UNMIK Media Observer, Morning Edition, March 5, 2025

Albanian Language Media:

Osmani discusses security and stability with KFOR Commander (media)
Postal vote counting completed, here’s how the Diaspora voted (media)
Zulfaj responds to Brnabic: Prime Minister Kurti does not own any media (media)
Serb opposition in Kosovo warns Serbs being mobilized to defend Vucic (RFE)
“From April 1, Kosovo-North Macedonia crossing without double stops” (media)

Serbian Language Media:

Vucic: Scenes in the Parliament have not been seen since the establishment of multi-party politics (RTS, TV Pink, NMagazin, media)
Opposition blames government for chaos in parliament (RTS, N1)
Faculty of Drama Arts student: "One hundred days of blockade, not a single request fulfilled, the assembly today was like a circus" (N1)
UN Security Council session on the situation in BiH on Thursday (Kosovo Online, RTRS)
Citizens of the region on the same mission: Boycotting retail chains for fairer prices (Kosovo Online)

International Media:

Kosovo’s prime minister again refuses to testify at prosecutor’s office for a corruption case (AP)
Drita Hajdari: Pioneering prosecutor who battled injustice in Kosovo (BIRN)

Albanian Language Media

Osmani discusses security and stability with KFOR Commander (media)

Kosovo’s President, Vjosa Osmani, met on Tuesday with the commander of NATO’s mission in Kosovo (KFOR), Enrico Barduani, to discuss security and stability in Kosovo and the region. The meeting also focused on coordinating activities ahead of the upcoming visit of NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to Kosovo. Rutte is expected to visit Kosovo on March 11, marking his first visit since assuming the role of NATO Secretary General.

According to a statement from the Kosovo Presidency, President Osmani emphasized the critical role of KFOR in maintaining peace and security in Kosovo. “Our continent is facing a complex geopolitical situation that requires close cooperation and constant coordination with our allies,” Osmani stated.

A few weeks ago, Rutte highlighted that stability in Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia is in everyone’s best interest and expressed confidence that there will be no dramatic shift in the U.S. commitment to the NATO alliance.

Postal vote counting completed, here’s how the Diaspora voted (media)

The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Kosovo has finalized the counting of postal votes and updated the official results on its website after 100% of ballot boxes were processed. The counting process concluded on Tuesday afternoon. The final results from the diaspora votes are as follows:

Vetevendosje Movement (LVV) leads with 31,963 votes (51.57%); Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) follows with 18,933 votes (30.55%); Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) has received 5,878 votes (9.48%); The AAK-Nisma coalition secured 2,000 votes (3.23%)

A total of over 15,000 people voted in diplomatic representations, while more than 68,700 cast their votes by mail.

Zulfaj responds to Brnabic: Prime Minister Kurti does not own any media (media)

With articles from Kosovo's media in her hands that reported on developments full of tensions and clashes in the Serbian parliament, the Speaker of the Serbian Parliament, Ana Brnabic, told the opposition there that they have become stars of the media in Kosovo, which she called Albin Kurti's media, using also a pejorative name for Albanians.

Jeton Zulfaj, advisor to the Prime Minister of Kosovo, reacted to this statement by the Serbian Speaker of the Parliament. He said that the Kosovo Prime Minister does not own the media, while he also attached a few seconds of video with news from major international media outlets that have reported on the tense situation in the Serbian parliament. "A clarification for Ana Brnabic: We are a democracy. Prime Minister Albin Kurti does not own any media," Zulfaj wrote in his reaction to the statements of the Speaker of the Serbian Parliament.

Serb opposition in Kosovo warns Serbs being mobilized to defend Vucic (RFE)

Serb organizations and opposition politicians in Kosovo have warned that some Kosovo Serbs will go to Belgrade next week to create a “human shield” at the Presidency of the Republic of Serbia to “protect” Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. According to them, behind this organization is the Serbian List which enjoys the support of Belgrade and Vucic.

Radio Free Europe could not independently confirm the allegations, while Serb citizens who said they had knowledge of these plans did not want to speak in public.

The National Movement of Kosovo Serbs, the Serb National Forum and the Serb National Council said in a joint statement in late February that the Serbian List was preparing to send Serbs from Kosovo to Belgrade to “protect” Vucic. They claimed to have “credible information” that around 500 Serbs from Kosovo plan to raise tents in front of the Serbian Presidency in Belgrade and to obstruct a protest announced for March 15.

Nenad Radosavljevic from the Serb National Forum told RFE that they got this information from people on the ground. “Some people are brave enough to share their information with the people who are on the right side,” he said. He also said that the alleged plan of Serbian authorities is to “provoke a major incident in Belgrade” and a reaction by the police with the aim of “protecting Serbs from Kosovo who came only to support President Vucic”. “This is dangerous but I hope that the police will not fall for this,” he argued.

“From April 1, Kosovo-North Macedonia crossing without double stops” (media)

The Speaker of the Parliament of North Macedonia, Afrim Gashi, said that from April 1, the border crossing system with a single stop between Kosovo and North Macedonia, the same as between Kosovo and Albania, is expected to come into force. “Based on the information I have, I think the preparations are final. The equipment, the software are being tested, we are talking about finalizing in the technical aspect. In the political, administrative, protocol aspect, everything is in order”, Gashi said.

“If you depart from Skopje, the stop will only be made in Han i Elezit, without stopping in Blace, while when you come from Pristina to Skopje, the stop will only be made at the entrance to North Macedonia. The data will be shared between the two police stations, and this will greatly speed up the traffic”, Gashi said.

Serbian Language Media

Vucic: Scenes in the Parliament have not been seen since the establishment of multi-party politics (RTS, TV Pink, NMagazin, media)

''We are waiting to hear what the prosecution will say, but we will not rest until those who did this are held accountable,'' said President Aleksandar Vucic on the occasion of yesterday's session of the Serbian Parliament, reported RTS.

Vucic stated that yesterday was a difficult day for Serbia, for every normal citizen of this country, due to "thuggish and hooligan behavior" and scenes that have not been seen since the establishment of multi-party politics.

Vucic told TV Pink that he will seek criminal liability for those responsible for the scenes.

"We are waiting to hear what the prosecution will say, but we will not rest until those who did this are held accountable," said Vucic among other things.

Opposition blames government for chaos in parliament (RTS, N1)

The opposition MPs blamed the government for the atmosphere in parliament. They claim that it is a reflection of the political and social crisis.

Milos Jovanovic, the chairman of the "Nada - Novi DSS - POKS" parliamentary group, announced several options at a press conference in the parliament hall for today's continuation of the session – to be in the hall and block the process, to be at the EXPO construction site, and that they could also go to the airport.

Jovanovic reiterated that he is calling for the formation of a transitional government, claiming that the fall of the canopy showed that the government does not deserve to lead the country.

The head of the parliamentary group of the People's Movement of Serbia, Miroslav Aleksic, called out Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic for being the most responsible for what happened in parliament, because she allowed work without conditions and "forcefully" continued to hold the session.

Aleksic said that if this morning, at the beginning of the session, they noted the resignation of Milos Vucevic and the Serbian Government, explaining that this is done without a debate and without a vote and that this means that there were no ministers, no government proposals, no laws, and that therefore the opposition parties' proposal was to put only the item concerning higher education on the agenda, and to withdraw all other items.

The chairman of the Green-Left Front parliamentary group, Radomir Lazovic, said that what happened at the session was not appropriate, but that it was, in his opinion, "an appropriate response to the institutional violence that has been carried out against the citizens of Serbia for 12 years."

Lazovic said that the opposition brought in about a dozen smoke devices, and that he and MP Dobrica Veselinovic activated a fire extinguisher, adding that he and his colleagues are always available to the judicial authorities.

He added that he hoped that all the injured MPs would be okay and claimed that SNS MP Zika Gojkovic injured an SNS MP.

Lekovic pointed out that a government in resignation cannot propose laws and that nothing could be on the agenda other than meeting the students' demands and confirming the government's resignation.

The chairman of the parliamentary group of the Movement of Free Citizens, Pavle Grbovic, said that what happened in the Parliament was inappropriate, but that the government in resignation lacks capacity and legitimacy, and that the government that proposed more than eight laws in such a status had carried out a "coup d'état" that they had to "oppose with all possible means".

Grbovic also added that the idea of a transitional government does not represent an attempt by the opposition to come to power without elections, but to resolve the social crisis without victims.

Faculty of Drama Arts student: "One hundred days of blockade, not a single request fulfilled, the assembly today was like a circus" (N1)

"We welcomed and celebrated one hundred days of the blockade of the Faculty of Drama Arts (FDU), without any demands being fulfilled," Teona Milicevic, a student at that faculty, told N1.

"The blockade of Art Boulevard passed without incident, the action lasted 100 minutes, including 15 minutes of silence for those killed in Novi Sad and 85 for our days in the blockade. We met those 100 days, although no one expected the blockade to last so long. We hope that the students' demands will be met so that we don't have to wait for the next jubilee," Milicevic said in N1's Day Live programme.

When asked why the requests were not met, guest of N1 said:

"Because they require the institutions to do their job. Obviously, we hit a niche that brings with it other things that don't work. Therefore, we are still waiting."

The FDU believes that the program of RTS should not be followed, but for yesterday's events at the session of the Serbian Parliament, which was broadcasted on the RTS2, Milicevic said that it "looked like a circus".

"We have declared a media war on RTS, and it is still going on, but for this event today I can say that it resembled a circus, quite creepy and shameful. And to all the statements that were made today, I can say for the 100th time in 100 days that we absolutely distance ourselves from every political actor, organization or party and that comments (like the one that the government wants to fulfill the students' demands) arrive very late and have no weight," Milicevic stressed.

According to her, the best thing in the situation that happened in the parliament had to be that they needed to leave the session.

"And not for them to continue with the uncivilized behavior that we are fighting against," she added.

When asked how they see RTS' reporting on the blockades at the FDU, Milicevic said that the public service "more didn't report, than it did".

"All this can be viewed in FDU 'Dnevnik' (News). We, as students, have decided to create a real diary that will objectively convey information about what is happening at the student blockades. The journal is published on a weekly basis. Until the demands are met and RTS starts objectively reporting on student blockades, the FDU Dnevnik will continue," she said.

UN Security Council session on the situation in BiH on Thursday (Kosovo Online, RTRS)

The session of the United Nations Security Council on the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be held on Thursday, reported Kosovo Online, citing sources of RTRS from New York.

Allegedly the session will be held at the request of Russia, due to the political situation in BiH and the session will be closed to the public.

The situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina worsened after the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina sentenced the President of the RS, Milorad Dodik, to one year in prison, along with a six-year ban on political activity for disobeying the decisions of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The National Assembly of Republika Srpska then adopted laws prohibiting the jurisdiction of the Court and the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council and the state Agency for Investigation and Protection - SIPA, on the territory of that entity.

Citizens of the region on the same mission: Boycotting retail chains for fairer prices (Kosovo Online)

Calls to boycott major retail chains have been met with varying degrees of public response across the region in recent weeks, as citizens express their dissatisfaction with high prices—particularly of food products. Speaking to Kosovo Online from Pristina, Belgrade, Tirana, and Skopje, interviewees pointed out that public trust in price formation and free trade has been eroded, and that the boycott is seen as a means to fight for fairer prices. While no significant changes have occurred yet, people remain cautiously hopeful that prices will drop—though not drastically.

Although some believe that food prices in Kosovo are not the highest in the region, citizens of Pristina still consider them expensive.

"It's quite expensive, but I hope things will improve. A boycott could influence prices," said Aden Bislimi from Pristina to Kosovo Online reporters.

Shoppers in Skopje remain skeptical. Even if prices do drop, one local woman believes the reductions will be insignificant.

"Prices have gone down by one or two denars. What difference does that make?" she said with frustration.

Kosovo Online reporters compared the prices of a 100-gram Milka Oreo chocolate bar across the region, revealing that it is most expensive in Belgrade.

In Skopje, the price ranges from 65 denars (1.06 EUR) to 1.45 EUR, in Kosovo from 1.19 EUR to 1.79 EUR, while in major retail chains in Belgrade, it costs between 219.99 RSD (1.87 EUR) and 249.99 RSD (2.13 EUR)—twice as expensive as in Skopje!

Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/mr22d2jm

International Media

Kosovo’s prime minister again refuses to testify at prosecutor’s office for a corruption case (AP)

Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti on Tuesday again refused to report to the Special Prosecutor’s Office that had summoned him as a witness in an alleged corruption case of state reserves.

Kurti, who was first summoned in December and refused, instead has said they can take his testimony at his office. He is not accused in the case but other officials are. Few details have been made publicly available.

The prime minister has said he considers the prosecutor’s request to be politically driven.

“It is using and abusing its freedom to fight the government, not crime and corruption. I have always been ready to testify,” Kurti told journalists.

The prosecutors’ governing body and chief prosecutor supported the request to summon Kurti and denounced his allegations of taking political sides, adding that his words “seriously damage the functioning of the democratic institutions.”