• Kurti highlights series of scandals by outgoing government (Koha)
• U.S. Ambassador to Belgrade: Imposed solution would not be long-term (media)
• Tahiri: Revocations of recognitions will continue (Ekonomia Online)
• Serbian President admits land-swap idea is dead (Gazeta Express)
• “In 10 years, around 1.8 million people left Albania and Kosovo” (media)

Kurti highlights series of scandals by outgoing government (Koha)

Vetevendosje (LVV) leader and candidate for Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, said today that the outgoing government is taking extreme advantage of the institutional vacuum created after the October 6 parliamentary elections.

Kurti wrote in a Facebook post that there are abuses in numerous areas and that they have three things in common: the accommodation of party militants and family members in positions of responsibility, making more difficult the work of the upcoming government by appointing incompetent persons who have blocking potential in important positions, and damaging the state budget.

“The decision to transfer the staff members of certain ministries in private facilities with extremely high monthly rents, the illegal appointments in diplomatic services, the attempt to push forward an extremely corrupt and suspicious process of appointing notaries, promotions in ministries, public enterprises and government agencies, are some of the detrimental and illegal decisions of the outgoing government. They governed without knowledge and with corruption, and that is how they want to leave,” Kurti argued.

U.S. Ambassador to Belgrade: Imposed solution would not be long-term (media)

Several news outlets report that the U.S. Ambassador to Belgrade, Anthony Godfrey, said that Washington wants to encourage dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade and that the whole region would benefit from an agreement between Kosovo and Serbia.

“A long-term solution would be the one that is reached by both sides, one that both sides could live with and one that would lead to regional stability. Any other solution that is not balanced or imposed from the outside would not be long-term,” Godfrey said.

Godfrey also said that Washington wants the Western Balkans to be a region of stability and prosperity with respect for democratic value and state borders and where countries of the region foster good neighborly relations.

Tahiri: Revocations of recognitions will continue (Ekonomia Online)

Pristina-based political commentator Ramush Tahiri said in an interview with Ekonomia Online that Kosovo will find it very difficult to maintain diplomatic relations with all countries that have recognised its independence and predicted that other countries will revoke their recognitions.

Tahiri also said that Belgrade was taking advantage of the Brussels-facilitated dialogue to convince different countries that Pristina and Belgrade are still discussing Kosovo’s final status. “There will be other revocations because Kosovo lacks the capacity to maintain diplomatic relations with all countries that have recognised our country. It is a fact that the United States and Turkey have used their influence to increase the number of recognitions of Kosovo’s independence. Serbia meanwhile is waging an anti-campaign and claiming that the Kosovo issue has not been resolved and that the status is being discussed in Brussels,” he added.

Serbian President admits land-swap idea is dead (Gazeta Express)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic admitted in an interview with Le Figaro that the land swap idea or the border correction between Serbia and Kosovo is dead, Gazeta Express reports. Vucic said he was pessimistic about the possibility of a final settlement with Kosovo. “We are continuously trying to find a compromise, but Pristina is not concerned because they care only about their own interests. They want Serbia to recognise Kosovo’s independence and for Serbia to get nothing in return,” Vucic said. Commenting on Pristina’s 100 percent import tariff on products from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Vucic said: “this was not a civilised act. If they think that their continuous blackmails will produce results, they are wrong.”

“In 10 years, around 1.8 million people left Albania and Kosovo” (media)

Several news websites cover a research conducted by Pristina-based EPIK Institute on the migration of people from Kosovo and Albania in the last decade. Telegrafi reports that according to their research, around 1,8 million have left Albania and Kosovo in the 2008 – 2018 period.

“Over the last couple of years, the public discourse in the Western Balkans and the European Union has been dominated by reports and public debates on the level of migration of people from the Balkans region,” the research notes.

According to EPIK, in the last decade, over 1.5 million or 54 percent left the region in legal routes, by gaining permits of residence in host countries; whereas 808,030 or 27 percent of them went to the EU member states through illegal routes. Over 500,000 citizens from the Balkans or 27 percent sought asylum in EU member states.