Albanian Language Media:

• Bislimi travels to Brussels to take part in dialogue meetings (media)
• Osmani: EU measures must be lifted, “affecting mostly the people” (media)
• Luhrmann: CEFTA blocking threatens Berlin Process, Kosovo to engage in solution (Koha)
• Haziri on eventual exclusion from Berlin Process: A very serious blow (media)
• Abdixhiku: Successful and strong Kosovo, best response to Vucic (Indeksonline)
• Hasani: Vucic aims to isolate Kosovo from the west (media)
• Latest Balkan Barometer findings published (media)

Serbian Language Media:

• Stano: Implementation of Ohrid deal, other issues to be on agenda of Brussels meeting (Tanjug, media)
• Ivanov: Situation in Kosovo goes from bad to worse, EU must force parties to implement agreement (Kosovo Online)
• Djuric: US and Serbia’s stances on Kosovo differ, but both are against unilateral acts (Kosovo Online)
• China respects territorial integrity, sovereignty of Serbia, rights and interests of Serbs in Kosovo to be respected (RTS, media)
• Additional funds allocated for construction of 11 Albanian houses in north (Radio KIM, media)
• Preliminary hearing in case of Pantic and Zaric postponed, they did not receive indictment (Radio KIM)
• Serbian opposition MP calls for urgent session of Committee for KiM (KoSSev)

Albanian Language Media

Bislimi travels to Brussels to take part in dialogue meetings (media)

Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister and chief negotiator in the talks with Serbia, Besnik Bislimi, travelled to Brussels on Monday, and today he will take part in the meetings of the EU facilitated dialogue. Chief negotiators from Kosovo and Serbia will first hold separate meetings with EU special envoy Miroslav Lajcak who will then try to organize a trilateral meeting. 

EU spokesperson Peter Stano said on Monday: “I can confirm that the next meeting at the level of chief negotiators will be held tomorrow in Brussels. The agenda is very clear. It is the path forward for the implementation of the agreement. And certainly discussions on issues that are affecting the normalization between Kosovo and Serbia”.

Osmani: EU measures must be lifted, “affecting mostly the people” (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani met on Monday in Pristina with German Minister for Europe, Anna Luhrmann, and discussed joint challenges, the importance of cooperation between Kosovo and Germany, and Germany’s support for Kosovo’s Euro-Atlantic integration. 

Osmani said it is important for the EU to lift its measures against Kosovo because they are unjustly and mostly affecting the people. They also discussed the Berlin Process, with Osmani expressing full support for agreements that derived from the process. 

On the eve of officially launching the Regional Centre for Women, Peace and Security, Osmani highlighted the importance of increased partnership with Germany for shared initiatives aimed at furthering the Women, Peace and Security Agenda.

Luhrmann: CEFTA blocking threatens Berlin Process, Kosovo to engage in solution (Koha)

German Minister for Europe, Anna Luhrmann, said during her stay in Pristina on Monday that the blocking of the regional organization CEFTA threatens the Berlin Process too and “it can obstruct our further regional cooperation”. She called on the Kosovo government to engage as soon as possible in finding a solution that enables moving forward. 

Luhrmann said Kosovo needs to be constructive on all regional issues. “We want to strengthen Kosovo as a country where German companies and other international companies can make investments on energy and environmental transition … Together we will work for a green and prosperous future of Kosovo in the European Union. In order to do this, we need a Kosovo that is constructive on all regional issues … And to bring Kosovo closer to the EU, this kind of regional cooperation is key. As you know, currently cooperation and the important regional organization CEFTA is still blocked. [German Envoy for the Western Balkans] Manuel Sarrazin is working hard to unblock CEFTA and is trying to find the best possible solution for Kosovo,” she said.

Luhrmann said that Sarrazin has the full support of the German government and that “we are feeling a continuous blockade that threatens to fail the Berlin Process and to obstruct further regional cooperation”. “Therefore, we call on the Kosovo Government to engage as soon as possible in a solution that allows us to move forward and get closer together, and above all remember that Germany is a very close friend of Kosovo and will always stand by your side,” she added.

Haziri on eventual exclusion from Berlin Process: A very serious blow (media)

Deputy leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Lutfi Haziri, said in an interview with KTV on Monday that the eventual exclusion of Kosovo from the Berlin Process would be an even more serious blow than the failure to join the Council of Europe. “The LDK has maintained an orthodox position on this matter. It has accepted the Berlin Process, it has been active and happy that the Berlin Process for the Western Balkans is building mechanisms where we can be an equal party. Whereas [Kosovo Prime Minister Albin] Kurti has reached a point where Kosovo might not be part of this mechanism in October. This would be an even more serious blow than the failure to join the Council of Europe,” he argued. 

Abdixhiku: Successful and strong Kosovo, best response to Vucic (Indeksonline)

Leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Lumir Abdixhiku, said on Monday that “an economically strong Kosovo, a Kosovo with strong relations with its allies, means a weaker Serbia vis-à-vis Kosovo. It means that their threats become totally meaningless”. Abdixhiku was referring to a list of measures announced recently by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. 

Abdixhiku also said that Kosovo has found its path. “Freedom, independence, and democracy, since December 1989 and until now. That path gave Kosovo its freedom and it will give us Euro-Atlantic integration. Any deviation from this path is a fight against our statehood and we cannot allow this to happen,” he said.

Hasani: Vucic aims to isolate Kosovo from the west (media)

Most news websites cover an interview that former President of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo, Enver Hasani, gave to Euronews Albania, highlighting his remarks that with his seven points Serbian Aleksandar Vucic wants to isolate Kosovo from the west. “The plan was devised in a way that it will serve two goals: first the public in Serbia, to appease his voters and supporters there, and also in Kosovo, to claim that here the Serbian state and government are doing something … The other goal is on the international level and it is more dangerous … because it aims to aggravate Kosovo’s position on the international arena and its further isolation,” he said. 

Latest Balkan Barometer findings published (media)

Several news websites report that the Balkan Barometer, an annual survey of public opinion and business sentiments in six Western Balkans economies, commissioned by the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), was published on Monday. The survey examines aspirations and expectations on life and work, prevalent socio-economic and political trends & regional and European integration. Balkan Barometer is conducted each year by an independent agency among more than 6,000 citizens and 1,200 companies throughout the region. At this website, you can find Balkan Barometer database, publications, pocket edition containing selected infographics and videos featuring the most striking findings.

See more at: https://shorturl.at/K4w1s

Serbian Language Media 

Stano: Implementation of Ohrid deal, other issues to be on agenda of Brussels meeting (Tanjug, media)

A new meeting of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue at chief negotiators' level will be held in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss the way forward in the implementation of the Ohrid Agreement and other issues affecting the normalisation of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, European Commission spokesperson Peter Stano said on Monday, Tanjug news agency reported.

"I can confirm that the next meeting at chief negotiators' level will be tomorrow in Brussels. The agenda is quite obvious - it is the way forward in the implementation of the Ohrid Agreement and, of course, the discussion on issues which are affecting the normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia", Stano told Brussels press briefing on Monday responding to Tanjug’s query about the agenda of Tuesday's meeting.

However, he provided no answer to the part of the question about whether there would be a trilateral meeting of representatives of Belgrade and Pristina and the EU special envoy for the dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak. According to information obtained by Tanjug news agency earlier, topics proposed by Belgrade included a bridge on the Ibar River in Mitrovica North and the establishment of a Community of Serb Municipalities. Tanjug also recalled that meanwhile Kosovo police continue to block access to the buildings of Serbian institutions in the north of Kosovo, it shut down three weeks ago.

Ivanov: Situation in Kosovo goes from bad to worse, EU must force parties to implement agreement (Kosovo Online)

Helena Ivanov, a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Research Center, told Kosovo Online that there is no reason for optimism ahead of Tuesday's scheduled round of dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina at the chief negotiators' level. She expressed doubt that the meeting will be any better than previous ones or bring any positive changes on the ground.

"None of the earlier rounds of negotiations in recent months, or even years at this point, have brought any improvements. Quite the opposite, many rounds of talks have been followed by greater escalation. Some people want to claim that the Brussels and Ohrid agreements, which were relatively recently accepted verbally, were significant steps forward, and maybe in theory they were, but in practice, very little has been implemented. The situation in Kosovo over the past few months has been going from bad to worse", Ivanov stated.

Ivanov recalled that Pristina has taken several unilateral actions or threatened to take them, and while the international community has condemned these actions, it is questionable whether they have truly prevented them or will do so in the future.

Read more at: https://shorturl.at/xo4S4

Djuric: US and Serbia’s stances on Kosovo differ, but both are against unilateral acts (Kosovo Online)

Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric said in an interview for Newsmax Balkans that there are challenges in relations between Serbia and the USA which have different views on Kosovo issue, but emphasised that both Serbia and the USA want stability, good inter-ethnic relations, normalisation of the situation on the ground and strongly oppose Pristina’s unilateral acts. He also said he will travel to Washington on Tuesday where, among other things, he will present the truth about the suffering of Serbian people in Kosovo.

Before taking up the post of Foreign Minister, Djuric was Serbia's Ambassador to Washington, and he, as he said, put his heart into improving Serbian American relations. He added that economic cooperation between Serbia and the US has significantly improved.

"I am travelling to Washington, where I will participate in a meeting of the Pupin Initiative, but I will also meet with a number of American officials. We expect to conclude an agreement with the US on a strategic partnership in the field of energy, very, very soon. It will be a new, important step forward in our relations. Our cooperation in many areas has achieved exceptional results. US and Serbia cooperate in the field of defence and security, we have a 16-and-a-half-year-old partnership between the Serbian Army and the Ohio National Guard. This is a good partnership which somehow has changed negative images and stereotypes on both sides about cooperation in this area",  Djuric said.

China respects territorial integrity, sovereignty of Serbia, rights and interests of Serbs in Kosovo to be respected (RTS, media)

China Foreign Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said China respects sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia, and considers that security, legal rights and interests of Serbs in Kosovo region should be respected, RTS reported. He added that unilateral acts do not help in resolving this issue and undermine regional stability and security. Relevant parties should continue seeking practical and constructive dialogue and actively seek a lasting solution to the Kosovo issue, reads the statement published on MFA website.

Additional funds allocated for construction of 11 Albanian houses in north (Radio KIM, media)

The Kosovo Ministry of Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure has allocated additional funds for reconstruction of the Albanian houses in the north of Kosovo, Radio KIM reported citing Klan Kosova.

This could be seen in the contract published on the website of the Regulatory Commission for Public Purchases, and the amount of the contract is 128.000 euros. The contract stipulates reconstruction of 11 Albanian houses in the north of Kosovo.

The Radio KIM citing the news said that 154 houses are foreseen to be built in the north (no details were provided if this number relates to the already announced Pristina’s plan to reconstruct 200 houses in the north, or new houses).

Few days ago Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti visited the north and laid foundation stones for construction of three Albanian houses in the village of Ceraja and Bistrica in Leposavic municipality. 

Preliminary hearing in case of Pantic and Zaric postponed, they did not receive indictment (Radio KIM)

Preliminary hearing at the Basic Court in Pristina in the case of Momir Pantic and Zarko Zaric, accused of allegedly committing war crimes had been postponed, because the defendants did not receive indictment, Radio KIM reported. Pantic and Zaric are former Serbian police officers in Istok. Both were arrested at the beginning of August last year and remain in detention ever since. The indictment against them was raised only two weeks ago.

Their defence lawyers asked for the hearing to be postponed and the indictment be delivered in Serbian to Pantic and Zaric, who had been in detention for longer than a year.

“My client has been in detention for a year and did not know what he is accused of. Police conducted an investigation, and did not invite us to be present at investigative actions, and from court’s decision we could not find out what were the results of the investigation, nor what concrete evidence confirmed the reasonable doubt to pursue investigation. Now in this phase, my client does not even know what he is accused of, because no indictment, in Albanian or Serbian, has been delivered to him”, lawyer of Zarko Zaric, Dejan A. Vasic said. He said there are no conditions in place for his client to declare a stance on guilt.

Lawyer of Momir Pantic, Nebojsa Vlajic asked for the hearing to be postponed due to the same reason. “We as defence lawyers received indictment on Friday, it is one working day compared to today (Monday). Defendants did not receive the indictment at all, and the case of files we as lawyers have neither received. We do not have conditions in place to continue the hearing. We do not have conditions (in place) for our clients to declare a stance on guilt”, Vlajic said.

Serbian oppositoin MP calls for urgent session of Committee for KiM (KoSSev)

MP from opposition Serbia Centre (SRCE) party, Slobodan Ilic called for an urgent session of the Parliamentary Committee for Kosovo and Metohija, following the recent series of closure of the Serbian institutions in the north of Kosovo and introduction of measures and requests Belgrade made aiming to resolve the crisis. Ilic’s request was supported by six members of the Committee, KoSSev portal reported.

He added that the future of Serbs in Kosovo “was completely uncertain”. “They live in ghettos, without basic rights – dinar had been abolished, the same goes for the Serbian documents, licence plates, post offices, banks, gas stations. Their companies are getting closed, they are arrested and mistreated. International community observes it without reaction, and Serbian authorities are taking part in this mistreatment of the Serbs. Everything is done in the Vucic-Kurti agreement”, Ilic said.

He underlined that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Prime Minister Milos Vucevic and Office for KiM Director Petar Petkovic should be present at the Committee session. He asked the session be held, so the MPs could present their proposals for the protection of Serbs who live in Kosovo, and who are, as he said, in grave danger at the moment.