UNMIK Media Observer, Afternoon Edition, July 5, 2022

Albanian Language Media:

Kurti to participate at a Round Table with the Government of Greece (media)
Peach: Euro-Atlantic journey is the right path for Western Balkans (Express/Klan)
Osmani continues meetings in Slovenia, focusing on intensification of parliamentary diplomacy (media)
Kurti in Athens: EU is the solution for the Western Balkans (media)
Rizvanolli: Kosovo to save at least €15 mill annually through MCC agreement (media)
Kosovo Assembly criticised for lack of quorum sessions (KP/Telegrafi)
UNDP report: Level of satisfaction with prime minister’s work decreases (Telegrafi)

Serbian Language Media:

Starovic: Stano's support for Albin Kurti incomprehensible and has no basis in the agreement (Radio Mitrovica sever, RTS, Tanjug)
Drecun: Pristina jeopardising dialogue, Vucic-Kurti meeting (Tanjug)
Petkovic: International community to force Pristina establish ZSO (RTS)
Report says Serbian media landscape heavily polarized (N1)
Grbovic: “I would like to hear Kurti say, in any language, he will respect court decision on Visoki Decani Monastery land” (Danas)
The miners of Crnac and Belo Brdo started a strike yesterday (KoSSev)
Dacic: Serbia to get new parliament by end of July (Tanjug)
Final results of Serbian parliamentary elections released (Tanjug)
Vucic: Visit to UAE to strengthen friendship between two nations (Tanjug)

Opinion:

Lazarevic: Kurti cannot be a “Serbian cup of tea” in the North (Danas, KoSSev)
Ognjen Gogic: Kurti addresses the Serbs in Serbian, after Vetevendosje presented northern Kosovo as a spoils (Danas, KoSSev)

Humanitarian/Development:

Detainees clean Muslim cemetery in Mitrovica North, restore St. Sava Church doors in South (KoSSev)

Albanian Language Media

Kurti to participate at a Round Table with the Government of Greece (media)

The Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti has traveled to Greece, to participate in the Round Table with the Government of Greece. During his stay there, he will hold official meetings with various representatives.

The roundtable, the 26th in a row, is organized by the Government of Greece and the prestigious British "The Economist" with the support of the European Parliament and the European Commission.

State leaders, cabinet ministers, leaders of international organizations, leaders from business, finance, professionals from academia and the media will be attending the roundtable to discuss "Antitheses, transformations, achievements in a changing world."

Kurti will be participating today in the panel on "Southeastern Europe: Can there be stability and prosperity in the region?"

In addition to Prime Minister Kurti, Prime Minister of Montenegro Dritan Abazovic, former Prime Minister of North Macedonia Zoran Zaev, the United Kingdom's special envoy for the Western Balkans Sir Stuart Peach, and George Katrougkalos, ex- Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece will attend this panel, which will be moderated by Joan Hoey, director for Europe, The Economist Intelligence Unit, editor, The Democracy Index.

Peach: Euro-Atlantic journey is the right path for Western Balkans (Express/Klan)

The United Kingdom's special envoy to Western Balkans, Sir Stuart Peach, expressed support for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue at the Economist Government Roundtable underway in Greece. He also said that the Euro-Atlantic journey is the right path for the region.

"United Kingdom government supports the integrity of the region, we continue to support the European Union-facilitated dialogue, we continue to support the Pristina-Belgrade dialogue and I am delighted to see Prime Minister Kurti here, we continue to support our friends in North Macedonia and Bulgaria on their journey. Above all, the Euro-Atlantic journey is the right path for this region," he said.

Peach further noted that NATO should be supported as the "organ for collective security in Europe" and prevent Russia from destabilising the region.

Osmani continues meetings in Slovenia, focusing on intensification of parliamentary diplomacy (media)

President Osmani met during her visit in Slovenia with the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Slovenia Mr. Danijel Krivec and the vice president of the National Council of Slovenia Mr. Matjaz Svagan.

She spoke at the meeting about the excellent relations between Kosovo and Slovenia and committed to further deepening them in all spheres, with special emphasis on the intensification of parliamentary diplomacy.

According to Osmani, parliamentary diplomacy is always at the service of bringing the two countries closer together and deepening the strategic cooperation between them.

President Osmani, in a meeting with the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Slovenia and the Deputy Speaker of the National Council of Slovenia, emphasized the importance of Kosovo's membership in international organizations as well as the necessary support from Slovenia in this regard.

Kurti in Athens: EU is the solution for the Western Balkans (media)

Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti has said that the solution for the Western Balkans is inclusion in the European Union. During his presentation on the panel on "Southeastern Europe: Can there be stability and prosperity in the region?" in Athens, Kurti has said that together with the U.S. President, Jo Biden and the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, they can create a transatlantic bridge.

“Our union in the EU should be as a value and mechanism, based on the mechanisms of supervision and observation, not to remain outside the EU. I believe that the EU should grow internally, and we need it from the outside, but we must highlight the values of the EU internally by developing democratic reforms always as a priority towards political stability. Democratic reform towards political stability in order to ensure that we will not have a debauchery," Kurti emphasized.

He said that today Kosovo is a success story “due to the NATO interventions in 1999 to stop the genocide of Serbia and enable the refugees to rebuild the country and return to their homeland. He further added that Kosovo is a success story also with the development of the economy and the democracy in progress.

He went on to say that Kosovo has condemned the Russian aggression in Ukraine from the first day, while calling what is happening in Ukraine Russian fascism and criticizing Serbia for being the only country in the Balkans that has not joined the EU states’ sanctions towards Russia.

Rizvanolli: Kosovo to save at least €15 mill annually through MCC agreement (media)

Kosovo's Minister for Economy, Artane Rizvanolli, said at a meeting with a delegation from the United States' Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) that the compact programme for Kosovo approved recently is the biggest investment to date and the highest in the region. She said Kosovo would be saving up to 15 million euros a year by implementing the programme.

Rizvanolli said the USD 236.7 million programme, of which 35 are pledged by the Government of Kosovo, will secure Kosovo energy reserves that will stabilise the network frequencies as well and enable the using of the energy stored at night-time for busiest hours during the day. She said the programme will also develop the skills of the workforce and aims to increase gender representation in the energy sector.

MCC director for Kosovo, Sarah Olmstead, meanwhile said that the programme will help Kosovo in the clean energy field and "considering the war in Ukraine and challenges of last winter, the feeling was that Kosovo should not waste time in taking on this programme." She said she expects the Kosovo Assembly to approve the agreement as quickly as possible.

Kosovo Assembly criticised for lack of quorum sessions (KP/Telegrafi)

Kosovo Democratic Institute (KDI) issued a report on the assessment of the work of the Kosovo Assembly for the first half of 2022 noting that the period was characterised by absence of quorum in plenary sessions.

It said that in many sessions, the parliamentary majority did not manage to secure the necessary number of MPs to push forward its initiatives thus leading to their delay. KDI said that so far this year the Assembly held 45 sessions, including 19 continuations of sessions while 23 have failed due to lack of quorum. Meanwhile, of 65 draft laws being reviewed at the Assembly, KDI said only 14 are on procedural track.

UNDP report: Level of satisfaction with prime minister’s work decreases (Telegrafi)

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Kosovo has launched today the 22nd edition of the Public Pulse summary, which informs that the level of satisfaction with the work of the prime minister has decreased, while it has increased for the president.

According to a press release, the findings of the Public Pulse opinion survey in April show slight changes in people's satisfaction with the performance of key executive, legislative and judicial institutions in Kosovo compared to the previous survey conducted in October-November 2021.

As announced in the announcement, the level of satisfaction with the performance of the Prime Minister is 52.6% (53.2% in autumn 2021), and with the work of the Speaker of the Assembly of Kosovo is 54.4% (55.4% in autumn 2021).

It is further stated that the level of satisfaction with the president reached the level of 58.4%, compared to the level of satisfaction of 55.2% recorded in the fall of 2021.

Find the full summary at: https://bit.ly/3P6amv6

Serbian Language Media

Starovic: Stano's support for Albin Kurti incomprehensible and has no basis in the agreement (Radio Mitrovica sever, RTS, Tanjug)

In a written statement for Tanjug agency, the EU spokesperson Peter Stano said that "according to the agreements from the dialogue on freedom of movement from 2011 and 2016, Kosovo has the right to gradually abolish KM plates". The State Secretary of the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nemanja Starovic, told RTS today that it was incomprehensible to him the way in which all this was happening and Stano's interpretations that somehow justified ''ominous Kurti's announcements'', reported Radio Mitrovica sever, citing RTS.

Pristina introduced reciprocity for persons entering Kosovo with an identity card issued in central Serbia, then offered the possibility of re-registration of vehicles from Serbian to local - "RKS" plates and decided to continue with the application of sticker policy, recalled the radio.

"That interpretation that Kurti allegedly has the right to force Serbs to give up Serbian license plates in Kosovo and Metohija and that they have to replace them by introducing 'RKS' plates is absolutely not valid and has no basis in the agreement. Ultimately, the Pristina authorities unilaterally cancelled the possibility of re-registration on so-called KS plates, which are status neutral," Starovic pointed out.

He pointed out that there were several dimensions behind the decision, the first of which was that, as Albin Kurti said, he realized that his unilateral moves were paying off.

"The violence against Serbs that was carried out in September of last year, was precisely related to the attempt to steal license plates and introduce some fees for their replacement. Then in October, violence against Serbs in the north of Kosovo and Metohija when Srecko Sofronijevic, a civilian, was shot from behind. In January of this year, Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija were prevented from participating in the referendum called for constitutional changes, and on April 3, Serbs were prevented from participating in the parliamentary and presidential elections called by the Republic of Serbia," Starovic recalled.

It indicated that Kurti did not suffer any consequences for those unilateral moves.

"Each time we had a certain rhetorical condemnation from Quint and the EU member states, but that condemnation was in no way consequential, Albin Kurti did not suffer any consequences for such unilateral moves, and how excited he was for those criticisms that came from the part of the political West, we can see from the fact that in the past few days, on the televisions of Kosovo and Metohija, he broadcasted videos in which he brags about some of his successes and achievements - for example, preventing the Serbs from voting," Starovic told RTS.

He pointed that the second dimension was that Pristina every time it came to the point that it has to implement its obligations, i.e., obligation to form the Community of Serbian Municipalities -it opened a new hot point with the aim that their obligations to finally fulfil its obligations fall into second plan.

And the third dimension, he added, which seems to me to be the most serious and the most dangerous, was that Kurti's actions like this were a clear announcement of the violence he would cause against the Serbs until October 1 of this year.

"He is therefore consciously going in the direction of an escalation, counting that the geopolitical circumstances are somewhere in his favour, that provoking violence against the Serbs, provoking the Republic of Serbia will lead him to a situation where, whatever he does, the great world powers that are actually the sponsors of the so-called Kosovo of independence, according to some predefined pattern, spread some kind of security umbrella over Pristina and enable them to carry out their particular goals under it in a violent way, reflected in the implementation of violence against the Serbs and the desire to solve the Serbian problem in Kosovo by making Serbs no longer be there,'' said Starovic.

He pointed out that ''we must be aware of this and that is why our reactions must be extremely thoughtful and at the same time decisive in order not to allow such a scenario to materialize'', reported Radio Mitrovica sever, citing RTS.

Drecun: Pristina jeopardising dialogue, Vucic-Kurti meeting (Tanjug)

The head of the Serbian parliamentary committee on Kosovo-Metohija Milovan Drecun said on Monday Pristina's most recent unilateral moves regarding vehicle licence plates definitely put a question mark over dialogue with Belgrade and jeopardised it, reported news agency Tanjug.

"According to the dynamics set for July, we had two meetings - the first on July 14, dedicated to reaching an agreement on missing persons, and the second on July 19, at the highest level - between PM Albin Kurti and President Aleksandar Vucic," Drecun said in a statement to Tanjug.

Drecun said the EU special representative for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue Miroslav Lajcak, too, had said ”Pristina's unilateral moves had substantially changed the situation”.

According to Drecun, “that was Lajcak's message that he was uncertain how the dialogue would proceed”.

"President Vucic, too, has said Pristina had broken off the dialogue. With their moves, they have rendered dialogue pointless, and it is unclear whether a continuation of dialogue will take place," Drecun said, noting that any progress now required strong activity by Lajcak.

Lajcak needs to speak with both sides to see whether there was a possibility of the dialogue to continue and when that could happen, Drecun also said.

Petkovic: International community to force Pristina establish ZSO (RTS)

Office for Kosovo and Metohija Director, Petar Petkovic urged the international community to ‘get back to reason’ and exert pressure on Pristina so that it establishes a Community of Serb-majority municipalities (ZSO), RTS reports.

Should Pristina fail to implement everything that has been agreed upon in Brussels, it may become late and we, as he said, may end up in “an abyss with unforeseeable consequences”.

Petkovic told the media that the Community of Serb Municipalities represent an institutional mechanism for protection of collective rights of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija, given that those rights today are almost non-existent.

He added every day one may witness how human rights of the Serbian people there are getting limited and trampled over by unilateral acts of Albin Kurti, including the right to vote, freedom of movement and others.

Report says Serbian media landscape heavily polarized (N1)

The Center for Media Pluralism and Freedom said in its latest report that Serbia’s media landscape was heavily polarized with critical media viewed as political opponents by the authorities, reported N1.

Serbia’s “heavily polarised media landscape between pro-government tabloids and critical media mirrors a divided political landscape, where critically minded media are often perceived as political opponents”, the report said.

“In spite of the professional community’s high expectations that the new Media Strategy, adopted in 2020, could improve conditions for media pluralism and freedom in Serbia, the deadlines for the implementation of activities defined under its Action Plan have been exceeded,” it said.

Opinion

Lazarevic: Kurti cannot be a “Serbian cup of tea” in the North (Danas, KoSSev)

"The fact that Albin Kurti addresses the public in Serbian, which is ironically commented on as a language fluency compared to illiterate Serbian political representatives – ‘Kurti speaks Serbian better than half of the Serbian deputies/mayors, etc.,’ is a typical comment,“ the editor of the KoSSev portal, Tatjana Lazarevic, told Danas daily when asked about the reaction of Serbs from the north of Kosovo to the Kosovo PM’s video in which he addressed them in Serbian.

The video arrived as an additional confirmation that for the first time drivers and owners of vehicles with plates of the Republic of Serbia, primarily those in the north, will now have The Republic of Kosovo license plates, a country that they do not recognize and do not like, and which they don’t deem as their own, Lazarevic said.

"Also, on a more practical level, when the political and identity issue is placed into everyday life, special attention was paid to Kurti’s explanations about the registration process and ‘incentives’, such as ‘no customs duties’. Apart from the fact that Kurti cannot be the ‘Serbian cup of tea’ in the North due to the obvious antagonistic notions of Kosovo between him and Kosovo Serbs, this otherwise good move – as an opportunity to ease that tension and get closer to the Serbs – has once again ‘failed’, similarly to when he recently sent the Easter message in Serbian. There was again a lack of sensitivity in selecting words for such sensitive addresses, which would have excluded any risk that his message could be interpreted as a sign of arrogance, ignorance, and even vindictiveness".

According to the KoSSev editor-in-chief, Kurti emphasized once again that the license plates which, she claims, were natural and unique for Serbs in the North – KM license plates, Kurti marked them as actually ''illegal''. She also noted that this video in Serbian came after the one in which Self-determination talked about the northern part of Kosovo as a hotbed of crime.

''He emphasized that a ‘big concession’ was made for the citizens who drive these vehicles, and they will not be subject to customs duties. Finally, the video was published only a day after Self-Determination published another video, boasting how Albin Kurti, in a year and a half, succeeded in what the former Kosovo authorities did not – the integration of the north. The North is portrayed exclusively as a hotbed of crime, including the issue of referendums and elections, the construction of the returnee settlement of Sun Valley, Serbia as a colonizer, while PDK, LDK, and AAK were presented as associates of Serb criminals. The video is in the form of political promotion and propaganda, with triumphalist content, black and white in its narration. The government of Albin Kurti is good, the bad guys are other Albanian parties, and the North and Serbia are the universal, ultimate and unquestionable evil," Lazarevic assessed for Danas.

Ognjen Gogic: Kurti addresses the Serbs in Serbian, after Vetevendosje presented northern Kosovo as a spoils (Danas, KoSSev)

“This is already the third time during the past few months that Kurti has addressed Kosovo Serbs with a video message in Serbian. If viewed in isolation, this act could be considered a gesture of goodwill that can contribute to trust building between communities in Kosovo. Namely, Kurti comes from the Vetevendosje Movement, which not only rejected the Brussels dialogue and the agreements that resulted from it, such as the agreement on the Community of Serbian Municipalities, but also Ahtisaari’s plan itself, on which the Constitution of Kosovo is based,” political scientist Ognjen Gogic told Belgrade based daily Danas, when asked to comment the clip of Kosovo PM in which he addresses the Serbs from the North of Kosovo in Serbian.

“Kurti previously rejected the guarantees that Ahtisaari’s plan gave to Serbs, including the official equality of the Serbian language in Kosovo, considering them too “generous” and that they are undermining the statehood of Kosovo. In this sense, the very fact that Kurti addresses Serbs in Serbian, instead of telling them to learn Albanian, represents a step forward, both for himself and for the party he represents. It should be borne in mind that Kurti can pay a “price” for this among his voters who are used to the radical rejection of anything Serbian related to Kosovo,” Gogic opined and added that the content of the video itself was not disputable.

“The video explains the procedure by which Serbian license plates with city designations in Kosovo can be replaced with RKS plates issued by Kosovo institutions. The exemption from costs announced by Kurti is similar to the procedure that was applied a few years ago when Serbs south of the Ibar replaced Serbian license plates with Kosovo ones. The difference is that back then there were also KS license plates, which enabled unhindered movement in Serbia. Now the only option is represented by RKS plates,” Gogic said.

He noted that this video message only refers to Serbs in the north who have vehicles with KM plates, since the Serbs south of the Ibar changed the plates even earlier. Serbs in the north of Kosovo did not replace Serbian license plates with Kosovo ones even then, and Gogic opined that they will not do that now either.

In the north of Kosovo, there is resistance to replacement of the licence plates and pressure on those who were ready to do so, even though it is a clear obligation arising from the Agreement on free movement from 2011 and 2016 Gogic explained.

“If Kurti's video message is to be observed in isolation, there would not be much to complain about. The problem, however, is that Kurti is sending “mixed messages” to Serbs,” he said and mentioned the video of LVV about “all of the recent “successes” of Kurti’s government in the “integration” of northern Kosovo”.

“What is contentious, however, is the fact that the north of Kosovo is presented as “spoils” that Kurti has won. That video message dehumanizes the Serbs in the north of Kosovo and reflects all the stereotypes that exist among the Albanian public about them as “savages” who break all the rules,” he opined.

Gogic also said that with this second video message in Albanian, Kurti probably wanted to confirm his nationalist image among his voters and dispel suspicions that he has become “soft” and lenient towards Serbs. “All recent events are presented as “breaking the resistance” of the north of Kosovo, which for the first time, thanks to Kurti, comes under the control of Pristina,” he pointed out.

“If any of the Serbs from the north of Kosovo thought after the first video message that they should re-register their vehicles, after the second video message they certainly will not do it. By taking RKS license plates, Serbs from the north of Kosovo fall into Kurt’'s “trap” and risk becoming extras in the next video message with which Kurti will celebrate his new “victories”,’’ Gogic concluded.

Humanitarian/Development

Detainees clean Muslim cemetery in Mitrovica North, restore St. Sava Church doors in South (KoSSev)

Detainees of Mitrovica North detention center are currently cleaning up the Muslim cemetery in this part of the town, ahead of Eid. At the same time, after cleaning up the Christian cemetery for Remembrance Day in Mitrovica South, they are also restoring the doors of the Church of St. Sava there. In addition, they will soon begin tidying up all the rural cemeteries in the north, KoSSev portal reports.

Although all of them ended up in the detention centre because of illegal activities, including serious crimes, the detainees have been doing what they can to help the city and community for years through voluntary and humanitarian work. That’s also how they help themselves.

The detention centre has carpentry, metalwork, and tailoring workshops. Some of the detainees are cooks, and a bakery is expected to open soon.

Led by the prison administration, they respond to requests for help outside the detention centre’s walls. Sometimes, they are the ones who initiate similar ventures.

In past years, their most visible work was through the clean-up of cemeteries – Christian in the south and Muslim in the north, especially ahead of the holidays.