UNMIK Media Observer, Afternoon Edition, August 20, 2025

Albanian Language Media:

VV candidates for Kosovo Assembly Speaker don't get enough votes (media)
Haxhiu: The opposition don’t want to change their position (RFE)
Murati: We changed our candidate, but the opposition does not reflect this (AP)
Krasniqi: We’ll vote for a VV candidate only if they weren’t part of govt (media)
Abdixhiku: Vetevendosje lacks majority, blocks Assembly (media)
Limaj: No vote for VV without political agreement (media)
Bajrami: VV is not interested in constituting the new Assembly (media)
Kadrijaj: In other sessions too, VV will propose candidates who lack votes (RFE)
Orav on application process for jobs at Mitrovica regional water company (media)

Serbian Language Media:

Arrest warrants over barricades – is Pristina targeting Serbian List? (Alternativna)
Divided but leaning toward return: KoSSev poll shows Serbs in north of Kosovo split over rejoining institutions (KoSSev, social media)
Mijacic responds to Orav over his remarks on recruitment process for regional water supply company (social media)
A “non-paper”, a crisis and a political storm: Serbia’s turmoil deepens (KoSSev)
Ruling party and its leader call supporters to rallies across Serbia (N1)
Protests held in support of those arrested (N1, media)

International:

Kosovo’s Gjilan signs 18 mln euro deal to rebuild main boulevard (SeeNews)

Albanian Language Media

VV candidates for Kosovo Assembly Speaker don't get enough votes (media)

All news websites report that in today’s constitutive session of the Kosovo Assembly, the biggest party, the Vetevendosje Movement, proposed Albulena Haxhiu for Assembly Speaker, but she failed to get the required number of votes. Vetevendosje then proposed Donika Gervalla for the post, but she too failed to get enough votes. The constitutive session will resume on Friday.

Haxhiu: The opposition don’t want to change their position (RFE)

MP from the Vetevendosje Movement, Albulena Haxhiu, said that by not voting in favor of her nomination and that of Donika Gervalla for Assembly Speaker, parties that were in the opposition in the previous mandate showed that they are not changing their position. She said that Gervalla was nominated because “she is the second most voted woman politician in the February elections and I believe that this should be important for everyone”. “We believed that this nomination [Donika Gervalla] will pass but the opposition doesn’t want to change their position and I believe that whenever the extraordinary elections are held, they will get a blow from the people of Kosovo,” she argued.

Murati: We changed our candidate but the opposition does not reflect this (AP)

Kosovo’s caretaker Minister of Finance and Vetevendosje MP, Hekuran Murati, said that although this party has changed their candidate for Assembly Speaker, parties that were in the opposition voted against it. He said this shows that “this is about blocking tactics in the Kosovo Assembly”. “Now there are two blocs in Kosovo, one bloc of 57 MPs that have derived from the will of the people and these are the Vetevendosje Movement, Guxo and Alternative, and our partners from the non-majority communities, and the other bloc consists of the PDK, LDK, AAK and the Serbian List with 56 MPs … Their goal is to return a government from 2019 when the Serbian List too was in government,” he argued.

Krasniqi: We’ll vote for a VV candidate only if they weren’t part of govt (media)

Leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Memli Krasniqi said today that the PDK maintains its position to vote for a Vetevendosje Movement candidate for Assembly Speaker only if they were not part of the Kurti-led government. “If they [the Vetevendosje Movement] wanted a solution they could have ended this today,” he said.

Abdixhiku: Vetevendosje lacks majority, blocks Assembly (media)

The leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) Lumir Abdixhiku said after Monday’s continuation of the Kosovo Assembly’s constitutive session that the main problem is Vetevendosje’s lack of governing majority and its refusal to compromise with other parties. “As seen, apart from losing 48 consecutive sessions due to constitutional violations, now confirmed twice, the core of the problem is the lack of a political majority. The party that came first in these elections does not have the numbers and refuses to compromise with other parties. As a result, it creates an institutional blockade.

Abdixhiku noted that LDK’s positions from the very first day, up to date, and beyond, will remain the same and unchanged. “LDK is not part of any agreement. As such, it cannot support candidates without a political agreement, and it does not wish for such an agreement in this regard,” he said.

Limaj: No vote for VV without political agreement (media)

Fatmir Limaj, leader of the Social Democratic Initiative, has said that his party will not vote for Vetevendosje’s candidate for Speaker of the Assembly without political agreement. “The first party, along with the right to propose a candidate as confirmed by the ruling, also must work hard to build the governing parliamentary majority that would provide the country with institutions. We expect the party with the right of proposal to take these steps… We have opened an opportunity, and the opportunities remain open. Our will and commitment are to provide Kosovo with functional institutions… I believe the first party must find a way to build the capacities of a parliamentary majority. If the Constitutional Court’s decision is followed, our vote remains as it was before the secret commission. We have no vote without political agreements that result in the creation of institutions,” Limaj said.

Bajrami: VV is not interested in constituting the new Assembly (media)

MP from the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) Hykmete Bajrami argued today that the Vetevendosje Movement knew that none of its candidates for Assembly Speaker – Albulena Haxhiu and Donika Gervalla – would not get enough votes from MPs. She argued that the Vetevendosje Movement was not interested in constituting the new Assembly. “It is a great misfortune that we don’t have new institutions today. The offices of the government are usurped by people whose mandate has expired. We call on the Special Prosecution to seriously deal with the 17 criminal charges we have submitted to them,” she said.

Kadrijaj: In other sessions too, VV will propose candidates who lack votes (RFE)

MP from the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) Time Kadrijaj said after today’s session of the Kosovo Assembly that the Vetevendosje Movement intentionally proposed candidates for Assembly Speaker that are not supported by opposition MPs. “You will see that in the other sessions too, they will propose candidates that lack support,” she said.

Kadrijaj argued that today’s session should have started with an apology from chair session Avni Dehari and the Vetevendosje Movement, “because they violated the Constitution”.

Kadrijaj said that parties that were in the opposition in the previous mandate offered alternatives to emerge from the political deadlock, but that they were rejected by the Vetevendosje Movement. “It is obvious that they are not interested in unblocking the situation,” she said.

Orav on application process for jobs at Mitrovica regional water company (media)

Head of the EU Office in Kosovo, Aivo Orav, writes in a post on X today about the “successful conclusion of the application process for jobs at the Regional Water Company (RWC) ‘Mitrovica,’ with the goal to integrate experienced workers from the north of Kosovo”. He said he is encouraged “by the constructive attitude of the caretaker Government of Kosovo, RWC and Kosovo Serbs from the north, who worked with us over the past weeks to adjust the internal structure of the company and to open a trustworthy application process allowing candidates with previous experience from the water companies in northern Kosovo municipalities to apply. I encourage to maintain this trust throughout the recruitment phase”.

Serbian Language Media

Arrest warrants over barricades – is Pristina targeting Serbian List? (Alternativna)

Kosovo Special Prosecution has requested an arrest warrant be issued for the former Serbian List President Goran Rakic in the barricade case in four northern municipalities in 2022. Additionally, it requested arrest warrants be issued for 11 more individuals, Alternativna portal writes today.

In mid-June this year, the prosecution already issued an arrest warrant for Milan Radoicic, while the Special Court issued orders for the arrest of ten more persons suspected in the same case. The investigation includes around 50 individuals over, as prosecution said, criminal acts of “obstructing official persons in carrying out official duties, inciting to resistance and joint enterprise for carrying out anti-constitutional activities”, Pristina based media reported earlier, the portal recalled.

Special prosecution spokesperson Arbnora Luta confirmed that current leader of the Serbian List, Zlatan Elek and MPs Igor Simic and Slavko Simic have been interviewed already. This all takes place on the eve of local elections in Kosovo, due on October 12.

The processes against Kosovo Serbs have been initiated despite guarantees from the European Union and US which have proceeded barricade removal at the end of 2022.

“We welcome the assurances of the leadership of Kosovo confirming that no lists of Kosovo Serb citizens to be arrested or prosecuted for peaceful protests/barricades exist. At the same time, rule of law must be respected, and any form of violence is unacceptable and will not be tolerated”, the EU and the US said in a statement back then. The full statement is available at: https://shorturl.at/8VBZF

Despite guarantees there will be no arrests, three years after the barricades arrest warrants for several individuals have been issued.

Aleksandar Sljuka from New Social Initiative told Alternativna portal that Pristina does not see barricades as legal and legitimate, but as endangerment of constitutional order, however, the cause of it is often neglected.

“It was a sort of resistance. Who led that resistance is debatable. The situation was still unfavorable, and people somehow wanted to express their disapproval of it and they did so with barricades”, Sljuka explained.

He added that “individual incidents during barricades were different matter”, stressing that “if we were to speak of how lead resistance as such, I think there we have a problem in targeting certain people, and those people were leaders of the people here (in the north of Kosovo) at that moment, respectively representatives of the Serbian List. This can be yet another sort of additional pressure on the Serbian List and its leaders”.

“I would say that Pristina would love it the most if they could somehow prevent the Serbian List from participating (in elections) something that Self-determination representatives have attempted to do already, ahead of parliamentary elections last year and this perhaps can be interpreted within that context”, he added.

He also opined this can be viewed in the context of pressure not only against the Serbian List, but also against other parties representing Kosovo Serbs.

“Albanians are in power in northern municipalities for longer than two years, and I believe they would be glad if they could continue it, however, demography and situation on the ground point if Serbian political representatives take part (in elections) they will win and that would be an end to “Albanian rule” at local level”, he argued.

He concluded Pristina will attempt to prevent that from happening, as it knows the only way for the Albanian candidates to win is that some of the candidates representing the Serbian community do not take part in elections or boycott of new elections occurs.

Divided but leaning toward return: KoSSev poll shows Serbs in north of Kosovo split over rejoining institutions (KoSSev, social media)

Nearly three years after Serbs from northern Kosovo withdrew from Kosovo’s institutions, life in the four municipalities has changed dramatically, shaped by decisions of the central government in Pristina and local administrations led by Albanian officials.

Now, ahead of local elections scheduled for October 12, Serbian political options are signaling a return to the ballot – and possibly the institutions they abandoned in 2022. A new KoSSev survey suggests that many residents support this move, though opinions remain divided.

The online poll, conducted across Facebook, Instagram, and X within a 24-hour window, asked: “Do you support elections and a return to Kosovo’s institutions, which Srpska Lista left in 2022?” Out of 799 respondents, 45.8% (366 people) said yes, 21.2% (170) answered no, while nearly a third – 32.9% (263 people) – declared the issue irrelevant to them.

On Instagram, where most votes were cast (469), results mirrored the overall trend: 44% in favor, 24% against, and 32% indifferent. On X, support was highest, with 52% of 210 users backing a return. Facebook users, however, were more hesitant: just 42% supported rejoining, while 38% said the matter did not concern them.