UNMIK Media Observer, Morning Edition, August 3, 2023

Albanian Language Media:

EU concerned with situation in north, calls for more steps from govt (Koha)
MINT: Audio recordings are untrue, defamation will be reported (Koha)

PDK, LDK react to govt about inflation: It hasn’t decreased, it slowed down (Koha)

Krasniqi: Govt stealing bread from citizens' table; elections, only solution (Klan)

Serbia not cooperating with Kosovo in resolving fate of missing (Blic)

Kryeziu: Mayors in north cannot be dismissed, would be better to resign (Klan)

Serbian Language Media:

Mitrovica North municipality confirms construction works halted at around nine locations (KoSSev)

Media outlets in northern Kosovo subjected to online attacks, NUNS reacts (KoSSev)

Vucic: Very good relations with N. Macedonia confirmed, to develop further (Tanjug)

Brnabic receives new ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina, speaks about Open Balkan Initiative (Tanjug)

International Media:

Kosovo Govt Mulls Mayors’ Dismissal as Path to New Polls in North (Balkan Insight)

Living in Kosovo has left me with high standards for hospitality (Prishtina Insight)

Albanian Language Media

EU concerned with situation in north, calls for more steps from government (Koha)

Officials of the European Union qualified the Kosovo government's actions so far as insufficient for the de-escalation of the situation in the north, and reiterated that they still remain concerned. Even though they welcomed the reduction of police forces, the EU announced that there should be a suspension of the operations of the Kosovo Police in and near four municipal facilities in the north, as they also demanded the removal of all the elected mayors there at the end of April. Currently, only Lulzim Hetemi is exercising his mandate from the municipal facility in Leposavic.

"The EU remains concerned about the tensions in the north of Kosovo. The EU has condemned the violence and continues to call for immediate de-escalation by both sides. The EU has made specific demands for de-escalation for both sides (according to the Declaration of the High Representative on behalf of the EU dated June 3, the proposal of the High Representative for both sides on June 22 and the conclusions of the European Council of June 30). In the statement of June 3, agreed by the 27 member states, the EU clearly states that it was ready to take measures in the event of failure to de-escalate", said the Office for Information of the European Union.

MINT: Audio recordings are untrue, defamation will be reported (Koha)

The Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade (MIET) reacted to recent reports of claims that state reserves have been misused. Through Facebook, MIET wrote that the rumors used in the audio-recordings are tendentious and untrue, while emphasizing that they were made with the aim of denigrating the figure of Minister Rozeta Hajdari.

"The Ministry of Industry, Enterprise and Trade informs the public that all procedures related to the supply of goods for the state reserve have been developed and continue to be handled based on the legislation in force, including the Law on the State Reserve of the Republic of Kosovo, the Law on Budget allocations for the Budget of the Republic of Kosovo for the year 2022, the Law on the Protection of Classified Information and the Decision of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo no. 01/65 of 26.02.2022", says the reaction of the Ministry.

The Ministry said that the process of supplying goods to the State Reserve is being handled and monitored according to the legislation in force, while adding that there is no misuse of public money.

"State reserve contracts are classified at the secret level, according to the relevant legislation in force. The Ministry is committed to continuing with the increase of the State Reserve this year as well, according to the Law on Budgetary Allocations for the Budget of the Republic of Kosovo for 2023, in order to ensure that citizens have state support in overcoming situations in exceptional circumstances, such as an eventual crisis. The Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade has undertaken all legal actions for denouncing defamations and insults to the Justice bodies and at the same time offers full cooperation with all competent institutions for the matter in question".

The ministry led by Hajdari added that it had announced procurement procedures three times to buy quantities of the State Reserve, where one procedure was successfully completed, "two failed due to non-bidding by economic operators".

PDK, LDK react to govt about inflation: It hasn’t decreased, it slowed down (Koha)

The Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) and the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) have reacted after the government's statement that it has reduced inflation.

The Coordinator for Finances in the Cabinet for Good Governance in the PDK, Arben Mustafa, said that the tendency of the exponents of the ruling party to be proud of the drop in the rate of inflation is ridiculous.According to him, when inflation reached double-digit rates, the government reasoned that this is beyond their ability to do anything, while now, according to him, they want to attribute the reduction of the inflation rate to themselves.

"However, let's not forget that the reduction of the inflation rate does not mean a drop in prices, but a slowing down of the rate of further growth of the general price level. The prices of many basic products have continued to rise during this period as well," he wrote on Facebook.

Meanwhile, Berat Rukiqi from the LDK said that inflation has slowed down and prices have not decreased. He added that some prices such as those of oil and some food products are increasing.

"Statistical manipulation has not stopped. The government is calling success a figure of slowing inflation, in a single month. When inflation reached record numbers, among the highest in the world, the government treated it as a global problem and not as an internal problem,” he wrote, adding that it stubbornly and arrogantly refused any proposal to alleviate the problem of rising prices. He further accused the government for managing badly state reserves, and for ‘stealing them’. He called the government "ignorant, deceitful and treacherous".

Krasniqi: Govt stealing bread from the citizens’ table; elections, the only solution (Klan)

Leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Memli Krasniqi has reacted after the wiretapping published on Wednesday, which raised suspicions for involvement of the Minister of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade, Rozeta Hajdari, and which are related to the state reserves.

Krasniqi said that from the misuse of hundreds of millions of euros in energy, today the Kurti government has put its hands into the tables of the citizens, stealing even the basic food products of the state reserve. "The last affair - the wheat affair - is the stamp of the ruling mentality of this government, focused on corruption and misuse. It doesn't go any lower than that. Or does it?"

"To the detriment of the interest of the state and citizens, this government coordinated with a criminal like Radoicic. Against the state and the future of the citizens, this government strained relations with our international allies. This bunch of criminals also brought sanctions to Kosovo, while their perverted policies are depopulating the country all over - only during the government of Albin Kurti, almost 150 thousand citizens have left their homeland in search of a perspective somewhere in the western countries", Krasniqi said.

Further, he said that while the corrupt affairs and scandals, according to him, are multiplying, three of the basic elements that make up the state, transparency, accountability and justice, are missing in Kosovo.

"This government no longer represents the will of the citizens. This government no longer protects the interests of the state. New elections and the return of the mandate to the citizens are the only solution ahead. The earlier, the better - both for the state and for the citizens", he said.

Serbia not cooperating with Kosovo in resolving the fate of missing (Blic)

The agreements reached between Kosovo and Serbia within the framework of the dialogue are still not being implemented. One of them is the Agreement on missing persons, despite the fact that with the declaration reached between the parties on May 2, this issue has been described as humanitarian.

Kushtrim Gara from the Governmental Commission for Missing Persons, said that Serbia is not cooperating in clarifying the fate of the disappeared.

The director of the Fund for Humanitarian Law of Kosovo, Bekim Blakaj, said that there should be a great pressure on Serbia, due to non-cooperation in this matter. "It is very disturbing if it is true that Serbia is refusing to excavate the suspected places where there are mass graves, and if this is the case, then a lot of pressure should be put on them, because excavations have taken place in the past. It has been evident that Serbia has not provided accurate information on the location of the graves, and as an example we always take the graves in Rudnica or Kizhevak", stated Blakaj. He said that cooperation in clarifying the fate of missing persons and access to the archives are obligations which Serbia committed to in the statement reached in Brussels on May 2.

On the basis of this statement, the government of Kosovo submitted the first letter to Serbia on June 2, to request the archives that will help clarify the fate of the persons forcibly disappeared during the war.

Kryeziu: Mayors in north cannot be dismissed, would be better to resign (Klan)

Former vice president of the Constitutional Court, Kadri Kryeziu, said on Wednesday that the Administrative Instruction of the Ministry of Local Government Administration (MLGA) enables the citizens in the north to organize a petition for the dismissal of the mayors in the four municipalities in the north. Kryeziu said that the Administrative Instruction of the MLGA has only a technical and not a political character, as he added that there is no possibility to dismiss the four mayors in the north.

"So there is no possibility for them to be fired, but only if they are willing to resign. I had recommended them to resign in order to develop the positive processes coming for Kosovo". "Otherwise, there is no other way for them to be removed from power because their dismissal is based on some anti-constitutional or anti-legal action they have taken, and so far they have not done any such action", he told Klan Kosova. Furthermore, Kryeziu said that the situation in the north is extraordinary and extraordinary actions are needed to solve it. "There are political and legal actions here. Politically, they need to be adjusted and it would be good if these mayors resign", Kryeziu said.

Serbian Language Media

Mitrovica North municipality confirms construction works halted at around nine locations (KoSSev)

The North Mitrovica municipality has confirmed for KoSSev that its inspection department has suspended works at about nine locations, due to, as they said lack of documentation required for the start of construction works. This confirmation came eight days since the last time a construction site was shut down, and a total of six days since the portal sent them an email regarding this issue, KoSSev portal reported.

The local self-government’s municipal inspection team began shutting down construction sites on July 20th, placing tapes on three sites – the University Rectorate building, a residential building in the Brdjani settlement, and a school intended for socially vulnerable children near the Vojni remont site.

Over the past week, KoSSev recalled it tried to get more information from the municipality about this issue, including the mayor Erden Atiq and the director of infrastructure Fatir Berzati, in several ways – through phone calls, messages, emails, and by visiting the premises of the municipality.

The portal received a response from this local self-government yesterday only after referring to the Law on Access to Public Documents in another email sent to the municipality at the end of last week.

Media outlets in northern Kosovo subjected to online attacks, NUNS reacts (KoSSev)

The Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS) strongly condemned the latest threats and targeting of Kosovo media reporting in Serbian, above all the KoSSev portal, which was launched in the Telegram channel “Zečevi sa Kosova i Metohije“ (“Rabbits from Kosovo and Metohija“) in which some media are mentioned in several posts and two videos, and described as “enemies of the Serb people and Serbia who are under the influence of NATO and the West“, KoSSev portal reports.

In addition to KoSSev, this Telegram page also shared similar accusations against Kosovo Online, Radio Kontakt Plus, Radio Kosovska Mitrovica, TV Most, as well as UNS.