agree with any other option. NISMA parliamentary group chief Bilall Sherifi said he was confident that this party would win 10 seats in the Assembly after the early elections. On the other hand, some political commentators in Pristina believe that the Assembly might not be disbanded. “The dissolution of the Assembly, because of different interests but also due to international pressure, might not happen at all,” a political analyst told the paper.

Hehir: Elections need to bring change, not stability (Prishtina Insight/Kallxo)

“We must hope that the electorate seize this opportunity to break away from the old guard and forge a bold, new path for Kosovo,” Aidan Hehir, Director of the Security and International Relations Programme at the University of Westminster, UK, writes in an opinion piece for Prishtina Insight. “The forthcoming elections expected to be announced this month come at a critical point in the history of Kosovo. Some may argue that the elections couldn’t have come at a worse time; Kosovo is in the midst of a series of internal and external crises, and the inevitable disruption caused by both the election campaign and the formation of a new government will, by definition, compromise political and societal stability. But, the quest for stability – for so long the primary goal set for Kosovo – has paradoxically produced little more than stagnation, if not regression. What Kosovo needs now more than ever is not stability, it is change. Stability is, of course, in many ways desirable. States boasting economic growth and functioning political systems are characterized by stability. But so too are authoritarian regimes and captured states. So while Sweden and Denmark are stable, so too are North Korea and Belarus. Stability is not, therefore, inherently good. Since 1999 the goal set for Kosovo by its many external patrons has been stability, narrowly understood as the absence of internal and regional conflict. With the exception of the 2004 riots, these goals have been largely achieved. Kosovo is not a particularly dangerous place, nor has it proved to be a danger to its neighbours. The fear expressed by many in 1999, and indeed following the declaration of independence in 2008, that Kosovo would implode or cause a chain reaction of violent secession, has proved unfounded”. Full opinion piece at: https://prishtinainsight.com/elections-need-to-bring-change-not-stability/

Krasniqi: Belgrade is guilty about the tariff (media)

Jakup Krasniqi, chairman of the National Council of the Social Democratic Initiative (NISMA), took to Facebook today to comment on the 100 percent import tariff on Serbian goods, several news websites report. “What needs to be made clear is that the tariff was not introduced against any citizen of Kosovo, or the Serb minority, or Serb businesses, but against Serbia’s hostile policy vis-à-vis Kosovo,” Krasniqi wrote. “Kosovo Serbs and Serbian businesses should address all their complaints to the Serbian government in Belgrade. They are responsible for these relations.”

Rama: Kosovo Army to take part in missions in Iraq or Afghanistan in 2021 (media)

Kosovo Security Force (KSF) Commander, Rrahman Rama, said on Friday that in 2012 members of the Kosovo Army will for the first time take part in military missions abroad together with members of the U.S. Army. In an interview to RTK, General Rama said that a company of the Kosovo Army will take part in a mission in Iraq or Afghanistan and that this will be a major achievement for the Kosovo Army. “I say it with full confidence that Kosovo’s soldiers will join the Iowa National Guard in military missions in those countries,” Rama was quoted as saying.