• Public Health Institute: 11 new cases of COVID-19 (media)
• Authorities urged to instigate death of young man in quarantine centre (media)
• Kurti: Govt was brought down because they want a quick agreement to divide territories (media)
• Bajrami: Court must rule in line with people's will (Infokusi)
• Hooper: Grenell to convince EU on Kosovo-Serbia agreement (VoA, RTK)
• Vucic foresees protests and riots in Kosovo (media)
• In less than a month, Serbia imported €12.4 million worth of goods to Kosovo (Koha)

Kosovo Media Highlights

Public Health Institute: 11 new cases of COVID-19 (media)

All media reported on Sunday that the National Institute for Public Health announced in a statement that another 11 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed.

The new cases are from the municipalities of Prizren, Mitrovica South and Leposavic.

The Institute also announced that 18 patients have been declared as having recovered from the virus over the last day.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in Kosovo currently is 850.

Authorities urged to instigate death of young man in quarantine centre (media)

Kosovo authorities have been urged to investigate circumstances that led to the death of a 26-year-old man at the quarantine centre in Pristina.

Kosovo leaders expressed condolences to the family of the victim and called for accountability from relevant institutions.

Acitng Prime Minister Albin Kurti forensic medicine expressed condolences to the family of the victim and called on law enforcement agencies to uncover the circumstances of the death of this 26-year-old man as soon as possible.

The victim was found at the compound of the centre after suspected of having fallen off the fifth floor of the building. He had recently returned from Germany and was put under quarantine measures at the student dormitory in Pristina.

Kurti: Govt was brought down because they want a quick agreement to divide territories (media)

Kosovo's caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in a video message to the people on Sunday that his government was brought down "because they want a quick agreement to declare a state of emergency and to divide territories".

Kurti said that all stakeholders instead of coming together to fight the coronavirus threat, they joined forces to bring down the government.

He argued that a political crisis is both unreasonable and unnecessary. "The opposition and the President did not see the virus as a threat against the people but as an opportunity for their benefits. The President, the opposition and our coalition partner joined forces to add a political crisis to the health crisis. The political crisis was both unreasonable and unnecessary," he said.

According to Kurti, the government was brought down because of its fight against corruption.

Highlighting the work of his government in its first three months, Kurti said they dismissed illegally appointed ambassadors and councils, and that they dimissed boards of public enterprises that were operating with losses. "Public enterprises had turned into family businesses," he said.

Kurti said his government lifted the 100 percent import tariff on Serbian products and replaced it with reciprocity measures.

Kurti criticised the ongoing efforts to create a new government. He added that the focus should now be on the fight against the pandemic "and then we can focus on elections for the government".

Bajrami: Court must rule in line with people's will (Infokusi)

Arsim Bajrami, one of the authors of the Constitution of Kosovo and professor at the Faculty of Law in Prishtina, told the news website on Sunday that the Constitutional Court made the right decision to introduce an interim measure on President Thaci's decree for a new Prime Minister candidate.

Bajrami said he expects the court will rule in favor of early general elections "because the people always decide and everything depends on the people". He also argued that any other solution would send Kosovo into further crisis.

Hooper: Grenell to convince EU on Kosovo-Serbia agreement (VoA, RTK)

Former U.S. diplomat and expert on Balkans James Hooper told Voice of America in Serbian that the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy Richard Grenell has two months, respectively May and June to convince the EU to adjust positions.

“If the U.S. Special Envoy does not manage to convince the EU on the already reached agreement, the possibility to end confrontation between Serbia and Kosovo will end,” Hooper said. According to him, the EU should accept ‘the territorial component.’

Richard Grenell has recently stated that he is continuing to work in advancing reach of a comprehensive agreement.

According to Hooper, internal political maneuvers in Pristina and Belgrade ‘do not represent an obstacle for a comprehensive agreement between the parties.’ Furthermore, he considers that the following months could be determinant.

He however added that the main key on many issues, stands with the European Union.

“Grenell should help for the EU to accept an agreement which contains territorial component. Serbia also insists on EU membership, as part of the comprehensive agreement,” Hooper said.

He said that Serbia and the EU, respectively Germany, stand on opposite sides of the ‘project-proposal reached between the Presidents Thaci and Vucic.

“It appears that it is easier for Vucic to convince Thaci than the German Chancellor Angela Merkel to accept their agreement. This was not an expected result of the negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo,” Hooper said.

Vucic foresees protests and riots in Kosovo (media)

The President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic told Serbia’s national broadcaster that ‘major riots are expected in Pristina. Legitimacy is shaken there.’

Commenting the attempts to form the new government in Kosovo, Vucic noted that the agreement is being reached without Albin Kurti, who has majority of votes.

“Here stands the problem with legitimacy. I do not look forward to turbulences in Pristina, we will have them also partner in dialogue,” Vucic said. Vucic also informed on Sunday that he had a telephone conversation with the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue Richard Grenell and with the EU’s Special Envoy Miroslav Lajcak. However, he did not inform about the concrete details of these conversations.

He however stressed that he would want creation of conditions for free movement of goods. “We will have many problems, it will not be easy,” Vucic said.

In less than a month, Serbia imported €12.4 million worth of goods to Kosovo (Koha)

Over a period of less than one month, since the government of Kosovo lifted the import tariff and introduced reciprocity measures to Serbia, the latter has imported to Kosovo goods worth 12.4 million, of which the majority is raw material.

At the same time, records indicate that Kosovo has exported to Serbia goods in the value of €0.7 million.