UNMIK Media Observer, Afternoon Edition, April 30, 2024

Albanian Language Media:

Osmani: €200 million U.S. grant will transform our energy sector (media)
Kurti on Banjska attack: I think they wanted a new war (media)
Kryeziu reacts to Stano: Lack of progress is not due to both sides (media)
Gervalla: Kosovo, a champion of democracy and rule of law in Balkans (media)
Pahor preparing a document for dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia (Koha)
Kosovo Teacher’s Union to protest on Wednesday (Indeksonline)
Kurti attends opening of exhibition “Ukraine, a war crime” in Pristina (media)
Kosovo Assembly committee adopts Code of Conduct for MPs (media)
U.S. sanctioned Serbian politician nominated for Deputy Prime Minister (media)
Stradner: Vucic “preparing new escalation” to remain in power for years (media)

Serbian Language Media:

Vucevic announces composition of new Serbian Government (N1, media)
Pro-Russian sentiments rising in Serbia, EU losing support (VoA, N1)
Kilometers-long queues at Jarinje crossing point (KoSSev, Radio KIM)
Serbs in the north of Kosovo on census: Neither is one knocking on our door, nor would we have open it (RFE)
SRSG meets Partes mayor, encourages work on building trust between people (KoSSev, Kosovo Online, social media)
Vukicevic: We are finding ways as best we can; Pristina's regulations make life difficult for everyone (Kosovo Online)
Kosovo police installing cameras at another four locations in Mitrovica North (KoSSev)
Trial to Thaci and others: KLA legal adviser requested release of two Albanian women from KLA prison camp, both found dead (KoSSev, BETA, media)
Serbia is China's first comprehensive strategic partner in CEE - Chinese MFA (Tanjug)

International:

Kosovo Lacks Capacities to Fight Disinformation (Prishtina Insight)
Hindered in many ways (Kosovo 2.0)

Albanian Language Media

Osmani: €200 million U.S. grant will transform our energy sector (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani said in a Facebook post today that a grant of over €200 million from the Millenium Challenge Corporation of the United States will deeply transform Kosovo’s energy sector. “Today, on the eve of the official launch of the Compact Program, I hosted Mr. Cameron Alford, Vice President of the MCC. As the biggest investment in the energy area, the Compact Program is proof of the strength of the partnership between Kosovo and the U.S.,” Osmani said.

Kurti on Banjska attack: I think they wanted a new war (media)

Several news websites cover a BBC documentary podcast titled “Kosovo – euro or bust”, highlighting Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s remarks that after an attack against Kosovo Police in Banjska in September last year, “Kosovo authorities seized over 5 million euros of value of military equipment and ammunition, all of it being produced in Serbia in the last couple of years. I think they wanted a new war. It did not happen, and we managed to eliminate three terrorists, but the consequence was that dozens of them managed to escape and they are today in Serbia”. Asked why the terrorists were allowed to flee, Kurti said “we had a very long and large perimeter, we didn’t want any of the bullets of our police to end up on the walls of the Serbian orthodox monastery. The prize that we paid was the fact that they managed to escape”. Kurti also argued that “Serbs have the most extensive rights in Europe as a minority. And whatever I have been doing in these three years in office is lawfulness and constitutionality. We have to fight illicit activities. We have to fight the possibility of financing of terrorism. It must be transparent”.

Listen to the full documentary at: https://shorturl.at/kmsS2

Kryeziu reacts to Stano: Lack of progress is not due to both sides (media)

Spokesperson for the Kosovo Government, Perparim Kryeziu, reacted to a statement by EU spokesperson Peter Stano who said on Monday that the lack of progress in the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia is due to both sides. Kryeziu said in a post on X today that “it is a notable development that the EU admits that the dialogue process has not gone well. However, the lack of progress is not due to both sides”. He shared “a list of violations by Serbia of the Basic Agreement, just 2 weeks after saying YES, in February 2023”.

Kryeziu said that “since then, 90 KFOR soldiers were injured in the north of Kosova by violent gang members under the watch of Serbian List leaders in May 2023. Journalists & Kosova Police were also targeted. Paradoxically, just a month after the EU imposed measures against Kosova, not Serbia.”

“In June 2023, 3 Kosova police officers were abducted by Serbian special forces inside the territory of Kosova. Despite plenty of evidence provided by our institutions proving that Serbia had violated our territorial integrity, no measures by the EU were taken against Serbia.”

“A Kosovo police officer was killed in the terrorist and paramilitary attack on Sept. 24th in Banjske. Radoicic, leader of the group –a close affiliate of the Pres. of Serbia– who admitted planning & participating in the attack, remains free & casually meets w/ Serbia's ambass. to the U.S.”

“This month, over a thousand citizens of Kosovo were arbitrarily detained and mistreated by Serbian authorities at the border, for no reason. Among them were 10 Kosovo Police officers, 4 members of our Serbian community, incl. the Deputy Gen. Director of the Kosova Police.”

“At the same time, Sadik Duraku, an Albanian who is also a U.K. citizen, has since been detained and is wrongfully being accused. Still, no measures have been taken against Serbia.”

According to Kryeziu, “in a retaliatory fashion, these actions came just one day after the PACE voted in favor of Kosova's membership in the Council of Europe. This membership is vehemently and publicly opposed by Serbia, despite Art. 4 of the Basic Agreement. This and more prove that it is not a case of ‘both sides at fault’, but rather another case of bothsidesism”.

Gervalla: Kosovo, a champion of democracy and rule of law in Balkans (media)

Kosovo’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Donika Gervalla, said today on the eve of the meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs and those for Europe of the EU, that she hopes the discussions will be constructive and that Kosovo can contribute as a champion of democracy and the rule of law in the Western Balkans.

“As Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Kosovo, I came here with the hope that we will have an open discussion about the rule of law and the integration of the Western Balkans and other aspiring countries to become members of the European Union. To discuss the levels of democratic standards and the rule of law that need to be met before we all join the European family. I hope the discussions today will be constructive and that the Republic of Kosovo can contribute as a champion of democracy and rule of law in the region of the Western Balkans in establishing new standards for the new members,” she is quoted as saying.

Pahor preparing a document for dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia (Koha)

Borut Pahor, former President of Slovenia and candidate for the post of EU Special Envoy for the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, is preparing a document for the future of the process. The document will be presented after it is coordinated with the EU High Representative. “Former President Pahore is preparing a draft document for the continuation of the dialogue but first he wants to coordinate it with the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and EU member states, especially with the QUINT countries,” an advisor to Pahor said.

Kosovo Teacher’s Union to protest on Wednesday (Indeksonline)

The Union of Education, Science and Culture of Kosovo (SBASHK) will protest on Wednesday in front of the Kosovo Government building in downtown Pristina. Protesters will gather tomorrow from 10:00 in front of the National Gallery and then march toward the government building. SBASHK leader Rrahman Jasharaj is scheduled to present the demands of the teachers’ union to the government. The protest will end at 12:30 and protesters will disperse peacefully.

Kurti attends opening of exhibition “Ukraine, a war crime” in Pristina (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti attended on Monday the opening of the exhibition “Ukraine, a war crime” saying that the exhibition is the latest sign of the solidarity of the people of Kosovo with the people of Ukraine in these difficult times. Kurti said that “it is the duty and responsibility of every democratic country, every state that respects and appreciates human rights and the rule of law, to show solidarity with Ukraine against the illegal invasion of Russia, and to help them with all means we have available”. “Second, Kosovo shows solidarity with Ukraine, because the crimes committed in Ukraine today are the crimes that were committed in Kosovo in the 19990s. And this is something that distinguishes the people of Kosovo from other democratic countries. Our memories from that terrible decade are still fresh. The wounds are still open,” he said.

Kosovo Assembly committee adopts Code of Conduct for MPs (media)

Kosovo Assembly’s Committee for Legislation today adopted the Code of Conduct for MPs, which foresees penalty measures for MPs that insult, swear, incite violence, and other violations they may make during their mandates. Committee chief, Adnan Rrustemi, told Telegrafi news website that the Code of Conduct foresees penalty measures for minor and more serious violations. “For serious violations, MPs can be excluded from three sessions of the Assembly, three meetings of the committees, and can also be sanctioned with 50 percent of their pay,” he said.

U.S. sanctioned Serbian politician nominated for Deputy Prime Minister (media)

Most news websites report that Aleksandar Vulin, former head of the Serbian Intelligence Service and sanctioned by the United States of America, has been nominated for the post of Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia. Milos Vucevic, the Prime Minister-designate, proposed on Monday the names of the new government ministers. Ivica Dacic, current Minister of Foreign Affairs, will lead the Ministry of Interior Affairs, while Bratislav Gasic, current Minister of Police, will lead the Ministry of Defense. Marko Djuric, former ambassador to the United States, will join the new government as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Another politician sanctioned by the United States, Nenad Popovic, is also expected to be part of the new government as a minister without a portfolio.

Stradner: Vucic “preparing new escalation” to remain in power for years (media)

Several news websites cover a post on X by Ivana Stradner, a research fellow with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), according to whom Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, to whom she refers as an autocrat, “is preparing a new escalation in order to remain in power for many more years and then to position himself as a guarantor of peace in the eyes of the West and allegedly put out the fire”. Stradner said she knows that “because of Vucic’s propaganda, many people in Serbia don’t even know what is happening. But in Washington for several months now, people are slowly seeing what is going on and they are very worried. Unfortunately, because of the U.S. elections, the war in Ukraine and the chaos in the Middle East, they don’t have the capacity to focus on the Balkans … There are many people in Serbia who are disgusted by the insanity of the last 30+ years”.

Serbian Language Media

Vucevic announces composition of new Serbian Government (N1, media)

President of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and prime minister designate Milos Vucevic proposed the names of new ministers in the Serbian Government, N1 reported.

The names include: Sinisa Mali, first deputy prime minister and minister of finance, Ivica Dacic, deputy prime minister and minister of internal affairs, Irena Vujovic, deputy prime minister and minister of environment, Aleksandar Vulin, deputy prime minister, Adrijana Mesarovic minister of economy, Aleksandar Martinovic, minister of agriculture, Goran Vesic, minister of construction, Dubravka Djedovic-Handanovic, minister of energy, Tomislav Momirovic, minister of internal and external trade, Maja Popovic, minister of justice, Jelena Zaric-Kovacevic, minister of state administration, Tomislav Zigmanov, minister of human rights, Bratislav Gasic, minister of defense, Marko Djuric, minister of foreign affairs, Tanja Miscevic, minister of European integration, Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic, minister of education, Zlatibor Loncar, minister of health, Nemanja Sarovic, minister of labor and employment, Zoran Gajic, minister of sports, Milan Krkobabic, minister for care of rural areas, Milica Djurdjevic Stamenkovski, minister of care for families and demography, Nikola Selakovic, minister of culture, Jelena Begovic, minister of science, Husein Memic, minister of tourism and youth, Dejan Ristic, minister of information, Darko Glisic, minister of public investments, Novica Toncev, Djordje Milicevic, Nenad Popovic, Usame Zukorlic and Tatjana Macura – ministers without portfolio.

There are in total 31 ministers, eight of whom were not ministers before, Vucevic said, adding that among the ministers 10 are women. Vucevic also said he will propose Assembly Speaker Ana Brnabic to convene an assembly session tomorrow to discuss composition of the new government.

Pro-Russian sentiments rising in Serbia, EU losing support (VoA, N1)

An International Republican Institute official told the Voice of America that pro-Russian sentiments are rising in Serbia along with a drop in pro-European feelings. Paul McCarthy, Europe Regional Director at the International Republican Institute, said the latest Ipsos poll showed that support for the European Union dropped 40 percent in Serbia. It also showed that the public views Russia as the country’s top partner and the US as a threat.

McCarthy warned that the West is losing the battle in the region in terms of the Western Balkans losing faith in the EuroAtlantic integration process. The mood in Serbia is pro-Russian but with a strong minority who are pro-Western, he said, adding he thinks those attitudes are prevalent in cities, especially Belgrade.

He also said the drop in support for the EU is partly due to statements by public officials against the EU. He added the feeling is that the long wait to join the EU has left people offended and believing that the country needs new partners.

Kilometers-long queues at Jarinje crossing point (KoSSev, Radio KIM)

A KoSSev reporter on the ground reported today around midday that there are kilometers-long queues of vehicles waiting to exit Kosovo at Jarinje crossing point and that travelers are waiting for more than one hour and a half to exit.

In the opposite direction there is less traffic and no longer waiting periods to enter Kosovo.

KoSSev also said the Kosovo Interior Ministry portal did not register the waiting time needed to exit Kosovo. According to the information provided on the ministry’s portal the waiting time in both directions is five minutes the longest and three minutes the shortest.

The heavy traffic on the crossings is a common occurrence ahead, during and after the holidays, the portal added.

Serbs in the north of Kosovo on census: Neither is one knocking on our door, nor would we have open it (RFE)

A census enumerator has not knocked on the door of a six-member Miletic family in Leposavic yet, although three weeks have passed since the census of the population started in Kosovo, Radio Free Europe in Serbian reported today. However, even if someone knocks on their door in the upcoming two weeks this family is not sure if they would provide answers to the census questions.

“This has become more like a political issue”, Dalibor Miletic told RFE in relation to the census that started on April 5 and should end on May 17. He said no one explained to them details on the entire process, adding they are hearing conflicting messages from Pristina and Serb political representatives. Although he thinks it would be good to know the exact number of Serbian community members, he also said “that this is not a favorable moment for the census”. “It is yet uncertain what I am going to do (in relation to the census)”, Miletic said.

Enumerators have not visited Dragan Ilic, a pensioner from Mitrovica North either. He lives with his wife only and said he will not take part in the census. “Our people are not stupid, they see and understand (what is going on). This census is their destruction. Simple, the situation is as such in Kosovo now”, he told RFE.

These two families are not the only ones having doubts and refusing to take part in the census. Majority of Serbs in four northern municipalities refuse to take part, Kosovo Statistic Agency said on April 29. Director of Agency, Avni Kastrati said the boycott is not good for the Serbian community, and should the boycott continue they would at the end carry out only an assessment on the number of population. Serbian List earlier said that members of the Serbian community will not take part in the census because of repression of Pristina authorities. Serbs in the north of Kosovo did not take part in the census in 2011 either, while members of the Serbian community south of the Ibar mainly boycotted it as per the call from Belgrade.

What is the situation south of the Ibar River?

RFE sent an inquiry to the Kosovo Statistic Agency with a question how many members of the Serbian community responded to the census thus far, however it received no reply by the time the article was published.

Kastrati told the media on April 29, that Serbs south of the Ibar River are “registering massively” but provided no figure.

Nebojsa Vasic with his four-member family lives in Klokot, one of the six Serb majority municipalities south of the Ibar River. He told RFE that he took part in the census as it is important to know how many members of the Serbian community live in Kosovo. “To know who we are, where we are. The only thing is that it lasts a bit longer, takes time”, he said.

Bekim Salihu from Kosovo Advanced Studies Institute (GAP) said boycott of the census can negatively impact local economic development and strategy planning, as well as that it would impact municipal budget allocation as it is linked with the number of people living in a given municipality.

Can the trend of a boycott change?

Boban Simic from Centre for Affirmative Social Actions (CASA) said the process of census implementation is “not carried out almost at all” in the northern municipalities, adding it was a consequence of bad organization and lack of campaign by Kosovo Statistic Agency.

He also said this is not the only process organized by Kosovo institutions in the north that people boycotted, recalling the recent mayoral recall vote in the four municipalities which members of the Serbian community also boycotted.

“Given that the census ends on May 17, and that May 1 and Easter holidays are approaching – when many will be outside of Kosovo – it is hard to expect there could be some significant turnover as far as the trends of the census in the north are concerned”, Simic said.

SRSG meets Partes mayor, encourages work on building trust between people (KoSSev, Kosovo Online, social media)

Special Representative of the UN Secretary General (SRGS) and Head of UNMIK Caroline Ziadeh visited Partes municipality and met mayor Dragan Petkovic, KoSSev portal reported.

“SRSG Ziadeh met Parteš/Partesh Mayor Dragan Petković today. SRSG Ziadeh undertook to find ways for future #UNMIK support, encouraging further #TrustBuilding work among the people”, UNMIK said in a post on X social media platform on Monday.

Partes mayor said his municipality is facing challenges and expressed his view of the current possibilities. He also said that the municipality is investing efforts in order to improve social services and the lives of its residents.

Vukicevic: We are finding ways as best we can; Pristina's regulations make life difficult for everyone (Kosovo Online)

Biljana Vukicevic, the director of Branko Radicevic elementary school in Mitrovica North, said that for the past three months since Kosovo Central Bank’s regulation banning the use of the dinar came into effect, the workers of this school, as well as the entire Serbian population in Kosovo, are finding ways as best they can to organize their daily lives, Kosovo Online portal reported.

"Functioning is more difficult; unfortunately, all these (Albin) Kurti's regulations worsen the already disrupted order and peace in the city. Going to the first Postal Savings Bank, to Rudnica, maybe younger people can afford it, but there's a lot of older and sick population, bedridden population. All these regulations jeopardize the entire population in Kosovo and Metohija. And it is not just about financial means. There are almost no Serbian products in stores, shelves are half-empty, there are no medicines in the public pharmacy...", Vukicevic said.

Regarding the school's work, she notes that acquiring teaching aids, textbooks, and other necessary items for classroom work is very difficult.

International

Kosovo Lacks Capacities to Fight Disinformation (Prishtina Insight)

Kosovo lacks sufficient capacity to combat disinformation and false narratives, with public officials also often falling for these narratives, experts claim.

Experts call on the Kosovo government to increase the capacities to counter false anti-Western narratives that often not only influence the country but also target it, as even public officials are sometimes affected.

In mid-April 2024, the Ministry of Internal Affairs sent an email with inaccurate information to 7,000 public officials, testing them. The results showed that some officials believed the email.

Kallxo.com found that in public communication offices within public institutions, the capacities to address misinformation are limited, and in some cases, they are nonexistent.

Alban Zeneli, a professor at the Faculty of Journalism at the University of Prishtina, says that Kosovo has not taken this issue seriously enough so far.

“Unfortunately, our state is lagging behind in terms of actions and decisions that should have been taken to combat disinformation coming from non-Western propaganda in Kosovo,” Zeneli declared on Kallxo Përnime TV Programme on Sunday, April 28.

Extensive use of social networks in Kosovo have allowed readers to access hundreds of thousands of pieces of information and in different cases, its narratives and disinformation from outside the country.

Përparim Kryeziu, Government Spokesperson, stated on the Kallxo Përnime TV Programme that this challenge is global, and they have started training officials.

“This is a global challenge, and Kosovo, besides not being an exception, is often the target of such campaigns by unfriendly states. We have been cooperating with the British government for a year now through the embassy to increase awareness and consciousness through their experiences and training to deal with and counter disinformation,” Kryeziu stated.