Albanian Language Media:

• Kurti: First basic agreement, implementation annex, then Association (media)
• Osmani thanks United Arab Emirates for abolishing visa requirements (media)
• 2024 starts with mass “internal reorganization” of Kosovo Tax Administration (EO)
• Gjoshi asks western ambassadors to react to govt’s criticism of court (Nacionale)
• Sources: Kurti strips SIU from competencies on terrorism (Albanian Post)
• Molliqaj: Closer we get to autonomy for Serbs, Kurti talks of war more (media)

Serbian Language Media:

• Decision on land expropriation in north annulled; Nenezic: After judgment becomes final, we’ll send a request to remove bases (KoSSev)
• Rapajic: Decision of court in Pristina positive step, but I do not expect changes (Kosovo Online)
• Petkovic: Kurti continues systematic and institutional oppression of Serbs (Tanjug, media)
• Friedman: Crucial issue not Kosovo, but Serbia emerging as economic power (N1)
• Sandulovic case: From post on visit to Jashari complex, arrest, Vulin, BIA to the West (KoSSev, DW)
• Trial of Zlatan Arsic continues (Kosovo Online)
• Abolishing visas for Kosovo Serbs: When could negotiations start (N1, Radio KIM)
• Bilcik: It is high time for Pristina to solve major issue (Radio KIM)
• Lawyer: Detention of Dragisa Milenkovic extended for two more months (Tanjug, media)

Opinion:

• Serbian Democracy is Paying a Price for Western Geopolitical Interests (BIRN)

International:

• Serbian opposition leader left partly paralyzed by attack, say family (The Guardian)

   

Albanian Language Media  

  Kurti: First basic agreement, implementation annex, then Association (media)

One of the leading stories in Kosovo media today is the joint press conference by Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and his Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar in Pristina.

Gazeta Express highlights in its coverage that Kurti was asked by reporters about his readiness to prepare a draft statute of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities with two of his government ministers. Kurti said he did not pledge to write the document, but that he expressed his readiness to prepare a draft, and that the Association should not be taken out of the package of the latest agreement between Kosovo and Serbia. “If it is an internal issue, as it was said, I can write it. Therefore, I did not promise anyone, but I have expressed my ability to write it and then we can discuss it. But let us not mix up the hierarchy of things – the basic agreement, the implementation annex, and only then we can talk about the Association. All those that take the Association out of the package inflict damage on Kosovo. You cannot take the Association out of the package and make it a priority in the sense of time or put it on the table. It [the Association] is not the priority of normalization, the basic agreement is. I ask all my colleagues, not only in Kosovo, not to take out from the package the draft statute or the Association as a topic,” he said.

Kurti said he wants normal relations with Serbia and that implies European relations of good neighborhood. “This is important for peace and the European path, integration in the European family, which is our fate and objective,” he said.

Kurti further argued that Serbia has violated at least 8 out of the 11 articles of the basic agreement. “We ask for legal security, not only implementation, but respect too. This is the reason why we have asked for the agreement to be signed. We insist on the signing of the agreement. The EU, as an arbiter, should react whenever there are even the slightest violations,” he said.

Asked on the ban for importing Serbia goods into Kosovo, Kurti said that “there is no trade measure toward Serbia” but that “these measures are all in line with the security situation”. “As far as security conditions in Kosovo regarding our border with Serbia, the situation is not well. In terms of what goods or vehicles are allowed to be imported, the Ministry of Interior Affairs and the Customs are the right address,” he said. “We don’t want any discrimination and there is no trade measure toward Serbia, but these are all in line with the security situation, and we want it to be improved and normalized”.

Koha highlights that Varadkar said he had a constructive meeting with Kurti and that they discussed bilateral relations. He said that Kosovo’s future is in the European Union. “I will support Kosovo becoming a member of the Council of Europe this year and to start the process of talks for membership in the European Union. Kosovo is showing commitment to European values. You have harmonized your security policies with those of the EU and this is very important,” he said.

Varadkar said that the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina is crucial to have harmony and further development, and that it is important to consolidate stability this year.

Varadkar argued that the EU penalty measures against Kosovo should be lifted.

He argued that the Association of Serb-majority municipalities must be formed but that it should not be a micro-state within Kosovo.

Osmani thanks United Arab Emirates for abolishing visa requirements (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani thanked today the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed Bin Zayed for accepting her proposal to abolish visa requirements for Kosovo citizens. “The agreement reached during our meeting last month has now been signed, paving the way for more cooperation opportunities between our countries & citizens,” Osmani wrote in a post on X.

Deputy leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Enver Hoxhaj, said in a post on X “exciting news as Kosovo and the United Arab Emirates agree to abolish visa requirements, fostering stronger ties and opening new doors for people and businesses. This historic move reflects the deep-rooted friendship, as UAE is Kosovo’s oldest and closest ally in the Middle East for decades.”

The Kosovo Embassy in Abu Dhabi said in a statement today that it will inform the citizens once the agreement enters into force. “Until then, the citizens of our country before departing for the United Arab Emirates, are obliged to be equipped with an entry visa,” the statement notes.

2024 starts with mass “internal reorganization” of Kosovo Tax Administration (EO)

The news website reports on what it calls mass internal reorganization of the Kosovo Tax Administration (TAK) as the majority of tax inspectors have had their offices, teams and team leaders changed. TAK officials said that this is a result of the implementation of a regulation adopted by the Prime Minister’s Office on internal organization and systematization of jobs in the administration.

According to the news website, many tax inspectors have their dissatisfaction with the “reorganization”. “This is not fair. Some of the inspectors have asked for their positions to be changed and our requests are not being taken into account, regardless of our experience and performance,” an inspector, who preferred to remain anonymous, told the news website.

Other sources in the Tax Administration said that the changes are aimed at preventing links between tax inspectors and businesses.

Head of the Media Communications Division at TAX, Valentina Bytyqi-Sefa, said in an interview with the news website, that the adoption of the new organizational structure and the changes are aimed at best implementing the government’s projections for tax revenue collection. She also denied that the changes are directly linked to the fight against corruption or eventual conflicts of interest.

“If there is a conflict of interest, every official is obliged by law to report on such a case. If this happens and the respective authority determines that there is a conflict of interest, the Tax Administration of Kosovo will immediately undertake all legal actions to address these situations,” she said.

Gjoshi asks western ambassadors to react to govt’s criticism of court (Nacionale)

Secretary of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Betim Gjoshi, has asked western ambassadors in Kosovo to react to what he called attacks by the government against the Constitutional Court of Kosovo. He argued in a Facebook post that “the ambassadors are staying silent even when all independent institutions are being politicized in front of their eyes”.

“There was a time when the Ambassadors reacted on topics that were concerning society or when politics did not do its duties properly. In the time of previous governments, the Ambassadors reacted to even the smallest concerns. But not now! The Ambassadors stay silent even when all independent institutions are being politicized in front of their eyes. The Ambassadors are staying silent even when the Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti or the Justice Minister Albulena Haxhiu are attacking the Constitutional Court, prosecutors, and judges,” he said.

Sources: Kurti strips SIU from competencies on terrorism (Albanian Post)

Citing unnamed sources in Kosovo Police, the news website reports that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has decided to strip the Special Intervention Unit (SIU) from their competencies to fight terrorism. The SIU is the most elite unit of Kosovo Police and the group that fought against the armed group led by Milan Radoicic in the north of Kosovo in September last year. Sources told the news website that the competencies have been transferred to a unit – allegedly to the Fast Intervention Unit – which reportedly is not properly trained to deal with terrorism. “It does not include only taking away these competencies, but there is more,” the source said, without disclosing further details.

Molliqaj: Closer we get to autonomy for Serbs, Kurti talks of war more (media)

Leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) in Kosovo, Dardan Molliqaj, in an interview with T7, argued that Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s statements of war are aimed at selling off the autonomy for Kosovo Serbs. “The day he accepted the draft statute of the Association in his meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and others from the European Commission, he said that the Associations means peace, cooperation and coexistence, and that division is an old idea. The closer we get to the steps for making autonomy official, the more they talk about war,” Molliqaj said.

   

Serbian Language Media

  Decision on land expropriation in north annulled; Nenezic: After judgment becomes final, we’ll send a request to remove bases (KoSSev)

The Department of Administrative Affairs at the Basic Court in Pristina annulled the Kosovo government’s decision on the expropriation of land in the municipalities of Leposavic and Zubin Potok made in May last year. The police bases that were built on these plots before the expropriation procedure started, however, remain in place, Dragutin Nenezic, the legal representative of one of the residents whose land was expropriated, told KoSSev portal. He claims that the Basic Court did not address the situation on the ground, but also announced the request for the removal of the bases after the final judgment.

The verdict, which KoSSev had insight into, states that it was passed at the end of last year in an administrative dispute initiated by Serbs from the North of Kosovo – M.J., represented by Dragutin Nenezić and J.J. from Zubin Potok, represented by Marko Jakšić, against the Kosovo government.

Read more at: https://shorturl.at/iouG6 Rapajic: Decision of court in Pristina positive step, but I do not expect changes (Kosovo Online)

Advocacy Center for Democratic Culture (ACDC) program director Aleksandar Rapajic said today decision of the court in Pristina to annul preliminary decision of the Kosovo government on land expropriation in Leposavic and Zubin Potok municipalities, was a positive step, however, the process that would be re-launched will not be favorable and there will be no changes on the ground, Kosovo Online portal reports. He also said he does not believe that Kosovo special police will withdraw from bases in Zubin Potok, where infrastructure has been built already.

“I think those bases are built to remain there and that no one has intention to remove them without some strong pressure, by international community or some other factors”, he said.

He recalled the new amendments to the Law on Expropriation that Kosovo government made, assessing it would bring unfavorable results on the ground. 

“Unfortunately, last year, the Kosovo government made the new Law on Expropriation, where new amendments were added that now the land can be confiscated for the purpose of defense, more precisely for the purpose of police and security forces (…)”, he said, adding that if government does not file an appeal to this decision, it would initiate new process and results would be unfavorable on the ground and there would be no changes.

Petkovic: Kurti continues systematic and institutional oppression of Serbs (Tanjug, media)

Office for Kosovo and Metohija Director Petar Petkovic said today Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti is the only one violating the agreements and the one who entered 2024 by denying fundamental obligation of Pristina undertaken and signed back in 2013 in Brussels to establish Community of Serbian Municipalities (CSM), and with it started 11th year of a systematic and institutional disenfranchisement and oppression of Serbs living in Kosovo, Tanjug news agency reports.

Petkovic made these remarks reacting to Kurti’s statement that Belgrade violates the European proposal agreement. Petkovic also stressed that “neither Kurti can draft from beginning agreements that have been signed and verified in Brussels 11 years ago and whose guarantor is European Union, nor can he say or write a single sentence without attacking Belgrade and Serbs in Kosovo, because that is the only politics he knows about and lives for”.

“If he (Albin Kurti) is up to counting, let him count that 3,919 days have passed since CSM was not formed, and that for 211 days there has been a ban on Serbian goods import to Kosovo and Metohija and trampling on all postulates of free flow (of goods). Let him count that only last year in Kosovo and Metohija there were 178 ethnically motivated incidents recorded, and that since he came to power there have been a total of 458 different attacks on the Serbian people, Serbian churches, clinics and schools", Petkovic said in a statement.

Friedman: Crucial issue not Kosovo, but Serbia emerging as economic power (N1)

The more important question is not the question of Kosovo, which has to be put to bed somehow, but that of how Serbia can emerge as a significant economic power, said the world-famous geopolitical author George Friedman, N1 reports.

Friedman told the Institute for Politics and Economy of Southeast Europe (IPESE) that Europe has developed well, but that they are not going to help Serbia develop economically, because “they are not looking for competitors”.

He said the Balkans are a region with well educated people, capable people, people who travel the world, who know what is to be sold and bought, and that the region finally has to start emphasizing the crucial question of economic growth in the world that is growing and taking advantage of it.

“I have no idea how to solve the crisis that you have…because it’s not going to go away, and people will continue to make speeches at the United Nations. So the crucial thing for every country everywhere – focus on the center of gravity of your needs. Then take your capable businessmen, your capable technologists and so on, and turn them loose, to make things happen”, Friedman said.

He said he thinks the European Union is “a failure, and the United States isn’t,” and added that Serbia might want to focus on the United States. The key is – use your talent to make money, that is the foundation of your safety, Friedman concluded.

Sandulovic case: From post on visit to Jashari complex, arrest, Vulin, BIA to the West (KoSSev, DW)

The Sandulovic case can already be classified as a mysterious political entanglement: how did the leader of a marginal political party find himself at the center of the Serbian-Kosovo dispute?, KoSSev portal reports today citing DW in Serbian language article.

Allegedly, it all started on January 2, when Nikola Sandulovic posted on the X social network a video of his visit to Adem Jashari memorial complex in Kosovo, where he laid a wreath on the monument in connection with March 1998 clash, in which 50 members of Adem Jashari family were killed. Jashari is one of the founders of KLA.

Sandulovic was arrested one day after, and sent to detention because of, as Higher Prosecution in Nis said, “suspicion that he committed a criminal act of inciting national, racial and religious hatred and intolerance”. Sandulovic’s lawyer, Cedomir Stojkovic claimed that he was “interrogated in the premises of BIA (Serbian Security Informative Agency) for four hours and was brutally beaten up”. Allegedly he lost consciousness, and at the end right part of his body was paralyzed, so he had to be taken to the Military Medical Academy, claims said.

The merit for his arrest was taken over by Aleksandar Vulin, now former head of BIA, who said that “Nikola Sandulovic was brought in because there is suspicion that he actively works on supporting secession of Kosovo and undermines constitutional order of Serbia”. Vulin is also quoted as saying that the arrest was made as per his previous order that still remained in force.

“Hungarians, Russians, Trump and folk singers”

Nikola Sandulovic is certainly a controversial political and public figure, who has a history of excessive performance, the article continues.    

The "Republican Party - Republikánus Párt" is listed in the Register of Political Parties as a party that represents the interests of the Hungarian national minority in Serbia.

Although Sandulovic publicly supports Donald Trump and is in favor of joining NATO, on the eve of the 2016 elections, the president of the Republican Party took part in collecting forged signatures for the United Russian Party for money, for which some well-known folk singers were also arrested, the article said. In 2001, Sandulovic was listed in the so-called White Book of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs as a member of the Zvezdara (one of municipalities in Belgrade) criminal group.

Distinguished Kosovo guest

Although he heads a minor political organization, Nikola Sandulović publicly boasts of his strong connections with American Republicans, and is welcomed at a high level in Pristina as well.

Last year in February, he was received by Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and the article terms it as interesting that statements about the visit said that he also visited the Adem Jashari memorial complex on that occasion. According to the article the question remains whether Sandulovic's latest post is actually last year's video, which for some reason he only posted now, and if it was not about a recent visit.

Trial of Zlatan Arsic continues (Kosovo Online)

The trial of Zlatan Arsic from the village of Ajnovce, arrested on March 7, 2023 at the crossing point between Gnjilane and Bujanovac continued today at the Basic Court in Pristina, Kosovo Online portal reports.

Today prosecution's witnesses will be interviewed. Kosovo prosecution accused Arsic of allegedly committing war crimes against the civilian population, namely that he allegedly mistreated and beat up, B.M. at a police station in Kamenica in March 1999 where he worked as police officer and that he allegedly took part in deportation and displacement of the Albanian population.

Since 2003 Arsic has worked as a Kosovo police officer.  Abolishing visas for Kosovo Serbs: When could negotiations start (N1, Radio KIM)

The European Commission already on November 16, last year proposed abolishing visas for Kosovo residents, holders of passports issued by Serbian Interior Ministry Coordination Directorate, however, the European Council and the European Parliament are yet to declare on the issue, N1 reports.

Asked by accusations that the EU discriminates against Kosovo Serbs limiting their rights to movement and travel, as the visa-free regime includes only passports issued by Kosovo administration, no direct response was provided to N1.

“Kosovo Serbs also can submit a request for a biometric Kosovo passport in order to travel without visa”, reads the written response. The N1 also sent enquiry to the Belgium EU chair as to when the negotiations of visa-free regime for Kosovo Serbs could start but no response arrived by the time the article was published.

The EU approved visa-free regime for Kosovo on January 1, this year, but it does not include holders of the passports issued by Serbian Coordination Directorate to the people with permanent residence in Kosovo. 

Bilcik: It is high time for Pristina to solve major issue (Radio KIM)

Member of the European Parliament and Rapporteur for Serbia, Vladimir Bilcik said it is high time for Pristina to solve the major issue of significance for Serbia and protection of all Serbs living in Kosovo – establishing a Community with Serb-majority Municipalities, Radio KIM reports.

Bilcik told Voice of America in Serbian language that the EU is sending clear messages to the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti it expects implementation of reached agreements on normalization of relations in 2024.

“We hope they will find a willingness for that. From my experiences with President Vucic – I think there is understanding and readiness to make progress. We witnessed that, in particular when it comes to ID cards, license plates, energy, when it comes to practicalities on the ground. And that is important. I think it is on Pristina to resolve the major issue of the significance of Serbia and protection of all Serbs living in Kosovo and that is the establishment of the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities. It is high time to fulfill that. I think this will really enable progress and I hope that Pristina will have strength and responsibility to act in good faith in the coming days and weeks”, he said.

He added it was an absolute imperative that attacks like the one in Banjska do not happen again, and also attacks on NATO and KFOR soldiers not to happen again. He said it was encouraging that Belgrade showed readiness to encourage Serbs to come out for elections, expressing hope that elections in northern Kosovo will take place and that there will be political agreement to achieve all of that. 

Lawyer: Detention of Dragisa Milenkovic extended for two more months (Tanjug, media)

One of the defense lawyers of Dragisa Milenkovic from Gracanica, Jovana Filipovic, told the Tanjug news agency that detention of her client had been extended for two more months.

Milenkovic’s trial started on Wednesday this week and he is accused of allegedly committing war crimes in Kosovo. Filipovic back then announced that defense will request dismissal of the indictment and object to the evidence, because of the fact that indictment was based exclusively on the statements of the witnesses, without evidence provided. 

   

Opinion 

  Serbian Democracy is Paying a Price for Western Geopolitical Interests (BIRN)

Opinion piece by Dejan Bursac, research fellow at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade.

Western actors in the Balkans prioritize regional stability above all other considerations – and while Vucic delivers that, they will continue to view election irregularities as a secondary matter.

Just five days after highly controversial elections in Serbia, the social media accounts of the US embassy in Belgrade published a video clip of Ambassador Christopher Hill discussing the recently concluded voting.

In the first sentence, the ambassador stated that the US looks forward to continuing its work with the Serbian government on regional issues, but also regarding “the Serbian desire to become part of the family of Western nations”.

This address coincided with citizens’ protests in front of the Republic Electoral Commission, the body responsible for conducting elections in Serbia. Inside the building, several opposition members of parliament were on a hunger strike, demanding the annulment of the elections on grounds of serious irregularities.

The observer mission of the non-governmental organization CRTA in its report listed a series of misdemeanors, concluding that the results of the city elections in Belgrade “do not reflect the freely expressed will of the voters”.

Read more at: https://shorturl.at/emAL6    

International 

  Serbian opposition leader left partly paralysed by attack, say family (The Guardian)

The family of a Serbian opposition leader who was allegedly beaten up while in detention by the country’s secret service say he has been left partly paralysed by the attack.

In an assault that has fuelled fears about the future of democracy in the country, Nikola Sandulović’s family say he was taken from his home on 3 January after making an apology for crimes committed by Serbs against ethnic Albanians during the Kosovan war of independence in 1988 and 1989.

On Wednesday after the first family visit allowed for five days, Sandulović’s daughter Karla called for her father to be transferred to a civilian hospital from the military facility in Belgrade in which he was being held.

“He is communicative but he is paralysed completely on the right side; in a wheelchair, and in a very very poor health condition,” she said in a statement issued via Michael Polak, a barrister in the UK and the director of Justice Abroad, who is acting for the politician.

Read more at: https://shorturl.at/bhA13