Headlines - 12.08.2017

• Assembly constitutive session to resume on Monday (media)
• Delawie: Politicians must advance Kosovo’s interests (Koha)
• Haliti: PDK lacks numbers, coalition with LDK in Kosovo’s interest (Kosovapress)
• Serbian President Vucic talks about his plan on Kosovo (RTK)
• Serbia with special envoys against Kosovo in UNESCO (media)
• AAK’s Arber Vllahiu to run for Pristina mayor (media)

Assembly constitutive session to resume on Monday (media)

The Kosovo Assembly announced on its official website that the constitutive session will resume on Monday. The agenda includes the election of the Assembly President and his deputies. PAN MPs reacted saying that their request for a consultative meeting before the constitutive session was not taken into account. NISMA MP Zafir Berisha told RTV21: “the constitutive session will not be functional because there have been no prior consultations with PAN”.

Delawie: Politicians must advance Kosovo’s interests (Koha)

The United States Ambassador to Kosovo, Greg Delawie, told KTV on Friday that the current political situation in Kosovo must be solved as soon as possible and that the solution must be found by Kosovars and not by internationals. Delawie said: “I think what we really need is a Kosovo-based solution. You have three groups that each have in the neighborhood of 1/3 of members of Parliament. It is clear that a compromise is going to have to be made and there has to be a Kosovo-generated compromise, not a foreigner-generated compromise … I think what is really important is for all of Kosovo’s politicians to find a way to put the country’s interests first, not their family, not their political party, but the country. It is really important that Kosovo has an Assembly and a government. The world is just not going to wait for Kosovo to figure itself out. The world is moving and Kosovo has got to move too. The stalemate must end. I encourage all politicians to find a way to advance the interests of Kosovo and its citizens”.

Haliti: PDK lacks numbers, coalition with LDK in Kosovo’s interest (Kosovapress)

Xhavit Haliti, member of the chairmanship of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), told the news website that the PDK does not have the required votes to elect an Assembly President otherwise they would have attended the constitutive session of the Assembly. “We had an agreement, but someone backed down and now we are working on a new agreement … I don’t have any information about who is talking to whom because I am not part of the group that discusses possible coalitions,” he said. Haliti could not say if PDK MPs will attend the assembly session scheduled for Monday. Haliti also argued that a coalition with the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) would be in Kosovo’s interest, but that the LDK is interested to delay the process until after the October local elections, when it could possibly change its position. Haliti said Kadri Veseli is PDK’s sole candidate for Assembly President and that the refusal of other parties to vote in his favor are an attempt to buy time.

Serbian President Vucic talks about his plan on Kosovo (RTK)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Friday that by the end of this year he will announce his position on resolving the Kosovo issue. Vucic told the Serbian public broadcaster that for the sake of Serbia’s future it is good to initiate an internal dialogue on Kosovo. “I cannot talk about something that is not definite yet. I can talk about something that it is important for the future of Serbia … If one party is satisfied and the other is not, then there can be no compromise,” Vucic added.

Serbia with special envoys against Kosovo in UNESCO (media)

Several news websites report that Serbian Foreign Minister, in consultation with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, will send in September envoys to seven countries to lobby against Kosovo’s membership in the UNESCO and other international organizations. Serbian media outlet Novosti reported on Friday that in August 27 envoys visited 19 countries and told media there that this is a continuation of the diplomatic campaign against Kosovo’s membership bid for UNESCO. The UNESCO General Conference will be held in November.

AAK’s Arber Vllahiu to run for Pristina mayor (media)

Arber Vllahiu, former reporter and advisor to Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga, is the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo’s candidate for Pristina mayor in the upcoming local elections in October. Vllahiu told reporters in Pristina today: “I have been with the Alliance for several weeks now and you are giving me the dream for Pristina. I believe that together we will bring Pristina closer to its citizens. The time has come to change the future of this city together by restoring its lost dignity”.