UNMIK Media Observer, Afternoon Edition, November 21, 2025

Albanian Language Media:

CEC: We have 37 days to organize the elections (media)
Kurti welcomes date for new elections announced by Osmani (media)
Haradinaj calls on diaspora to vote in the December general elections (media)
Kos: Kosovo and Bosnia haven’t started implementing Growth Plan reforms (AP)
Reuten: EU has had an unbalanced approach in Kosovo-Serbia dialogue (media)
Special Prosecution denies Isufaj involved in KPC decisions (AP)
“Vucic accused of joining civilian-killing ‘sniper safaris’ in Sarajevo” (media)

Serbian Language Media:

Macut arrives at Tirana summit of Western Balkan leaders, welcomed by Rama (Tanjug)
Rapajic: After Self-Determination’s victory in South Mitrovica, cooperation with the north will become even more difficult (Kosovo Online)
Monuments institute historian: Staff face termination threats over refusal to delist General Staff Complex (N1)

International:

‘Easy Targets’: Digital Abuse of Serb Journalists in Kosovo (BIRN)
Serbia: Election of REM Council undermines democratic principles (EFJ)

Albanian Language Media

CEC: We have 37 days to organize the elections (media)

Spokesperson for Kosovo’s Central Election Commission (CEC) Valmir Elezi said this institution would have 37 days to organize the December general elections. “As these are early elections and the Central Election Commission has only 37 days to organize them, one of the first decisions of the CEC will be to change the timelines or adjust them according to the circumstances. This is a right that the Law on General Elections gives to the CEC. So all activities will need to be organized in the next couple of days,” he said in an interview with Ekonomia Online.

Elezi said that the CEC will soon decide on the timelines of all election activities, including the duration of election campaigns. “The CEC will set the deadline that the parties will have to form election campaigns, the deadline for the certification of political parties and to submit the list of MP candidates, as well as the duration of the election campaign. The CEC will decide on the period of registration for voters outside Kosovo, the votes by mail and in diplomatic offices, the deadline for the accreditation of election observers, and so on,” he said.

Kurti welcomes date for new elections announced by Osmani (media)

Kosovo’s caretaker Prime Minister and leader of the Vetevendosje Movement, Albin Kurti, welcomed on Thursday a statement by President Vjosa Osmani announcing that the new parliamentary elections will be held on December 28. “Election day is a celebration of democracy. It becomes even more majestic when there is a big turnout of citizens eligible to vote. At the same time, we need to make sure that the state institutions have enough time to make the necessary preparations for the election process to be in order, fair and democratic. Therefore, we welcome the announcement of December 28 by the country’s President, Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu, as the most appropriate date for the upcoming early elections,” Kurti said in a Facebook post.

Haradinaj calls on diaspora to vote in the December general elections (media)

Leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) Ramush Haradinaj in a Facebook post today called on the diaspora to vote in the December general elections calling it an engagement that will aim to restore Kosovo in the tracks of normality. He said that the diaspora “must not allow any propaganda that damages the family”. “We want the Kosovo of our dreams to come to life. We want the value of freedom to be respected and our international partners to be honored at every level of security and development. We don’t want charities of €100 so that a minister and a prime minister can extend their stay in power for a week or a month. We want institutional engagement so that our families can feel the hand of the state. Discuss among yourselves, in your families, and decide on the future,” Haradinaj said.

Kos: Kosovo and Bosnia haven’t started implementing Growth Plan reforms (AP)

Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said today that Kosovo and Bosnia still haven’t started implementing reforms from the EU Growth Plan. “Two out of six countries of the Balkans have not started implementing the reforms yet. The two best performing countries [referring to Albania and Montenegro] have adopted around 55 percent of the agreed reforms. I see a very clear link between progress in the accession process and the reforms,” she said in her opening remarks at the EU Growth Plan Summit in Tirana.

Kos said that the Growth Plan has opened many doors in the last two years and that new opportunities are expected. “The EU enlargement package has brought a new dynamic in the enlargement process. This is a topic that we are working on. It has to do increasingly with security: Europe cannot be secure without the Western Balkans. The meetings of the Growth Plan are opening more and more doors. Your home, Europe, is waiting for you. You are part of Europe, we simply need to formalize this in an institutional way too,” she said.

The news website notes that because Kosovo has yet to ratify the loan agreement with the EU due to the absence of new central institutions, it has not benefited from the Growth Plan. However, Kosovo is entitled to benefit from previous financing once the respective agreements related to the Growth Plan are adopted. There is however fear that the lack of institutions can lead to the non-implementation of reforms on time and increase the risk of losing EU funds until 2027. Kosovo stands to benefit around €882 million which will be used for the implementation of reforms and projects.

Reuten: EU has had an unbalanced approach in Kosovo-Serbia dialogue (media)

Dutch member of the European Parliament, Thijs Reuten, in an interview with Tirana-based A2CNN, reconfirmed his support for Kosovo’s path toward the European Union. He said that Kosovo’s membership bid, which was submitted in December 2022, should not be kept in the drawers for so long. “One of the important steps is for Kosovo’s membership bid to finally be processed. I cannot understand why it has been kept in the drawers for so long. There is absolutely no reason for this. We can move forward with the process, although some EU member states do not recognize Kosovo yet. This is true, but we can move forward with reviewing the membership bid,” he said.

Reuten said he was optimistic about the removal of the EU penalty measures against Kosovo now that Serb mayors will return to the northern municipalities. “Now that the local elections are over, first the measures against Kosovo must be lifted. In my opinion they should not have been imposed in the first place, and they should have been removed for a long time now. But now that there will be new mayors in the respective municipalities very soon, I think this is the time for the Commission and the member states to lift the sanctions,” he argued.

On the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Reuten said he hopes that the process will take a new direction. “In dialogue, it is clear that a new momentum is needed. We cannot continue with the routine of the last couple of years. I hope that Commissioner Kos will take steps forward and that with the new facilitator [Peter Sorensen] the process will change and the exaggerated link between progress and membership will be removed because it gave too much space for blockades for Serbia, and especially for Kosovo to move forward with getting a candidate status and membership … The European Union needs to be strict and equal in its approach toward both countries, something that has not happened so far. There has been an unbalanced approach. However what we need from all sides, including Kosovo, is to close this chapter and to engage in making steps forward. But for this to happen, the EU needs to be clear about what it wants from this process and not to link so much the progress with the membership path,” he said.

Special Prosecution denies Isufaj involved in KPC decisions (AP)

The Special Prosecution of Kosovo said today that claims made by some members of the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council (KPC) that the chief prosecutor of the Special Prosecution, Blerim Isufaj, was involved in decision-making processes in the KPC are inaccurate. The Special Prosecution said in a media statement that neither the institution nor the chief prosecutor have had any influence on matters that are in the executive competencies of the KPC. “Any attempt to involve the Special Prosecution in internal debates at the KPC damages the integrity of the prosecutorial system … Chief Prosecutor Blerim Isufaj remains committed to exercising his mandate at the helm of the Special Prosecution, ruling out any claim to perform another function, which is also proved with the appointment of a prosecutor by the Office of the State Chief Prosecutor in the position of acting State Chief Prosecutor,” the statement notes.

The news website further notes that one day after he was interviewed as a witness about the Recak massacre, Besim Kelmendi, acting State Chief Prosecutor, was removed from duty by the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council. The EU office in Kosovo, several members of the KPC and representatives of civil society organizations have opposed Kelmendi’s dismissal.

Telegraph: Vucic accused of joining civilian-killing ‘sniper safaris’ in Sarajevo (media)

Several news websites re-ran an article originally published in The Telegraph headlined “Serbian president accused of joining civilian-killing ‘sniper safaris’ in Sarajevo”. According to the article, Vucic is said to have been present at military position from where foreigners allegedly shot at city’s residents during Bosnian War.

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

Serbian Language Media

Macut arrives at Tirana summit of Western Balkan leaders, welcomed by Rama (Tanjug)

Serbian Prime Minister Djuro Macut arrived on Friday at the Brigades Palace in Tirana for a summit of Western Balkan leaders, where he was welcomed by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.

Besides Western Balkan leaders, the summit will also be attended by EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos, who will open the conference alongside Rama.

Macut, Kos and other Western Balkan leaders will take part in a panel on the EU Growth Plan for the Western Balkans.

Rapajic: After Self-Determination’s victory in South Mitrovica, cooperation with the north will become even more difficult (Kosovo Online)

The program director of the NGO Center for Advocacy of Democratic Culture from North Mitrovica, Aleksandar Rapajic, told Kosovo Online that Albin Kurti counted on the support of Albanians in South Mitrovica and that local voters see him as someone who “united the city”, but that the victory of Self-Determination will inevitably further complicate cooperation with Serbs in the north.

Rapajic points out that the second round of voting shows how much Self-Determination cared about taking power in South Mitrovica.

“In the second round of elections in the southern part, some rather strange things happened, to put it mildly. It was the only municipality where turnout was higher in the second round than in the first, and all of that increased turnout went to Self-Determination. That is a bit strange, considering that it means an increase of more than 10 percent of voters who supported Self-Determination. I cannot use a harsh word, but I think this is quite unusual for an electoral process, since we see that everywhere in the world the number of voters drops in the second round, not rises,” he says.

Commenting on the post-election developments and the ballots that were questioned due to an incorrect serial number, Rapajic says that, from an outside perspective, the entire second round appears rather questionable.

“As for the ballots, it is possible that it was only a technical mistake, as they say. I have no evidence, but the result is so unusual that it suggests it was not purely the will of the people to turn out in greater numbers in the second round,” he adds.

On the other hand, he says, Albin Kurti expected that support for Self-Determination would grow in South Mitrovica after the actions he carried out in the Municipality of North Mitrovica, and that Albanians living there would see him as someone who “opened North Mitrovica and united the city”.

“That is why it was very important for him to win in South Mitrovica, and I think this is why these things are happening with the elections in that municipality,” Rapajic says.

He believes that the victory of Self-Determination, that is, the election of Faton Peci as mayor of South Mitrovica, will inevitably affect the Serbs living in North Mitrovica.

“After the victory of the Serb List, I think that cooperation between North and South Mitrovica will become much more difficult, because Self-Determination has shown itself to be a group that does not want any contact with the Serb List. Because of that, the functioning of the Municipality of North Mitrovica and all the things that need to be coordinated between South and North Mitrovica will be much more complicated. The situation in North Mitrovica is already quite complicated due to people’s employment, due to the institutions that were taken over... all of this will be much harder to resolve with Self-Determination in the southern part,” he says.

He believes that pressure on the Serbian community in the north will continue, but that it will depend much more on the future government.

“I think it depends more on what will happen in the parliamentary elections, what will happen in Pristina, and who will form the government. If Self-Determination forms the government again, it is inevitable that it will continue to pressure the Serbian community and continue with what I would even call anti-Serb actions throughout Kosovo. If some other group forms the government, it might be a bit easier, although even then I am not very optimistic,” Rapajic concludes.

Monuments institute historian: Staff face termination threats over refusal to delist General Staff Complex (N1)

Employees at the Serbian Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments have been verbally warned that they will face consequences if they fail to remove the General Staff Building Complex from the central register of cultural assets, said Institute historian Nenad Lajbensperger.

Speaking to Insajder, Lajbensperger said that staff members are facing “indirect threats” regarding the potential dissolution of the Institute and the termination of their employment - effectively dismantling the institution’s protection service.