• Covid-19: 47 cases reported over last 24 hours (media)
• Kosovo, Serbia leaders to meet in Brussels on Thursday (media)
• Hoti reveals details of upcoming trip to Brussels (media)
• Thaci: Washington meeting will be very difficult (RTK/Telegrafi)
• Borrell insists only “structured dialogue” is led by EU (Zeri)
• Lajcak in Belgrade: Dialogue to continue without delay (RFE)
• U.S. Ambassador Kosnett’s interview to Klan Kosova
• Haradinaj: Three key principles in dialogue with Serbia (media)
• VV MP: Thaci has violated Constitution, Hoti unprepared for dialogue (Klan)
• “Thaci’s another term in office believed to be damaging” (Koha)

Kosovo Media Highlights

Covid-19: 47 cases reported over last 24 hours (media)

Kosovo's National Institute for Public Health announced that 47 new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Kosovo in the last 24-hour period.

The Institute also said that there have been 22 recoveries over the same time period. The media report that one death has been reported yesterday due to Covid-19.

Majority of the new cases, 18, are from the Pristina municipality.

At present, there are 1,111 active cases of coronavirus in Kosovo.

Kosovo, Serbia leaders to meet in Brussels on Thursday (media)

Diplomatic sources in Brussels told Koha on Monday that Kosovo Prime Minister Hoti, Serbian President Vucic and PM Brnabic have been invited to a meeting in Brussels on Thursday.

The meeting is expected to mark the continuation of the dialogue.

Koha's headline notes: Brussels rushes to organise meeting of dialogue before Washington.

Kosovo Prime Minister's Office confirmed to Gazeta Express that Hoti will travel to Brussels. The news website covers the news under the headline "The race for dialogue, Lajcak beats Grenell to it".

The Kosovo - Serbia dialogue resumes on Thursday in Brussels, Radio Free Europe cites unofficial sources in Prishtina and Brussels as saying.

Lajmi news website covers the news under the headline: A rushed meeting for dialogue, Hoti goes to Brussels.

Hoti reveals details of upcoming trip to Brussels (media)

Prime Minister of Kosovo Avdullah Hoti spoke about the topics that are to be discussed in the upcoming trip to Brussels on June 25.

Hoti said that he is set to meet President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel, Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi, and chairman of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee David McAllister.

"We will discuss about steps we have undertaken in the fight against Covid-19, the EC support for economic recovery, as well as visa liberalisation for the citizens of Kosovo, a process which has stalled not because of our failure to fulfill standards," Hoti said in a Facebook post.

Thaci: Washington meeting will be very difficult (RTK/Telegrafi)

President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci said that he expects the meeting in Washington to open a new chapter towards resolution of problems between Kosovo and Serbia.

Speaking to RTK, Thaci said that the guiding principle for Kosovo will be its Constitution.

"I hope we will achieve more than what the skeptics expect. The meeting will have difficulties, it will be very hard because, unfortunately, Serbia still continues looking to the past and focuses little on the future. At the same time, it views Kosovo in the aspect of a myth and false history and not the reality of an independent and sovereign Kosovo," Thaci said.

Borrell insists only “structured dialogue” is led by EU (Zeri)

European Union High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, said on Monday that the only structured dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia is the one brokered by the European Union. Borrell’s statement comes only a couple of days before delegations from Kosovo and Serbia will meet in Washington on June 27.

In his address at the German Marshall Fund forum, Borrell thanked the White House for its efforts to bring Kosovo and Serbia Presidents, Hashim Thaci and Aleksandar Vucic, to the table of talks. He said he is in no race with the U.S. to “get the medal” for the Balkans but said that only the leads a structured dialogue in the dispute.

Borrell insists that the EU needs to play a decisive role in the process because the problem between the two sides is near the European bloc. “If we don’t manage to resolve this problem, then we won’t be able to say we are an international political actor,” he said. “I am confident that Macron and Merkel will help bring the parties to the table. The solution does not come from another party, but from the negotiating table between the two parties. If the White House can help, I will be happy, but I insist that I am not in a race to get the medal”.

Lajcak in Belgrade: Dialogue to continue without delay (RFE)

The European Union’s Special Representative for the Kosovo – Serbia Dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, said in Belgrade today that he expects the process of dialogue in Brussels to resume in July. After meeting Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Lajcak told reporters: “I am ready and fully committed to continue to the dialogue without further delay and to help the two sides to work on an agreement that will normalise their relations and resolve all outstanding issues, an agreement that will be acceptable for both the region and the European Union”.

Serbian President Vucic said he expects the process of dialogue to resume as soon as possible and that it is up to Lajcak to set the dates. He also said that Lajcak can guarantee objectivity and impartiality in the process but that “the topics are painful for us and compromise solutions can never be easy for Serbia”.

Vucic said he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday and that he expects another meeting with EU representatives in Brussels before the meeting with the Kosovo delegation at the White House on June 27. “We certainly won’t have easy days, there will be no easy issues for Serbia, but I hope that we will manage to protect our vital and national interests,” Vucic told reporters.

Vucic also said he respects US Presidential Envoy Richard Grenell’s efforts for cooperation between Prishtina and Belgrade, “but for us there is no dilemma and we are committed to the dialogue facilitated by the European Union”.

U.S. Ambassador Kosnett’s interview to Klan Kosova

The U.S. Ambassador to Kosovo Philip Kosnett reiterated that the focus of the upcoming meeting between Kosovo and Serbia representatives in Washington will be economic cooperation.

"We have made it clear that the focus of dialogue in this meeting will be economic and our European friends in the beginning will focus on political relations between Kosovo and Serbia," he said.

Kosnett confirmed that the mutual recognition between Kosovo and Serbia should be at the centre of a future agreement and that the U.S. was not pursuing the land swap idea.

"Any comprehensive agreement between Kosovo and Serbia should enjoy the wide support of citizens in both countries and it is clear, I have said it before, there is very little interest in Kosovo about exchange of territories and Ambassador Grenell has made it very clear this is not an idea that is pursued by the United States and was never the goal of the Trump administration," Kosnett said.

Kosnett however did not wish to comment on the possible outcome of the White House meeting saying that "we will have to wait and see what happens."

Asked to comment on reports that the U.S. was considering pulling out its peacekeeping troops from Kosovo, Kosnett said that he didn't think anyone believed that KFOR will exist forever. "If relations between Kosovo and Serbia improve, tensions reduce, if a ceasefire is reached in the region, then there would be one less reason for KFOR to remain here and it would be a success when that day comes."

Haradinaj: Three key principles in dialogue with Serbia (media)

Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) leader Ramush Haradinaj told reporters in Prishtina on Monday that Kosovo must uphold three key principles in the dialogue with Serbia: territorial integrity, the unitary character of power in Kosovo and respect for the Constitution. “These are the three principles with which the Alliance supports the Kosovo delegation in the dialogue,” he said.

Asked who will lead the Kosovo delegation in Washington, the Prime Minister or the President, Haradinaj said: “I think it will be Ambassador Grenell”.

Haradinaj also said: “a guarantee for us is that the United States is leading the dialogue. We hope the two-decades-long knot will be united. We expect there will be mutual recognition in the existing borders”.

VV MP: Thaci has violated Constitution, Hoti unprepared for dialogue (Klan)

Hajrullah Ceku, Vetevendosje MP, said in an interview with Klan Kosova that they have submitted to the Constitutional Court a case against President Hashim Thaci over his failure to announce extraordinary mayoral elections in Podujeve and Mitrovica.

Ceku said that Thaci has argued elections cannot take place due to the pandemic but at the same time Serbian elections did take place in the territory of Kosovo.

He also said that the current government of Kosovo has no legitimacy and cannot represent Kosovo in the dialogue with Serbia. "The so-called prime minister along with a president whose approval rating is at 18 percent will be the bearers of a process which is not transparent, we don't know its agenda," Ceku said adding that a dialogue process that has no consensus cannot produce any effects.

"I am sure Hoti knows nothing, the only thing he knows is that there will be a meeting. He is unprepared and doesn't know what to expect," Ceku said in connection to the upcoming meeting in Washington between Kosovo and Serbia.

“Thaci’s another term in office believed to be damaging” (Koha)

Members of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) that did not vote in favor of Vjosa Osmani’s dismissal have expressed their concerns that their party’s decision is aimed at paving way to President Hashim Thaci’s another term in office, the news website reported on Monday.