Albanian Language Media:

• Hovenier on Serbian elections: Kosovo set the conditions in its territory (Klan)
• Police special units to protest on Saturday, after no deal with Kurti (media)
• Gervalla: Dacic addressed me like a thug and wanted physical confrontation (AP)
• Selimi on conversion of plates in north, “possibly to prevent sanctions” (media)
• Tahiri: Focus should be on Kosovo’s membership in NATO and EU (media)
• Opposition blames government about poor result in PISA (media)
• Specialized Chambers still not allowing former KLA leaders to make phone calls with their families (media)
• A new Serb party registered in Kosovo (Koha)
• Kosovo outside INTERPOL – opportunity for criminals and terrorists, report reveals (AP)

Serbian Language Media:

• Nine construction sites without permits, says Municipality of Gracanica (KiM Radio, KoSSev)
• Milicevic: EULEX advisers in the north because of numerous complaints about the work of special police units (Kosovo Online)
• Vucevic: I do not expect early elections in north, nor formation of CSM (ZSO) (Kosovo Online)
• Will petitions lead to new local elections in the north? (KoSSev)
• Missing Persons Resource Centre: What is more important than human lives? (Radio KIM, KoSSev)
• Sava Janjic served liturgy in temple near Podujevo; KP refused to accept criminal complaint filed by  Diocese for desecrating church
• Ballot printing starts for December 17 elections (N1)

International:

• Brutal killings of women in Western Balkan countries trigger alarm and expose faults in the system (AP)
• Kosovo Civil Society Advocates Legal Framework for Lobbying (Prishtina Insight)

   

Albanian Language Media  

  Hovenier on Serbian elections: Kosovo set the conditions in its territory (Klan)

U.S. Ambassador to Kosovo, Jeffrey Hovenier, said today that the U.S. have not changed their position about the holding of Serbian elections in the territory of Kosovo. He said in an interview with Klan Kosova that: “Our position has not changed since this issue was raised for the first time in 2022. We continue to express our regret that the Government of Kosovo decided not to continue the practice of allowing the OSCE to collect ballots of eligible Serb voters that live in Kosovo. The U.S. strongly believes that eligible voters in all countries must be fully able to take part in democratic processes. But as an independent and sovereign country, Kosovo has the right to set conditions for the holding of the elections of other sovereign countries in its territory”.

Police special units to protest on Saturday, after no deal with Kurti (media)

Members of the Special Intervention Unit of Kosovo Police will protest in front of the Kosovo government building in Pristina on Saturday, after they did not reach an agreement with Prime Minister Albin Kurti about their demands.

Gervalla: Dacic addressed me like a thug and wanted physical confrontation (AP)

Kosovo’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Donika Gervalla, in an interview with TV station A, talked about at the UN Security Council session on Kosovo in April this year, saying that her Serbian counterpart Ivica Dacic addressed her “like a thug by using bad words” while Gervalla was giving her speech before the ambassadors. “They didn’t leave a word unsaid. Dacic was screaming all the time in Serbia ‘it is so bad that we are not in Serbia’,” she argued.

According to Gervalla, after the session was over, Dacic and his team wanted to physically confront the delegation from Kosovo. “After the official session was complete, I intentionally stayed longer because I didn’t want to run into Dacic in the hallway, but they approached us, it was the Serbian Ambassador to the United States, Marko Djuric, their representative in New York, they approached us and they wanted to physically confront our team,” she claimed.

Gervalla said the incident was officially registered at the Security Council. “All videos were checked closely, and the situation was registered in the protocol,” she said.

Gervalla also said that “it will be challenging and difficult to find a solution with Serbia, but we have no other alternative but to continue our efforts and not make any damaging compromises”.

Selimi on conversion of plates in north, “possibly to prevent sanctions” (media)

Kosovo’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs and CEO of the Millenium Foundation Kosovo, Petrit Selimi, argues in a post on X “after years of Serbia illegally printing car plates for Kosovan cities, majority of Kosovan Serbs have now adopted plates bearing Kosovo symbols. Someone in Belgrade needed this, possibly to prevent Banjska-related sanctions.”

Tahiri: Focus should be on Kosovo’s membership in NATO and EU (media)

Head of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) parliamentary group, Besnik Tahiri, met today with the European Parliament’s Rapporteur for Kosovo, Viola von Cramon. “We discussed the process of EU integration, reforms in public administration and the road forward. I stressed that the membership of the Republic of Kosovo in NATO and the EU should be the main focus of all international actors. I thanked Viola for her exceptional role in the process and for supporting Kosovo,” he said.

Opposition blames government about poor result in PISA (media)

After the publication of the results of the PISA test, where Kosovo was ranked almost at the bottom of the table, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) stated that it was officially confirmed that ‘governmental illiteracy failed to reform the education system in Kosovo.’

“We are entering the last year of this government, and the 160 promised kindergartens are not even close. Not even 10 were built. There has been no reform in Primary Education. Moreover, instead of making reforms, they chose to fight teachers on the one hand, and this year they did not even fulfill the constitutional and legal obligation to provide free books for the students of Kosovo. Also, I believe you remember the fight that Minister Nagavci had against the mayor of Kamenica Municipality, Qendron Kastrati in his reform for primary education, exceeding her powers and violating the Constitution of Kosovo. As for digitalization and innovation, it has never been discussed by this government, nor is there any movement,” Eliza Hoxha, MP of the PDK said in a press conference.

The Chairperson of the Women's Forum of the Democratic League of Kosovo, Jehona Lushaku-Sadriu, has called Kosovo's PISA results worrying.

“It is precisely LVV that does not show even the minimum care regarding education. You have seen that in the last two years education in Kosovo has started quite dramatically. Initially, the mandate of this minister began with a constitutional violation, and we demanded her dismissal."

"Imagine that hundreds of millions remain in surplus while our schools do not have desks as they should, there are no chairs. There are no laboratories, no concretizing tools. How can students perform well if they learn a lesson only from a theoretical and not a practical point of view? This shows how much this government prioritizes education and how seriously this government takes quality in education," Lushaku-Sadriu said among other things.

Specialized Chambers still not allowing former KLA leaders to make phone calls with their families (media)

Although two days ago the Specialized Chambers of Kosovo (DHSK) had allowed visits and telephone calls to the former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) - Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli and Rexhep Selimi who are being held in custody in The Hague, Holland as accused of war crimes, this decision is still not being implemented. This is what the lawyers of Thaci, Vesel and Selimi said in this Monday's session at the Special Court.

"Can the Administrative Office tell us when this decision will be implemented and what problems it had to implement this decision?" asked Selimi's lawyer, Geoffrey Roberts.

Thaçi’s and Veseli’s lawyers have also complained that the decision in question is not being implemented by the Specialized Chambers of Kosovo.

"Several requests have been made for phone calls with family members and they have been rejected at the moment. So, until now, phone calls with the family have not been allowed, even if they are monitored," said Vesel's lawyer, Ben Emmerson.

Thaci's lawyer, Gregory Keohe, also complained that his client is not being allowed to make phone calls in the detention center in The Hague.

"I also need to support what Mr. Emmerson said as far as my client is concerned, phone calls are not allowed," Keohe emphasized.

The chairman of the court, Charles Smith, emphasized that there may have been some misunderstanding, and that he will do the utmost to implement this order.

"I apologize for this, and I will address this aspect today. They are making the necessary arrangements and making all organizational parts understand this new situation. They are working and it will be implemented very soon", he emphasized.

A new Serb party registered in Kosovo (Koha)

The Central Election Commission (CEC) has registered the Srpska Demokratija Initiative as the newest party in Kosovo.

This was announced at the CEC meeting held on Wednesday. The chairman of this party is Aleksandar Arsenijevic. He was the only Serb candidate for mayor of North Mitrovica in the last elections, who withdrew from the competition before they were held. 

Kosovo outside INTERPOL – opportunity for criminals and terrorists, report reveals (AP)

In a newly published report of the "Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime (GIATOC)" organization, Kosovo's problems in the fight against transnational crime have been highlighted, due to the lack of access to information and joint operations of key bodies or agencies of law enforcement and crime fighting, Albanian Post reports.

Kosovo is a member of only two of the nine key agencies for law enforcement, border issues and the judiciary - the International Law Enforcement Coordination Initiative (ILECU) and the Regional Migration, Asylum and Refugee Initiative (MARRI) - while in this regard, the blockades of countries that have not recognized Kosovo's independence are highlighted.

Read the report here: https://tinyurl.com/5h7kmx24    

Serbian Language Media

  Nine construction sites without permits, says Municipality of Gracanica (KiM Radio, KoSSev)

"In the previous period, all construction sites were inspected, and all measures were implemented, depending on the type of violation, and in accordance with the applicable laws. The total number of active construction sites is 35, of which nine are without a construction permit," Municipality of Gracanica told KiM Radio. 

"On all nine construction sites without a building permit, the entire procedure was carried out, which includes suspension, punitive measures and the initiation of misdemeanor proceedings before the competent court," said Aleksandar Kapetanovic, director of the Inspection Department, in a written statement for KiM radio.

He added that they "worked overtime, as well as on weekends". 

"And all with the aim of carrying out supervision as soon as possible on all buildings that are illegally built on the territory of our municipality. On this occasion, we want to inform the public, considering the great attention of the media focused on illegal construction, about the situation on the ground".

Kapetanovic announced that "a tape has been placed on all those construction sites and constant inspection supervision is carried out."

According to him, "the other 26 active construction sites have a construction permit issued by the municipal Department for Urban Planning and Environmental Protection."

KiM radio recalls that on October 26 of this year, authorities from the Municipality of Gracanica announced to the public that "municipal authorities and professional services archived dozens of illegal constructions on the territory of our municipality and processed them further to the competent authorities."

Unanswered questions

KiM radio reports that Kapetanovic did not answer a question from eight days ago, why the inspection tape on one of the buildings being built illegally in Caglavica was installed only on November 27, and not seven months earlier when its construction began.

He did not explain how the procedure related to the mentioned facility will proceed, nor when its outcome can be expected, reports KiM radio.

There is no answer to the question of when the "processed cases" mentioned at the end of October in the announcement of the Municipality of Gracanica will receive epilogues.

Milicevic: EULEX advisers in the north because of numerous complaints about the work of special police units (Kosovo Online)

The executive director of the NGO "Aktiv" Miodrag Milicevic told Kosovo Online that the specialized team of EULEX advisers deployed to the north, in order to strengthen advisory and supervisory capacities, is the result of numerous complaints about the work of Kosovo special police units.

Milicevic pointed out that EULEX is actually returning to its mandate, as agreed in 2008.

"I am sure that numerous complaints about the work of the Kosovo special unit led to this, because EULEX was asked directly on several occasions, much earlier, to deploy additional units to the north that would establish a more effective system of monitoring the activities of the special units. In this particular case, those teams that will be in the north at the police stations will mostly supervise the operation of the special unit and the Kosovo Police in general, in accordance with the laws, no less and no more than that," says Milicevic.

Bearing in mind the fact that the Serbs collectively left Kosovo's institutions last year in November, a security and institutional vacuum was created in the north of Kosovo, pointed Milicevic. 

"One of the measures implemented by the GoK is the deployment of additional police forces, which do not reflect the demographic picture of the north of Kosovo. This is one of the most problematic items precisely because of the imbalance in the implementation of what was agreed in Brussels. In this regard, in my opinion, EULEX had to deploy additional forces much earlier, that is, to strengthen its presence in the north, precisely to prevent any non-implementation of the law," says Milicevic.

He adds that the question arises before the entire public, what actually happened in the entire process of functioning of the police forces in the north of Kosovo.

"Actually, the key fact is that numerous complaints came due to the inadequate action of the special unit of the Kosovo Police. In this regard, numerous complaints in the last 24 months, which mostly came through the media, perhaps even directly or indirectly to EULEX and other members of the international community, were the trigger for EULEX to make a decision and to deploy those additional forces in the north of Kosovo, in order to prevent any unpleasant and unwanted situations, such we witnessed in the not-so-distant past," Milicevic concluded.

Will petitions lead to new local elections in the north? (KoSSev)

Yesterday morning, in all four northern municipalities, groups of citizens simultaneously attempted to submit a request for the dismissal of the Albanian mayors – the first step toward initiating a petition to replace them. This is the second visible sign of a possible return of Serbs to the Kosovo institutions that they left more than a year ago, after the President of Serbia “asked“ them to do so as soon as possible on October 12, followed the next day by Serbian List’s confirmation of their readiness to listen to the president. Although new elections in the north would technically be easier to achieve through the resignation of illegitimate mayors, the Kosovo prime minister and mayors have remained adamant that they will not do so.

The requests were not accepted in the municipalities

During the day, the news that the demands of these citizens for the dismissal of the Albanian mayors in the north were not accepted in any municipality dominated headlines in media reporting in Serbia. While the Serbian side stressed that this is another confirmation of „terror against the Serbs“, Kosovo officials refer to the procedures with unclear answers as to whether or not they were followed in this case.

Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/4k4p8k7c

Vucevic: I do not expect early elections in north, nor formation of CSM (ZSO) (Kosovo Online)

Serbian Defense Minister Milos Vucevic said he does not expect that the citizens' initiative to replace the mayors in four municipalities in the north of Kosovo will be successful, but that ''the creeping ethnic cleansing will continue'', reported Kosovo Online. 

Vucevic said in an interview for Euronews Serbia, to be broadcasted at 8 pm tonight, that he does not expect the holding of special elections in the north of Kosovo or the formation of the Community of Serbian Municipalities, but, as he stated, the creeping ethnic cleansing to continue. He rejects the claim that this initiative is an acceptance of the rules established by Albin Kurti, reported Kosovo Online.

"No, we looked at what was the lesser evil for the Serbs. And for us, it is a greater evil if Albanian mayors remain. There isn't much great choice out there and don't be a hypocrite to say - you recognize Kurti's laws. People have to survive there. We have to choose solutions that are less bad for us. There are no good solutions there", said Vucevic.

Missing Persons Resource Centre: What is more important than human lives? (Radio KIM, KoSSev)

“Should they play with our lives because they have forgotten about the lives of our beloved ones. What is more important than human lives? Those our search depends upon should ask themselves – what would they do if it were their child?” Negovan Mavric from Missing Persons Resource Centre asked in a panel discussion organized on the occasion of International Human Rights Day (December 10) in Gracanica, Radio KIM reports.

Bajram Qerkinaj from the same Centre said that 1.639 persons are still listed as missing and kidnapped, adding there is no progress or news in this regard, and that human rights of the missing persons’ families have been violated for years.

“One friend from Prizren, who lives in Belgrade told me – we do not distinguish between faiths, I read both Bible and Quran. We are people all together in this world, our pain is common. We won't stop until the whereabouts of all missing persons are revealed”, Qerkini said.

Gordana Djikanovic from Association of Kosmet Victims’ Families also warned that the rights of the missing persons families are constantly violated and additional pain inflicted upon them as they still do not know what happened to their beloved ones.

“They go to Brussels for a walk”

Mavric recalled Ohrid agreement noting that everybody expected and hoped that something would change, but that it “again brought nothing good or changed something”.

“When they meet in Brussels we hope that they will help us, shed  light on the destiny of missing persons, but that is not their practice. I would say that negotiators more go there to have a walk than do something”, Mavric said, adding that they hear conflicting information from Belgrade and Pristina accusing one another of not working on the issue, while they all should sit together and give their contribution.

Luigi Ndu from Missing Persons International Commission said requests of the missing persons’ families are recognized by Kosovo Constitution and relevant laws and are an obligation of the government.

He also said there are two main problems they are facing, one relates to the lack of confidential information, while the second one relates to the situation with unidentified human remains at the Institute for Forensics in Pristina. He said both governments in Pristina and Belgrade should provide more information and carry out searches more effectively.

Natasa Bozilovic said Missing Persons Resource Centre over the last two years implemented three projects and two more are in the implementation phase. The projects included 15 workshops on different topics with missing persons families’ members and included more than 300 participants. She said it was good that the projects also included young people as the number of participants because of age and illnesses had declined.

This panel discussion in Gracanica was supported by the International Red Cross Committee, Swedish and British embassies through UNDP in Kosovo.  

Sava Janjic served liturgy in temple near Podujevo; KP refused to accept criminal complaint filed by Diocese for desecrating church

Kosovo Online reports that a liturgy was held in the church of St. Michael the Archangel in the village of Rakitnica near Podujevo, after a group together with the self-proclaimed priest Nikola Xhufka, a citizen of Albania, broke into it recently.

The Abbot of the Visoki Decani Monastery, Archimandrite Sava, served the liturgy, with the blessing of Bishop Teodosije of Raska-Prizren, accompanied by the responsible parish priest, Archpriest Stanisa Arsic, it was stated in a press release of the Diocese of Raska-Prizren.

Since this temple was broken into on November 28 this year by a group of people led by self-proclaimed "priest" Nikola Xhufka from Albania, who is not recognized as a priest there either and is known for spreading ethnic and religious intolerance, the representatives of the Diocese of Raska-Prizren today, first of all, have served a small consecration of the desecrated temple and served the holy liturgy.

During the liturgy, representatives of the EULEX monitoring team, carabinieri patrols working with EULEX, as well as representatives of the Kosovo police were present outside the church.

The event passed peacefully and after the end of the liturgy the lock at the entrance to the temple was changed.

In his sermon during the Liturgy, Father Sava emphasized that with the consecration of the temple and the holy liturgy, the temple of Saint Michael the Archangel was returned to its regular church order as a place of worship of the Serbian Orthodox Church - Eparchy of Raska-Prizren.

Father Sava expressed the hope that this temple, like all other SOC buildings in these areas, will be respected and protected from further desecration.

"The role of our church is to spread respect among all citizens in this area, but also to take care of its heritage," said Father Sava.

After the liturgy, Father Sava and representatives of the Diocese stayed for a short conversation with representatives of EULEX and the Kosovo police.

The Diocese of Raska-Prizren expresses its concern that the Kosovo police in Podujevo refused to receive the criminal complaint filed by the Diocese for the brake in and desecration of the church and investigate against the false priests Nikola Xhufka and Christian Zagalli, as well as the persons who participated in this illegal act.

The Diocese's criminal complaint to the police was rejected on two occasions: on December 1 and yesterday, December 5, when the Diocese tried again through its lawyer to file a criminal complaint with the police in the presence of the EULEX monitoring team.

The Kosovo police refused to receive a criminal report, although it is required by the laws of Kosovo, which is a serious violation of the law, about which all international representatives in Kosovo have been informed, reported portal Kosovo Online.

Ballot printing starts for December 17 elections (N1)

Serbian Republic Election Commission (RIK) chief Vladimir Dimitrijevic said on Wednesday that ballots for the December 17 parliamentary elections would be printed in 29 language versions to meet the requirements of the national minorities.

He said that 6,500,165 ballots would be printed in the Official Gazette print shop in Belgrade. The number of ballots is equal to the number of voters as determined by the RIK.

Representatives of all the election tickets fielding candidates for parliament were present at the start of printing. All election tickets have representatives in the RIK.

Dimitrijevic said that there will be 8,273 polling stations, including 29 in jails and 85 abroad in 35 countries. A total of 18 election tickets with 2,817 candidates have been confirmed for the parliamentary elections which will be held on the same day as the elections for the Vojvodina provincial Assembly and local elections.

   

International 

  Brutal killings of women in Western Balkan countries trigger alarm and expose faults in the system (AP)

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — A man in Bosnia killed his wife and streamed the murder live on Instagram. In neighboring Serbia, 27 women were killed in gender-based attacks this year, despite efforts to raise awareness and reverse the trend. Activists in Kosovo say violence against women there is a “national emergency.”

Throughout the Western Balkans, women are harassed, raped, beaten and killed, often by their partners and after repeatedly reporting the violence to the authorities. The region is staunchly conservative, with a centuries-old tradition of male dominance, but the problem surged following the wars in the 1990s and the political, economic and social crises that have persisted since the conflicts ended.

In response, women’s groups in the region have organized protests to draw public attention and demand action. They have set up help lines and shelters for women. But activists blame authorities for not acting more decisively to protect women and counter a culture of impunity.

Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/5364n342

Kosovo Civil Society Advocates Legal Framework for Lobbying (Prishtina Insight)

Civil society in Kosovo called for the drafting of a law on lobbying activities, but the Assembly of Kosovo is not expected to have such an initiative during 2024.

The Kosova Democratic Institute, KDI, held a conference on Tuesday titled “Has the time come for the Law on Lobbying?,” emphasizing the importance of legislation in the field of lobbying.

Many MPs that participated in the event described the process of preparing a law on lobbying as complex, and a call was made for political consensus on this issue. The start of the process was deemed unlikely to happen next year, despite the fact that the European Union has provided support with its expertise for the drafting of the law.

The project manager at KDI, Plator Avdiu, stated that lobbying is not only related to the diplomatic aspect and the recognition of citizenship, adding that “this is only one of the narrow meanings of lobbying.”

Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/yd8n95we