UNMIK Media Observer, Afternoon Edition, November 24, 2025

Albanian Language Media:

Kurti meets two US congressmen, talk furthering cooperation in defense (media)
Private and public transporters protest in front of municipality and govt (AP)
Haxhiu blames opposition for not voting the budget for Pristina (media)
Abdixhiku: Pristina not asking for the government’s money, but its own (media)
“LDK in Pristina failed in transportation and almost every other area” (media)
RTK workers go on two-hour general strike over unpaid salaries (media)
Gutierrez calls on Kurti “to ensure that RTK salaries are paid” (media)
Kurti: Our candidate status has been left sitting on an EU shelf for 3 years (media)
Former Kosovo Police member released from prison in Serbia (media)
Kosovo Customs confiscates 300 kilos of explosives at Vermice crossing (media)

Serbian Language Media:

Djuric: With US congressmen about the position of Serbs in Kosovo (Kosovo Online, RTS)
Deadlines for coalitions, certification of parties and candidates begin today (KiM radio, KoSSev, Kontakt plus radio)
Surlic: A return to negotiations with delegations would be a performance with the same outcome (Kosovo Online)
Kosovo with the highest inflation rate since 2023 (Kosovo Online)

Opinion:

Political parties in Kosovo will now pay the bills of their year-long tactics (Koha)

International:

“Mirëdita, Dobar dan!” festival resumes in Prishtina, after last year’s Belgrade ban (Prishtina Insight)
“That trauma never lets you breathe”: A daughter’s 26-year search for her missing father (Prishtina Insight)
Digital rights violations pose democratic risks for Southeast Europe (BIRN)
Kosovo to offer 20 mln euro of 7-yr T-notes on Nov 25 (SeeNews)

Albanian Language Media

Kurti meets two US congressmen, talk furthering cooperation in defense (media)

Most news websites report that Kosovo caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti met today with US congressmen, Mike Turner and Donald Norcross, and that the focus of discussions was on furthering relations between Kosovo and the United States, especially in the area of defense. Turner and Norcross are part of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and members of the House Armed Services Committee.

Kurti said in the last four years, over 1,000 members of the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) have gone through US military training programs, including military education at the West Point and US Army War College, and that Kosovo has hosted three military drills of Defender Europe.

In terms of defense investments and capacities, Kurti highlighted the procurement of US military equipment, including Javelin anti-tank systems, and that Kosovo has signed the Communications and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA). “Along investments in defense, the Prime Minister said that Kosovo remains unwavering in its Euro-Atlantic orientation and objective to join NATO and the European Union, not only as a beneficiary of the security umbrella, but also as a contributor to peace and security in Europe,” a press release issued by Kurti’s office notes.

Kurti also expressed the appreciation of the people of Kosovo for the historic contribution, active role and continued support of the US for Kosovo.

Private and public transporters protest in front of municipality and govt (AP)

Private and public transporters have protested today in front of the municipality of Pristina and the central government, after deciding to suspend operations in all traffic lines in Pristina as a result of non-payments by the municipality of Pristina which in turn accused the Ministry of Finance, Work and Transfers of blocking the budget for Pristina.

Head of the Association of Public/Private Transport, Izet Smajli, said in today’s protest that he has met twice with Pristina Mayor Perparim Rama and that the municipality’s debt to the transporters is over €2 million. “They owe us €2.7 million. We also have obligations of €2.3 million for oil products and workers. This is not a game. We need to come to our senses as a people,” he argued.

Smajli said that workers have not received wages for six months. “People with wages are finding it hard to cope with the situation and let alone us who haven’t received wages for six months now. Families need the wages; the workers need the wages. We don’t owe it to the municipality or anyone else to bring us to this situation. We want to be paid for the services we have performed”.

Pristina Mayor Perparim Rama, who blamed the Ministry of Finance for the situation, joined the protest and together with the protesters then went in front of the government building, where he asked for an urgent meeting with caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti and caretaker Finance Minister Hekuran Murati. “The problem lies with the Ministry of Finance. I have called an urgent meeting with the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister to solve this problem, because it can be solved immediately,” he said.

The news website notes that it is not clear who is responsible for the public transport stopping operating in Pristina, and that while the mayor accuses the caretaker government, the latter blames the municipality.

Haxhiu blames opposition for not voting the budget for Pristina (media)

Former Kosovo Assembly Deputy Speaker from Vetevendosje Movement, Albulena Haxhiu, reacted in a Facebook post today criticizing the opposition parties for not attending the session to vote on the budget for 2026, the budget for Pristina, and the budget for the Radio Television of Kosovo. “This kind of opposition-making by this opposition does not serve anyone. There can be no opposition-making on the backs of the people,” she said. Haxhiu’s remarks come on the day the Urban Transport in the capital of Pristina stopped operating due to a financial crisis in the municipality.

Abdixhiku: Pristina not asking for the government’s money, but its own (media)

Leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) Lumir Abdixhiku has reacted to the situation with public transportation in Pristina today. “When the 10-month blockade of the state was over, they decided to block Pristina. Because they don’t know any better. This is their mindset. They live for a blockade, they work for a blockade, and they feed off blockades! And this is where we are today, without public transportation in the capital; with workers without salaries and in protest; with people waiting in stations; and with an arrogant power which instead of reasoning continues to engage in political vengeance against Pristina by accusing all the rest. And this is only the beginning. The blockade in Pristina also threatens the schools, health centers, and basic services for the people of this country,” Abdixhiku said.

Criticizing the Vetevendosje Movement, Abdixhiku also said that “populists don’t want to understand that when they block the budget of the capital, they are not blocking the LDK. They are blocking the lives of their own citizens”.

He also argued that Pristina is not asking for the government’s money, but its own funds. “Taking hostage the capital is the gravest act of Albin Kurti and his regime,” he said.

“LDK in Pristina failed in transportation and almost every other area” (media)

Kosovo caretaker Deputy Minister of Infrastructure, Hysen Durmishi, in a Facebook post today, argues that the governance of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) in Pristina has failed not only in transportation but in almost every other area that requires planning. Durmishi notes that according to the Law on Road Transportation all municipalities, including the municipality of Pristina, are legally obliged to draft and adopt new regulations on transportation at the municipal assemblies. “Today, over 90 percent of municipalities have met this obligation. But not the municipality of Pristina. Currently, the urban and urban-peripheric transportation in the capital is done without a regulation on transportation, so outside the required legal and planning framework. This is a pure managerial failure. In addition, the municipality is obliged to draft a Transportation Plan, based on the Mobility Plan, and to submit it to the ministry for approval so that urban and urban-peripheric lines do not interfere with inter-urban lines. The municipality of Pristina has not done this either. On the contrary, it has improvised with new lines that are not based on the plan, and which were created for electoral purposes and subsidized without any professional analysis. The LDK governance in Pristina has failed not only in transportation but in almost every other area that requires planning, lawfulness and procedure. Now on the eve of elections they are trying to blame the government for the damage they have caused. This is not governance. This is abuse with the institution and citizens of the capital,” Durmishi said.

RTK workers go on two-hour general strike over unpaid salaries (media)

All news websites covered the two-hour general strike by workers of the Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK) today over their unpaid salaries. “The strike is our voice”, “We want our wages” and “There is no work without wages” were some of the banners that the workers displayed at the protest. The Union of Workers of the RTK meanwhile has called for a boycott of the campaigns for the December 28 general elections.

Gutierrez calls on Kurti “to ensure that RTK salaries are paid” (media)

Ricardo Gutierrez, General Secretary of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), said in a Facebook post today that he stands in solidarity with the employees of Kosovo’s public broadcaster RTK as they begin their strike to demand their salaries. “I am also publishing the letter we received from PM Kurti, confirming that he does not intend to transfer the needed funds to RTK, just as he refused to do in August. He has failed to explain why it was legal to transfer money for salaries in August, but allegedly not legal now. I therefore call on PM Kurti to stop further politicizing the public broadcaster and to immediately ensure that RTK salaries are paid. No one should play with the livelihood of 700 employees and their families,” Gutierrez said.

Kurti: Our candidate status has been left sitting on an EU shelf for 3 years (media)

Kosovo’s caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti said that the EU restrictive measures against Kosovo must be lifted immediately and completely. “Kosovo has delivered on rule of law, human safety, economic growth, digital leadership, and full CFSP alignment, yet EU restrictive measures remain in place, and our candidate status has been left sitting on an EU shelf for 3 years. No country in the region has ever been more prepared at the moment of application. This is the last time I will speak on the EU’s restrictive measures. They must be lifted immediately and completely, just as the former EU HR/VP requested last October”. Kurti made these remarks at the European Union Growth Plan Summit in Tirana. See his full address at: https://tinyurl.com/m26rjy6u

Former Kosovo Police member released from prison in Serbia (media)

Former Kosovo Police member, Arbnor Spahiu, who was arrested by Serbian authorities on June 7 this year, was released from prison last week. He said in a Facebook post after his release that the allegations against him were part of a political and unfair process. He said he is in a good condition and that he passed the time in detention with strength. He also thanked the family, friends, former colleagues in the Kosovo Police, local institutions, and his lawyer for the support. “I am stronger than ever,” he said.

Kosovo Customs confiscates 300 kilos of explosives at Vermice crossing (media)

All news websites report that Kosovo Customs have confiscated 300 kilograms of explosives at the Vermice crossing between Kosovo and Albania. The explosives were camouflaged with fishing equipment.

Serbian Language Media

Djuric: With US congressmen about the position of Serbs in Kosovo (Kosovo Online)

The visit of US congressmen to Serbia was a good opportunity for us to present everything that Serbs in Kosovo are going through, Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric emphasized.

Speaking for RTS today, Djuric stressed that the discussions with the US congressmen took place in an excellent atmosphere.

The delegation visiting Serbia included US congressmen from the states of Ohio and New Jersey, Michael Turner and Donald Norcross.

"The visit of US congressmen to Serbia is an opportunity to present the situation on the ground directly. To show what Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija are going through. I would remind you that the United States suspended the strategic dialogue with Pristina, which is a serious and significant step toward concrete measures in relation to Kurti's government, which has not respected the collective and all other rights of the Serbian Christian population and other non-majority communities. And the US administration pays special attention to the position of Christians, and in Kosovo the Serbs are the largest Christian community," he underlined.

Asked about the fate of the Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS), Djuric stated that, as far as the stability of the market is concerned, citizens can be at ease, and that when it comes to the future of NIS, certain information is still being awaited.

He emphasized that Serbia has proven to be well prepared for this crisis, that storage facilities are full, and that the country has approached the situation responsibly and seriously, seeking to preserve relations with key actors.

Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/mpnnx7mj

Deadlines for coalitions, certification of parties and candidates begin today (KiM radio, KoSSev, Kontakt plus radio)

The deadlines for election activities related to political entities for the extraordinary elections on December 28, 2025, begin today, reported KiM radio.

Formation of coalitions by political parties, submission of applications for certification of political subjects who wish to participate in the elections, as well as submission of the list of candidates for deputies, are some of the main election activities that, according to the CEC, will take place in different deadlines.

Application for certification of political entities, November 24 - November 30; Submission of the list of candidates for deputies, November 24 - December 7.

Also, starting from November 24, political entities (political parties, coalitions, civic initiatives and independent candidates) can submit their list of candidates for deputies. The CEC gave the political entities two weeks to prepare these lists.

Also, until November 30, 2025, the deadline for political parties to inform the CEC, i.e., the Office, that they do not want to be certified for participation in the elections expires.

Surlic: A return to negotiations with delegations would be a performance with the same outcome (Kosovo Online)

Assistant professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade, Stefan Surlic, believes that if the Belgrade–Pristina dialogue were to return to the format of the Vienna negotiations, in which both sides were represented at the table by delegations rather than only by chief negotiators, it would be a performance involving more people, but with essentially the same outcome, that is, the failure of normalization.

"Any kind of delegation is essentially more of a theatre for the domestic political audience. What is much more important is that the results of the dialogue, if there are any, are presented to the parliament and the public, and that we move in the direction where citizens, both Serbs and Albanians, feel that the dialogue is something that is in the national interest and something in which they participate. In the current setup, when you distance it and present it merely as a meeting between two leaders who do not even shake hands, where the mediator is the one setting the agenda, then none of the citizens see it as something that concerns them and their better life, understanding, and reconciliation. So I would focus more on whether the parliament and the public are actually more involved, at least when it comes to reporting on the dialogue process," Surlic says.

He adds that delegations generally meet only when there is a basic consensus on the framework within which an agreement can exist, and that the Vienna negotiations failed precisely because it was clear that the Pristina side could speak only about Kosovo's independence, while the Belgrade side could speak only about some form of autonomy for Kosovo, and that under such circumstances there is no dialogue.

"I assume that if delegations were to meet now, Pristina's demand would be membership in the United Nations, while for Belgrade that would be out of the question, and that discussions could be held only about some other international organizations, but not about the United Nations. And we would again have only a performance involving more people, with essentially the same outcome, which is the failure of the normalization of relations," Surlic concludes.

Kosovo with the highest inflation rate since 2023 (Kosovo Online)

Kosovo reached an inflation rate of 5.1 percent in October, which is the highest level of inflation since 2023, and economics professor Berim Ramosaj points out that the increase in the prices of consumer goods should be an alarm for the government, reported Kosovo Online, citing RTV 21.

The increase in inflation in Kosovo comes at a time when the average inflation in the EU is around 2.5 percent. The prices of food products are almost twice as high as in the EU.

"Everywhere in the world when there are left-wing governments, they fight to increase the welfare of citizens, they try to find ways to increase or maintain the welfare of citizens, this has not happened here. There have been positive developments in terms of subsidies for social cases, however, the middle class is facing very high prices," said Ramosaj.

Opinion

Political parties in Kosovo will now pay the bills of their year-long tactics (Koha)

Opinion by Brussels-based correspondent Augustin Palokaj.

There is nothing extraordinary about the fact that Kosovo will go to extraordinary elections on December 28. In fact the majority of elections in Kosovo have been extraordinary because they were held before a government completed their four-year mandate. And extraordinary elections are a common part of democracy. There is also nothing extraordinary about the fact that they will be held on December 28, between two end-of-year holidays, Christmas and the New Year. December 28 is a Sunday just like any other Sunday. By that date, Christmas holidays will be over, and a few days will remain until the New Year. Only December 25 and January 1 are holidays in the normal world. On January 2, if it is not a weekend, people go to work in Europe as on any other day. Only in Kosovo and in some other countries of the Balkans holidays include the New Year’s Eve, and then January 2, or January 3. Many people decide to take several days of leave between the holidays. But this is more of a personal issue and a matter of the company where they work if they want to “link the holidays” as is said.

What is specific in this case in Kosovo is that these elections are held as a result of the failure by political parties to form a government after the last elections which were held some ten months ago. And this failure did not go without serious consequences for Kosovo. There is no budget for next year, there are no funds for the wages of the workers of the public broadcaster RTK, and even the capital is without funds and there is a threat that the public transporter will stop operating. On the international scene, Kosovo is forgotten, with restrictive measures by the EU that won’t be removed, without progress in the dialogue for the normalization of relations with Serbia, without steps toward EU integration, the failure to join the Council of Europe, not being able to benefit from the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans. This whole situation was created consciously and intentionally by the political parties in Kosovo. And it was evident that this would happen immediately after the February elections if the Vetevendosje Movement, the winner of the elections, and other Kosovo Albanian political parties would hold an exclusionary stance towards each other. Because the Vetevendosje Movement did not have the votes, and its bluff that they didn’t have the votes even when they said they did came out in the end, and meanwhile the others also did not have the votes to form a majority in parliament.

The political parties did not stop their tactics either before, or during or after the last elections. And they still do the same, starting with calculations if it is worth entering a pre-election coalition and all to calculations if someone can benefit from the cold weather, the short day, and the arrival of the diaspora because of the holidays.

Everyone now admits that Kosovo has consequences, especially those related to the budget. These are consequences of their own tactics. And the new tactic is to blame the others for the consequences. The Vetevendosje Movement has started pointing fingers at other parties as to why people in Kosovo and the state can be left without a budget, without funds from the growth package and with sanctions from the EU. The other parties, so as not to call them the opposition, point their finger at the Vetevendosje Movement about the chaos. And as happens in politics, it is not important who is right, but whom the people believe. And in the elections they will send the bill to those that they think have not deserved their votes. But in this case too the people will look for the guilty ones in the ranks of those that they will not vote for.

Election anxiety with an irrational campaign awaits Kosovo. There are not many ideas left for politicians to use in the campaign because most of them have been exhausted in the February elections and the local elections which have concluded recently. The anxiety will not end on December 28 either, because then there is the vote count, the recount, complaints and their review. And then the constitution of the Assembly and attempts to form the government. All this can leave Kosovo without a government until spring. And this brings us to the main problem. Why did we have to wait ten months for this? As early as spring, all parties could have proved that no one has the votes to form a government. If back then it was “either VV against all or all against the VV”, as is the case even today, they should not have waited so long and with such major consequences. Elections could have been held six months ago and now Kosovars could have waited for the New Year with a little more calm.

International

“Mirëdita, Dobar dan!” festival resumes in Prishtina, after last year’s Belgrade ban (Prishtina Insight)

Following the ban of last year’s edition in Belgrade, the 12th edition of the “Mirëdita, Dobar dan” cultural reconciliation festival between Kosovo and Serbia, opened on Thursday in Prishtina.

The 12th edition of the “Mirëdita, Dobar dan!” festival opened on Thursday at the “Defy Them” Alternative Culture Centre in Prishtina, with a performance by the Belgrade band Pliš, followed by drinks and discussions between young people from Kosovo and Serbia.

Despite the 2024 festival being banned in Belgrade, this year’s edition in Prishtina brings a blend of established and emerging artists from Belgrade’s contemporary cultural and arts scene.

Kushtrim Koliqi, director of the NGO Integra, one of the festival’s organisers, said he was relieved that this year’s edition is taking place in Prishtina after what he described as a period full of challenges and often “inexplicable obstacles.”

“Last year’s edition in Belgrade was banned, reminding us how fragile dialogue is and how easily narratives of division and hatred resurface,” Koliqi said. “We live in a time when nationalist rhetoric is returning across the world. Festivals like this are more important than ever—they remind us that peace requires continuity,” he explained.