• COVID-19: 24 deaths, 1,029 new cases (media)
• Kurti: Friday marks administration of 1 million doses (Telegrafi)
• Kurti: Issue of missing persons cannot wait (Radio Free Europe)
• Kosovo Prime Minister, Serbian President won’t meet in September (Exit News)
• Merkel to visit the Balkans, expected to meet Kurti (DW)
• Lajcak after meeting chief negotiators says parties far apart (Express)
• For Kosovo President who once fled home, Afghan refugee crisis is personal (Wion)
• President Osmani calls on India to recognize Kosovo (Express)
• Government approves 15 bills, regulations, other important decisions (media)
• Trendafilova on why she chose to visit North to talk about SPC (AP)
• PDK candidate for Peja mayor killed in double murder (media)
• Greece reassures Serbia its position on Kosovo has not changed (Euractiv)
• Kosovo welcomes Spanish football team for World Cup qualifier (BIRN)

COVID-19: 24 deaths, 1,029 new cases (media)

24 deaths from COVID-19 and 1,029 new infections were recorded in Kosovo in the last 24 hours. 3,266 persons recovered from the virus during this time. There are 22,223 active cases with COVID-19 in Kosovo.

Kurti: Friday marks administration of 1 million doses (Telegrafi)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti visited the premises of the Kosovo National Institute for Public Health on Wednesday and encouraged all citizens that may hesitate or are skeptical to get vaccinated against COVID-19. “This is a deadly virus. The vaccination lowers the risk by 20 times. On Friday we will mark the administration of 1 million vaccine doses, with about 2/3 have received one dose and around 1/3 have received both doses of the vaccine,” Kurti said.

Kurti: Issue of missing persons cannot wait (Radio Free Europe)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said on Wednesday that there needs to be a new chapter in the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia and that the issue of missing persons cannot wait. “We cannot expect a comprehensive agreement with mutual recognition with Serbia, when there are families of 1,630 citizens of Kosovo, who are mourning their loved ones for 22 years now,” Kurti told reporters in Prishtina.

Kurti said that the Kosovo delegation proposed several other topics in Brussels but that they were not accepted. “Topics of discussion can be opened between Kosovo and Brussels, but not with Serbia,” he said.

Kosovo Prime Minister, Serbian President won’t meet in September (Exit News) Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic will not meet in September to continue the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue.

Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo, Besnik Bislimi, confirmed the news on Wednesday, after delegations from both countries met in Brussels to discuss the agenda for the meeting.

According to Bislimi, the Kurti-Vucic meeting will not take place as “there has not been enough tangible progress” between the parties to warrant a third meeting.

The two leaders last met on July 19, but the meeting ended in a second standstill, yielding no agreements on contested issues.

On Wednesday, delegations from both Kosovo and Serbia met with Miroslav Lajcak, the Special Envoy of the European Union. The parties discussed only the issue of the more than 1,600 people still missing from the Kosovo War. Bislimi said the parties have expressed readiness to give access to each other’s state archives.

The parties also strongly agree that working groups on the issue should meet regularly and that the bodies found so far should be returned to their families.

Bislimi stressed that Kosovo refuses to accept Veljko Odalovic as head of the Serbian delegation on this issue, as Odalovic was Slobodan Milošević’s main henchman during the war in Kosovo.

The Kosovo and Serbian negotiators will meet again in late October.

Merkel to visit the Balkans, expected to meet Kurti (DW)

On September 13th and 14th, German Chancellor Angela Merkel will hold a farewell tour of the Western Balkans.

On September 14, the Chancellor will meet with the heads of government of the six Western Balkan countries in the Albanian capital Tirana. She will first stay in Belgrade.

According to German government spokeswoman Martina Fietz, the Chancellor will also meet in Belgrade with civil society representatives from the six Western Balkan countries.

In Tirana, in addition to the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, she will meet in bilateral talks with the heads of government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro and Northern Macedonia.

Asked by DW about the chancellor's expectations on the trip, German Deputy Spokeswoman Martina Fietz said the chancellor would discuss the "Common Regional Market". She reminded that all the countries of the Western Balkans have pledged in their last virtual conference chaired by Chancellor Merkel, on July 5 this year, that they will commit to its implementation.

Fietz said that this will be the topic of conversation, without going into further detail about the chancellor's position on the latest initiative of the three Balkan leaders, Rama, Zaev, Vucic, called Open Balkan.

Lajcak after meeting chief negotiators says parties far apart (Express)

European Union Special Representative on Dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, hosted Wednesday chief negotiators of Kosovo and Serbia as part of the EU-facilitated dialogue on normalisation of relations.

Lajcak in a Tweet after hosting in a trilateral meeting chief negotiator of Kosovo Besnik Bislimi and Serbian chief negotiator Petar Petkovic said that position of parties remain far apart.“We just finished two days of hard work and intense discussions with the Chief negotiators of Kosovo and Serbia. Positions on a number of pressing issues remain far apart. A lot of work ahead,” Lajcak said.

Kosovo Chief negotiator Bislimi said that no new high-level meeting between Kosovo and Serbia will be held in September. He confirmed that no tangible results have been achieved during today’s meeting of chief negotiators. During the trilateral meeting Wednesday the only topic of the agenda was discussing the issue of missing persons. The First Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo Bislimi said that parties have expressed readiness to have access in state archives.

For Kosovo President who once fled home, Afghan refugee crisis is personal (Wion)

Kosovo is one of the countries taking in Afghans fleeing the Taliban regime, and for its President Vjosa Osmani, the matter is personal, having felt the horrors of displacement as a kid during the Kosovo War of the late 1990s.

“First and foremost we believe it’s a moral obligation. We have been refugees ourselves during nineties and we are alive today because the world did not turn its back on us,” she told WION’s Palki Sharma in an exclusive interview as part of the Global Leadership Series.

President Osmani calls on India to recognize Kosovo (Express)

The President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, in an interview for the Indian TV station Wion called on India to recognize Kosovo’s independence, emphasising that Kosovo is not Kashmir, Gazeta Express reports.

President Osmani said that India should recognise the suffering of the people of Kosovo from the [Slobodan] Milosevic genocide regime and recognise the reality on the ground that is not going to change.

“We once again call upon the Indian government to first of all recognise the suffering of the people of Kosovo from the [Slobodan] Milošević genocide regime, and secondly, recognise the reality on the ground that is not going to change,” Osmani told Wion TV.

She said that it is just a matter of time when countries like India will join other democratic countries around the world in recognising the sovereign independent Republic of Kosovo. The link of the interview has been posted on Twitter by Osmani’s political advisor, Artan Murati.

Government approves 15 bills, regulations, other important decisions (media)

The Kosovo Government chaired by Prime Minister Albin Kurti held Wednesday its regular meeting approving fifteen Draft Laws, Regulations, and other important decisions.

Prime Minister Kurti initially expressed his condolences to all family members who have lost their loved ones to the COVID-19 virus and thanked healthcare workers and police officers for their commitment in dealing with the pandemic. He also urged citizens to vaccinate adding that Kosovo has sufficient doses of vaccines reminding that so far health authorities have administered about one million vaccines.

According to the Government’s press release the first decision that received the approval of the government cabinet in today’s meeting was the amendment and supplementation of the Legislative Program for 2021. With the amendments approved today, the deadline for the approval of these draft laws by the Government is changed:

See more at: https://kryeministri.rks-gov.net/en/34th-meeting-of-the-government/

Trendafilova on why she chose to visit North to talk about SPC (AP)

The President of the Specialist Chambers of Kosovo Ekaterina Trendafilova, after her visit to Pristina, continued her visit to Mitrovica North. Trendafilova spoke about the mission of the Special Court, only with an audience that did not whistle at the work of the Court and talked to a more relaxed audience regarding this issue, compared to the one in Pristina.

The first question from Serbian journalists was about the effectiveness of witness protection in the Special Court, to which they replied that "this is the major priority area of the institution since its establishment" and that "we absolutely guarantee that it is a very sound protection program". "Protection and support of witnesses is a top priority," said Special Court administrator Fidelma Donlon.

Asked by Albanian Post whether the leaking of classified documents in the KLA War Veterans offices undermines the professionalism of the Office of the Specialist Prosecutor, the question was only partially read, and the answer was that the SPO "is and has been vigilant".

To the other question from the AP whether the holding of this conference in North Mitrovica contains an implicit message, the answer was that "this is to reach the people", and that they will organize other meetings of this nature in other places of Kosovo as well”.

Trendafilova also said there would be a similar visit by the Prosecutor of the Specialist Chambers, Jack Smith, but did not reveal a date.

PDK candidate for Peja mayor killed in double murder (media)

All media outlets report on a double murder in the city of Peja on Wednesday, where the candidate of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) for mayor in Peja, Astrit Ademaj, and a former candidate of the same party for mayor in Decan municipality, Blerand Kadrijaj, died in an exchange of fire. Indeksonline news website reported that the two victims initially got into a fight and then fired shots at one another. Prime Minister Albin Kurti condemned the incident and called on law enforcement bodies to resolve the case as soon as possible.

Greece reassures Serbia its position on Kosovo has not changed (Euractiv)

Greece will stick to its position of not recognising Kosovo’s statehood and has called on both Serbia and its former province to continue EU-facilitated talks, Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Miltiadis Varvitsiotis told EURACTIV Serbia in an interview.

Twenty-two of the 27 member states have recognised Kosovo, which gained independence from Serbia in 2008, as an independent state. Those that do not recognise Kosovo’s independence are Spain, Slovakia, Cyprus, Romania, and Greece.

In June, Athens decided to upgrade the status of Pristina’s trade office, raising eyebrows in Belgrade, which has seen Greece as a traditional Orthodox ally.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic described at the time the warming relations between Athens and Pristina as “certainly not the best of news” for Serbia.

But Varvitsiotis has reassured Belgrade that Greece’s stance has not changed.

“Greece’s position regarding Kosovo’s status remains unchanged. At the same time, it is widely known that Greece has pursued a constructive approach towards Pristina, in line with our strategic goal for reinforced stability and security in the Western Balkans,” the conservative minister said.

Varvitsiotis said Greece has been hosting an Office of Trade and Economic Affairs of Kosovo in Athens since 2019, with the aim of facilitating bilateral cooperation.

“Without implicating status-related issues, we have recently decided to rename it as “Office of Interests of Kosovo in Athens,” he said.

The main reason Greece does not want to recognise Kosovo is the fear of a possible negative effect the recognition might have on Cyprus, whose northern part has been illegally occupied by Turkey since 1974.

Serbia has also been a traditional ally of Greece since the Balkan wars of the early 20th century.

Greece’s position has always been that it will eventually recognise Kosovo if Belgrade and Pristina come up with a commonly accepted solution – which is the EU aim in the Brussels-sponsored Belgrade-Pristina dialogue.

Varvitsiotis also backed the continuation of the dialogue, a series of EU-facilitated talks between the governments of Serbia and Kosovo launched in 2011.

“We firmly believe that the implementation of what has already been agreed remains crucial,” the Greek minister said.

“After the two recent meetings between President Vucic and Prime Minister Kurti last June and July in Brussels, it is critical that both sides intensify their work towards achieving a comprehensive, legally binding agreement, in accordance with the international law and the EU acquis,” he said.

Serbia, an EU candidate since 2012, and Kosovo, which has yet to apply for membership, are currently conducting another round of talks in Brussels.

“The two sides are expected to discuss current issues and the next steps in the dialogue,” EU spokesperson Peter Stano said earlier this week.

Achieving a mutually agreed ‘comprehensive agreement’ to regulate their political and economic relations is a key requirement for both countries to advance their EU membership prospects.

Kosovo welcomes Spanish football team for World Cup qualifier (BIRN)

Despite rumbling tensions between Madrid and Pristina over Kosovo's statehood, the country has laid out a welcome mat for the Spanish football team ahead of Wednesday's World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifier.

A big screen erected in Kosovo’s main sports stadium has welcomed Spain’s national football team to Pristina as the two teams go head to head on Wednesday evening in a World Cup “Qatar 2022” qualifying match.

“Spain is one of the best teams in the world and will be welcomed in Kosovo where, over the years, it has had many fans… they will feel like in their own home,” the President of the Kosovo Football Federation, Agim Ademi, wrote on Tuesday to his Spanish counterpart, Luis Rubiales.

Spanish media have highlighted Madrid’s continued political opposition to Kosovo’s independence with sport’s online magazine Diario As reporting the match under the headline “Hostile Environment in Kosovo”.

In social media posts, the Spanish team’s Twitter account has also mainly avoided using the term “Kosovo”, preferring to refer to the match in “Pristina”. Only in a recent tweet on Wednesday did the account use the term “Kosovo”.

But Spanish team manager Luis Enrique has spoken highly about the reception his team has got in Kosovo since they landed in Pristina on Tuesday afternoon.

“I want to stress that it is a great atmosphere, people are very good and they have welcomed us. We do not have problems here because we have come to play football and do not deal with politics,” Enrique told the media.

Spain is one of five European Union countries that have not recognised the former province of Serbia since it declared independence from Belgrade in 2008.

When the draw for World Cup qualifications was made in December 2020, Kosovo was initially placed in Group A, but was displaced to Group B as Group A already contained Serbia, which has vowed never to recognise Kosovo.

UEFA rules prevent two countries in political disputes being drawn in the same qualifying group. In Group B, alongside Spain, Kosovo was drawn with Sweden, Greece and Georgia. Of the four nations in the group, only Sweden has recognised Kosovo.

Spain so far leads Group A with 10 points earned in 5 matches, while Kosovo is in third place with 4 points earned in 4 matches played so far.