• Kosovo Prime Minister Kurti and Serbian President Vucic to meet today (media)
• Kurti hopes there’ll be no need for reciprocity, sees reflection by Serbia (Koha)
• Escobar calls for Association within Kosovo laws and constitution (media)
• KFOR ready to intervene, additional troops could be sent to the north (Koha)
• Lajcak: Grateful for strong and unequivocal U.S. support (media)
• Mehaj: Belgrade continues its propaganda, producing fake news daily (media)
• Former Kamenica mayor interrogated by Serbian authorities (media)
• Kosovo clings to hope of visa liberalisation as Turkey’s woes worsen (BIRN)
• Op-ed: Girls should stay in school, no matter what (Prishtina Insight)
• Russian embassy accuses West of ‘NATOisation’ of Bosnia (BIRN)

Kosovo Prime Minister Kurti and Serbian President Vucic to meet today (media)

Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti and President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic will meet in Brussels today within the EU-facilitated dialogue. Radio Free Europe notes that this will be the third meeting between the two leaders and that they met twice last year but without any concrete results. Today’s meeting has been called by the EU High Representative Josep Borrell after increased tensions in the north of Kosovo on July 31. RTK reports that the EU Special Representative for the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Miroslav Lajcak, met separately with Kurti and Vucic on Wednesday. “On the eve of the High-level Dialogue in Brussels, I had meetings with PM of Kosovo Albin Kurti and President of Serbia to prepare the discussions of tomorrow,” Lajcak tweeted.

Kurti hopes there’ll be no need for reciprocity, sees reflection by Serbia (Koha)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said on Wednesday that it is possible that Kosovo authorities might not have to implement reciprocity on ID cards with Serbia as the latter may give up issuing entry documents to Kosovo citizens at border crossing points. Kurti made these remarks after meeting EU Special Representative for the dialogue Miroslav Lajcak and the U.S. Envoy for the Western Balkans Gabriel Escobar.

Kurti said: “It is possible that we won’t have to issue such documents on 1 September since Serbia would stop issuing documents at the border crossing points. Temporary license plates will exist in Kosovo as long as there are such plates in Serbia. We are discussing solutions, not postponing. We postponed the decision of July 31 to September 1, but we did this only after the barricades were removed. Serbia has given up temporary license plates, we stopped using them. We have the stickers now. Reciprocity is a principle. We do not have unilateral and detrimental objectives,” Kurti said.

Kurti also said they would discuss two important topics at the meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Thursday. “The first are the elements of the general framework for the agreement that should be a full normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia with mutual recognition. The other topic is about current issues. Of course, all the bilateral relations, the difficulties and obstacles that have come up lately will be discussed. We want freedom of movement, but barricades have obstructed this. There should be only legal routes for free movement, and this is why the illegal routes in the north should be closed. We have raised this issue at our meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. As for the border crossing points, we are doing what Serbia has been doing for 11 years, an entry-exit document for all that come from Serbia to Kosovo,” he said.

Kurti also tweeted after meeting Lajcak and Escobar: “We had an open discussion with U.S. DAS Gabriel Escobar and EUSR Miroslav Lajcak before tomorrow’s high-level talks. The aim of these talks must be to reach a legally binding agreement centered on mutual recognition between Kosovo and Serbia with citizens as end-beneficiaries.”

Escobar: Association needs to be implemented, within Kosovo constitution (media)

The United States Envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, said after meeting Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti on Wednesday, that the U.S. support the formation of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities and that it should be implemented within Kosovo’s laws and constitution. “Yes, the Association must be implemented. It must be implemented within Kosovo’s laws and constitution. I am on the same line with the European Union … We think that in Europe there are many models that can be used to find a stable and productive solution for all the parties involved,” Escobar told reporters.

Escobar also said that there are expectations for an agreement that upholds Kosovo’s sovereignty and independence. “We want to have productive talks tomorrow and we hope that both parties will be able to reach an agreement that upholds Kosovo’s sovereignty and independence and one that also prevents violence. So we are hoping for good talks,” he said.

KFOR ready to intervene, additional troops could be sent to the north (Koha)

The daily reports on its front page this morning that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has asked Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, in separate meetings on Wednesday, to stop the inflammatory rhetoric which can create tensions on the ground. He also made it clear that NATO is ready for a military intervention and to deploy additional troops if the security situation in the north of Kosovo comes under threat.

“NATO is there to provide peace and security for all. Any further escalation and inflammatory rhetoric must be avoided. KFOR is ready to intervene if stability comes under threat. We have around 4,000 troops that are committed to implementing the mandate deriving from Resolution 1244. The only way to secure peace is for Prishtina and Belgrade to address outstanding issues through the dialogue,” Stoltenberg said. “The COMKFOR is in close contact with the authorities in Belgrade, namely with the head of Serbian defence, and also with the authorities in Prishtina, and by having this open communication, we are engaged to avoid disagreements. If the need arises, we will activate our forces and we will step up their presence in the north, so we are ready to do more. We will react with precision, because our main objective is to reduce tensions and to ensure peace and security for Serbs in Kosovo too.”

Prime Minister Kurti repeated Kosovo’s readiness to join NATO and said that Serbia is to blame for the recent tensions. “We seek to join NATO. Kosovo has proved its commitment to uphold and promote common democratic values, not only in the region but in the world too. Kosovo’s institutions are vigilant in the face of our northern neighbor’s destructive approach and Russia’s detrimental agenda in the Western Balkans,” he said.

Kurti also said that RKS license plates will be applied and that there is no alternative. “We have made a decision to enable all Serb citizens of the Republic of Kosovo to change the vehicle plates that have been the same since 1999, the same as in the time of Milosevic, to convert them into legitimate registration plates that have the RKS acronym. We have launched an information campaign for Serb citizens and we also created a financial incentive because during the change of plates the Serb citizens will not have to pay VAT, customs, or excise duty, and this may amount to €5,000. We will continue our information campaign,” he said.

Lajcak: Grateful for strong and unequivocal U.S. support (media)

European Union Special Representative for the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Miroslav Lajcak, tweeted after meeting U.S. Envoy Gabriel Escobar on Wednesday that he is “very grateful for strong and unequivocal U.S. support and our exceptional cooperation on making progress in the EU-facilitated Dialogue on normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia.”

Mehaj: Belgrade continues its propaganda, by producing fake news daily (media)

Kosovo’s Minister of Defence, Armend Mehaj, said on Wednesday that “Belgrade is continuing its propaganda and producing fake news on a daily basis with the aim of creating feelings of insecurity and instability” in the north of Kosovo.

Mehaj argued that “the campaign of inciting hatred and creating insecurity, especially in the north, is not happening by chance, this is happening right now on the eve of the meeting between Prime Minister Kurti and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. In the continuation of fake news, Serbian media have published reports that two Kosovo army vehicles were circulating in the north. This is not true, and it is fake news”. Mehaj appealed to the citizens of Kosovo, especially those living in the north, “not to fall prey to Serbia’s propaganda media”.

Former Kamenica mayor interrogated by Serbian authorities (media)

Former mayor of Kamenica and senior member of the Social Democratic Party, Qendron Kastrati, said on Wednesday that he was stopped for two hours at the border between Serbia and Kosovo and that he was interrogated by Serbian authorities for an hour and half. “They asked me to turn off the phone and started making political questions. They asked why I left the Vetevendosje Movement and if I know Fatmir Limaj. I refused to answer their questions, told them I know the rules and asked for a lawyer. They also asked me if I know the political figures in Gjilan and Prishtina and if I plan to run for mayor of Kamenica again,” Kastrati said.

Kosovo clings to hope of visa liberalisation as Turkey’s woes worsen (BIRN)

Citizens of Turkey and Kosovo are still spending time and money applying for visas to enter Europe’s Schengen zone. Kosovars see light at the end of the tunnel, but a growing proportion of Turkish applications are being rejected.

The papers were in order, the fees paid. But while Ayse’s parents received visas to visit relatives in Germany this year, Ayse’s own application was rejected.

“They decided to refuse my visa, saying it was not certain that I would return to Turkey,” said Ayse [not her real name].

Complaints to the embassy in Turkey and authorities in Berlin failed to reverse the decision, and Ayse became one of a growing number of Turkish citizens to be refused permission to enter Europe’s Schengen zone.

Over a quarter of a million Turkish citizens received Schengen visas in 2021, but while just four per cent of applications were turned down in 2014, by last year the rate had soared to nearly 20 per cent. And the cost is significant.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3psKz5E

Op-ed: Girls should stay in school, no matter what (Prishtina Insight)

In different time periods, many girls in Kosovo had to sacrifice their education and cancel their career plans. So much wasted potential, so many domesticated girls and women against their will. So the recent debate on whether girls should be allowed hijab in schools should start with the intention of keeping girls in schools, no matter what. The only image of a girl that should alarm the society, is one that stays at home.

When I was in elementary school, my grandmother used to tell me the story about why she quit school. When she was only in the second grade, her classmate named Fiqe used to bully her. Sitting in the desk behind, she used to pull my grandmother’s hair and wouldn’t stop despite my grandmother’s pleas. And that is why my grandmother stopped going to school.

I remember how angry this story used to make me. As a girl who adored school, I couldn’t understand why the teachers nor the parents didn’t make Fiqe stop. How come one quits school because of a mean peer? I remember fantasising about going back in time and giving Fiqe a piece of my mind.

Of course the girl wasn’t to blame. My grandmother was deprived from pursuing an education as was common for girls of her time.

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

Russian embassy accuses West of ‘NATOisation’ of Bosnia (BIRN)

After Germany said it will send soldiers to join the European Union's EUFOR peacekeeping force in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Russian embassy in Sarajevo accused the West of seeking to impose NATO troops on the Balkan country.

The Russian embassy in Sarajevo alleged on Tuesday that the impending arrival of German troops in Bosnia and Herzegovina to bolster the European Union’s EUFOR peacekeeping force, also known as Operation Althea, was part of Western attempts to militarily dominate the Balkan country.

“It seems that certain Western states, primarily the United States and Great Britain, are preparing the ground for creeping NATOisation,” the embassy said in a statement.

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