Headlines - 30.07.2013

EU: Few details remain about energy and telecom (Koha Ditore)

EU sources said that there are still few more details to be sorted out regarding the agreement for energy and telecom and that the work will continue also during the summer vacations. The next meeting at the level of prime ministers could take place in the last week of August.

EU sources neither rejected nor confirmed claims of Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi that “as far as Kosovo is concerned, but also the EU, the agreement about energy and telecom is completed.” These sources say that telecom and energy were not among the main issues tackled during the last meeting between two prime ministers on 25 July in Brussels. EU sources say that “we are very close, but few details still need to be explained between parties.”

Assembly doesn’t approve law for more community rights (Koha Ditore)

Kosovo Assembly did not pass the draft law for protection and promotion of rights of communities that derives from the agreement between Kosovo and Serbia reached in Brussels. Although all parliamentary parties, except Vetëvendosje, supported the law, it failed to get the majority of the necessary votes.

Assembly Speaker Jakup Krasniqi said that the approval of the draft law required votes of majority of Assembly MPs and of majority of MPs that hold reserved seats and in the case at hand, the law received sufficient votes from communities but not from the rest of Albanian MPs. As a result, explained Krasniqi, the law will go back to the Government.

Head of PDK parliamentary group Adem Grabovci asked the Assembly presidency to put the draft law up for vote once again but this was refused by chairman of the session, Xhavit Haliti, who said it is not parliamentary practice to vote on the draft law twice in the same session.

UN report on Kosovo ready (Bota Sot, Kosova Sot)

The report of the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on developments in Kosovo over the last three months has been prepared and submitted to Security Council member states. In it, Ban hails progress in normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia but notes that this process needs to address painful issues inherited from the past. Bota Sot quotes RTV 21 reporting that sources from the UN announced that the next meeting between prime ministers of Kosovo and Serbia is expected to take place on 29 August.

EULEX does not leave (Tribuna)

The EU rule-of-law mission (EULEX) will not leave Kosovo in 2014. Sources in Brussels told the paper that regardless of economic difficulties, member states are willing to end the mission in June next year. “There will be changes, but the mission will not close,” a senior European official said.

The same source explained that the EU mission will be restructured and in the first step of this process the Task Force investing claims made by Dick Marty about organs trafficking will become independent from the mission. The task force would then be able to open an international court on war crimes. European diplomats said the court would have to remain under a European jurisdiction and not fall under the jurisdiction of the United Nations. There are ongoing discussions if the court would focus only on Marty’s claims or whether it will cover all war crimes cases in Kosovo.

The source also said that in the future EULEX will operate in three pillars. The first pillar would have a special body with judges and prosecutors that would cover only organized crime and corruption. This mechanism would function independently similar to anti-mafia task forces in certain EU member states. Another EULEX unit would provide mentoring and advising for Kosovo’s central institutions. The third unit would focus on the northern part of Kosovo and carry out obligations stemming from Kosovo-Serbia dialogue.

A difficult day for the president (Tribuna)

The paper notes in one of the front-page stories that Monday was one of the most difficult days for Atifete Jahjaga ever since she took up the post of president of Kosovo. Jahjaga was faced with a dilemma: whether to declare the Amnesty Law or to leave it to be published in the Official Gazette without her decree.

If she were to declare the law, Jahjaga would have to consider a note from the Constitutional Court which informed her that she should not declare the law while this court was reviewing the law’s compatibility with the constitution. And if Jahjaga were to choose the second option she would anger “international friends” whom she guaranteed that Kosovo would meet all obligations from the Brussels agreement and the Amnesty Law is one of them.

The paper learned that until 17:00 hrs yesterday, President Jahjaga did not inform parliament about the steps she was going to make about the law.

Arsim Bajrami, one of the authors of the Constitution of Kosovo, told the paper that if the president does not declare the law on amnesty, it will enter force automatically. “Based on the Constitution, if the president does not sign the law within the constitutional deadline, the law enters force by itself and it is announced in the Official Gazette,” Bajrami said.

Zarko Veselinovic arrested, Serbs block the Iber regional road (dailies)

Koha Ditore reports that Zarko Veselinovic, brother of the notorious Zvonko Veselinovic, has been arrested by EULEX Police on Monday afternoon in Rudare, north of Kosovo. The arrest has been officially confirmed also by the Kosovo Police, through spokesperson, Besim Hoti.

According to the sources, the arrest was carried out at 15:00 hours, at the petrol station, Veselinovic’s property, while 20 employees there tried to prevent the arrest by throwing stones in direction of a EULEX vehicle. According to the information from Kosovo police, EULEX unit members that conducted the arrest returned to the base without injuries. To protest against the arrest of Veselinovic, a group of Serbs blocked the road in direction of Jarinje. In a connected incident, they stoned an EULEX police patrol injuring two officers.

Limaj to be tried for corruption (dailies)

Former Transport Minister Fatmir Limaj will stand trial on organized crime charges along with three of his former associates while his two brothers, Florim and Demir, and Gani Zogaj, former employee at the Ministry of Transport, were acquitted. EULEX judge that presided over the case dropped several counts from Fatmir Limaj’s indictment but confirmed charges on misusing official post and bribery.

Hoxhaj: Security sector in process of changes (Tribuna)

Kosovo Foreign Minister, Enver Hoxhaj, in an interview for Canadian magazine Embassy, said that Republic of Kosovo aims to secure NATO membership soon, but, according to him, before that it should change the mandate for the Kosovo Security Force and then join the NATO programme, Partnership for Peace. “Kosovo security sector is in the process of changes. In the coming months the mandate of KSF is expected to change and next year we will have a new name and a new substance,” announced Hoxhaj. According to him, in this process Republic of Kosovo needs the support of Euro-Atlantic partners.