Headlines - 14.08.2013 Thaçi: Elections, not on ethnic basis (dailies) Kosovo Government officials said on Tuesday that November local elections will be held in compliance with the laws of the state of Kosovo and the highest international standards. Meanwhile, there is no official position yet on the design of voting ballots. Officials in Brussels did not comment on requests by Serbs who don’t want “Republic of Kosovo” to be included in voting ballots. Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi said all communities would participate in the November local elections. He once again called on Serbs to take part in the process. “The character of elections has nothing to do with the ethnic background of citizens; democracy and the rule of law are in the service of all people and everyone is going to benefit from investments. We are not going to make any distinctions on ethnic basis,” Thaçi was quoted as saying. “The international agreement in Brussels creates a safe environment for participating in elections, for electing the leadership and for the functioning of legitimate and democratic institutions. The character of elections has nothing to do with ethnic basis,” Thaçi said. Zëri quotes Thaçi as saying that the Kosovo Government will make investments and create jobs for Serbs in northern Kosovo.  Meanwhile, Serbian media have reported about the possible delay of local elections in Kosovo as a result of disagreements about the design of the voting ballot. Elections will not be postponed and symbols remain (Kosova Sot) Kosova Sot reports that the possibility of postponement of elections in Kosovo, which has not been rejected from the Serbs in the north, is rejected by Kosovo Government officials. They said that something like that will not happen for the fact that the last compromise was to schedule elections for 3 November. Government officials also rejected the possibility to remove state symbols from the voting ballots saying that article 11 of the agreement of 19 April clearly determines how the election process will be conducted. Deputy Prime Minister, Edita Tahiri, said for Kosova Sot that the agreement achieved on 19 April and the implementation plan clearly specify that deadlines should be met, and that the plan also said that elections should take place in October but the time of elections was moved in the meeting of prime ministers. OSCE does not know about the design of voting ballots (Epoka e Re) Epoka e Re quotes OSCE spokesperson, Nikola Gaon, as saying that it is still unknown how the voting ballots for local elections of 3 November in the north will look like. “I know that it has been raised as an issue. For the OSCE, the best solution will be any symbols on which both parties agree which means that is not known which symbols will be used and how would voting ballots look like,” said Gaon for Infoglobi. He said that the role of OSCE in the local elections in Kosovo is to support the election process in general. OSCE’s role, invaluable (dailies) Deputy Prime Minister Edita Tahiri in a meeting with the head of OSCE in Kosovo Jean-Claude Schlumberger commended the mission’s readiness to provide facilitation in local elections process and reconfirmed the commitment of the Kosovo Government to ensure a democratic election process in accordance to the country’s laws and international standards. Tahiri stressed the importance participation of Serbs in the four northern municipalities in upcoming local elections. “Establishment of rule of law, democracy and normality in that part of our country is in the interest of all,” she noted. Kurti: Government guilty for division of the north (Epoka e Re) The leader of Vetëvendosje movement, Albin Kurti, blamed during the presentation of the Vetëvendosje candidate for local elections in Mitrovica KFOR, Government of Kosovo and local institutions in Mitrovica for the division of the city. He said that Mitrovica is the most valuable city of Kosovo. “The current Government made sure that things become even worse, by deciding in the discussions in Brussels for the north of Kosovo to have a special police region and a special development fund,” said Kurti. He added that ethnic cleansing in the north did not only happen during the war but also after it.   Germany supports implementation of the agreement (Epoka e Re) Former Ambassador of Germany in Kosovo, Ernst Reichel, has expressed the will of the German Government to deepen bilateral cooperation with Kosovo in many fields. Reichel, who is currently Germany’s Special Envoy for South-Eastern Europe, Turkey and EFTA states, during the meeting with Kosovo’s Foreign Minister, Enver Hoxhaj, valued the progress reached in Kosovo and expressed support of Germany on integration processes. He also valued the achievements in the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, and expressed Germany’s engagement to help on implementation of the agreement reached in Brussels. Serbia “forces” government to revert to birth certificates (Koha Ditore) Koha Ditore reports that Serbia has “forced” the Kosovo Government to revert to issuing birth certificates instead of birth extracts it introduced as a replacement several months ago. The move came after the new birth extracts are not accepted by Serbian authorities forcing the Kosovo citizens to equip themselves with birth certificates – the document which allows them to pass through the border. Only on Tuesday Pristina municipality received over 1,200 requests for birth certificates which caused long waiting lines. Signing of contract for PTK privatisation postponed (dailies) Ministry of Economic Development announced that it was postponing the deadline for signing of contract privatizing 75 percent of Kosovo Post and Telecom shares. The decision came after the representatives of winning company, “AXOS capital” and “Najafi Companies LLC”, failed to sign the contract by yesterday. The new deadline is now 30 September. The Government commission for privatisation said the decision to extend the deadline is in the interest of Kosovo considering the importance of the PTK privatisation process and thanked the diplomatic corps in Pristina that helped in reaching of the decision to prolong the deadline. EULEX will request extradition of Naser Kelmendi to Sarajevo (Bota Sot) The European Union rule-of-law mission in Kosovo (EULEX) will call on the Basic Court in Pristina to extradite Naser Kelmendi to Bosnia and Herzegovina as soon as possible. Sources told Indeksonline that international and local authorities have discussed the steps that will be taken in the Kelmendi case. The same sources said EULEX would file the request to the Basic Court in the next two days. Kelmendi was arrested by Kosovo Police on May 6, based on an international warrant for organized crime.