UNMIK Media Observer, Afternoon Edition, January 2, 2024

Albanian Language Media:

KOSTT: From today electricity in north to be paid as elsewhere in Kosovo (RFE)
AAK gears up for elections; Haradinaj says they could be held in spring (KSP)
Gruda: Govt thinks winning by 50% means they can go beyond Constitution (EO)
Reuten: Next processing application for candidate status (media)
Kovatchev: Association must not be a Republika Srpska (Klan Kosova)
Latifi: 2024 an election year; won’t be any historic step in dialogue (Express)

Serbian Language Media:

"Kosovo Serbs - the only Europeans who need a visa" (KiM radio, DW, FAZ)
Information hormones: How adrenaline took precedence over serotonin in news from the north (KoSSev)
Maliqi: The position of Self-Determination has always been that there must be unification with Albania (Kosovo Online)
Mijacic to Borrell: Not good to start the New Year with false statements (Kosovo Online)

International:

Person of the year 2023: Journalists Reporting in the North (Prishtina Insight)

Albanian Language Media

KOSTT: From today electricity in north to be paid as elsewhere in Kosovo (RFE)

Kosovo’s power transmission system operator (KOSTT) said today that starting from January 1 this year, electricity that is consumed in the four northern municipalities in Kosovo is being registered. KOSTT CEO Evetar Zeqiri said the energy consumed in the north will be paid as everywhere else in Kosovo. “On January 1, 2024, starting at 00:001, the supplier Elektrosever, a company licensed and registered according to the laws of the Republic of Kosovo – has started nominating energy in the four northern municipalities. Namely, it started assuming responsibility for the consumption of energy in the north. After more than 20 years, the energy consumed in the north will be paid as everywhere else in the territory of our country,” Zeqiri wrote in a Facebook post.

AAK gears up for elections; Haradinaj says they could be held in spring (KSP)

Leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), Ramush Haradinaj, said in an interview with the news agency that early parliamentary elections could be held in spring, that all political parties are gearing up for elections and that Kosovo is already in an election campaign phase.

Haradinaj said he was ready to cooperate with other opposition parties to change what he called bad governance by Prime Minister Albin Kurti.

Haradinaj criticized Kurti on the dialogue with Serbia, for agreeing to the draft statute of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities, and for failing to meet the demands of Kosovo Police special units.

According to Haradinaj, the Association is being formed in exchange for recognizing license plates, instead of being formed in exchange for mutual recognition between Kosovo and Serbia or for Kosovo’s membership in NATO.

Gruda: Govt thinks winning by 50% means they can go beyond Constitution (EO)

Representative of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Perparim Gruda, in an interview with the news website, criticized the Kurti-led government for drafting laws that are in opposition with the Constitution of Kosovo. “This government has a clear lack of respect for the constitutional order because they think that the victory by 50 percent [in the parliamentary elections] is an authorization to go beyond the Constitution. It should not be this way because no matter how big the majority is in parliament it needs to respect the Constitution and the decision-making process,” he argued.

Reuten: Next processing application for candidate status (media)

European Parliament member Thijs Reuten welcomed in a post on X the start of visa-free travel to the European Union for all Kosovo citizens. “Next: processing the application for candidate status. Kosovo is Europe,” Reuten said.

Kovatchev: Association must not be a Republika Srpska (Klan Kosova)

European Parliament member Andrey Kovatchev, in an interview with the news website said that the European Union expects Pristina and Belgrade to make progress in their obligation to form the Association of Serb-majority municipalities. “The main question is what kind of an association it will be? Certainly this Association should not be a repetition of a Republika Srpska within the Republic of Kosovo,” he said.

Commenting on the attack in Banjska in the north of Kosovo in September last year, Kovatchev said that all perpetrators must be brought to justice and that in present-day Europe there is no room for ideologies based on hatred. He said that de-escalation and the resolution of open issues are a priority.

Kovatchev said that Serbia must show commitment to EU principles. “It is one of the few European countries that doesn’t align with the EU sanctions against Russia. Kosovo has introduced sanctions and expressed strong solidarity with Ukraine. Serbia must do the same. In general, Belgrade must prove more commitment to EU values and standards,” he said.

Latifi: 2024 an election year; won’t be any historic step in dialogue (Express)

Professor of philosophy and political commentator, Blerim Latifi, said in an interview with the news website that he doesn’t expect major progress this year in the EU-facilitated talks between Kosovo and Serbia. “I foresee a continued diplomatic war of nerves, visits by diplomats in Pristina and Belgrade, meetings in Brussels and very few results, namely a recycling of last year,” he said.

Asked to comment on Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s course of action, Latifi said that he is maneuvering “to find a third path between promises he made while in the opposition and the international obligation”. “Part of these maneuvers is also his personal concern not to be remembered in history as the man that signed the Serb autonomy in Kosovo,” he added.

Latifi also predicts that early elections are also part of the game “as they are a good opportunity for Kurti to achieve two things: buy time in terms of international pressure to move forward with the implementation of the Association [of Serb-majority municipalities] and securing another term in office”.

“This leads me to believe that 2024 will be an election year in Kosovo and because of this there won’t be any historic step in the process of dialogue with Serbia, because when there are elections a different rhetoric comes into play from the logic of the dialogue, and this especially true for countries in the Western Balkans,” he said.

Serbian Language Media

"Kosovo Serbs - the only Europeans who need a visa" (KiM radio, DW, FAZ)

With a Kosovo passport, you can now enter the EU without a visa, but Serbs from Kosovo with a Serbian passport still cannot, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reminds. Brussels would like to enable them, Pristina is resisting, reported KiM radio, citing FAZ.

Citizens of Kosovo can finally travel visa-free to the Schengen area, writes Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The newspaper emphasizes that this does not apply to one group of people - Kosovo Serbs without a Kosovo passport.

"If this exception remains, then Kosovo Serbs will be the only Europeans - not counting citizens of Russia and Belarus - who are still denied freedom of travel to the EU," the newspaper said.

As recalled, this "special situation" arose in 2009, when Serbian citizens were given the possibility of visa-free travel.

At that time, the European Commission insisted that no distinction be made between the inhabitants of Kosovo, so the Serbs there, although Serbian citizens, could only get passports through the Coordination Administration in Belgrade. With such passports, it is still not possible to travel without a visa.

Pristina resists

"Now the European Commission proposes to abolish that special rule from 2009. It was overtaken by time with the introduction of visa freedom for Kosovo, they say in Brussels," writes FAZ.

According to the paper, the government of Albin Kurti opposes this, claiming that right now more and more Kosovo Serbs are reaching for Kosovo passports, which, as they say in Pristina, contributes to integration.

The FAZ states that there is still a small number of Serbs who are looking for a Kosovo passport. Last year, according to data from Pristina, there were 4,350 of them, and the year before that, 3,400.

The media recalls the letter that Kosovo's Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi wrote to Brussels in November, asking that Kosovo Serbs still cannot travel to the EU with a Serbian passport, and reminding them that they can always request a Kosovo passport.

The paper also quotes the words of an unnamed Kosovo diplomat who says that Kosovo would not beg to take responsibility for residents who would travel with a Serbian passport and commit a misdemeanor - say staying longer than 90 days - or a criminal offense. "We can only take responsibility for citizens traveling with a regular Kosovo passport," said the diplomat.

Unclear how to proceed

The paper reminds that in November, 21 Kosovo non-governmental organizations also wrote to the EU "using the Government's arguments almost word for word."

Several civil initiatives of Kosovo Serbs reacted to this with "disbelief and disappointment," the newspaper writes. They wondered how the organizations that fought for years against the unjustified isolation of Kosovo in Europe are now seeking permanent isolation for part of their fellow citizens.

"It is unclear how things will go," added FAZ. "The European Commission is sticking to its proposal to abolish the special rule from 2009. For that proposal to be accepted, it must be approved by EU members and a majority in the European Parliament. It is uncertain whether this will happen before the European elections in June."

The paper estimates that by then the popularity of Kosovo passports among Kosovo Serbs could still increase. "But that would not say anything about the growth and strengthening of the degree of identification of the Serbian minority with Kosovo," the paper concludes, cited KiM radio.

Information hormones: How adrenaline took precedence over serotonin in news from the north (KoSSev)

How did we get to the point that a happy story is not news? How did we get to the point that the reader would rather read news about violence and the daily addresses of politicians, instead of stories about creators, achievers, artists, in a word – encouraging people? What hormone has a bigger impact on us – serotonin or adrenaline?

The north of Kosovo is an area in crisis. Three years ago, it once again came into the focus of the regional and international public, primarily as a new, renewed source of political and security instability.

Its residents often describe their situation as life in a constant state of emergency. Nevertheless, occasional heartwarming stories about good fortune, successes, news about sports, art and culture, news pieces about picturesque sceneries, are a breath of fresh air for the contaminated media agenda. They have an inspiring and relaxing effect on the public as well as on the journalists themselves.

However, small newsrooms, due to their limited capacities, are not able to dictate the media agenda by themselves, instead, they often report reactively, following high-level political events. In the face of this urgency, the story about the good things is often nowhere to be found.

International

Person of the year 2023: Journalists Reporting in the North (Prishtina Insight)

In a tight competition for the person of the year 2023, Prishtina Insight chose the journalists who covered the tumultuous events unfolding in the northern region of the country.

As the curtain falls on the year, it’s a good time to reflect on the events that have defined the year we are leaving behind.

2023 was a dynamic year for Kosovars, but not always for the better. It’s the last year of Kosovars being cut off, as starting January 2024, they can jet off to EU countries without a visa. On the economic front, the country is slowly picking up the pace, trying to catch up with pre-Covid trends.

The unanimous verdict crystallized into an accolade not for an individual, but for a collective—the cadre of journalists who courageously reported from the North

Yet, the paramount news dominating the public discourse centered around the tensions brewing in the northern reaches of the country.

The year commenced against a backdrop of ethnic strife, as a KSF soldier assaulted two Serbs in Shtërpcë. Subsequent chapters unfolded with a May marked by upheaval in the North of Kosovo, where numerous journalists and 30 NATO/KFOR soldiers found themselves under attack. September witnessed another crescendo, pitting Kosovo police against a terrorist faction in the North, led by the former Serbian List vice-president, Milan Radoicic, following the tragic demise of a Kosovo policeman.