Albanian Language Media:

• Another three vehicles of Serbs with RKS plates burnt in the north (media)
• Vela: Serbia’s illegal structures continue campaign of intimidation (media)
• Szunyog: We condemn the act, those responsible should be identified (media)
• Von Cramon: Both Kosovo and Serbia guilty for lack of progress in dialogue (Klan)
• KFOR ready to deal with any scenario during the elections in the north (Express)
• Haradinaj: The Brussels agreement reflects the return of normality in the north (media)
• PDK invites citizens to join the "March for Justice" (media)

Serbian Language Media:

• Brnabic: Kurti's senseless statement that the Open Balkans is not according to EU rules (Kosovo Online)
• Odalovic: The indictment against Thaci mentions 445 imprisoned, tortured and killed persons (NMagazin, RTS, Beta)
• Petkovic: “Kurti cannot forbid Vucic from visiting Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, he is not asked anything” (NMagazin, Beta)
• Bregu thanks Serbian gov't for supporting RCC (Tanjug)
• Pisonero: Serbia’s EU accession depends on judiciary, relations with Pristina (N1, EWB)
• Kurti on Klan Kosovo: I won’t give Vucic permission to come to Kosovo (KoSSev)
• “KM remains“: Deadline for (re)registration expires today? Queues in front of AMSS (KoSSev)
• Last night, three more vehicles with RKS license plates burned in the north (KoSSev) 
• Stano: The agreement on plates has no deadline or expiration date (N1)
• The Milic family in Plemetina robbed (KiM radio, Medija Centar Caglavica)

International:

• Fake News ‘Virus’ Needs ‘Vaccine’, BIRN Media Conference Concludes (BIRN)
• Kosovo: War Crimes Trial to Begin in The Hague (hrw.org)
• Witnesses Claim Kosovo’s ‘Commander Wolf’ Tortured Their Relatives (Balkan Insight)
• Report Warns of Challenges in Western Balkans’ Energy Transition (Balkan Insight)

   

Albanian Language Media  

  Another three vehicles of Serbs with RKS plates burnt in the north (media)

Kosovo Police said in a statement that on 31 March after midnight, unknown persons set on fire three vehicles belonging to Serbs and with RKS plates. “After two vehicles were burned on 30.03.2023 in the north of the country, after midnight on 31.03.2023, another three vehicles were set on fire, they belong to Serbs and were registered with plates of the Republic of Kosovo (RKS),” the police statement notes. Police also said they have initiated investigations and that they will continue their engagement in resolving these cases and providing security for all citizens without any differences.

Vela: Serbia’s illegal structures continue campaign of intimidation (media)

Chief of Staff to Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, Blerim Vela, took to Twitter today to react to reports about three more cars with Kosovo plates being burnt in the north. “Serbia’s illegal structures continue the orchestrated campaign of intimidation against local Serbs in northern Kosovo! Last night, 3 more cars were burnt, just because they had Kosovo car plates. Serbia is trying to create a climate of fear to disrupt normal life and the April 23 elections,” Vela tweeted.

Szunyog: We condemn the act, those responsible should be identified (media)

The head of the European Union (EU) in Kosovo Tomas Szunyog has condemned the act of burning cars of Serbian nationality in the north of Kosovo.

“Strongly condemn the burning of vehicles recently re-registered to Kosovo license plates in north Kosovo. Destruction of private property, that occurred over the last 2 days, aimed at intimidating the local population is deplorable, unacceptable and should be condemned by all relevant actors.

I call upon law enforcement agencies to swiftly identify and prosecute those responsible,” Szunyog tweeted. 

Von Cramon: Both Kosovo and Serbia guilty for lack of progress in dialogue (Klan)

European Parliament’s Rapporteur on Kosovo, Viola von Cramon, told reporters in Brussels that both Kosovo and Serbia are guilty of the slow progress in the negotiations. “I know it is easier to blame [Serbian President] Vucic, but he understands that the future of Serbia cannot be in Russia or in Beijing. His people will not study or buy in Moscow. The majority of youths in Serbia see their future as part of western Europe,” she said. “But Pristina doesn’t make it easier, and they didn’t help at all by telling everyone before the meeting in Ohrid that they would not agree with anything resembling an Association. I think that the fault is regrettably mutual,” she added.

KFOR ready to deal with any scenario during the elections in the north (Express)

The NATO mission in Kosovo, KFOR, has said that it is ready to face any kind of scenario during the local elections in the four municipalities in the north of Kosovo.

"The Kosovo Police is the authority that provides security during the elections. KFOR is monitoring the situation according to UN Security Council resolution 1244. At this moment there are no new indicators of security problems related to the upcoming elections, but KFOR maintains a high level of readiness to face any kind of scenario to provide a safe environment and preserve freedom of the movement for all the communities of Kosovo," says KFOR's response to the news portal.

Haradinaj: The Brussels agreement reflects the return of normality in the north (media)

The leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), Ramush Haradinaj, has said that the recent incidents in the north are serious indicators that there may be a scenario of obstruction of the elections in the north.

"The incidents of the last 2-3 days in the north are serious indicators that there may be a scenario of obstructing the elections in the north, with consequences for security in that area. The refusal of the Serbian List to participate in the local elections there reflects the unwillingness of the Serbian side to implement the agreement reached in Brussels. Serbia and Kosovo should urgently start fulfilling the obligations arising from the Brussels Agreement and the Ohrid Annex. The President of Serbia should give up destructiveness and order his people to give up violent attacks," Haradinaj wrote on Facebook.

"At the same time, I ask the EU and the U.S. to use all their mechanisms to protect the success achieved with the Agreement on the Normalisation of Kosovo-Serbia Relations, sponsored by them, as a strong basis for the restoration of law and order in the north of Kosovo. Otherwise, the extraordinary commitment of all parties to this agreement would be a futile effort. If the agreement does not reflect a normality on the ground, its effects will be negligible."

"Peace in Kosovo has no alternative and I encourage all parties to be uncompromising in their determination to avoid all those who endanger both the agreement and security," Haradinaj concluded.

PDK invites citizens to join the "March for Justice" (media)

The Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), at all levels and with all its capacities, is mobilising for mass participation in support of the March for Justice, as a sign of solidarity with the former leaders of the KLA, who are being detained in the Hague.

In a post on the official page of PDK on Facebook, dozens of photos of members of the leadership, MPs of the Parliamentary Group, Mayors of Municipalities led by PDK, directors, assembly members, structures and activists of PDK throughout Kosovo were published with banners in support of this march.

     

Serbian Language Media 

  Brnabic: Kurti's senseless statement that the Open Balkans is not according to EU rules (Kosovo Online)

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said today that Kosovo PM Albin Kurti's statement that the Open Balkans initiative does not comply with the rules of the European Union is meaningless, reported Kosovo Online.

Brnabic, at a joint press conference with the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Dimitar Kovacevski, and answering questions from journalists, said that mostly concrete projects within the framework of the Open Balkans are the same as those implemented within the framework of CEFTA or the Berlin process.

As she clarified, the difference is in two things - firstly, that the Open Balkans is an autochthonous initiative initiated by the countries of the region themselves, and the second is that ,within the framework of the Open Balkans, there is no consensus to implement some things.

"In other initiatives, you have to have the consensus of all participants, which slows down the implementation of projects. We at CEFTA have not had any agreements for the last two years because Pristina blocked all agreements. Within the Open Balkans initiative, such a thing is not possible," said Brnabic.

As she stated, even when there are more members and someone thinks that the project is not in their interest, they can opt not to participate, but not prevent everyone else from participating. 

"If Kurti says that it is not according to the rules of the EU, then it means that the Berlin process is not according to the rules of the EU either. It is completely in line with the basic principles of the EU, but it speaks a lot about Karti’s political correctness and honesty. I think it is not a good move of his, for a large part of the Albanian population and economy," said Brnabic.

She stated that the numbers show that the Open Balkans initiative benefits everyone, not only Serbia, adding that now Serbia is growing the least in terms of exports, but it is growing faster than it would without the initiative.

Odalovic: The indictment against Thaci mentions 445 imprisoned, tortured and killed persons (NMagazin, RTS, Beta)

The President of the Serbian Government Commission for Missing Persons, Veljko Odalovic, said this morning that the indictment of the Special Court in The Hague against the four leaders of the "Kosovo Liberation Army" (KLA) refers to 445 Albanians, Serbs and Roma who were imprisoned, mistreated, beaten, and killed in 1998 and in 1999, reported NMagazin.

The indictment for war crimes and crimes against humanity includes the former president of Kosovo and one of the leaders of the KLA, Hashim Thaci, as well as Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Redxhep Selimi, and the trial should begin on Tuesday, April 4.

Odalovic told Radio Television of Serbia that he hopes that this is one of the groups that will be tried, because, according to him, there were many more crimes than what was included in the indictment.

He stated that the indictment is also important from the aspect of missing persons because it talks about 43 illegal prisons that have been recorded and confirmed to have existed.

"Otherwise, there were 145 of them in the area of Kosovo and Metohija, international officials pointed out. A large number of those whom we are looking for today were in those prisons, a large number were unfortunately killed. It is also certain that a number of them were transported to Albania," said Odalovic.

Asked if the indictment could shed light on what happened in the "yellow house", Odalovic said that it also covers some camps in Albania and that there is plenty of room if there is readiness and enough evidence collected.

"The problem here is, of course, what we saw in some attempts to try leaders and members of the so-called KLA, where witnesses disappeared. Many gave up, but the largest number disappeared," Odalovic said, adding that the tribunal has a great responsibility to ensure protection of witnesses in this proceeding.

Petkovic: “Kurti cannot forbid Vucic from visiting Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, he is not asked anything” (NMagazin, Beta)

The Director of the Office of the Government of Serbia for Kosovo and Metohija (KiM), Petar Petkovic, assessed today that the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, cannot prohibit the visit of the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, to the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija, because, as he stated, Kurti is not asked anything there.

"Who is Kurti to determine and give permits for visits to the province to President Vucic when there are signed agreements that clearly regulate this issue? In Ohrid, it was clearly agreed to implement all previously signed agreements, and therefore also the Agreement on official visits, according to which Pristina can only take note of the visit of Belgrade officials to the area of Kosovo and Metohija, and not to approve or prohibit it," said Petkovic in a statement.

He assessed that Kurti is "afraid" of Vucic's visit because he knows how much it would mean to the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija.

Bregu thanks Serbian gov't for supporting RCC (Tanjug)

Serbian First Deputy PM and FM Ivica Dacic met on Thursday in Belgrade with Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) Secretary General Majlinda Bregu, who thanked the Serbian government for supporting the work of the RCC, Tanjug agency reported.

According to an official statement released by the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bregu especially noted the significance of three agreements signed with RCC assistance at a Berlin Process summit on November 3, and said she hoped their ratification by Serbia would be completed soon and that they would be fully implemented by October, when the next Berlin Process summit will be held in Tirana.

The ministry noted that the agreements enabled travel within the region with ID cards only and recognition of university degrees as well as licences held by Doctor of Medicine, dentists, and architects.

Dacic said regional cooperation was a foreign policy priority for Serbia and that, as in the past, Belgrade would remain a sincere and constructive partner to the RCC.

He expressed support to Bregu and the work of the RCC and noted that Serbia highly appreciated the RCC's cooperation with the EU and believed cooperation in the context of EU integration needed to remain a key factor of political activities and an objective of the RCC.

Pisonero: Serbia’s EU accession depends on judiciary, relations with Pristina (N1, EWB)

Serbia’s further pace in accession negotiations will depend on the progress made in the rule of law and on the normalization of relations with Pristina, European Commission spokesperson Ana Pisonero told the European Western Balkans (EWB) portal, N1 reported.

The European Commission says that the European Union (EU) – mediated negotiations on normalization are an integral part of the negotiations, and that peace, reconciliation and economic development are prerequisites for the Western Balkans’ speedy progress towards the EU, reported EWB.

As the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy said in Ohrid, the agreement on the normalization of relations in primarily in the interest of the people living in Serbia and Kosovo, it is important for regional stability and so Kosovo and Serbia could advance on their European paths, said Pisonero.

Asked if there is a way to speed up the accession negotiations having in mind the objections and delays in the areas that are not related to Kosovo, Pisonero noted that the enlargement process is based on “fair and rigorous conditionality and the principle of its own merits.”

Read more at:https://bit.ly/3lWbE32 Kurti on Klan Kosovo: I won’t give Vucic permission to come to Kosovo (KoSSev)

Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti spoke about the Open Balkans initiative, reiterating in the Rubikon talk show last night that he does not support it, KoSSev portal reported.

“I don’t have another position. Open Balkans, as far as I know, doesn’t even have a website. Therefore, it is an initiative without a platform or a basic agreement, without a strategy or an action plan,” said Kurti.

“It’s not in accordance with European Union rules, it lacks EU funding, and I cannot support such an initiative,” he stressed for Klan Kosovo.

“There is an agreement. The agreement was reached in Brussels and Ohrid. It is legally binding. The EU has adopted this agreement, not just mediators Borrell and Lajcak, who concluded that it is an agreement, but, unfortunately, there is no signature due to the other side,” said the Kosovo Prime Minister.

Speaking about the recognition of five European countries, Kurti says that Kosovo’s allies are helpful. However, he has not written letters to the five EU countries to recognize Kosovo’s independence.

“Mediators and allied countries are helping us a lot, and I believe that it is better to take this indirect path in terms of advancing towards the recognition of the ‘group of five.’ It is simply not in our hands, and I do not believe that it would help to write to them immediately after this agreement. We call for this at every meeting we organize. I have not personally addressed them with a letter, but these are also sensitive lobbying issues. If I tell you who I wrote a letter to last week, I am doing harm because Serbia immediately writes to that country.”

He admitted that Serbia has a “much stronger network of embassies and foreign services than Kosovo.”

Read more at:https://bit.ly/3notMCT “KM remains“: Deadline for (re)registration expires today? Queues in front of AMSS (KoSSev)

KoSSev portal reported last night that confusion, fear, and suppressed anger describes the current situation among drivers in North Mitrovica. Torn between what Serbia says and what is happening to them on the ground, their license plates are actually a vital issue, but have been a stumbling block for more than a year. In addition to the numerous problems they have faced, from barricades and closures of crossings to central Serbia, through the abandonment of institutions, new elections, they have reached a point where their cars with KM license plates are practically unusable. For now, they can only drive within North Kosovo or within Serbia. However, they can only cross Jarinje and Brnjak in one direction – towards Serbia, without the possibility of returning via the crossings. At the same time, they are worried that the previously determined deadline for (re)registration with facilitations expires today.

The ‘booklet’ of problems

The issue of license plates issued by the Republic of Serbia for cities in Kosovo (KM, ĐA, PR, PE, PZ, GL, and UR), which Pristina considers illegal, began to be raised back in September 2021, after the expiration of the second five-year extension of the Brussels Agreement on freedom of movement concerning KS license plates. This led to a 13-day crisis at the Jarinje and Brnjak crossings.

The Kosovo government then actually made a decision to introduce reciprocity, introducing temporary license plates for cars with Serbian registration.

They did not even have time to implement this decision, as the Serbs set up barricades at the crossings, while members of the Kosovo Special Police were stationed nearby.

The crisis was resolved by a temporary agreement on the application of a sticker regime for license plates, which is still in force for both Serbian plates in Kosovo and Kosovo plates in Serbia.

However, tensions continued, and at the end of July 2022, just before the implementation of the new Kosovo government decision on (re)registration or replacement of Serbian license plates with city markings in Kosovo – with RKS plates.

In an attempt to calm these tensions, the international community managed to intervene twice in the postponement of these decisions.

Read more at:https://bit.ly/3Mb5B5v Last night, three more vehicles with RKS license plates burned in the north (KoSSev) 

KoSSev portal reported today that burning of vehicles registered with RKS plates in the north of Kosovo continues. After two such vehicles were set on fire in Zubin Potok two nights ago, three more were burned last night - two in the northern part of Mitrovica and one in Zvecan.

As the police confirmed for KoSSev, the arson took place last night between 2 and 3 o'clock.

All three vehicles were registered with Kosovo license plates, and the owners were of Serbian nationality.

Also, the police characterized all three cases as "arson", and the perpetrators of these crimes are still unknown.

As previously for Zubin Potok, the head of the cabinet of the Kosovo president, Blerim Vela, was among the first to report on the night's arson.

And today he pointed the finger at Belgrade. 

"Serbia's illegal structures continue an orchestrated campaign of intimidation of Serbs in the north of Kosovo. Last night, three cars burned just because they had RKS plates. Serbia is trying to create a climate of fear, to disrupt normal life and the elections scheduled for April 23," Vela said on Twitter.

This is the third case of vehicle arson in just five days, in which a total of seven were burned, five of which had RKS license plates, which was also confirmed by the police, reported KoSSev.

Stano: The agreement on plates has no deadline or expiration date (N1)

"The agreement between Belgrade and Pristina of November 23 does not have a set deadline, nor an expiration date," said the spokesperson of the EU Foreign Affairs Service, Peter Stano, when asked by N1 about the agreement between the two parties on license plates, which was speculated to expire at midnight tonight.

On November 23 last year, Kosovo and Serbia reached an agreement to end the dispute over car license plates in the north of Kosovo.

Stano added that the EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak invited the main negotiators of the two sides to a meeting on Tuesday in Brussels, where they will discuss "the implementation of the agreement reached in Brussels on February 27 and the Annex for implementation agreed on March 18 at the meeting in Ohrid".

In the meantime, the EU expects both sides to "continue to contribute to the atmosphere of normalization and reconciliation and to the rapid implementation of the commitments."

"Both sides have pledged to refrain from all activities that would go in the opposite direction," Stano told N1.

The Milic family in Plemetina robbed (KiM radio, Medija Centar Caglavica)

The five-member Milic family from Plemetina, near Obilic, was robbed last night, and according to the owner, the unknown perpetrators took away valuable tools.

Milic told Media Center that in the morning he noticed that tools and an air rifle were stolen from his garage. According to him, the theft probably happened during the night.

He said that the Kosovo Police conducted an investigation. He also said that this is not the first time that thieves have targeted his family.

"Three years ago, they also stole our tools, and in 2009, our car was stolen. We never found out who the perpetrators were and now we are skeptical," Milic said.

The village of Plemetina near Obilic is a predominantly Serbian place, and in addition to Serbs, Albanians and Roma live in this village, reported KiM radio, citing Media center Caglavica.

     

International 

  Fake News ‘Virus’ Needs ‘Vaccine’, BIRN Media Conference Concludes (BIRN)

In the wake of regional and global political uncertainties, fake news in Kosovo has gone to another level, a BIRN-organised conference on the eve of International Fact-Checking Day, April 2, concluded on Thursday.

The conference gathered media people, politicians and diplomats to showcase the danger fake news pose in a pluralistic media environment and elaborate ways on how to fight the phenomenon.

Presenting the preliminary findings of a report on disinformation that BIRN in Kosovo is conducting, Kreshnik Gashi, editor-in-chief of news site KALLXO.com said that from October 2022 to March 2023 a total of 315 fake information articles had been detected, with 33 of them related to Kosovo’s interethnic relations and national security and 30 related to the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia.

“During the research, we saw that producers of fake news are deceiving even the computer … These are not dubious news, they are fake. They are published and verified as fake,” Gashi said.

“We have managed to understand who the source of these information is. In 169 of them, they appear to be people who have political knowledge, who are influencers, and who have produced fake information distributed on social media,” he added.

Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, said fact-checking was a potential “vaccine” against the “virus” of fake news.

“Verification techniques are expected to be a vaccine against the virus of fake news. It’s similar to the fake news on COVID vaccines which flooded the world three years ago, where our population was a victim, too. But to produce a vaccine against the virus of fake news, we need a sociology of television and media anthropology,” Kurti said.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/42YCmsj Kosovo: War Crimes Trial to Begin in The Hague (hrw.org)

(The Hague, March 31, 2023) – The trial of the former Kosovo leader Hashim Thaçi and three others on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity highlights the ongoing need for justice 24 years after the Kosovo war, Human Rights Watch said today. The trial, taking place before the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague, begins on April 3, 2023.

Thaçi, Kosovo’s former president and prime minister, is charged along with three other senior members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), all senior politicians in Kosovo, for crimes during and just after the 1998-99 Kosovo conflict, including in northern Albania. The KLA fought Serbian and Yugoslav forces until a 78-day NATO air campaign forced those forces from Kosovo. Thaçi resigned as president after the charges were brought in November 2020 and was promptly transferred to The Hague.

“This trial is of four people accused of committing terrible crimes during and after the war, when the fighting had stopped, including against people from various ethnic groups,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “It offers a chance after so many years for the victims to learn what happened and highlights the pervasive impunity that still hangs over the Kosovo conflict, and more broadly over the wars in the former Yugoslavia.”

Read more at:https://bit.ly/3JZuH4z Witnesses Claim Kosovo’s ‘Commander Wolf’ Tortured Their Relatives (Balkan Insight)

Four witnesses testified in The Hague against former Kosovo Liberation Army member Pjeter Shala, claiming that he tortured their family members at a detention centre during the Kosovo war.

Four witnesses testified in the war crimes trial of former Kosovo Liberation Army member Pjeter Shala, known by the nom de guerre ‘Commander Wolf’, at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague this week, accusing him of torture.

The witness all claimed that their family members had been tortured by Shala personally at a KLA detention site at the Kukes Metal Factory in Albania in 1999. They all testified anonymously with their voices distorted to protect their identities.

Read more at:https://bit.ly/3nD3JYI Report Warns of Challenges in Western Balkans’ Energy Transition (Balkan Insight)

New report from Global Energy Monitor and Bankwatch Monitor says EU and US-backed plans to reduce the dependence of the Western Balkans on Russian gas could make the region's energy transition 'even harder'.

A new report by Global Energy Monitor and Bankwatch Network says Western Balkan countries will face difficulties in their plans for energy transition.

The report highlighted that new energy plans backed by the EU and US to make Western Balkan countries independent of Russian gas will be costly, as some countries currently don’t import any gas, or lack the infrastructure to do so, which will make it harder for them to transit to green energy, despite the natural potential the countries have.

Read more at:https://bit.ly/3nBVnAL