Thaçi: UNMIK will receive the right answer (dailies)

Koha Ditore reports on the front page that Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi encouraged Albanian residents in Mitrovica to continue construction work on their properties in the north a day after UNMIK is said to have asked them to stop works. At the meeting of the Government, Thaçi said UNMIK will receive the right answer.

“I will also discuss with UNMIK representative when he returns from Belgrade but I think that his stay in Belgrade and attempts to stop construction of houses is completely unacceptable, unjustifiable and will get the necessary answer from the Government of the Republic of Kosovo,” Thaçi is quoted. He said the Government will support the returns of citizens to their properties through all means.

“The Government of Kosovo will be there alongside the citizens so that there is no obstacle from anyone and of course UNMIK has neither moral nor legal or legitimate right to prevent or try to prevent construction of houses and return of citizens to their homes and properties,” added Thaçi further.

At the same time, Deputy Prime Minister Hajredin Kuçi pointed out that UNMIK has no force and no mandate in Kosovo. “It is good UNMIK has reduced activity but it would be good to transform into a UN office in Kosovo and not insist on a mandate it does not have and cannot have,” he said.

Thaçi and Dacic will discuss only border management (Koha Ditore)

Koha Ditore reports on page three that the office of European Union High Representative Catherine Ashton is making final consultations with Kosovo and Serbia prime ministers, Hashim Thaçi and Ivica Dacic, for their next meeting. Thaçi and Dacic are expected to meet on December 3-5 to discuss the implementation of the Integrated Border Management agreement, the publication of funds that Serbia allocates for its institutions in Kosovo, and the issue of liaison offices.

Sources in Brussels told the paper that except for the IBM implementation, the meeting is not expected to produce any other concrete agreement. European officials, who preferred to remain anonymous, told the paper that Ashton does not expect Dacic to publish Serbia’s funds for its institutions in Kosovo at this phase. “According to the agreement reached in the first meeting, parties will make their proposals on how this can be done,” the source added.

Tensions continue in Mitrovica (Koha Ditore)

Koha Ditore reports that in the late evening hours in north Mitrovica, tensions have increased after the arrival of one group of Serbs from Zubin Potok, said informed sources of newspaper from the north. In Bosniak Mahalla shots were fired by a group of persons in a white KIA car with the leader of the group being Slavisa Jovic.

The group of armed Serbs later on headed for Kroi i Vitakut, said the sources. After receiving the information about the arrival of this group which consisted of 30 Serbs from Zubin Potok, three KFOR units were deployed to the neighborhood so as to prevent any possible incident, sources from KFOR said while the Force’s Spokesman Uwe Nowitzki told the paper on Wednesday evening that “Nothing extraordinary is happening in the north”.

Natali Velijaj has withdrawn over one million from the bank (Koha Ditore)

Koha Ditore reports that the German national arrested on charges of fraud regarding the passports of Kosovo affair, Natali Velijaj had withdrawn over one million euro from her bank account and where she deposited this sum of money is not yet known.

One part of the money Velijaj transferred to the account of Fimex Company which she co-owns with Fisnik Blakaj. The possibility of her handing the money to senior officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs could be corroborated but claims that she made bank transactions have been dismissed.

Prosecutors interviewed Velijaj on Wednesday but she did not disclose any names of the officials she claims to have given the money to with the order of Austrian company OeSD that won the tender of over 14 million euro to produce Kosovo biometric passports. Velijaj insisted on being granted the status of a protected witness before she would reveal the names but this is said to have been refused by the prosecutors with the reason that the law does not allow it.

Interior Ministry suspends three of its officials (dailies)

The papers report that three officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs have been suspended from their posts following the passport affair where 1.4 million euro are suspected to have been transferred to a bank account without proper authorisation. The persons suspended include Sedat Gashi, head of Minister’s cabinet, Blerim Camaj chief executive of the Agency for Civil Registration and Besnik Berisha director of department for Production of Documents.

Though the statement issued by the ministry doesn’t implicate them to the passports scandal, Zëri quotes an unnamed senior official from the ministry claiming the three men were suspended precisely because of the affair.

Kuçi: Only Hashim (Express)

In an interview for the paper, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Hajredin Kuçi said that he believed the optimal time for holding the PDK general convention would be mid January but stressed that there are no splinter groups within the party “only an internal debate”. He said the party leader, Hashim Thaçi, “keeps the PDK, leads the PDK and has the necessary authority recognised by all”.

Speaking about the Pristina-Belgrade dialogue, Kuçi said that everyone involved in the process is aware that the talks held at the highest possible level should end in a historic agreement. “I have proposed a peace treaty that would respect the condition of states between Kosovo and Serbia, that would reflect the past in the sense of the missing persons, apologizing and compensating war damages by Serbia and would create the possibility of cooperation in the future,” said Kuçi.

Asked about the timeframe of the dialogue, Kuçi said there is no set deadline within which talks ought to end but added that he would like to believe it will be a matter of months before they end.

Justice for Ramush! (Zëri)

In a leading front-page editorial, the paper’s editor-in-chief Astrit Gashi writes that a week has passed since Serbia and its allies have launched an unprecedented campaign to influence the ICTY’s verdict on the Haradinaj case.

“This is a disgusting, unfruitful and denigrating campaign against The Hague Tribunal, as an institution of justice and not politics, but also against good neighborly relations with Kosovo which dialogue between the two countries is trying to promote. Surprised by the ICTY decision to declare Croat general Ante Gotovina and his friends innocent, the Serbian state is naively thinking that by turning on political engines it can influence the trial of Haradinaj and his fellow combatants. The Hague Tribunal, as an institution of justice, must reject this campaign and resist the political pressure coming from Serbia… Exhausted for over seven years, Ramush Haradinaj needs justice more than anything. He needs good news, uninfluenced by politics. First and foremost, he needs a fair trial that will have an ending,” Gashi writes.

OSCE, supporter of democracy in Kosovo (Express)

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kosovo, Enver Hoxhaj, during his visit to Austria, met with the OSCE Secretary General, Lamberto Zannier. Hoxhaj expressed appreciation for the support that OSCE is giving to Kosovo in the field of development of democracy and protection and promotion of human rights of communities, says a press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Zannier on the other hand showed appreciation for the cooperation of Kosovo institutions with OSCE, and for the expression of interest to continue with this progress, considering it important for peace, security and stability within Kosovo and the region.

Çitaku: Visa liberalization report on December 17 (Epoka e Re)

Epoka e Re quotes Kosovo’s European Integration Minister Vlora Çitaku as saying that on December 17 the European Commission is expected to publish its first evaluation report for the process of visa liberalization for the Republic of Kosovo. “I am optimistic that this report will be realistic and positive for the Republic of Kosovo,” she said. Çitaku also said that by the end of the year, Kosovo will meet the short-term criteria to start negotiations with the European Union on the Stabilization/Association Agreement.