Headlines - 16.10.2013 Dacic in Kosovo on Saturday?  (Epoka e Re) Serbia’s Prime Minister, Ivica Dacic, stated on Saturday that he should have visited Kosovo on Saturday, but that he is still not sure. “I do not know yet, it should have been Saturday,” said Dacic to Belgrade media when asked when he plans to visit Kosovo. A few weeks ago, the Government of Kosovo made a decision to prevent the entrance of Serbian officials to Kosovo during the pre-election campaign, however, a few days later, after the meeting with his Serbian counterpart, Ivica Dacic changed his decision, confirming their visits to Kosovo but not their campaign in the election. Kosovo Government expects positive Progress Report (Epoka e Re) The European Commission is expected to publish a Progress Report for Kosovo today that will identify the progress and challenges in 2013. European Integrations Minister Vlora Çitaku is to hold a press conference today to discuss the findings of the report; representatives of the Kosovo Government believe this year’s assessment will be more positive than the previous one. “We are very certain that this report will be much more positive than last year's because Kosovo has made progress in relations with the European Union regarding the feasibility study and visa liberalisation,” said Deputy Minister of European Integrations Gëzim Kasapolli. SAA expected to start in October and be finalized next summer (dailies) Brussels hopes to start negotiations for the Stabilisation Association Agreement with Kosovo at the end of October and to finalize it next summer. The start of these negotiations has also been confirmed by Deputy Minister for European Integrations Gëzim Kasapolli for Radio Kosova. “I can say that the announced date of 18 October for the start of SAA negotiations will be 28 October instead because of the tight agenda of the European Commission, Commissioner Stefan Fuele, and our institutions,” said Kasapolli. Cliff: Elections in the north are of special importance (dailies) The Ambassador of Great Britain in Kosovo, Ian Cliff, appealed once again to Kosovo Serbs, during an interview for Radio Kontakt Plus in Mitrovica, to participate in elections. The British diplomat stated that these elections are of special importance, therefore the European Union has decided to send monitors for the process. “These elections are important because they will demonstrate the progress of Serbia and Kosovo in their journey towards the EU,” said Cliff. Rapporteurs not hinderers of vote theft (Zëri) The EU Election Observation Mission will carefully monitor local elections in Kosovo on 3 November, but will not prevent possible manipulations of votes. The team, led by MEP Peter Palmer, will prepare a report at the end of the election process which they say will not be politically influenced. “I know that expectations are great but in reality we can only operate based on our observation role,” said Palmer. Davenport: Pristina-Belgrade relations have marked progress (Epoka e Re) Head of the European Union delegation Michael Davenport, stated on Tuesday that considerable progress has been reached on building constructive relations between Pristina and Belgrade. He said that courageous steps have been undertaken, however, he added, that the next steps to be taken should not be underestimated. During the ceremony of the inauguration of the project for the digitalisation of Cadastral books, which Belgrade, as agreed with Brussels, should submit to Pristina, it was stated that this project is a further step towards the normalisation of relations. “This project, which is financed by the EU, is part of a wider context of considerable progress in the aspect of building constructive relations between Pristina and Belgrade,” said Davenport. Opposition requests functionalisation of investigating commission for PTK (dailies) The creation of the investigating commission for the privatization of PTK remains unclear due to the reluctance of PDK to be part of it. However the Assembly presidency has put this issue on the agenda of Thursday’s session. The opposition already gathered 40 signatures necessary for setting up the investigation commission but officials of the biggest party in Kosovo have given contradictory statements regarding the creation of this commission. Adem Grabovci,  head of PDK parliamentary group, on Monday has given support for the creation of this commission, but his deputy, Elmi Reçica, has emphasised on Tuesday that there is no official stance yet. Today, Reçica said that PDK will come forward with an official stance about this issue. The opposition says that the Government is interested in hiding the truth behind the privatisation process of 75 percent of shares of PTK while attempting to disable the investigation of the commission. MP Idrizi joins AAK (dailies) Kosovo Assembly member Nijazi Idrizi, who recently split from the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), has now joined in the ranks of the Alliance for Future of Kosovo (AAK). Idrizi announced his decision in a press conference where he said that he always felt close to AAK and that he expects the party to win the local elections.