President Jahjaga meets leaders of political parties (dailies)

Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga on Monday met separately with leaders of political parties to discuss the establishment of the bodies of the Kosovo Assembly at the upcoming session on 2 October. The paper notes that neither political leaders nor Jahjaga were able to find a way to break the political deadlock and only talked about respecting the decisions of the Constitutional Court.

A source from the meeting told Koha Ditore that Jahjaga did not make any proposals but just asked leaders if there was any room for compromise. Opposition representatives reportedly said no. “As long as we have the majority in the Assembly there is no need to think about compromises, because the solution lies in the hands of Assembly members,” opposition leaders are reported to have said.

Zeri reports on the front page that President Jahjaga gave a 48-hour ultimatum to political parties to solve the institutional crisis. The paper also notes that Jahjaga denied having brought an “envelope” from the United States of America with the name of a consensual prime minister.

No envelope; either a solution or elections (Tribuna)

The paper reports on the front page that there were speculations in the media yesterday suggesting that the President of Kosovo, Atifete Jahjaga, returned from her visit to the US with clear instructions on how to resolve the current political deadlock in Kosovo and this involved electing a consensual prime minister. However, the paper quotes what it says are reliable sources in claiming that there will be no imposed solution on the part of Jahjaga as she simply sat down with political leaders yesterday and listened to their positions regarding the upcoming session of the Kosovo Assembly. The same sources added that Jahjaga may decide to call another round of meetings on Wednesday, a day ahead of the scheduled session. If a solution is not found by then, the responsibility for the situation will fall on the political parties and this will further deepen the crisis and possibly lead to extraordinary elections.

Beqiri: Idea for a consensual prime minister comes from PDK (Bota Sot)

Ismet Beqiri, General Secretary of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), told the paper on Monday that the idea for a consensual prime minister comes from the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK). “We don’t even want to talk about this issue. There is an agreement in place. We have the majority in the Assembly, so why should we discuss what is being reported? There can be no consensual prime minister. The post of prime minister will go to those who have the votes, and we have the votes,” Beqiri said.

EU gives additional mandate to EULEX (Lajm)

The Council of the European Union has mandated its Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) to handle cases outside the territory of Kosovo. EU Foreign Ministers gave EULEX the mandate to support relocated judicial proceedings arising from investigations by the EU’s Special Investigations Task Force into Dick Marty’s allegations. Their decision paves the way to the establishment of a tribunal that will address these cases. The tribunal however cannot be established before the creation of Kosovo institutions.

Caretaker government playing with millions of the state (Koha)

The paper reports on the front page that the caretaker government is illegally allocating millions of euros to construction companies. The government damaged the state budget by spending €2 million for only two tenders related to road enlargement. According to the paper, in one case, the tender was awarded to a consortium which was placed 11^th on the bidding list, and in the other case, the tender was awarded to a company that was 40^th on the bidding list.