UNMIK Media Observer, Afternoon Edition, December 8, 2025

Albanian Language Media:

Osmani: This year we will continue working for a better future (RTK)
Verma writes about his visit to Kosovo, mentions rule of law (Reporteri)
CEC to approve ballot today, voting outside Kosovo begins tomorrow (media)
Serbia's parallel tax office in the north closed, documents seized (media)
Svecla: Another parallel institution of Serbia in Mitrovica North closed (media)
Hoxhaj: Agreement on mutual recognition could be reached in 2026 (media)
LDK to launch officially election campaign on Saturday in Pristina (media)
Fehlinger: Kosovo and Albania are progressing like Westerners (RTK)
KFOR soldiers conduct crowd riot control training (media)

Serbian Language Media:

Closure of the Income Tax Administration in the northern part of Mitrovica underway (KoSSev, KiM radio)
Serbian List: By closing Income Tax Administration, Kurti continues pre-election campaign to detriment of Serbian people (Kosovo Online, media)
Office for KiM: Kurti does not want normalization of relations, but change in ethnic structure in north (Kosovo Online, media)
Police inspectors and CBK officials in Dunav Insurance Office in Mitrovica North (KoSSev)
Patriarch Porfirije leads Orthodox Christmas liturgy in Belgrade's Church of St Sava (Tanjug)
World Bank: Kosovo remains poorest in region (N1, media)
Peci: Kurti ‘sacrificed’ membership in Council of Europe for electoral purposes (Kosovo Online)
Praises to Kurti’s government: “Bread, gun and democracy” (Alterntivna.com)
Economists for RFE: The abolition of the Dinar failed to achieve its goal, decision was rash and political (Kosovo Online)
Nearly 3,500 university professors support student protests, demands (Beta, N1)

International Media:

Kosovo in 2025: Hard-fought campaign lies ahead as Kurti pushes for re-election (BIRN)
Far-right extremism and its influence on Kosovo’s public discourse (PI)
Europe's power price divide hits southeastern economies (Reuters)

Albanian Language Media

Osmani: This year we will continue working for a better future (RTK)

Kosovo President, Vjosa Osmani, has published a video where she summarized and highlighted the meetings with the people. She said that this year she will continue working for a better future.

“Throughout 2024, the most fulfilling part of the engagement was the meetings with citizens. Our conversations about challenges and successes are the greatest impetus to continue working with dedication in this new year and to build a better future for everyone!”, she wrote on ‘Facebook’.

Verma writes about his visit to Kosovo, mentions rule of law (Reporteri)

The U.S. Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources, Richard R. Verma, has written on platform “X” about his visit to Kosovo, Albania and Serbia this week.

“I look forward to travelling to Albania, Kosovo and Serbia this week to reaffirm the commitment of the United States to further economic cooperation, democratic governance and the rule of law in the Western Balkan countries,” Verma wrote.

CEC to approve ballot today, voting outside Kosovo begins tomorrow (media)

After the draw for the ranking of political entities on the ballot, the Central Election Commission is expected to approve today the design and content of the ballot for the general elections to be held on February 9. After approval, the voting process outside Kosovo for voters registered to vote by mail will begin on January 9.

The total number of voters for the February 9 elections in Kosovo is over 2 million and 75 thousand. Meanwhile, the number of people registered to vote outside Kosovo is around 105 thousand voters.

Serbia's parallel tax office in the north closed, documents seized (media)

Media report that the Kosovo Police has raided a building in the north where a tax office was operating illegally, as a branch of the Serbian Ministry of Finance. The Deputy Director of the Police for the Northern Region, Veton Elshani said that they found evidence that confirms their suspicions of the illegal operation of this office and that they have closed it. He added that no one has been arrested.

“Around 09:00 we entered this building which, according to our information, functions as a tax office (as a branch of the Serbian Ministry of Finance). In this place we found evidence that confirms our suspicion and after consulting with the Prosecutor, the people who were found there have left that place and that building has been closed until the facts are fully verified,” Elshani said.

Svecla: Another parallel institution of Serbia in Mitrovica North closed (media)

Kosovo’s Minister of Interior Affairs, Xhelal Svecla, said in a Facebook post today that “another parallel institution of Serbia in Mitrovica North has been closed”. “The illegal activity of the Serbian Tax Agency will be investigated by all our institutional mechanisms, as we will continue to fight every criminal parallelism by Serbia against our institutions. This institution has illegally collected financial means from citizens and entities that live and operate in the Republic of Kosovo. This is punishable and strictly forbidden. In this case, it was carried out by criminal groups that are loyal to aggressor Serbia and figures like Vladimir Putin,” Svecla said.

Hoxhaj: Agreement on mutual recognition could be reached in 2026 (media)

Deputy leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Enver Hoxhaj, in an interview with Kosovapress, said that the PDK will bring a new platform for the dialogue with Serbia. He said they will reiterate the need for a final agreement centered around mutual recognition and that it could be reached in 2026.

“When it comes to power, the PDK will make several concrete steps in the dialogue. The first step is that we will have a new platform in the dialogue including a comprehensive structure from all political parties. This would include civil society too and the dialogue will focus on the single objective of mutual recognition. We think that in 2026 a favorable situation could be created to reach an agreement on mutual recognition between Kosovo and Serbia. We don’t intend to implement anything that does not include mutual recognition. We expect our partners to punish Serbia because the west’s policy of impunity has led to the attacks in Banjska and Iber Lepenc. As well as a non-credible government in Kosovo that could not convince our partners that the source of evil is in Serbia,” he argued.

According to Hoxhaj, the Basic Agreement in Brussels and the implementation annex in Ohrid of 2023, “have inflicted colossal damage on Kosovo by removing mutual recognition from the table”. “The agreement in Brussels gave a colossal diplomatic victory to Serbia … and it turned a final agreement into a provisional agreement. In fact, it froze Kosovo’s future in Euro-Atlantic structures,” he said.

LDK to launch officially election campaign on Saturday in Pristina (media)

The leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), also candidate for prime minister of Kosovo, Lumir Abdixhiku, has announced that on Saturday at 17:00 he will officially open the election campaign in Pristina. The rally will be held at the Youth Palace in Pristina, and Abdixhiku called in the official announcement, on people to participate. “Come. This Saturday, at the grand opening of our election campaign! Youth Palace, from 17:00 everyone in Pristina,” he wrote on Facebook.

Fehlinger: Kosovo and Albania are progressing like Westerners (RTK)

Austrian expert Gunther Fehlinger has emphasized that Kosovo and Albania and Montenegro are progressing like amazing Westerners.

“Serbia stole so much from Yugoslavia until 1990 that even 35 years onwards they have not achieved the prosperity of their colonial imperial times Contrary to Kosovo and Albania and Montenegro who prosper as Western nations in amazing progress,” he wrote on the ‘X’ platform.

KFOR soldiers conduct crowd riot control training (media)

NATO’s peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, KFOR, said in a Facebook post today that Latvian soldiers assigned to Regional Command East conducted crowd riot control training at the Kçiq shooting range. “This training exercise allows soldiers to familiarize themselves with the use of equipment and learn the tactics needed to deal with potential riot situations, allowing soldiers to be ready to accomplish any mission. These efforts are part of KFOR’s daily mission to guarantee a safe and secure environment for all communities living in Kosovo,” the post notes.

Serbian Language Media

Closure of Income Tax Administration in the northern part of Mitrovica underway (KoSSev, KiM radio)

Another institution that functions within the system of the Republic of Serbia in the northern part of Mitrovica, that is, the Income Tax Administration, is being closed, it was confirmed for KoSSev portal.

Inspectors for economic crime are currently on the ground, as well as three members of EULEX, reported Kim radio, citing KoSSev.

Some of the workers have already left the facility, having collected personal belongings from these premises.

As the deputy commander for the North region, Veton Elshani, told KoSSev, the Economic Crime Unit came at the invitation of the Kosovo police entered this facility this morning:

"It is a parallel institution. We seized the documentation and called the Commercial Crime Unit. A case of falsification of documents has been opened." He added that the persons are being interrogated according to regular procedure.

Serbian List: By closing Income Tax Administration, Kurti continues pre-election campaign to detriment of Serbian people (Kosovo Online, media)

“By illegal and violent closure of the Income Tax Administration in Mitrovica North and expulsion of 80 Serbian workers out onto the street, Albin Kurti has continued his election campaign, which he is running solely at the expense of the Serbian people because he has nothing to offer his voters”, Serbian List said in a statement reacting to today’s closure of the institution operating within the Serbian system.

“What is happening is harassment and abuse of people who have spent their entire working lives in this building and have served all communities honourably without exception”, the statement added.

Serbian List announced they will meet with affected Tax Administration workers today and discuss all forms of assistance and support with them as well as convey the message that none of them will be left without incomes and salaries, adding their livelihood will remain secure.

“{…} while Kurti, with his police squads and obedient ministers like Nenad Rasic, forcibly occupies and seizes Serbian buildings and facilities, he cannot force the Serbian people to leave their ancestral homes, nor can he prevent us and the state of Serbia from helping our people”, the statement said.

Office for KiM: Kurti does not want normalization of relations, but change in ethnic structure in north (Kosovo Online, media)

The Office for Kosovo and Metohija said today that closure of Income Tax Administration in Mitrovica North is a clear indicator that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti does not want normalization of relations, but rather violent change in ethnic structure, in particular in the north of Kosovo, Kosovo Online portal reported.

“Today illegal closure of Serbian Income Tax Administration in Kosovska Mitrovica by Pristina is a clear indicator that Kurti does not want normalization of relations or peaceful co-existence in the area of Kosovo and Metohija, but rather violent change in ethnic structure, in particular in the north as well as consolidation of his occupation and regain of terror”, the statement said.

As Office for KiM said Kurti who does not wish anything good for the Serbs in Kosovo “together with his henchmen such as Nenad Rasic, bases his pre-election program exclusively on the extermination of the Serbs and their expulsion from the territory of Kosovo, in order to further prevent the Serbs from voting in the upcoming elections. and thus help his preferred candidates to continue their anti-Serb policy”.

"Expulsion of around 80 employees of the Tax Administration onto the street is a brutal violation of their basic human rights, including the right to work, but what is important is that the state of Serbia will not allow our workers' existence to be threatened or be left without income to live on. And that is what hurts Kurti the most, that he cannot stop the aid to the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija, that he cannot break the spirit or the will of the Serbian people to survive in their centuries-old places", the statement added.

As the Office for KiM highlighted the lack of reaction from the international community, which, as it was said, is observing Kurti's actions, is particularly worrying.

"The inaction of the international community is of particular concern, and we once again demand that it takes clear stance on Pristina's illegal acts and answer the question of whether they are supporting Pristina by not reacting, and while being present on the ground and during the actions of Kurti's police, they are actually shielding their actions", the statement said.

Police inspectors and CBK officials in Dunav Insurance Office in Mitrovica North (KoSSev)

Kosovo police inspectors and officials of Kosovo Central Bank (CBK) are currently present at the premises of Dunav Insurance D.O.O company in the very centre of Mitrovica North, KoSSev portal reported.

As police told the portal they were assisting CBK officials who came there “under suspicion that this insurance company operates without appropriate licences”. Employees of Dunav Insurance were present in the premises as well. As Alternativna.com reported later Kosovo police deputy commander for the North region, Veton Elshani said the Dunav Insurance office will be closed until further notice, depending upon the prosecutor.

The portal recalled that today, on the second day of Christmas celebration, Kosovo police economic department members have sealed the building in which the Income Tax Administration working in the Serbian system is located.

Patriarch Porfirije leads Orthodox Christmas liturgy in Belgrade's Church of St Sava (Tanjug)

Patriarch Porfirije of the Serbian Orthodox Church led an Orthodox Christmas liturgy in the Church of St Sava in central Belgrade on Tuesday morning. The liturgy, which began at 9 am, was attended by a large number of people, including Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic as well as the Roman Catholic Archbishop in Belgrade, Cardinal Ladislav Nemet, Tanjug news agency reported.

Patriarch Porfirije's Christmas epistle was read out at the liturgy. In the epistle, the Patriarch wished all the faithful that they may warm their hearts with the flame that kept the newborn Divine Child warm and that the joy of family gatherings may turn their homes into the Bethlehem Cave in which Jesus Christ was born. All those who are celebrating in peace must not forget those who are going through suffering and sorrow and spending these days of joy expelled from their homes, repeating the fate of the Divine Child, he said.

He also noted that Serbs in Kosovo, their ancestral home, had been the most threatened and the most unprotected people in Europe for a quarter of a century now.

"Exposed to pressure, arrests, violent usurpations of municipal self-government units, closure of local health care services, seizures of land and other private property, razing of cemeteries and cultural monuments, they are constantly being intimidated and persecuted. We look upon you, our brothers and sisters in Kosovo and Metohija, with love, respect and gratitude. We admire your faith, your heroism, your patience and plight", he said.

World Bank: Kosovo remains poorest in region (N1, media)

According to World Bank findings, Kosovo continues to face a high poverty rate among its population, making it the poorest in the region and Europe, N1 reported.

Jane Sprouster, the World Bank’s Deputy Manager for Kosovo, told Pristina’s RTV 21 that the per capita income remains low compared to the European Union (EU) member states’ average, and the poverty rate remains high, just above 19 percent. Sprouster said Kosovo must transition to a model of competitive economic growth that creates more and better-quality jobs for all its people in order to achieve sustainable progress in reducing poverty and increasing shared prosperity. She explained that creating more high-quality jobs, particularly for young people, would help Kosovo bridge the income gap with EU countries. Sprouster noted that Kosovo Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the lowest in the region, averaging 5,589 euros per capita annually, and as a result, people are struggling to cover basic monthly expenses with their incomes.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) also reported in early 2024 that poverty in Kosovo is deepening. According to the UNDP, 10 percent of households in Kosovo survive on less than two euros a day.

Data from the World Bank shows that Kosovo still has the highest unemployment rate in the region, with only 37 percent of the working-age population employed.

Peci: Kurti ‘sacrificed’ membership in Council of Europe for electoral purposes (Kosovo Online)

Director of KIPRED Institute, Lulzim Peci opined that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has sacrificed membership of Kosovo to the Council of Europe for electoral purposes, Kosovo Online portal reported citing Pristina-based RTV 21.

“Kurti indeed sacrificed membership to the Council of Europe for electoral purposes”, Peci said, commenting on Kurti’s statement that Kosovo has excellent relations with the US. He also said the opposition does the same thing. According to him, the situation in the north would be a problem for each government in the future. As he said, the right question is what is the plan for normalization of the situation in the north, in order to have the sanction imposed on Kosovo lifted.

Commenting on attempts by the Self-determination Movement to prevent certification of Serbian List for upcoming elections, Peci said it has only strengthened the position of the Serbian List and in fact ‘suffocated’ initiatives within the Serbian community that could offer political pluralism.

“{…} first the Serbian List was strengthened and we once again suffocated democratic potential within the Serbian community as well as scored a negative point in relation to the international community, that will be included into all reports on Kosovo, including the ones for European Council and the EU {…}”, Peci said.

As he said he does not see the achievements of this government. “The problem in the north remained the same, if we could say there is limited progress these are police forces in the north”, adding that this is not a solution to the problems in the north.

“I personally do not understand Kurti, how is he now asking for 500.000 votes based on the results he has? But, I say that on February 9 everything can reset, perhaps we could have a minority government that is not excluded either”, he said.

Praises to Kurti’s government: “Bread, gun and democracy” (Alterntivna.com)

Mitrovica North-based portal Alternativna.com in its section “Statement of the Week” today included remarks made by Kosovo Agriculture Minister Faton Peci, from Guxo! party, during the political gathering of the Self-determination Movement in Mitrovica South on January 5. Guxo! is a coalition partner to Self-determination.

While addressing the audience Peci listed the series of successes his ministry achieved in the government headed by Albin Kurti. According to him, these are also the reasons why people should vote for Kurti at upcoming elections on February 9.

As he said among successes is also the way the policy of this government was conducted in line with the principle “that people are familiar with” as the principle of “bread, gun and democracy”. Alternativna.com also posted the video, taken from the official Self-determination Youtube channel with this statements.

Economists for RFE: The abolition of the Dinar failed to achieve its goal, decision was rash and political (Kosovo Online)

The regulation by the Central Bank of Kosovo requiring financial transactions to be conducted exclusively in euros has not achieved its goal, as Serbia's currency, the dinar, remains in circulation in Serbian communities in Kosovo, and funds from Serbia's budget have not been converted into euros, says Mejdi Bektashi, a professor of economics at the University of Pristina, for RFE.

"This regulation was a rash decision. A political decision by this government," he stated, adding that the issue of abolishing the dinar should have been resolved through dialogue for normalizing relations between Kosovo and Serbia, with EU mediation.

Bektashi emphasized that even a year after the regulation's adoption, there is still no agreement on transferring funds to give the Central Bank of Kosovo access to these resources.

Kosovo needs a Currency Law

Ahmet Ismaili, Governor of the Central Bank of Kosovo (CBK), commented on this regulation during the annual conference at the end of December, stating that it had a "positive impact" on the entire financial sector by promoting the "unification of the sector and curbing illegal financing."

The regulation, which bans payments in currencies other than the euro – including the dinar – was adopted at the end of December 2023 and came into effect on February 1, 2024.

Members of the Serbian community, who receive various incomes in dinars from Serbia's budget, reacted strongly to this regulation, which was also criticized by the international community for potentially having negative effects on minority communities.

Professor Bektashi stated that the only change this year is that citizens of the Serbian community in Kosovo now have to travel to Serbia to collect their incomes in dinars.

Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/yt9xf5dh

Nearly 3,500 university professors support student protests, demands (Beta, N1)

Nearly 3,500 university professors have signed a public letter expressing support for student protests and their demands as of Tuesday evening.

The number of signatories on the website where professors could sign the public letter stood at exactly 3,497 on Tuesday evening late.

“Dear citizens of Serbia, we, the teachers, associates, and researchers from universities across Serbia, stand firmly alongside our students in our shared fight for a better society,” the letter states.

The professors strongly condemned attempts by the authorities to intimidate students, including the public release of private information, spread of misinformation, and dispatching police and Security-Information Agency (BIA) agents to students’ and parents’ homes.

“We once again urge the relevant authorities to carry out their duties responsibly and with integrity,” reads the letter. The protests stem from a November 1 tragedy in Novi Sad, where 15 people died after a concrete awning collapsed at the city’s recently renovated train station. Students are demanding accountability for the incident.

International

Kosovo in 2025: Hard-fought campaign lies ahead as Kurti pushes for re-election (BIRN)

February’s elections won’t be an easy ride for embattled Prime Minister Albin Kurti – and, even if his party wins, Donald Trump’s return could see US pressure on Kosovo to ‘deliver’ on agreements with Serbia grow.

As Kosovo braces for parliamentary elections on February 9, Albin Kurti is entering the final two months of a four-year term as prime minister, convinced he can win a third full term – but with an opposition accusing him of sugarcoating the country’s situation.

“These elections will be different to previous ones. The race is competitive because all three biggest parties are aiming for government,” Violeta Haxholli, researcher at the Pristina-based Kosovo Democratic Institute think-tank, told BIRN, referring to Kurti’s ruling Vetevendosje party and the opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, and Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK.

“It will be also a more equal race because now all three parties have some background [in power] as all of them have led the government at different times,” she added.