Albanian Language Media:

• Osmani: Peace is the beginning of transformation (media)
• Parties fail again to find solution to deadlock in the Assembly (media)
• Haxhiu: Opposition with irrational rancor, calls me divisive (Reporteri)
• Citaku: Economy and people at risk, Assembly is being blocked (media)
• Rafuna: More protests if govt doesn’t act on energy market liberalization (media)
• Bislimi meeting Sorensen in Brussels (Koha)
• Growth of remittances, €402.93 million in first quarter of 2025 (media)
• Hehir: Specialist Court was created for Serbia’s interests (media)
• Osmani awards Presidential Medal to mothers of Srebrenica (media)

Serbian Language Media:

• Petkovic and Sorensen to meet tomorrow in Brussels (Kosovo Online)
• Vranjes: Konakovic in Pristina misused BiH symbols - a new slap in the face of political Sarajevo to Serbia (Kosovo Online)
• Local municipal authorities in Leposavic ordered Serbian families to vacate their homes in Lesak (RTS)
• Employees of Sports Hall in Leposavic still without access to it, trainings halted (Kosovo Online)
• Minister calls rebuttal ‘a propaganda’ (Radio kontakt plus, Radio KIM)
• Proaktiv warns of “systematic dismantling” of University of Pristina (KoSSev, KiM radio)
• Minister says up to 30,000 at all protests (N1)
• Vucevic: Why demand elections now, not earlier (N1, BETA)
• Students’ speech read out at protests across Serbia, demand early elections (N1)

Albanian Language Media 

Osmani: Peace is the beginning of transformation (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani said in her address at the International Forum for Women, Peace and Security in Pristina today that “this is not a forum that is inspired by theory but instead by a living reality. Here in Kosovo, we do not speak of peace from a distance. We speak of peace from the weight of memory, with a fierce sense of purpose and with deep responsibility to spread the message ‘never again’, ‘never again’. This year also marks 25 years since the adoption of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, a visionary step forward that recognized that we in Kosovo have always known that peace cannot be sustained without the leadership wisdom and resilience of women. But two and a half decades later, the world is still fighting for these principles to become a reality”.

Osmani said that the theme of the forum this year - the Security Code for Our Generation - is more than just a title. “It is a call. A call to break the cycles of violence, a call to build a peace that is not passive, but dynamic, bold, representative, and just. A peace that must turn into the imperative of our time. A peace that puts the safety of children as the centerpiece of our engagement. Because peace is not merely what happens when the guns fall silent, peace is the beginning of transformation, it is a renewed opportunity, an opportunity to rise, to thrive, and to prosper. But how do we protect the most vulnerable while navigating the most complex threats of our time. As you all know, the global security environment is more volatile than ever. From traditional warfare to cyber-attacks, from propaganda to destabilization, the battlefield has indeed evolved. But the victims remain the same. Women, children, the displaced, the voiceless. And in this era of rapid technological change, we are witnessing mass production, innovative breakthroughs and previously unimaginable forms of creation. But what we actually need now more than ever are new tools for peace. While women remain at the heart of all peace and security efforts, children are the soul of our future. What wars often leave behind and what we too seldom talk about is the inter-generational harm, the kind of pain that outlasts the peace treaties, is the quiet damage done to a child’s sense of safety, the invisible wound carried by the young minds, is the unbearable grief of losing a parent, a sibling, a loved one, a home, becoming a refugee, and as we have heard today from our peacebuilders even witnessing the rape of your mother. The pain never fades away”.

Osmani said that children are future peacemakers, future presidents, future defenders of justice, “so if we don’t invest in them today, we allow conflict to shape tomorrow. That is why this forum exists, to raise the voices that war has tried to silence, to uplift those who refused to be broken, to build futures where others tried to sow fear and pain, and to center leadership that comes from empathy, not ego”.

See more from the forum at: https://shorturl.at/KTmwN

Parties fail again to find solution to deadlock in the Assembly (media)

All media report that the 25th attempt to form the new Kosovo Assembly has failed today, as parties that were in opposition in the previous mandate did not agree on a secret vote committee for the election of the Assembly Speaker. The Vetevendosje Movement refused to change their candidate for the post. The next session has been scheduled for Wednesday. 

Haxhiu: Opposition with irrational rancor, calls me divisive (Reporteri)

Kosovo Assembly MP and VV candiate for the Speaker of the Assembly Albulena Haxhiu said after the 25th failure to constitute the Assembly that she has always acted in accordance with the interests of Kosovo and its people.  “Today was the 17th time since the proposal for a secret ballot was decided, this procedure has started since May 1. Despite this, we do not have a different situation, so the opposition with irrational anger has decided not to participate in the vote. Today marks three weeks since AAK submitted it to the Constitutional Court, so AAK with the support of several MPs has contested the secret ballot. Despite the fact that 3 weeks have passed, we have not received a response. We hope that the Constitutional Court will act accordingly and make a decision. We have sent comments in relation to the same”, Haxhiu said.

"What I want to add is that as I said, I do not understand the public reasons that the opposition has given for opposing me. They called me divisive, conflictual, but I am open to discussing every issue I have raised, I have never acted contrary to the interests of citizens. Sexist, misogynistic attacks have been unacceptable," she further stated.

Citaku: Economy and people at risk, Assembly is being blocked (media)

Deputy leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Vlora Citaku said today that the economy and people of Kosovo are at risk, while the Kosovo Assembly is being blocked by the parliamentary group of the Vetevendosje Movement. “Kosovo’s economy is being damaged and is at risk. 140,000 workers are at risk, our families are at risk, and meanwhile the Assembly and the institutions of Kosovo are still blocked because of the stubbornness of the biggest parliamentary group. We once again call on them to reflect. Kosovo is bigger than any of us,” she said.

Rafuna: More protests if govt doesn’t act on energy market liberalization (media)

President of Kosovo’s Chamber of Commerce, Lulzim Rafuna, said today that there will be more protests if the government does not take action about the liberalization of the energy market. Representatives of some businesses held a two-hour protest last week, blocking the three main entrances into Pristina, and calling on the government to postpone the liberalization of the energy market.

Rafuna said that the council of the chamber will meet today and propose the future steps for the coming days. “The businesses have raised this issue, and they have never been more determined than now. You have seen that the businesses are in one voice, and even those that are not members of the Chambers of Commerce have joined to oppose this decision so that businesses and the economy are not destroyed,” he told reporters.

Rafuna also argued that businesses will not be able to cope with the increased energy tariffs. “No business in Kosovo can afford a bill that is increased by 300 percent. This is impossible. Businesses are walking a very thin line because of the numerous challenges they face, and this will be another blow to them. This would be the final blow,” he said.

Bislimi meeting Sorensen in Brussels (Koha)

Kosovo’s acting Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi is meeting with the EU Special Representative for the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Peter Sorensen, in Brussels today. A spokesperson for the EU said that Sorensen is also scheduled to meet with the head of the Serbian delegation in the talks, Petar Petkovic.

Diplomatic sources in Brussels told Koha that they don’t expect any dramatic development in the process given the current political situation in Kosovo. The news website also notes that this is the first time that the chief negotiators have been invited to Brussels since Sorensen assumed the post. 

Growth of remittances, €402.93 million in first quarter of 2025 (Indeksonline)

Data published by the Central Bank of Kosovo show that the overall value of remittances until March this year was €291.27 million, which marks a 3.65 percent increase compared to the same period from last year. Remittances for April this year amounted to €111 million totaling to €402.93 million for the first quarter. 

Hehir: Specialist Court was created for Serbia’s interests (media)

Several media cover an interview that Aidan Hehir, a transitional justice expert, gave to Kosovapress news agency highlighting his remarks that the Specialist Court “was created for Serbia’s interests”. “This was a court that was established 2014-2025, and it is still going on now. It is a court that should have never been established. It lacks the most important thing which is local legitimacy. It is a court that has been imposed on Kosovo by the international community. At the time that it was established Hashim Thaci even said “I’m encouraging people to vote to establish this court but not because I want it to be established but because I have been told that I have to establish it. But that is coercion. That’s the international community bullying a sovereign state, bullying the government of a sovereign state, the parliament of a sovereign state to establish a court. And why was that court established? You don’t need to be a genius or a conspiracy theorist to see why that court was established. It was established to appease Serbia, to say to Serbia look this is something we are giving you. Serbia obviously wanted this court to be created. It wants to change the narrative about the 1990s. It wants to create this ongoing kind of conveyor belt of Kosovo Albanian militants being tried for crimes against humanity that is going to last for years and years. That obviously fits their narrative about the war that there were two sides engaged in a civil war, and they did terrible things, and maybe we did a few small terrible things, but let’s move on and forget about it, they are as bad as we were sort of thing. So, the only impetus for the court to be established was Serbian interests. The court is inherently a political organization that was established for political reasons and its existence much like the existence of UNMIK and EULEX in Kosovo demonstrates that the international community is not currently working on Kosovo’s interests in any instance. This court is just a political body that is going to do very little for justice. The only thing it is going to do is embolden Serbian nationalists who want to change the story about the 1990s,” Hehir said.

Osmani awards Presidential Medal to mothers of Srebrenica (media)

Kosovo President, Vjosa Osmani, has awarded the Presidential Medal to the Mothers of Srebrenica as part of the International Forum for Women, Peace, and Security being held in Pristina. “You have become the voice of those who cannot speak. With every photo you’ve held in your hands, you’ve preserved a living memory. Dear Mothers of Srebrenica, during my term as President I have often honored the mothers of Kosovo who have transformed their pain into strength and who never stayed silent in their pursuit of justice for the children they lost during the war. Today, I have the honor, on behalf of all citizens and within my constitutional authority, to present you with the Presidential Medal for Service,” Osmani said.

Meanwhile, a representative of the Mothers of Srebrenica stated that they have brought the truth before the world. “We have fought for resolutions at the United Nations General Assembly, which are very important to ensure the genocide is remembered. If I have lost my son… I have not lost my pride. We have opened the eyes of the whole world to our human dignity,” she said.

Serbian Language Media

Petkovic and Sorensen to meet tomorrow in Brussels (Kosovo Online, N1, Tanjug)

The delegation from Belgrade, led by Office for Kosovo and Metohija Director, Peter Petkovic, will meet tomorrow in Brussels with EU Special Envoy for Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue, Peter Sorensen, as part of a new round of dialogue conducted under the auspices of the EU, it was confirmed for Kosovo Online by the Belgrade delegation.

As the correspondent of Kosovo Online in Brussels learns, today the delegation of Pristina led by Besnik Bislimi will have meetings with EU representatives for dialogue.

As confirmed for N1, there will be no direct meeting between the two sides, as the Pristina team is in Brussels today and holding bilateral meetings with Sorensen and his team.

Sorensen was in Belgrade and Pristina at the end of April, when he said that they “had good discussions about our latest efforts and areas where progress can be made in the Dialogue”. He wrote this on social networks after visiting Belgrade, while after the visit in Pristina he emphasized  it was a normal visit, recalled Kosovo Online. 

Sorensen recently stayed in Berlin, where he discussed the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina with representatives of the German MFA.

Vranjes: Konakovic in Pristina misused BiH symbols - a new slap in the face of political Sarajevo to Serbia (Kosovo Online)

BiH Ambassador to Serbia Aleksandar Vranjes told Kosovo Online that BiH Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmedin Konakovic abused BiH symbols during a meeting with Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani in Pristina and that it is a "new slap" of political Sarajevo to Belgrade because, on one hand, he demands respect for the territorial integrity of BiH, and at the same time tramples on the sovereignty of Serbia.

"Konakovic, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, did not have permission to meet with representatives of the fake state of Kosovo. I note that Bosnia and Herzegovina have not recognized that fake state and will never recognize it as long as the Republika Srpska is an integral part of that community", said Vranjes.

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH, Elmedin Konakovic in her cabinet, and the meeting was presented as an official meeting between the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo President.

Vranjes explains that for such a meeting, to comply with the procedure, Konakovic had to first seek the consent of the BiH Presidency.

"Of course, he would never have received that consent from Zeljka Cvijanovic, who is currently in the position of chairperson. Therefore, he made something that we can characterize exclusively as a private meeting, by no means an official meeting of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and he misused the features of Bosnia and Herzegovina for that purpose," emphasized Vranjes.

He specifies that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH sends a clear message in this way that he "does not respect the territorial integrity of Serbia".

"This is another in a series of political messages that political Sarajevo sends to Belgrade when it comes to their attitude towards the fake state of Kosovo. Let's remember, they received Kurti with the highest state protocol. They had meetings with him as if he were the head or prime minister of a country, even though when he comes to the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, he does not represent any country," said Vranjes.

He emphasizes that this way "Serbia is persistently being poked with a finger in the eye".

"They are constantly asking Serbia to respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina, while on the other hand, in this way, political Sarajevo clearly shows that it does not respect the territorial integrity of Serbia. In this way, they show what they think of Serbia, and then they get angry when they don't get the kind of adequate response they expect from Serbia. This is another slap in the face to Serbia," said Vranjes.

Hence, he concludes, Konakovic went to Pristina "as a private person" who "wages his private wars with Serbia".

Local municipal authorities in Leposavic ordered Serbian families to vacate their homes in Lesak (RTS)

17 Serbian families from Brothers Matovic Street in Lesak settlement, Leposavic municipality, received notices from the current municipal leadership asking them to vacate and demolish their homes, which they reconstructed over the last couple of decades, Serbian public broadcaster RTS reported. 

With the notice, signed by Albanian mayor of Leposavic, Lulzim Hetemi and handed over to household owners, by his Serb deputy Marina Bogojevic, the families are requested to vacate the objects within one month-deadline. It was also requested they take away their personal belongings and construction materials that can be spared, because their homes will be demolished.

Members of the 17 affected families gather in front of their homes ever since they received the notices from municipal authorities. They told RTS they do not accept leaving their homes, which they reconstructed over the last 20 years. If machinery for demolition of their homes arrives at the spot, they said they are ready to defend their properties with their own bodies, as they built it without anyone’s support and with their own sacrifice.

“We were paying electricity regularly, filed a request for legalization in 2010 already, to the-then municipal leadership and we will not allow someone from Pristina to come here now and demolish our homes. Let them first demolish more than 350.000 illegal objects across Kosovo and then let them come to us, until that happens we will wait a lot”, Uros Vasovic from Lesak, member of one of the affected families, told RTS. 

Other families said they hope the worst scenario will not happen, adding they are ready to defend what they have till the end, calling on Belgrade authorities to help them.

They said they obtained permissions to reconstruct objects from local municipal authorities in Leposavic before and after the conflict in 1999, based on which most of them reconstructed residential objects.

The current Leposavic municipal authorities were elected in the local elections boycotted by Serbs in northern Kosovo. 

A total of 141 people voted in Leposavic municipality in these local elections, respectively 1.06 percent of registered voters.

Over the previous weeks, Leposavic municipal authorities closed the sports hall and tourist organization in this town, which functioned within the Serbian system, prompting dissatisfaction of the employees, athletes, children and their parents.

The same authorities verbally informed several Serbian families, who are refugees or displaced persons, to vacate apartments they received from Serbian Commissariat for Refugees, reconstructed with the funds of the Serbian Government. 

Employees of Sports Hall in Leposavic still without access to it, trainings halted (Kosovo Online)

The Sports Hall in Leposavic is out of function for seven days in a row, with all sports activities for children and residents being halted there. The employees of the Sports and Tourism Organization do not have access to their working places either, Kosovo Online portal reported.

The portal also said that compared to days before, today there was a stronger presence of Kosovo police while employees attempted once again to go to their working places. Warning of possible serious repercussions, they demanded response from those responsible.

Director of Sports and Tourism Organization Marko Radosavljevic said the youngest population has been deprived from the possibility to train, adding what he had been warning of, has become true that the sports hall will not function within the necessary scope and children, youth, and sportsmen do not train there.

He added their questions why Kosovo police acted the way they did and, as he said, forcefully occupied premises, owned by the Sports and Tourism Organization and based on what document they did so, remained unanswered as also today representatives of the local municipal authorities were not present there.  

Radosavljevic said he is using this opportunity to call upon representatives of UNMIK, civil society, and non-governmental organizations to visit the hall and enquire on which document this act is based upon.

Milomir Kuzmanovic, who has been working in the Sports and Tourism Organization since its establishment in 2011 and is close to retirement age said he is “truly sorry that after so many years they spent in this hall, they can not enter it now”. “It is very hard”, Kuzmanovic said.

Employees announced they will continue the pursuit for their rights and working places, and will keep informing the public and responsible institutions about this problem, all the way to upcoming local elections.

Minister calls rebuttal ‘a propaganda’ (Radio kontakt plus, Radio KIM)

In a section of its website edition titled “Inaccurate” Radio kontakt plus writes today that Kosovo acting defense minister Ejup Maqedonci said last week “around 70 percent of all military capacities of the Army of Serbia are deployed at the south of its territory”, underlining the threat this represents for Kosovo.

Such a bombastic statement, the Radio further continues, was picked by many portals, before security experts were asked for opinion, refuting those allegations.

Politicians must be held accountable for publicly spoken words, while journalists are obliged to seek additional clarifications for the data they present, to cite sources and elaborate on their statements. It is in the public interest to differentiate between clear and accurate information from propaganda.

The journalists, with due attention, must verify all the facts, consult relevant sources and convey the information in an impartial manner. This in particular applies to the topics with contradicting stances in the public.

However, such inflammatory rhetoric has particular weight in divided societies, encompassed with crisis and heightened interethnic tensions. It has particular weight as it comes from Kosovo defense minister in technical mandate.

By misusing the attention of the public because of the relevance of his function, such statements create and exacerbate fear, inter-ethnic hatred and spread panics, the Radio kontakt plus added.

When it comes to the portals re-running the news, and whose author is someone else, they are equally accountable to the public, the same as if the interlocutor gave that statement to them. They are also obliged to verify allegations presented. Even, if the journalist assesses the publication of unverified information or speculation was in public interest, it must be clearly and unequivocally underlined that the information has not been confirmed. Still, this is not only about inaccurate information.

KFOR soon refuted Maqedonci’s allegations, while many security experts, including Bedri Elezi, said that Kosovo has not been endangered in a manner Maqedonci represented in the media.

Following this and many other critical observations of his statements, Maqedonci addressed the public again, this time on Facebook social platform, claiming that he was “a victim of campaigns launched on different platforms and social networks”.

“A small part of my interview, a bit longer than a minute, was published as the news of the day and presented as propaganda in order to get attention”, Maqedonci said.

Still, the media conveyed his statement accurately, the problem was that not everybody challenged its accuracy, the Radio kontakt plus concluded. 

Proaktiv warns of “systematic dismantling” of University of Pristina (KoSSev, KiM radio)

A group of academics operating under the name Proaktiv at the University of Pristina, headquartered in North Mitrovica, has issued a stark public warning about what it describes as a decade-long process of systematic dismantling of the institution, allegedly intensified following the 2013 Brussels Agreement.

In a strongly worded statement, the group accuses the Serbian Office for Kosovo and Metohija and the Ministry of Education of exerting political pressure to erode the university’s autonomy, citing a series of measures they claim are leading toward its gradual shutdown.

Among their allegations are the imposition of so-called “temporary measures,“ silence and inaction from the university leadership, unlawful use of university premises by the Serbian List party, and controversial personnel appointments - including a current minister of information and members of the national broadcasting regulator (REM) - which they argue were politically engineered.

Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/yje9haue

Minister says up to 30,000 at all protests (N1)

Internal Affairs Minister Ivica Dacic said on Monday that up to 30,000 people took part in the protests across Serbia on Sunday. He told  TV Pink that between 25,000 and 30,000 people were at the Arise Serbia protests in 45 cities and towns, adding that they were an “absolute failure”, N1 reported.

He said the protests were smaller in number than before because the public was unhappy with the blockade of two main bridges in Belgrade. He said he is against the call for elections because, according to him, there is no political reason for them.

Vucevic: Why demand elections now, not earlier (N1, BETA)

Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) leader Milos Vucevic said protesting students should say why they didn’t call for elections sooner. According to him, the blockading students have the right to call for elections but “they have to say why they didn’t want elections 6 months ago, when that demand was the logical thing to do”, N1 reported.

He accused the students of going deep into politics after saying that they are not interested in politics. “We know how to communicate with them now. They are in the political field and now they will get political responses to everything they do”, he told Happy TV.

Vucevic, who is also advisor on regional affairs to the Serbian president, said only a small group of students remain on the blockades adding that “they are very extreme because they want clashes with the police and public in the belief that this will create a social and political crisis leading to elections”. “They are trying to raise the stakes and play a bigger game with a smaller chip”, he added.

Students’ speech read out at protests across Serbia, demand early elections (N1)

The same speech was read out to the thousands of people at student protests in more than 30 cities and towns across Serbia at the same time on Sunday evening. The students are demanding early parliamentary elections at what they called a decisive turning point for Serbia and are calling for civil disobedience, N1 reported.

“You who are here as you have been all these months have been wondering together persistently. We have been seeking truth and justice for more than 6 months. We have launched the biggest wave of student demonstrations in Europe in the past 50 years. We have staged the biggest protests in Serbia’s history, reaching into every corner of our country, walking hundreds and riding thousands of kilometres. We have restored faith and hope to ourselves and others, a hope in a better tomorrow and faith in a just society. We have encouraged the academic community and education system to raise their heads, waking up the people to fight for their convictions. A lack of respect for the constitution undermines the very foundations of democratic society”, reads their speech.

“We are demanding early parliamentary elections. This moment must be recognized as a decisive turning point for Serbia. The voice of the young people is not just a whisper but a wave which could launch changes, restore dignity and wake up hope in justice and freedom. Democracy must not remain a mere promise”, it added.

Read more at: https://shorturl.at/cGE3C