Headlines - 20.02.2013 EU expects important success in the dialogue this week (dailies) Koha Ditore reports that Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi spoke with his Serbian counterpart, Ivica Dacic, for over three hours on Tuesday afternoon in the presence of EU High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security Catherine Ashton. Over the past weeks, Ashton referred to this round as “the most important moment in the dialogue.” Before the fifth round of the Thaçi–Dacic talks began, President of European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso called this a “critical week” for the dialogue. Since the dialogue began, the only clear issue is northern Kosovo.  Zëri writes that yesterday’s meeting ended without any concrete agreement reached and is set to continue today. It further notes that the EU is expected to come out with a statement at the end of the second meeting between the prime ministers.  A source told the paper that although the issue of disbanding parallel structures was addressed in the meeting, no consent was reached. “Previous topics were raised in the meeting, with special emphasis on the north and its Serb structures, but we can only expect an agreement in the upcoming meeting,” an unnamed official said.  Tribuna reports that both prime ministers agreed in principle to have the parallel structures of Serbia undergo a transition, as EU officials previously proposed. The modalities to implement this process will be discussed in today’s meeting.  Assembly’s presidency reminds Thaçi the Constitution (dailies) Members of the Kosovo Assembly presidency reminded the Government that the roadmap for talks with Serbia should be the Constitution of Kosovo and the Assembly’s Resolution. “If there are applicable conclusions that are in the interest of the country and in accordance to the Resolution we passed at the Assembly and to the Constitution, we will be pleased,” said Assembly Speaker Jakup Krasniqi. ICG: Kosovo, Serbia shouldn’t lose chance for EU integration (dailies) The most recent report published by the International Crisis Group think tank highlights how Pristina and Belgrade should continue talks and should seize this opportunity as this is the path which will lead to EU membership. The report, titled “Serbia and Kosovo: The Path to Normalization” discusses the relations between Kosovo and Serbia, where both are called upon not to squander the opportunity to achieve an agreement for northern Kosovo and EU integration.  Hoxhaj, most irresponsible minister (Zëri) Foreign Minister Enver Hoxhaj failed to show up at the meeting of the Assembly’s committee on European integration and report about the implementation of criteria set forth by the European Commission. Committee members were subsequently outraged, calling Hoxhaj irresponsible and blaming him for failing in his mission. “Hoxhaj also avoided the meeting called on by the committee on foreign affairs. If the minister had anything to report about and was proud of it, I am sure he would run to appear before the media. But he has nothing to report because he totally failed,” said Vetëvendosje committee representative Alma Lama. Northern Serbs protest: We are Serbia! (Zëri) Employees of educational, healthcare, judiciary institutions, and public enterprises in the north interrupted their work Wednesday for half an hour to “send the message to the international community and Belgrade that institutions where they work are not parallel, but legal and legitimate institutions of the state of Serbia.” They protested against Kosovo institutions, claiming that Kosovo is Serbia. Their placards read “Serbia’s institutions, not Kosovo’s”, “Hospital-Serbia, not Kosovo”, “We do not want borders and customs”, “We are Serbia”. Northern Mitrovica’s Hospital Center director, Milan Jakovlevic, released a statement to media saying: “healthcare employees want to remain part of the institutions of the state of Serbia, and not of the institutions of some Serb community.” UNDP-proposed fund for compensating war victims (Koha Ditore) Establishing a special fund to compensate war victims is one of UNDP’s recommendations in their report, “Transitional Justice 2012”, which was presented on Tuesday. Emma Kay, deputy head of the mission in the Netherlands, said Kosovo never seriously dealt with what happened during the war. During this period, she said there were 10,000 victims, hundreds of thousands of people expelled, property damaged, civilians persecuted, women raped, and many other issues. According to the report, which is similar to the 2007 study, the majority of respondents in 2012 indentify Albanians as the main victims of violating human rights, before and after the 1998–1999 war, while 36 percent of Serbs and 40.9 percent of other minority communities consider the Serb community as the main victims.