UNMIK Headlines 7 September
Illegal administrations to integrate into Association/Community (Koha)
The government of Kosovo has been unable to end the activity of illegal administrations in these municipalities, despite organizing local elections in the northern municipalities, but now hopes to be able to do so through the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities. According to the Brussels Agreement reached on 25 August, the Association/Community is set to have an administration chief that will be appointed by the board and assist the Association/Community in carrying out its duties. The Association/Community will, in addition, be entitled to hire personnel from the illegal administrations and convert them into Kosovo civil servants.
Assembly to debate Brussels agreements after summer break (Kosova Sot)
Kosovo Assembly members will be briefed by Prime Minister Isa Mustafa on the recently reached agreements with Brussels as soon as the summer break is over, which is expected to be sometime in the second half of the month. Mustafa’s advisor Valon Murtezaj said all MPs will have the opportunity to receive detailed information on the agreements during the session.
Vetevendosje criticizes Mustafa over Association/Community (dailies)
The Vetevendosje Movement during its General Council meeting criticized Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Isa Mustafa, for sharing the resources, infrastructure, energy and telecommunication services with Serbia. According to Vetevendosje’s leader, Visar Ymeri, with the establishment of the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities, Kosovo’s property is being shared with Serbia. "The establishment of this Association puts into question the Republic of Kosovo," Ymeri said. He also said that the Association/Community will be prevented by those citizens who dismissed the former Communities and Returns Minister Aleksandar Jablanovic. He also said that Mustafa is using the police, prosecution and courts against Vetevendosje.
Mustafa announces KSF’s transformation into an army (dailies)
Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Isa Mustafa, in a Facebook post yesterday said that 2015 was a year of great decisions and challenges, ranging from the decision on the special court, border demarcation with Montenegro and reaching agreements to normalize relations with Belgrade. He noted that in the days to come the government is seeking the best way to conclude the issue of transformation of the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) into an army.
Netherlands starts preparations for special court (Zeri)
The paper on its front page reports that Kosovo has received the request from the EU to start negotiations with the Netherlands over the special court’s headquarters as soon as possible. Kosovo and the Netherlands are expected within a few days to start the discussions and sign an agreement for setting the Specialist Chambers’ headquarters in The Hague. Government officials told the paper that the Foreign Ministry will lead the negotiating process which is expected to result in an agreement that then must be ratified by the Assembly.
US, Albania join efforts in getting Kosovo to join OSCE (Kosova Sot)
The United States and Albania have joined forces in lobbying for Kosovo’s admission to international organisations. The two countries have already harmonized their stances when it comes to supporting Kosovo’s efforts to join the OSCE and they expressed their positions at the meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna. Furthermore, the Albanian representative at the meeting, Spiro Koci, said Albania is preparing an official request to the UNESCO executive board to discuss Kosovo’s possible membership in the organization at its upcoming meeting.
3,000 cases intentionally being held at police station (Zeri)
The paper reports that over three thousand criminal cases are intentionally being held at the police station in Skenderaj/Srbica municipality. These cases have not been submitted to the prosecution because "the prosecution has not enough space for the storage of these cases.” Citizens say the police are intentionally keeping these criminal cases back until the three-year limitation for treating criminal cases expires. According to the citizens, these cases involve powerful people in the area. Some of the judges currently in charge of criminal cases for the Mitrovica Basic Court branch in Skenderaj/Srbica said they could be transferred to Mitrovica because they don’t have any criminal cases to be handled.