UNMIK Media Observer, Morning Edition, April 26, 2024

Albanian Language Media:

Lajcak: Presented a compromise paper in effort to bridge differences (media)
Bislimi: Serbia wants illegal structures to be funded until Association formed (RFE)
Kurti thanks German MPs for supporting Kosovo (media)
Citaku: Result of general elections will be surprising (media)
Rasic comments on Serbian army’s drills near border with Kosovo (media)
Ruecker: Kosovo needs to establish the Association (media)

Serbian Language Media:

Petkovic: We demonstrated constructiveness, next meeting to be held May 13 (Tanjug)
Lajcak: I presented compromise for dinar issue (media, social media)
Serbian List: Since Kurti came to power, there hasn't been a day without ethnically motivated attacks on Serbs (Kosovo Online)
Office for KiM: 500 attacks on Serbs since Kurti took power (Kosovo Online, RTS, media)
Vucic: Considering options to lift EU punitive measures on Pristina unfair (media)
UNGA vote on Srebrenica resolution postponed for further consultations (N1)

Albanian Language Media

Lajcak: Presented a compromise paper in effort to bridge differences (media)

EU Special Representative for the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Miroslav Lajcak, said in a post on X on Thursday that the meeting between chief negotiators from Kosovo and Serbia on the Dinar issue “provided enough room for the parties to explain their positions”. “Ended by presenting a compromise paper in an effort to bridge the differences. Will host the next meeting after receiving constructive comments,” Lajcak said.

Bislimi: Serbia wants illegal structures to be financed until Association is formed (RFE)

Kosovo’s chief negotiator in the talks with Serbia, Besnik Bislimi, said after meeting with EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak and Serbia’s chief negotiator Petar Petkovic, that Serbia had “concerning positions” about transferring funds in Dinar from Serbia to Kosovo. Bislimi told reporters that Lajcak made a new proposal to resolve the issue and that the proposal aims to approximate the positions of parties with regards to the financial aid that Serbia sends for Serbs in Kosovo.

“The position of the Serbian side is that all illegal structures of Serbia must be financed until the Association [of Serb-majority municipalities is created] because in their opinion the purpose of the Association is not to secure good coordination between the municipalities, but to secure the legitimization of the presence of Serbia institutions in Kosovo which would make them semi-Serbian institutions but not institutions of Serbs in Kosovo,” he argued.

Bislimi said that Serbia’s idea was rejected by the Kosovo delegation and that it was not accepted by Lajcak.

Kurti thanks German MPs for supporting Kosovo (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti met in Berlin on Thursday with the co-chair of the SPD Lars Klingbeil and member German Bundestag, Frank Schwabe, who is also the head of the German delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). The meeting focused on bilateral relations between Kosovo and Germany, governance in Kosovo, reforms in rule of law, democratic progress, and human rights. A press release issued by Kurti’s office notes that he thanked the German MPs for their support for Kosovo’s application to the Council of Europe. Kurti also said that Kosovo has made important steps in recent years towards membership in the Council, and that based on the record of legal framework, human rights, rule of law, and democracy, Kosovo deserves to become the 47^th member.

Citaku: Result of general elections will be surprising (media)

Secretary General of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Vlora Citaku, said in an interview with RTV21, that whenever the general elections are held in Kosovo, the result will be surprising. “I am confident that the result of the general elections will be surprising for many people, the same way the results of the local elections were surprising,” she said.

Citaku argued that the opposition in general, not only the PDK, was criticized unfairly and that the opposition saved Kosovo from becoming a totalitarian state.

Rasic comments on Serbian army’s drills near border with Kosovo (media)

Kosovo’s Minister for Communities and Returns, Nenad Rasic, in an interview with RTV Dukagjini on Thursday commented on the drills of the Serbian army near the border with Kosovo, saying that with these actions Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic “is showing muscles for the public in Serbia”. “Every diplomat, every visit that Vucic had after Banjska showed the same, they need to deal with those that carried out this action and he has kept silent every time … I believe that what Vucic is organizing is only to show muscles for the public in Serbia. He is presenting these manipulations as if he has an initiative to protect the Serbs,” he said.

Ruecker: Kosovo needs to establish the Association (media)

Former head of UNMIK, Joachim Ruecker, said in an interview with RTK on Thursday that Kosovo has made major achievements since he was head of mission and highlighted the support that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe gave to Kosovo’s membership application. “What has happened lately, for example at the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly shows that Kosovo’s integration in international organizations and Euro-Atlantic mechanisms is progressing. I know that the Committee of Ministers still has to make a decision, but this is a sign that things are moving forward,” he said.

Asked if the time has come for UNMIK to conclude its mandate in Kosovo, Ruecker said that the UN Security Council would not agree to annul the resolution. “As you know, this is not for UNMIK to decide, and I think that the UN Security Council would not agree to annul Resolution 1244, bearing in mind Russia’s position too, so Resolution 1244 will remain in force. UNMIK too will continue to function, but it has been downsized to a symbolic presence,” he said.

Commenting on the situation in the north of Kosovo, the German diplomat said that it is in the interest of the Serb minority to integrate in Kosovo’s institutions and to take part in elections.

Ruecker also said that Kosovo needs to establish the Association of Serb-majority municipalities and Serbia must de-facto recognize Kosovo as a state.

Serbian Language Media

Petkovic: We demonstrated constructiveness, next meeting to be held May 13 (Tanjug)

Serbian Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija Director Petar Petkovic said on Thursday that, after seven hours of discussions in Brussels, Belgrade had demonstrated constructiveness and made proposals for resolving the issue of Pristina's ban on the Serbian dinar but that Pristina did not want a solution, Tanjug news agency reported. Speaking to reporters in Brussels, Petkovic said the next round of the dialogue would take place on May 13.

"The discussions were difficult and tense, but they were direct, which is good. Both I and the experts had an opportunity to present our proposals regarding EU ideas to resolve the dinar issue because, with that decision (to ban the dinar, PM Albin) Kurti has put the survival of the Serbs in jeopardy. That must be resolved urgently", Petkovic said.

"We provided our latest comments on EU proposals and presented them to (EU special envoy Miroslav) Lajcak in the best of faith, and they were assessed as being that. All the time, (Pristina's chief negotiator Besnik) Bislimi was heckling, drawing parallels and kept saying he is not interested in Serbs who want to leave Kosovo and Metohija but in those who want to integrate, confirming that Kurti's policy is aimed at there being no Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija", Petkovic said. He added he hopes to see progress on May 13 but that did not depend on Belgrade as it was clear to everyone Pristina was the problem.

Lajcak: I presented compromise for dinar issue (media, social media)

EU Special Envoy for Belgrade-Pristina talks Miroslav Lajcak said that at the end of Thursday’s round of talks in Brussels he presented a compromise paper on dinar issue, adding the new meeting will follow after the parties submit their comments, Kosovo Online portal reported.

“Hosted a Dialogue meeting on a way forward for the “Dinar issue”, which provided enough room for the Parties to explain their positions. Ended by presenting a compromise paper in an effort to bridge the differences. Will host the next meeting after receiving constructive comments”, Lajcak said in a post on X social media platform.

Serbian List: Since Kurti came to power, there hasn't been a day without ethnically motivated attacks on Serbs (Kosovo Online)

Serbian List said in a statement “that institutional violence and terror against the remaining Serbs are carried out on the ground daily, while Kosovo is being declared democratic and pushed into the Council of Europe”. Serbian List made those remarks after a group of Albanians assaulted and robbed twenty-year-old Petar Kostic in Mitrovica North, Kosovo Online portal reported.

Serbian List added that since Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti took power, there hasn't been a day without an ethnically motivated attack on Serbs. They noted that Kostic fortunately sustained only minor injuries but emphasized that the event would have lasting consequences on him. “This attack marks the 500th ethnically motivated attack since (Albin) Kurti came to power and serves as the best picture and example of his attitude toward Serbs and everything Serbian".

Serbian List called on EULEX to directly engage in this case through its employees and present a report to the public as soon as possible “as the Serbian people have no trust in Kurti's police units present on the ground, which have failed to solve any crimes against Serbs, and whose members have repeatedly engaged in violence against Serbs".

Office for KiM: 500 attacks on Serbs since Kurti took power (Kosovo Online, RTS, media)

Office for Kosovo and Metohija in reaction to the attack of group of Albanians against twenty-year-old Serb in a parking lot in Mitrovica North said that Serbs in Kosovo face impossible living conditions on a daily basis, adding that “ethnically motivated incidents are a direct consequence of the anti-Serb policy pursued by the regime of Albin Kurti”. The Office for KiM also said that the 500th ethnically motivated incident has been recorded since Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti came to power, Kosovo Online portal reported.

"Inflammatory rhetoric fuels violence and incidents on the ground, from attacks on Serbs, Serbian Orthodox Church facilities, Serbian property... By, in one hand, perpetrating institutional violence against Serbs, and in the other, stoking national intolerance leading to such and similar physical attacks which have been numerous in the past three years, the regime in Pristina aims to carry out a new ethnic cleansing of Serbs from their centuries-old places", Office for KiM said in a statement.

It is emphasized that despite all the challenges, Belgrade will continue to pursue a policy of peace, but also demand that each individual incident be clarified and perpetrators be prosecuted and adequately punished.

Vucic: Considering options to lift EU punitive measures on Pristina unfair (media)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said yesterday current EU policy regarding the dinar ban in Kosovo is that neither Belgrade nor Pristina, are ready for compromise, even though Kosovo Central Bank decision was made unilaterally and unlawfully, Kosovo Online portal reported. Therefore, they are considering lifting punitive measures against Pristina, Vucic added.

According to Vucic, considering the option of lifting EU sanctions against Pristina is unfair.

"The EU has initiated a mechanism to lift sanctions they haven't even seen. Just look at this disgusting trick they constantly use: Albanians make an unlawful decision to abolish the dinar, and when Serbs refuse to accept it, they (the EU) say there is no consensus and readiness for compromise", Vucic said.