• Trump to Kosovo and Serbia, “when you don’t get along, call and we’ll solve it” (media)
• Rama to Trump about trial of ex-KLA leaders: Let’s do something before its too late (media)
• US presses NATO for major reset, ending mission in Iraq (Politico/media)
• The Pentagon: No changes in deployment of forces (RFE)
• Kosovo ex-guerilla leaders say justice demands acquittal at trial’s end (BIRN)
• Kosovo court sentences man for femicide (Prishtina Insight)
• Ministry: Extremist language used in protest in front of Kosovo’s office in Belgrade (Koha)
• 'Made in Kosovo': New barcode could boost experts after years of borrowed labels (RFE)

Trump to Kosovo and Serbia, “when you don’t get along, call and we’ll solve it” (media)

All news websites covered remarks by US President Donald Trump at the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace in Washington D.C., in reference to Kosovo and Serbia. Trump said that Kosovo and Serbia “are getting along” and that “when you don’t get along you call and we will solve it”. During his introduction of leaders at the meeting, Trump said Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani was “doing an amazing job”.

Rama to Trump about trial of ex-KLA leaders: Let’s do something before its too late (media)

One of the leading stories in most media on Thursday was the statement by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama at the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace in Washington D.C. and his focus on the trial of former KLA leaders in the Hague. “Allow me very briefly to draw your attention to another open conflict closer to home, where President Trump’s leadership during his first term brought Kosovo and Serbia closer than ever to a final peace agreement. The President of Kosovo was then brutally prevented from traveling to the White House to sign that agreement in the presence of President Trump. And this was the doing of the very same sicario prosecutor that went after President Trump himself, and for that became worldwide famous. Today, the Kosovo President has now spent six years in pre-trial detention before a special court in The Hague, sponsored by several democratic states, some of them present here that should be shamed of that type of international justice. Just last week, Mr President, another prosecutor founded by this great country and its taxpayers requested 45 years of imprisonment for him, a request that sent a shockwave of humiliation through an entire peace-seeking nation. At this moment, only a few months stand between a man who rose from resistance to ethnic cleansing to become a peacemaker, and a potentially devastating outcome in a court that has so far failed at every step to uphold the standards of democratic justice. For the sake of God, Mr President, let’s do something before, as you say, very bad things might happen again,” Rama said in his speech.

US presses NATO for major reset, ending mission in Iraq (Politico/media)

Several local media covered an article originally published in Politico which quoted four NATO diplomats as saying that the U.S. under Donald Trump is pushing NATO to slash many of its foreign activities including ending a key alliance mission in Iraq.

The U.S. has also in recent months lobbied to scale down NATO’s peacekeeping operation in Kosovo and keep Ukraine and Indo-Pacific allies from formally participating in the alliance’s July annual summit in Ankara.

The effort reflects a White House drive to treat NATO as a strictly Euroatlantic defense pact and roll back decades of expansion into crisis management, global partnerships and values-driven initiatives that have long irritated the U.S. president and his MAGA base.

Under the drive from Washington, NATO would curtail so-called “out-of-area activities” that are beyond the alliance’s core tasks of defense and deterrence. The push has become known internally as a “return to factory settings,” the four diplomats said, all of whom were granted anonymity to speak freely on the sensitive internal matter.

The effort could see a rapid scale back of NATO’s activities in former war zones, as well as shutting out capitals including Kyiv and Canberra from formal discussions this summer.

The White House declined to comment publicly on NATO’s partnership programs and global operations when contacted by POLITICO.

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The Pentagon: No changes in deployment of forces (RFE)

An official of the US Defense Department told Radio Free Europe on Thursday that currently there are no changes in terms of the deployment of US troops. “Today we have no change to announce in the deployment of forces,” the official said in a written response.

The news website asked for a comment from the Defense Department after Politico quoted four NATO diplomats as saying that the US is asking the Alliance to reduce its activity, including the peacekeeping mission in Kosovo.

In a comment to the news website, a NATO official said that the US plays a crucial role in supporting sustainable security in Kosovo and regional stability. He however also added that US authorities should be asked for more detailed information on the matter. He said that the US currently has around 600 troops in KFOR.

Kosovo ex-guerilla leaders say justice demands acquittal at trial’s end (BIRN)

The three-year war crimes and crimes against humanity trial of former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, former parliament speakers Kadri Veseli and Jakup Krasniqi, and former MP Rexhep Selimi ended on Wednesday at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague. The four senior wartime officials of the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, addressed the court at the end of their lawyers’ closing statements. One after the other, they emphasised their innocence and that their involvement in the armed struggle of Kosovo Albanians for freedom i the 1998-99 war was just.

Thaci said that “there is only one truth: the charges do not stand. I am completely innocent.” He added that “I sympathise and express regret for all the victims who have suffered in Kosovo, regardless of their ethnic background.”

Thaci, Veseli, Krasniqi, and Selimi are accused of having individual and command responsibility for crimes committed against prisoners held at KLA detention facilities in Kosovo and neighbouring Albania, and of waging a systemic campaign against “opponents”, including 102 murders. The prosecution says these “opponents” were people that the KLA deemed to be “collaborating or associating” with Yugoslav forces, officials or state institutions, including Serbian police, and people who did not support the aims and methods of the guerrillas or the Provisional Government of Kosovo, which Thaci headed from March 1999, while also KLA commander-in-chief.

Thaci told the court that, “at the beginning of 1998, I was a student at the University of Zurich. I was not making plans to take control of Kosovo. The only person making plans, morbid plans, was [Yugoslav President] Slobodan Milosevic. “I could not stand aside while my family and my people were facing extermination. I did what each of you would have done if your country, your people, were experiencing what my people experienced,” he said, explaining why he eventually returned to Kosovo. Thaci told the court that he did not bring war to Kosovo but joined a liberation movement.

Veseli said that “the court must, at all costs, uphold justice, truth and impartiality. This is not just a legal obligation, it is its great contribution and the legacy that will remain from this court. This is also the reason why I joined those thousands of women and men who lined up in the ranks of the Kosovo Liberation Army, for the freedom of Kosovo. “Freedom cannot be achieved through injustice. Nor can peace be built on crime. A just cause cannot be defended by unjust means,” Veseli said, recalling that “my family and I have lived under constant persecution by the Serbian state” and he had not violated the law. “My actions have been humane and legal. My conscience is clear. My history is transparent,” he said, adding that “it has not been proven that I have committed any illegal act on my part.”

In his final speech to the court, Selimi said he hoped “that the trial panel has had sufficient time to understand that our war was just and that the prosecution’s claims do not stand. “The charges against us are entirely unfounded and unjust. I am not standing here today to defend myself, because my lawyers know how to do that best and have done so. I am not here to explain justice to you, either, because you know it better than anyone. I am here today to ask you to exercise it –  justice.”

Selimi said that “the time when I will return to Kosovo depends on your decision. But the prosecution should have understood that whenever I return, I will return to a free Kosovo, a Kosovo that I am proud that I stood up for at the right time, and for whose freedom I have been and am ready to give my life, whenever it is necessary.”

Krasniqi, who was a political prisoner for around a decade under the Yugoslav regime in the 1980s, told the court: “I am in my 16th year of imprisonment just because I fought for the freedom and independence of my people”. “To have spent 16 out of 75 years of my life in prison and to be deprived of the air of freedom is not a small thing,” he said.

In his address, Krasniqi declared: “The injustice of this case is written in the indictment itself”. He continued: “Our people never planned destruction or torture. We sought life in freedom and independence. Nothing more. Nothing less. Today our people live in freedom”. Krasniqi’s statement marked the end of the trial. The judges should decide on a verdict within 90 days.

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Kosovo court sentences man for femicide (Prishtina Insight)

The Prishtina Basic Court has sentenced Endrit Nika to 18 years in prison for the murder of his girlfriend, Maria Clara Urdangaray, from Argentina, a verdict which is seen as “not proportionate” to the crime by women’s rights activists.

Endrit Nika, a Swiss citizen of Kosovo-Albanian descent has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for the murder of his Argentine girlfriend, Maria Clara Urdangaray, after the court found that he threw her from the sixth floor of a hotel, in August 2023, causing fatal injuries.

Family members of both the victim and the defendant were present when the verdict was announced. The victim’s mother, Magdalena Urdangaray, displayed a banner in the courtroom, bearing her daughter’s photograph and a call for justice.

“The truth will always prevail”, assassin,” Urdangaray called in Spanish and Albanian towards the defendant after the sentence.

The Kosovo Women’s Network expressed outrage, stating that the “punishment is not proportionate to the gravity of the crime.”

In a public response, the organisation described the killing as femicide, a gender-motivated murder.

“A woman was killed in the context of an intimate relationship, as a result of control, inequality, and gender-based violence. The killing of women because of their gender is the most severe violation of the right to life and requires maximum punishment,” the statement read.

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Ministry: Extremist language used in protest in front of Kosovo’s office in Belgrade (Koha)

Kosovo’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that extremist language was used during a protest in front of the Kosovo liaison office in Belgrade on Tuesday when Kosovo was marking the anniversary of the declaration of independence. The protesters reportedly used “harsh content and rhetoric that do not contribute to the spirit of dialogue and cooperation between the parties”. “Any form of hate speech, incitement to violence or threats contradicts European values and the spirit of existing agreements,” the ministry said in a statement to the news website.

'Made in Kosovo': New barcode could boost experts after years of borrowed labels (RFE)

For more than two decades, products manufactured in Kosovo have been sold abroad under foreign labels. On store shelves across Europe and beyond, cooking oil, beverages, and other goods marked "Made in Kosovo" have often been registered as originating in Albania or elsewhere -- not because of where they were produced, but because Kosovo lacked an internationally recognized barcode. This has been one of the less visible consequences of Kosovo's status as Europe's youngest state, which is still only partially recognized internationally and not fully integrated into many global systems.

That situation, however, is now changing. This month, Kosovo secured the international barcode prefix 381, giving its products a globally verifiable identity for the first time. For a country seeking to expand exports and integrate more deeply into European and global markets, experts say this marks an important step toward consolidating economic sovereignty and strengthening its presence in international supply chains.

A barcode is a unique identification number that contains information about a product and its country of origin. It can be scanned anywhere in the world, making it essential for modern trade, logistics, and retail systems.

Barcode Workaround For Exporters

Fluidi, a company based in the eastern city of Gjilan that produces edible oil and soft drinks, is one of several Kosovar manufacturers that for years had to obtain foreign barcodes in order to export. "In supermarkets across Europe and globally, products made in Kosovo appeared as originating from Albania or other countries," said the company's owner, Berat Mustafa, in an interview with RFE/RL.

He said around 30 percent of the company's production is exported to regional markets, Europe, and Africa. Until now, every product required a barcode issued outside Kosovo. "I purchased barcodes in Albania, where my company is also registered, because it was easier. Many Kosovar businesses have done the same or used barcodes provided by their distributors in export markets," Mustafa explained.

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