• Prime Minister’s post diminishing chances of an opposition coalition (Koha/Zeri)
• Haradinaj expects Veseli to nominate AAK member to CEC (Koha)
• LDK General Council endorses Osmani’s candidacy for PM (media)
• Haziri: Mustafa and Kurti seeking ways to unite us (Klan Kosova)
• Nagavci speaks about Vetevendosje’s offer to LDK (RTK)
• Vetevendosje calls for poll to determine which party is leading in Kosovo (Koha)
• CEC complains of delays in allocation of election budget (media)
• Pacolli: Kosovo-Serbia final agreement has to be reached (RTK)
• Ramadani reacts to Pacolli's statement on Kosovo army (Telegrafi)
• Thaci to visit Japan in September (RTK)
• Serbia prepares to prevent Kosovo’s membership at INTERPOL (RTK)

 Kosovo Media Highlights

Prime Minister’s post diminishing chances of an opposition coalition (Koha/Zeri)

Koha Ditore reports that demands regarding the post of prime minister have diminished the chances for an election coalition to be reached between two largest opposition parties, the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) and Vetevendosje.

Vetevendosje senior official Xhelal Svecla has criticised LDK’s move to nominate its own candidate for prime minister calling it “sneaky”. “It is this sneakiness on the part of LDK that has damaged this party by 10 percent in the polls within a year and increased Vetevendosje for as much. We now can at least hope that they keep their word and head to elections on their own,” he wrote.

The paper adds that while statements such as Svecla’s do harm chances for a coalition, LDK officials have still not entirely given up the idea. “The government leadership should be by LDK. Our focus for joint rule is Vetevendosje,” said LDK’s candidate for prime minister Vjosa Osmani who went on to call on Vetevendosje to join the LDK in “building a new era of big changes that would free the country from crime and corruption.”

Meanwhile, Zeri is reporting that LDK is adamant on keeping the prime minister’s post, a position which the paper says is harming cooperation with Vetevendosje whose “patience is beginning to run thin.”

Haradinaj expects Veseli to nominate AAK member to CEC (Koha)

Outgoing Prime Minister of Kosovo and Leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo Ramush Haradinaj said that leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Kadri Veseli is responsible for nominating an official from the AAK to the Central Election Commission and is failing to do so. He said Veseli should nominate the AAK representative as he was leader of the now defunct PAN coalition.

“Veseli has sent his own official but not ours. As he was the leader of the ticket he did not submit our candidate but we hope Veseli will do this job as it is up to him to respect the obligations,” Haradinaj told KTV adding that AAK’s candidate to CEC will be Ibrahim Selmanaj.

Officials at PDK meanwhile said that they waited for the Constitutional Court’s decision to move ahead but that there were new developments. “Now following the Assembly’s dissolution, there is a new reality and no more parliamentary groups. It is under the competencies of the president of the Republic of Kosovo to decide further course of action,” PDK said.

LDK General Council endorses Osmani’s candidacy for PM (media)

The General Council of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) endorsed yesterday the proposal of the party leadership to entrust the mandate of the Prime Minister to Vjosa Osmani.

The leadership of the Democratic League of Kosovo voted on Monday Osmani as their candidate for Prime Minister of Kosovo. Mayor of Gjilan, Lutfi Haziri was also competing for this position. Instead, Haziri will be leading the election campaign of LDK. Several media also reported that the LDK General Council decided to appoint Agim Veliu as party’s first deputy leader.

Haziri: Mustafa and Kurti seeking ways to unite us (Klan Kosova)

Deputy leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) Lutfi Haziri said in an interview with Klan Kosova that the leader Isa Mustafa and Vetevendosje’s Albin Kurti are trying to find common ground and that their negotiations and the outcome will be transparent. “We need to stay loyal to cooperation because loyalty is more important than the agenda. LDK is ready to go to the end with the second-largest party that wins seats,” he said.

Haziri added that LDK General Council decided to nominate Vjosa Osmani as candidate for future prime minister of Kosovo; it will enter no coalition with the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), and authorized Mustafa and the team to exhaust possibilities of pre-electoral cooperation with Vetevendosje. “There is political will on our part for this,” he said.

Nagavci speaks about Vetevendosje’s offer to LDK (RTK)

Vetevendosje Movement’s former MP Arberie Nagavci said her political party is ready for compromises for the interest of Kosovo people, but not with clientelist groups. “Vetevendosje Movement is not only seeking to come into power but strategic cooperation for at least two mandates. This is the offer that we have made for several months now to LDK. We proposed rotation on taking over responsibilities, in that way that in the first mandate, the governing cabinet would be Vetvendosje’s nominee, while in the second, it would belong to LDK,” she said.

According to her, this would not only strengthen cooperation and increase hopes of the people but help two political parties to show that freeing the country and fighting corruption is a battle that can be won. She said she believes that this co-governance in rotation would strengthen Vjosa Osmani’s position.

Vetevendosje calls for poll to determine which party is leading in Kosovo (Koha)

Deputy leader of Vetevendosje Besnik Bislimi said that conducting a poll into which is the leading party in Kosovo would facilitate possible pre-election coalition between Vetevendosje and the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK). He said the results of such a poll would eliminate “pseudo arguments” used by parties and the media.

“It would be helpful to know if there is any current poll in Kosovo that puts LDK the first or one that does not put Vetevendosje winner of 6 October elections,” Bislimi wrote on Facebook.

Vetevendosje’s former MP Albulena Haxhiu echoed Bislimi’s view. She said that LDK’s only argument for keeping the prime minister’s post is that they are a leading party while all polls suggest otherwise. “Vetevendosje is the first party and Albin Kurti is by far the most preferred leader for prime minister,” she said.

CEC complains of delays in allocation of election budget (media)

The Central Election Commission held a meeting yesterday to discuss preparations for early general elections scheduled to take place on 6 October.

Ilir Gashi from the CEC’s department for budget and finance said that they will be needing more than €5 million to organise early elections on 6 October. He said the funding issue needs to be tackled as soon as possible and called on relevant institutions not to delay allocation of election budget while while head of CEC, Valdete Daka, said they are waiting for the necessary means to be pledged. “We are waiting for the budget to be allocated to us. If we have no money, we can carry on with the procedures only so far as legally permitted,” she said as quoted in Koha.

At the same time, media report that the CEC has decided to limit the election campaign of political parties to ten days starting on 25 September. The CEC also said that pre-election coalitions needs to be announced between 27 and 30 August.

Pacolli: Kosovo-Serbia final agreement has to be reached (RTK)

Behgjet Pacolli, leader of the New Kosovo Alliance (AKR), said the new government will open way to dialogue and added that he believed that the tariff on Serbian goods will be removed. “Final agreement with Serbia has to be reached. These elections are very difficult,” he said.

“Kosovo is seen today as a country that blocks the dialogue, as a country that does not listen and does not work with its friends. There used to be support in the past, but after the last year, lack of support can be noticed. I hope that it will return,” he said adding: “Leaders who claim that they will not lift the tariff are lying. It is not good to lie to the electorate.”

Speaking about the Kosovo Security Force, Pacolli said nothing has been done about the army. “We have only changed the name to the army,” he said.

Ramadani reacts to Pacolli's statement on Kosovo army (Telegrafi)

Outgoing Deputy Minister of Defence, Burim Ramadani, has reacted to the statement of outgoing Foreign Minister Behgjet Pacolli that nothing has been done for the Kosovo army and that it only underwent a name change. Ramadani accused Pacolli of spreading 'fake news'.

Ramadani said that in fact only the name of the Kosovo Security Force remained the same and everything else about it changed. “The mandate has changed and it now includes protection of sovereignty and territorial integrity. The KSF General Headquarters has been established. Previous restrictions to equipment and arming systems have been removed and now everything is developing based on the ten-year plan. Four commands have been established, including the National Guard,” Ramadani said in listing the additional competencies entrusted to the KSF according to the new mandate.

Thaci to visit Japan in September (RTK)

The President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci will be visiting Japan in September of this year. The news was announced during the meeting of the former Principal Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Behgjet Pacolli with the Ambassador of Japan in Vienna, and non-resident Ambassador to Kosovo, Kiyoshi Koinuma.

A press release issued by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs informed that they discussed Thaci’s visit and its concrete results.

Serbia prepares to prevent Kosovo’s membership at INTERPOL (RTK)

Serbia’s Deputy Prime Ministers Nebojsa Stefanovic and Ivica Dacic discussed about further activities to prevent Kosovo’s membership at INTERPOL. They agreed about concrete steps that have to be undertaken at INTERPOL General Assembly which will be held in October in Chile. They initially agreed that everyone should be aware that ‘any acceptance would be in contradiction with UN Security Council’s  Resolution 1244 as well as with the resolution endorsed that the INTERPOL General Assembly in Beijing, which clearly defines that only UN member countries or observing members can become part of this organization.