Headlines - 15.07.2016

PM Mustafa on meeting with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Nuland (Zëri)

Kosovo’s Prime Minister Isa Mustafa wrote on his Facebook account on Thursday that the meeting he had with United States Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland was “substantial and with clear messages”. Mustafa said they discussed the need to strengthen the state of law, the fight against crime and corruption, the government reshuffling, the implementation of agreements from dialogue with Belgrade and resumption of dialogue, as well as resolving the border issue with Montenegro. According to Mustafa, “resolving the border problem with Montenegro is a very important element for state sovereignty and relates to the support for the transformation of the Kosovo Security Force into the Kosovo Armed Forces”.

Hyseni: KAF cannot be formed without demarcation (Koha)

Kosovo’s Interior Minister, Skender Hyseni, during an interview in KTV’s Interaktiv show said that the transformation of the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) into Kosovo Armed Force (KAF) cannot be done without the ratification of the border-demarcation agreement with Montenegro.  According to him, it is in the interest of Kosovo to open a debate on this issue in the Assembly and for this agreement to be ratified as soon as possible.  “I call on the MPs to analyse this issue and to present their arguments in the Assembly,” Hyseni said.

Border demarcation not on today’s government meeting agenda (Koha)

The meeting of the government of Kosovo to discuss the draft law for ratification of the border demarcation agreement with Montenegro initially scheduled for 13 July was postponed and while the meeting is now expected to take place today, sources said that the border demarcation issue will not be on the agenda. At the same time, sources from the Kosovo Assembly said the agreement will be presented once all the arguments have been heard. This is expected to be done during a debate between the members of the government’s commission for border demarcation and experts.

“Demarcation led by Kosovo administrators not decision-makers” (Bota Sot)

Vetëvendosje leader, Visar Ymeri, took to Facebook to accuse the government of Kosovo of not taking decision on its own but merely “administrating” those of others. “Conditioned independence brought us a conditioned country”, said Ymeri.

Mustafa: Concrete results in fight against corruption, organised crime (Koha)

Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Isa Mustafa, met on Thursday the newly appointed Justice Minister, Dhurata Hoxha. Mustafa congratulated Hoxha on her new appointment, stressing the government’s full commitment to further strengthen the rule of law in Kosovo.  “The fight against organised crime and corruption are the main priorities of the work of the Government of Kosovo. We have achieved concrete results in these areas recently, but the government, in close cooperation with other relevant institutions, is focused to achieve progress even more in that direction,” Mustafa said. Hoxha expressed her full commitment to the implementation of the priorities of the government and to further increase results in the field of justice.

Kosovo Assembly adopts 2016 budget review (Koha)

In its leading front-page story, the paper reports that after a three-hour debate on Thursday, members of the Kosovo Assembly adopted the draft law for amending and complementing the budget law for 2016. The paper notes that the assembly session began after a two-hour delay due to the absence of Assembly President Kadri Veseli. When the latter joined the session he provided no explanation as to why he was late. Vetëvendosje parliamentary group chief, Glauk Konjufca, criticised Veseli and argued that the delay of the session was related to “the deals that the PDK and LDK are making over the budget”.