UNMIK Media Observer, Morning Edition, May 24, 2023

Extension of UK commitment to NATO's Kosovo Force announced during ministerial visit to Western Balkans (gov.uk)
2 US Senators promote closer Serbia-Kosovo ties in Balkans visit (AP)
Atic appoints four directors - one Albanian, one Bosnian, one Serb and one Egyptian (media)
Mayors in northern municipalities expected to swear in on Thursday (media)
June 1, “trap” for destabilization of the north (Radio Free Europe)
Why is Mogherini silent about the letter she once sent to Mustafa? (RTK)
Vucic: Kosovo has no competence to propose statute for Association (Reporteri)
Decani Monastery says visit of diplomats is support for 24 hectares (Reporteri)
Kosovo Ex-Guerrilla Leaders’ Trial Hears Allegations of Assault (BIRN)
Director of Visametric in Kosovo Detained by Prosecution (Prishtina Insight)
Inverted neon house installed in Kosovo pavilion at Venice Architecture Biennale (Dezeen)

Extension of UK commitment to NATO's Kosovo Force announced during ministerial visit to Western Balkans (gov.uk)

The UK’s contribution to the NATO Kosovo Force (KFOR) Mission in Kosovo will continue until at least 2026, the Minister for the Armed Forces, James Heappey, has announced during a visit to the region.

During today’s visit to Pristina, he held conversations with Kosovo’s President, Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu, and Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, as well as discussions with Defence Minister Armend Mehaj, and Commander of the KFOR Mission.

Kosovo is an important partner, with the UK having been the first country to recognise its independence in 2008, and UK forces have been undertaking a key role in peacekeeping and bolstering security in the region for more than two decades.

Read more at: https://shorturl.at/AKUY0

Atic appoints four directors - one Albanian, one Bosnian, one Serb and one Egyptian (media)

Mitrovica North Mayor, Erden Atic, has appointed four directors in his cabinet, two of them are women and two men. Atic announced that Anesa Colakovic has been appointed director for Culture, Youth and Sport. "Anesa has completed her master's studies in international development at Ohio University in the USA and has experience with international and non-governmental organizations in the field of youth culture and sports," he said.

Vid Janicijevic has been appointed as director of Education, with Atic saying "he is a researcher of history and archaeology".

Shenaj Llapashtica was appointed director for Urbanism, Cadaster and Geodesy. "Shenaj studied architecture at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in Istanbul, Turkey. Shenaj Llapashtica has many years of work experience in the cadaster and urbanism directorate," wrote Atic.

Jeton Rrahman was appointed as director for Local Communities and Returns. "Jeton is a law researcher, he comes from the ranks of the Egyptian community. His long community-based activism has made him intimately familiar with the socio-economic issues of communities," Atic said.

Mayors in three northern municipalities expected to swear in on Thursday (media)

Secretary of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Betim Gjoshi, confirmed to Kosovapress on Tuesday that the new mayors of the northern municipalities of Leposavic, Zubin Potok and Zvecan, are expected to swear in on Thursday at 10:00, not in public premises of municipalities and not in the municipal assemblies. The Ministry of Local Government meanwhile has said that they will soon the date of the swearing-in ceremonies.

June 1, “trap” for destabilization of the north (Radio Free Europe)

“No one is attacking Serbs in the north of Kosovo”. This was the reaction from the Kosovo government to the Serbian List’s request for Prime Minister Albin Kurti to stop “the repression”.

Even though this party – the biggest of Serbs in Kosovo – did not offer any evidence for the mentioned repression, it warned that if it doesn’t stop, starting from June 1, Serbs would “protect themselves with all means”. The warnings were made on May 19 when Edin Atic from the Vetevendosje Movement swore in as mayor of Mitrovica North, a Serb-majority municipality.

The Serbian List did not specify what “protect with all means” implies, but Verolub Petronic, from the Human Centre in Mitrovica, believes that this has most likely to do with civic protests.

Aleksandar Popov, director of the Centre for Regionalism in Novi Sad, said that Kosovo’s authorities need to be careful and “not create any cause” for unrest in the north of Kosovo.

Some Kosovo MPs, on the other hand, argue that the warning of the Serbian List is a threat against Kosovo’s authorities.

The leadership of the Serbian List argued that “the invasion of the north” started with taking the post of Mitrovica North mayor. The SL said that “repression” is the process of expropriation in the north by the Kosovo government, the holding of local elections in the region and the penal prosecution or arrests of Serbs by the Kosovo authorities”.

Atic is one of the Albanian mayors in the Serb-majority municipalities in the north. They won the extraordinary elections last month, after the Serb community boycotted them.

SL deputy leader Igor Simic told a press conference on May 19: “This invasion, just like any other, has its beginning and end. It will end when the Serbs want this”.

He did not answer to questions of reporters what means they plan to use but said that Serbs have been faced with “institutional violence” for a long time.

The Kosovo government meanwhile says that “the Kosovo Serbs, especially those in the north of the country, are mostly threatened by the Serbian List and criminal groups that work on Belgrade’s orders”.

“Respect for the law and constitutionality do not constitute a threat for our citizens that are interested in order and municipal services. Both have been lacking because of the actions and interests of the Serbian List … We want rule of law and respect for democracy which guarantees peace and security,” the Prime Minister’s Office told the news website.

Why is Mogherini silent about the letter she once sent to Mustafa? (RTK)

The competences of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities remain a big question mark, at a time of increased international pressure for the quick formation of the association.

What stands out is the silence of former EU High Representative, Federica Mogherini, who a day before signing the agreement on the main elements of the Association, had sent a "guarantee" to then Kosovo Prime Minister Isa Mustafa that this mechanism would not be a third level of governance and would not have any executive powers.

Now, Mogherini is silent about this letter. RTK sent an email with a request to comment on this decision of hers at the time and the effect that this EU promise produces in the current circumstances, but received no answer from Mogherini.

Visar Xani, a political commentator, and once part of the team of technical talks between Kosovo and Serbia, in Brussels, says that Kosovo risks going out of the previously reached agreements of the guarantee of the former diplomat, Mogherini.

"It is all right if those obligations that were assumed earlier are implemented in that spirit. If we come up with proposals, Serbia with a proposal, Kosovo with a proposal, I think that the time is coming for a new compromise, and I am afraid that any compromise beyond these two agreements and Mogherini's letter, could possibly lead us to legal and constitutional changes," Xani said.

Arsim Bajrami, professor at Prishtina University, said Mogherini’s letter has the same legal value as all the agreements reached in Brussels.

"The European Union must be fair with Kosovo because it has given guarantees that the Association will not have executive powers. Mogherini's letter together with the 33 agreements signed in Brussels are equivalent and legally, there is a legal obligation to be implemented. Mogeerhini's correspondence with Isa Mustafa has a binding character and the EU must accept the obligations that are inherited," he said.

Mogherini in her letter indicated that the Association of Municipalities with a Serb Majority will be in harmony with the First Agreement and the laws of Kosovo. The letter that Mogherini had sent to former Prime Minister Mustafa, on August 24, 2015, contains the EU's commitment that the Association will not be constituted as a third level of government and will not have executive powers.

Vucic: Kosovo has no competence to propose statute for Association (Reporteri)

U.S. Envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, said he expects Kosovo to propose the material for the implementation of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic opposed Escobar’s statement on Tuesday, in an appearance on the Radio Television of Serbia. He asked Escobar to read the Brussels agreement between Kosovo and Serbia for the Association - which according to Vucic’s interpretation of Vucic "Kosovo has no right to propose something else," apart from the version signed in Brussels a decade ago.

"Read what is written in the Brussels Agreement and its annexes, in principle. The authorities of Pristina have no authority or competence," Vucic said.

Decani Monastery says visit of diplomats is support for 24 hectares (Reporteri)

The Decani Monastery came out with a statement after the visit of 30 heads of international missions, ambassadors and diplomats accredited in Kosovo. The monastery interpreted this visit as support for the disputed 24 hectares, saying that the institutions of Kosovo are not implementing the decision of the Constitutional Court of 2016.

“Today, we had the distinct honor of welcoming thirty international heads of mission, ambassadors, and other diplomats accredited in Kosovo to the Visoki Decani Monastery. The immediate occasion for this gathering was to reaffirm strong international support for the implementation of the 2016 Kosovo Constitutional Court's decision concerning the land of the Decani Monastery, a ruling that has regrettably still not been enforced by Kosovo authorities. This court ruling was decisively supported by the Quint countries' ambassadors as well as by the heads of mission of the EU and OSCE a few days ago, on its 7th-year anniversary. Furthermore, this gathering served as an opportunity to express strong support for the rule of law and respect for religious freedom for all communities in Kosovo,” the statement notes.

Kosovo Ex-Guerrilla Leaders’ Trial Hears Allegations of Assault (BIRN)

The seventh witness in the war crimes and crimes against humanity trial of former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and three other former guerrilla leaders told the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague on Tuesday that he suffered psychologically after he was injured by KLA fighters.

“For two years I constantly saw a psychologist,” the witness, who was testifying anonymously, told the court.

According to the witness, he used to work in agriculture but was no longer able to do so after his injury.

The witness also claimed that his car had been taken by KLA soldiers and that he had not received any compensation for it.

The majority of his testimony was held in a closed session to protect his identity, and it was not clear when or where the alleged assault took place.

So far the majority of the trial of Thaci and his co-defendants Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi, and Jakup Krasniqi – all former Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA leaders who later became senior politicians – has been held in closed sessions.