• Kurti’s advisor says Open Balkan equals Broken Balkan (media)
• Open Balkan: Leaders commit to more effective implementation of freedom of movement measures (EWB)
• Tahiri: Rama contributing to creation of Greater Serbia and instability (media)
• President Osmani meets Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Montgomery (media)
• Haxhiu: Thaci and Veseli refused to meet us in the Hague (media)
• COVID-19: 14 new cases, no deaths (media)
• High infection rates in the region, a threat for Kosovo too (RFE)
• Environmental degradation by hydropower plants (preportr.cohu.org)
• Kosovo street art exhibit calls for action on wartime missing persons (BIRN)
• Western Balkans economies recover faster than expected (ebrd.com)

Kurti’s advisor says Open Balkan equals Broken Balkan (media)

Jeton Zulfaj, political advisor to Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, took to Twitter on Thursday to say that the Open Balkan initiative equals a Broken Balkan. “The Common Regional Market (CRM) is the only regional platform under the Berlin Process, supported by & based on EU rules, endorsed by all WB6 & Berlin Process members. Anything outside Berlin Process & EU serves only those interested in a Broken Balkan,” Zulfaj tweeted.

Open Balkan: Leaders commit to more effective implementation of freedom of movement measures (EWB)

Leaders of Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia met with the business community representatives in Belgrade today in the context of the Open Balkan initiative, after which they stressed that a more effective implementation of the free movement commitments to in the Western Balkans is needed. They announced that the next meeting will be held in Tirana in December.

President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic said at the joint press conference that the business people were fully supportive initiative. “However, what is, I would say, frustrating, is the fact that what we agreed, we weren’t able to fully implement. This is why we agreed today on how we will do this in the future”, Vucic said.

He announced that the leaders had agreed on the formation of the Implementation Council and that, in the next seven to ten days, meetings will be held between the customs agencies, phytosanitary and veterinary inspections of the three countries in order to analyse how the movement of goods is advancing.

Vucic said that the services and digital transformation were also the topics of the meeting and he thanked the Atlantic Council for providing the expertise in this area. “Our job in the coming period is to see where we have fallen short, and we have received the examples of our business people, who said that, if they want to export milk to North Macedonia and arrive at the border on Friday, they have to wait until Monday. This is unacceptable”, Vučić said, adding that this was happening despite the fact there are formal agreements between Serbia and North Macedonia and that, therefore, a review of the implementation was warranted.

Vucic also announced the next meeting within the initiative which is planned to be held in Tirana in December, following the Christmas day. He said that, at the meeting, a memorandum on understanding on working permits will be on the agenda, the aim of which will be to keep the people in the Western Balkans and not having to rely on foreign workers.

Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama said that the business community representatives asked the leaders to translate what was signed on the political level to reality at the border crossings. He also thanked the members of the Atlantic Council for their support for the initiative and announced that its study on the benefits of the economic integration of all six Western Balkan countries will be presented in Tirana. “We are committed and we have promised that in December in Tirana we are going to achieve concrete results so that, from January, there would be a great relaxation at the borders when it comes to the companies, to the distributors, and to the agriculture workers”, Rama said.

Deputy Prime Minister of North Macedonia Nikola Dimitrov, filling in for Zoran Zaev who announced his resignation as Prime Minister on Sunday, said that it would be a great benefit if trade barriers were eliminated, making the region more attractive to the investments. “The better we cooperate in the region, the easier it would be for us to convince the EU countries that we would not import problems, but produce solutions”, Dimitrov said.

He said that there are conditions for the political will expressed by the leaders about overcoming the current problems of trade in the region to be translated to legal solutions, that is international agreements that are missing.

“At our meeting in Tirana in December, we would like to announce a great number of wins”, Dimitrov said, adding that the inclusivity of the initiative is important and the more successful Open Balkan is, the easier it would be for it to attract other countries in the region.

Answering a question from a journalist, Edi Rama said that the Open Balkan was all-inclusive, but that Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia, which decided to move faster, will not be waiting for the other sceptical countries from the region.

Asked whether the participation of North Macedonia in the Open Balkan would be at risk should VMRO-DPMNE, which expressed reservations to the initiative, comes to power, Nikola Dimitrov said that for the citizens of North Macedonia, it is important to progress, which includes cooperation with the neighbours, whoever is in power. He stressed that it was important for the country to remain a part of the initiative.

Vucic said he will not justify to anybody whether the Open Balkan is a “part of this or that process, to avoid getting bad grades”. “Who wants to join (the Open Balkan) is welcome, nobody is forcing no one. You will see, in a couple of years, a difference between us and everybody else in terms of economic growth,” Vucic said.

Tahiri: Rama contributing to creation of Greater Serbia and instability (media)

Edita Tahiri, former Kosovo chief negotiator in talks with Serbia, argued on Thursday that Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama was contributing to the creation of a greater Serbia and instability in the region through the Open Balkan initiative.

Tahiri also criticised the European Union for failing to speed up the integration of the six countries of the Western Balkans and argued that the engagement of the United States would help find a solution “because Kosovo and Albania cannot overcome the pressure on their own”.

According to Tahiri, the Open Balkan initiative favors Serbian hegemony in the Balkans with help from Russia and that Rama and Vucic will be held accountable for the evil lurking in the Balkans.

President Osmani meets Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Montgomery (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani met on Thursday with the Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, Molly Montgomery, to discuss relations between Kosovo and the United States and the issue of Afghan citizens temporarily residing in Kosovo.

Osmani thanked Montgomery for the continued and invaluable contribution of the United States to Kosovo and the region, and also expressed the strong desire to step up engagement on a range of issues from security to diplomacy, a press release by Osmani’s office noted. Osmani said “Kosovo will continue to stand by our strongest and most reliable ally, and the decision on Afghans was just one testament to our commitment to this relationship. This decision was not just political, but it was also moral and people across Kosovo were proud to be able to contribute to this humanitarian effort.”

Osmani also said that the Biden administration “is one that truly understands Kosovo and is confident that this will only bring the two countries closer together in their cooperation in all fields, but especially in our Euro-Atlantic path. In particular, Osmani expressed Kosovo’s firm aspiration to ensure closer cooperation with NATO and to make sure that we maintain peace and stability in the face of increasing threats from malign influences in the region, as a step towards also joining the Alliance.”

Montgomery thanked Osmani her personal engagement in enabling the arrival of Afghans and expressed the United States’ gratitude to Kosovo’s institutions and its people for making them feel welcome. Both the United States government and the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo see the agreement on temporarily sheltering Afghans as a joint success.

Haxhiu: Thaci and Veseli refused to meet us in the Hague (media)

Kosovo’s Minister of Justice, Albulena Haxhiu, said in an interview with Dukagjini TV on Thursday that the Vetevendosje Movement was against the formation of the Specialist Chambers but that the court cannot be undone now.

Haxhiu said that representatives of the Ministry of Justice travelled to the Hague to meet the defendants from Kosovo there, but that Thaci and Veseli refused to meet them. “We had a visit at the Specialist Chambers. With the exception of Mr. Thaci and Mr. Veseli who did not want to meet with representatives of the Ministry of Justice, we met with Mr. Krasniqi, Mr. Selimi and Mr. Gucati,” she said.

Haxhiu said Kosovo is providing financial support and paying for the defense of the defendants at the Hague. “The Ministry of Justice is meeting the responsibilities it has toward them,” she added.

COVID-19: 14 new cases, no deaths (media)

14 new COVID-19 cases have been recorded in the last 24 hours in Kosovo. 16 persons recovered from the virus during this time. There are 443 active cases with COVID-19 in Kosovo.

High infection rates in the region, a threat for Kosovo too (RFE)

Naser Ramadani, head of Kosovo’s National Institute for Public Health, told the news website on Thursday that the epidemiological situation in Kosovo is unstable because of the high COVID-19 infection rates in the region. He said contributing to the unstable situation is the fact that the Delta variant of COVID-19, which is more contagious, is dominant in Kosovo.

Kosovo, in recent weeks, has seen a decline in the number of infected and victims. In the last 10 days, 163 new positive cases and three deaths from coronavirus have been recorded. Currently, there are about 440 active cases in Kosovo. The situation in the region meanwhile is different. On November 4, over 6,000 new positive cases and 64 victims were recorded in Serbia, over 1,000 cases and 32 victims in Bosnia, 550 cases and 16 victims in North Macedonia, over 700 cases and 6 victims in Montenegro.

Ramadani said that the epidemiological situation could worsen, in case of an increase in the number of new cases. He warns that such a thing could present a new overload for the health system and for health professionals. “This is why the National Institute for Public Health calls on all citizens to respect all measures, according to the decisions of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo,” he said. “We recommend that the responsible institutions closely monitor and take all necessary actions to implement measures to prevent and combat the pandemic. Our appeal consists in the need for increased care from all, to strictly respect physical distance, use masks, disinfect and ventilate premises, preventing and avoiding the possible further spread of the infection,” he said.

Healthcare professionals say that adhering to measures against the pandemic and vaccination are key elements to prevent the spread of the virus and the increase of new cases. An epidemiologist told the news website that the situation with the pandemic is unstable and that it could change. “We don’t know what awaits us. We cannot predict, but a new wave of infections is expected,” he said.

Environmental degradation by hydropower plants (preportr.cohu.org)

The construction of hydropower plants and the diverted water into pipes in some of the villages of Decan and Shterpce have caused many consequences. They are built in national parks, which are areas protected by law. Many hectares of river beds have been degraded and the water level in the river has decreased. The construction of hydropower plants has been followed by numerous legal violations. Some of them are operating illegally

The construction of hydropower plants in some municipalities of Kosovo has caused numerous environmental damages, as well as has disturbed residents in the areas where they were built. They were not initially informed which were the consequences of the constructions that were done near the rivers and the diverting of the rivers into pipes.

Preportr has visited several villages in the Municipality of Deçan and Shtërpcë to see up close the constructions that have been done across the rivers and in the surrounding area.

Traces of constructions in many of the places are still fresh. In many of these places can be seen degraded areas, landslides and places where forests have been cut down to build a pipeline.

Read full article at: https://bit.ly/3CMY9Ws

Kosovo street art exhibit calls for action on wartime missing persons (BIRN)

An installation of sculptures entitled ‘Find Me’ in the main square of the capital Pristina aims to encourage the authorities to step up the search for the remaining missing persons from the Kosovo war in the late 1990s.

Kosovo sculptor Eroll Murati’s sculptures, which are on display for the next two weeks in Pristina’s main Skanderbeg Square, are intended to symbolise missing persons’ pleas for their bodies to be found.

Over 1,600 people, mainly ethnic Albanians but also some Serbs, are still listed as missing from the 1998-99 Kosovo war.

Murati’s installation, entitled ‘Me Gjeni’ (‘Find Me’), urges state institutions to exert greater efforts to find the remaining missing persons.

“The idea is not to forget the missing persons from the war, and not to stop the search for them,” he told BIRN.

Western Balkans economies recover faster than expected (ebrd.com)

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has raised its forecast for the Western Balkans region to 6.4 per cent for 2021 in its latest Regional Economic Prospects (REP) report, published today.

This significant upward revision reflects better-than-expected output in the first half of the year and indications of continued growth momentum in the third quarter.

Industrial production and rising exports to the European Union (EU) are supporting growth in Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia and Serbia, while Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro are benefitting from a strong rebound in the hospitality sector over the summer months. The recovery is also being driven by the expansion of household consumption, enabled by growing remittances, increases in nominal wages and credit growth in most of the region’s economies.

Similar to other EBRD regions, in the Western Balkans, consumer prices have been rising gradually since the beginning of 2021 on the back of higher food and energy prices. Fiscal policy has remained accommodative and monetary policy rates are at historical lows to support the economy. The likelihood of tightening is increasing, however, amid persistent growth in prices and inflationary trends in the eurozone.

Ana Kresic, EBRD Regional Economist for the Western Balkans, said: “While the signs of economic recovery in the Western Balkans have been strong so far, significant uncertainties remain, in particular those connected to the future path of the pandemic and the potential worsening of external conditions.”

Economies across the EBRD regions are expected to grow by 5.5 per cent this year. While this is an upward revision of 1.3 percentage points from the June forecast following a strong performance in the first half of the year, the Bank also warns of risks ahead.

EBRD Chief Economist Beata Javorcik said: “This is a bittersweet recovery. The first half of 2021 brought a robust rebound. But we are now seeing growing cause for concern. While high commodity prices benefit exporters, they weigh heavily on the trade balances of importers. The supply of affordable energy as we enter the winter period is becoming a serious worry, especially as governments’ headroom is limited.”

Fiscal vulnerabilities have increased as governments have put in place large stimulus packages in response to the Covid-19 crisis. Public debt in the EBRD regions increased by an average of 13 percentage points of GDP since the end of 2019. While borrowing costs remain below pre-crisis levels in most economies, they have risen sharply in some countries.

Western Balkans ‒ country overview

Albania has posted positive economic growth for three consecutive quarters, driven by expanding domestic and external demand. Tourism rebounded strongly in the summer season 2021 with the number of foreign tourists nearly equalling pre-pandemic figures in the June-August period. The economy is expected to grow by 8.0 per cent in 2021 and by 3.7 per cent in 2022.

The economic performance of Bosnia and Herzegovina exceeded expectations in the second quarter of 2021 on the back a recovery in external markets and strong growth in domestic private consumption, supported by base effects. Exports of goods and services grew by more than 50 per cent in real terms year on year, thanks to the strong recovery in EU, its main export market. Short-term indicators of retail trade and industry point to the continued expansion of industrial production and services in the third quarter. The economy is expected to expand by 4.5 per cent in 2021 and 3.0 per cent in 2022.

Kosovo’s economy is recovering largely thanks to a supportive external sector. Exports of services ‒ more than four times goods exports prior to the pandemic ‒ doubled in the first seven months compared with the same period of 2020, mainly due to travel-related inflows. Goods exports grew strongly as well. Household consumption is being propped up by a growing inflow of remittances and credit expansion. The economy is forecast to grow by 7.7 per cent in 2021 and 4.5 in 2022.

The economy of Montenegro has started to recover strongly following one of the worst contractions in the EBRD regions in 2020. After a sluggish start, tourism picked up strongly in the summer, with the number of incoming foreign tourists and overnight stays in collective accommodation reaching around 85 per cent of 2019 levels in July-August. The government saw a significant boost in revenue over the summer months, propping up the fiscal accounts. GDP is forecast to grow by 12.3 per cent in 2021 and by 5.7 per cent in 2022.

A recovery is underway in North Macedonia, with growth driven by both domestic and external demand. Household consumption grew strongly, supported by increasing wages, credit growth and remittances (albeit still at relatively low levels compared with other regional economies). Exports of goods increased in both value and volume terms, in tandem with imports, driven by the recovery in the EU. The economy is forecast to grow by 4.0 per cent in both 2021 and 2022.

After a mild contraction in 2020, Serbia’s economy is growing strongly in 2021. The country’s strong expansion in exports and industry reflects the rebound in the eurozone, Serbia’s main trading partner, while robust household consumption growth has followed a period of pent-up demand. Foreign direct investment recovered in the first half of 2021, almost to 2019 levels, which should facilitate future growth. Inflation increased to 5.7 per cent year on year in September 2021. Monetary policy has remained accommodative, with the central bank’s main policy rate at an all-time low of 1 per cent. The Serbian economy is forecast to grow by 6.5 per cent in 2021 and by 4.3 per cent in 2022.