Headlines - 06.05.2014 Ban calls for establishment of Association of Serb municipalities (Koha) The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in the recent report on Kosovo that there are still some challenges remaining for the full implementation of Brussels agreement between Pristina and Belgrade, specifically regarding the establishment of Association of Serb Municipalities. “I encourage both parties to continue their work in mutual trust for implementation of the agreement and to establish the Association in good will. Nevertheless, failure to solve the problems for full implementation of 19 April agreement should not undermine the progress made since the beginning of the dialogue”, said Ban. SG’s report covers the period from 21 January to 15 April and will be presented to the Security Council on 27 May.  Scenario for postponing elections (Tribuna) According to the paper’s sources, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci is planning to draft a law preventing minority communities from voting on issues that are not directly related to their interests. The goal is to make the Serb MPs vote in favour of Kosovo Armed Forces (KAF) establishment. To this end, PM Thaci could call a meeting today with representatives of minority communities. An unnamed legal expert said that efforts to pass the above legislation are nothing more than Thaci’s desire to postpone parliamentary elections. “Even if there are no obstacles in adopting the law, procedural aspects of it will take months”, said the source.  First failure regarding KAF (Tribuna) After yesterday’s failure of the Kosovo Assembly to put to vote proposal for establishment of Kosovo Armed Forces, the paper reports on the front page that the issue could now be addressed in the framework of the Pristina-Belgrade dialogue along with the reserved seats for members of communities. Furthermore, adds the paper, there are now growing dilemmas about the possibility of dissolving the assembly this month and setting the date for general elections. Jahjaga: European path of Serbia to be conditioned with Kosovo (Botapress) Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga received yesterday the Italian Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti. President Jahjaga said that the region of South East Europe is in a significant period, especially after new opportunities for peace and normalization of relations between neighboring countries, made possible through the agreements in the framework of the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia. She said that agreements should be fully implemented and European path of Serbia should be conditioned with full normalization of relations with Kosovo.  After Belgrade, Fule to visit Pristina (Tribuna) European Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Fule is to visit Kosovo today. The visit comes days after Kosovo and EU concluded negotiations on Stabilisation and Association Agreement. The EU official is expected to commend Pristina leaders on the progress and stress the need for continuing dialogue with Belgrade. In the afternoon, Fule is set to travel to the north of Kosovo and meet local leadership there.  Jacobson was only the host in the meeting of leaders (Lajm) US Embassy in Kosovo said that Ambassador Tracey Ann Jacobson was only the host in the meeting between political leaders held on Monday. This was done in an effort to support the Kosovo legislation agenda. “The Ambassador was hosting this meeting in the continuous effort of the Embassy to support the important legislation agenda of Kosovo,” says a statement of the US Embassy in Pristina.  The US refutes Thaci’s pre-election statement (Koha Ditore) After the statement of the Prime Minister Hashim Thaci that Washington and Brussels expect the victory of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), the US Embassy in Pristina has made it clear that it does not support any political party or candidate for elections. “The Embassy does not support particular parties or candidates and believes that these democratic decisions should be made by voters of Kosovo, through a reliable election process,” was the official response of the US Embassy given to this daily. At the same time, officials from the EU Office stated that the important thing is to hold democratic elections without fraud.  Mustafa: Assembly to be dissolved this week (Zeri) Leader of Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) Isa Mustafa said the Assembly of Kosovo is not in a position to take big decisions and that it will be dissolved this week. According to Mustafa, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci is responsible for delays in the establishment of Kosovo Armed Forces. Jahjaga awards medal of honour to former SRSG Kouchner (Botapress) Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga met yesterday the former Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in Kosovo Bernard Kouchner whom she presented with the humanitarian medal “Mother Theresa”. The medal is given to persons who contribute in humanitarian issues. Kouchner thanked President Jahjaga, institutions and the people of Kosovo for honouring him.  Elements of SHIK within KIA (Koha) In a front-page story, the paper reports that KFOR’s intelligence service had much information about people who are currently managing the Kosovo Intelligence Agency. In KFOR’s intelligence reports, a senior KIA official with the initials A.M. is mentioned as a former senior official of the former Intelligence Service of Kosovo (SHIK) run by Kadri Veseli. A.M. currently works at the counter-intelligence sector of KIA. Veseli is currently deputy leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Kosovo. The paper claims to have a copy of the KFOR report which describes A.M. as a person that violated the law, an instigator of violence and member of the Kosovo Protection Corps Intelligence Service. According to the report, the same person tried to instigate violence and organize protests when several people were arrested in June 1999. The paper quotes Burim Ramadani, member of the parliamentary committee that oversees the activities of KIA, as saying that parliament does not have sufficient oversight of the agency.  Mustafa: Government can order the arrest of the entire opposition  (Bota Sot) LDK leader Isa Mustafa stated that justice has worked in a selective manner and that the police have drafted a list on who has to be arrested. “I do not support the idea of telling the court how to act. However, it is another issue how people were voted in a selective manner at boards. From what I saw in the media, Osmani and Shabani are accused of voting on a decision even though five other members of the board voted the same decision. Why do the police decide to make a selective list ahead of elections, by arresting some of them and not the others? This is an issue that has to be discussed seriously at the Assembly of Kosovo. A solution should be sought together with the international factor. It is not the police that should decide who should be arrested. The Government can tell the police to go and arrest the entire opposition ahead of elections in order to make way but it is not good to use undemocratic methods during the process of elections,” said Mustafa.