Headlines - 30.03.2017

• Thaci: U.S. will always remain Kosovo’s key strategic partner (Koha)
• Yee asks Kosovo authorities to withdraw law on KSF (RTK)
• Delawie: Kosovo army will be formed through constitutional changes (media)
• Opposition wants new platform for dialogue (Koha)
• New poll puts PDK first, AAK and LDK follow behind (RTK/Telegrafi)
• AAK: If Haradinaj is not released, there won’t be any stability (Epoka e Re)
• Gashi: Special court indictments will be filed very soon (Kosova Sot)
• Canak: Kosovo is not part of Serbia (Zeri)

Thaci: U.S. will always remain Kosovo’s key strategic partner (Koha)

After a working lunch with the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Europe and Eurasia Affairs, Hoyt Brian Yee, President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, wrote on Facebook that the U.S. was and will remain Kosovo’s key strategic partner.  “In a trialling period for the region, the role of the U.S. as always is decisive for maintaining stability and peace in the Western Balkans,” Thaci wrote. He said the two agreed on concrete actions for implementing top priorities for Kosovo relating to the fight against organised crime and corruption, ratification of border demarcation agreement with Montenegro, drafting the statute for the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities and the transformation of the Kosovo Security Force through a transparent and comprehensive process.

Yee asks Kosovo authorities to withdraw law on KSF (RTK)

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Hoyt Brian Yee, said in an interview to RTK, that Kosovo authorities should abandon the initiative of forming the army without constitutional changes. Yee reiterated the U.S. position that the army should be created through an inclusive process. “We call on the government, the president, and others involved in this initiative, to withdraw the law until a consultative and coordinated process is carried out,” he said. Commenting on the possibility of early national elections, Yee said that would not be the best option for Kosovo and that Kosovo’s institutions should respect the legal timeframes for elections.

Delawie: Kosovo army will be formed through constitutional changes (media)

The U.S. Ambassador to Kosovo, Greg Delawie, said at a debate that his country has invested a great deal on building capacities of the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) and that it supports its transformation into an army but that this needs to be done through constitutional changes and following consultations with all communities. Koha Ditore, in one of its front-page stories, quotes Delawie as saying that if Kosovo will form the army through a law this would damage its relations with international partners, the United States of America, NATO and others. Epoka e Re reports that Delawie has called on political parties not to include in their election lists people that have problems with the law. “This would really help convince the people of Kosovo who want to see a clean governance and to show them that the parties are really working for their interests,” Delawie said.

Opposition wants new platform for dialogue (Koha)

The paper reports on its front page on a roundtable held in Pristina on Wednesday on dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia titled “Suspending dialogue: the impact on Kosovo’s European integration process”. Kosovo’s European Integration Minister, Mimoza Ahmetaj, said at the roundtable that Kosovo should use dialogue as a process for resolving all disagreements with Serbia. According to her, at the end of the process, Serbia will recognize Kosovo’s independence. Representatives of the opposition objected to Ahmetaj’s remarks saying that Serbia will not recognize Kosovo’s independence unless there is international pressure and if Kosovo does not change its approach vis-à-vis the talks. Opposition representatives also called for a new platform of talks between Pristina and Belgrade.

New poll puts PDK first, AAK and LDK follow behind (RTK/Telegrafi)

A new poll carried out by the Kosovo-based Centre for Social, Economic, Political Research “Alternativa” showed that if elections were to be carried out at present, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) would win 24.6 percent, followed by the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) with 22.7 percent, the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) with 19.4 percent, Vetevendosje with 16.3 and Initiative for Kosovo (NISMA) with 4.2 percent. The poll is said to have included 10,000 respondents from eight cities in Kosovo and that it wasn’t commissioned by any political party or government institution.

AAK: If Haradinaj is not released, there won’t be any stability (Epoka e Re)

The paper quotes Time Kadrijaj, MP from the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), as saying that if AAK leader Ramush Haradinaj is not released from detention in France, there will not be stability in Kosovo.

Gashi: Special court indictments will be filed very soon (Kosova Sot)

Pristina-based lawyer Tome Gashi told the paper that the special court will file the first indictments very soon. “The indictments that were prepared earlier will be submitted to the special court. This is going to be a hot summer. This court is detrimental to the state of Kosovo, Albanians in general and the Kosovo Liberation Army … The special court will last from 10 to 15 years,” Gashi said.

Canak: Kosovo is not part of Serbia (Zeri)

In a front-page interview to the paper, Nenad Canak, one of the presidential candidates in Serbia, said that the current political rhetoric in Serbia is not much different from that used by former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic. Canak said that if he is elected President, he would initiate the amendment of the Serbian Constitution and that it would not include Kosovo, “because Kosovo is not Serbia”. “It is very important to make people understand that they have lost Kosovo for two reasons: first, because of Serbia’s wrong policies vis-à-vis Kosovo for many years; and second, because Serbia was defeated in the 1999 war,” he said. Canak also said he plans to give autonomy to Vojvodina, Sumadija and Sandzak.