Headlines - 07.07.2017

• Thaci: Haradinaj confirmed, new govt to be formed without delay (RFE)
• Thaci accepts only Veseli’s proposal for Prime Minister (Koha)
• Kusari: We won’t vote in favor of a Haradinaj-led government (Epoka)
• Kurti confirms meeting LDK’s Mustafa and Haziri on Thursday (Lajmi)
• Vetevendosje’s candidate for PM, Kurti, gives interview to Klan Kosova
• LDK’s Gashi: Kosovo could witness Macedonian scenario (Bota Sot)
• Kusari-Lila to resign from mayor’s post (RTK)
• Prosecutor claims senior KLA officials were behind March 2004 riots (Kallxo)
• US suspicious over humanitarian center in Nis (RTK)

Thaci: Haradinaj confirmed, new government to be formed without delay (RFE)

The President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, told Radio Free Europe that he has received confirmation from the PDK-AAK-NISMA coalition and its candidate for Prime Minister, Ramush Haradinaj, that a new government would be formed without delay. He also said that the matter of mandate is not an issue of preferences but of respecting the citizens’ legitimacy. “Kosovo has the winning coalition which came out from the 11 June elections. I will be respecting the Constitution, Laws and decisions of the Constitutional Court of 2014,” Thaci said.

Thaci accepts only Veseli’s proposal for Prime Minister (Koha)

Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaci will communicate only with Kadri Veseli, from the PAN coalition, about the candidate who will try to form the new government of Kosovo, the paper reports on the front page. A source from the Office of the President told the paper on Thursday that when the President proposes the candidate for Prime Minister to the Assembly, he will not take into account developments within the winning coalition. “The person, under whose name the coalition was registered in the Central Election Commission, speaks on behalf of the coalition that has won the elections. The President deals with the certificates of political parties that he gets from the CEC and he is not interested in political dynamics. This time along it will be easy because a good guideline is the ruling of the Constitutional Court on the candidate [for Prime Minister],” the source said.

Kusari: We won’t vote in favor of a Haradinaj-led government (Epoka)

Mimoza Kusari, leader of the Alternativa political party warned that MPs of her party would not support a Haradinaj-led government. She said they would vote against because they consider the PAN coalition is unable to move Kosovo’s processes forward. She added that those MPs who would help PAN create the government, would be putting a blotch and saying farewell to their political carrier. According to Kusari-Lila, even if PAN coalition manages to secure 61 votes, it would be a short-lived government. “In fact much shorter than the others we have had so far,” she said.

Kurti confirms meeting with LDK’s Mustafa and Haziri on Thursday (Lajmi)

Vetevendosje’s candidate for Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, said on Thursday that he met with Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) leader Isa Mustafa. Kurti did not say what was discussed at the meeting but implied that such meetings would take place in the future again. “I met today with Isa Mustafa and LDK deputy leader Lutfi Haziri. I was with Visar Ymeri. The first meeting is very important. In our future meetings we will discuss the issue of demarcation [with Montenegro] and the way we will resolve it together. I will also discuss with Mr. Mustafa the meeting he had with his Montenegrin counterpart. I am not going to preempt any results, but I believe that with good will and mutual interest, and also with the study we will do in Kosovo, and after talks with Montenegro, we will achieve the result we all want,” Kurti said.

Vetevendosje’s candidate for PM, Kurti, gives interview to Klan Kosova

Vetevendosje’s candidate for Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, said in an interview to Klan Kosova on Thursday that if the PDK-AAK-NISMA coalition decides to nominate Kadri Veseli for the post of Assembly President, Vetevendosje MPs would vote against it. Kurti argued that a more consensual and unifying person should be nominated to the post. Kurti also said that Kosovo does not need the special court, “because it will only create further confusion”. “We need normal courts, we are tired of special courts. This is going to be a mono-ethnic court … The special court is having a negative effect because the people are becoming passive and are no longer demanding justice believing that justice will be served through the special court. The people must hold accountable those who voted in favor of the constitutional amendment that paved way to the special court. There are people that have not committed war crimes but they have committed crimes during peacetime,” Kurti said.

LDK’s Gashi: Kosovo could witness Macedonian scenario (Bota Sot)

Arben Gashi from the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) said in an interview to InfoBox that that Kosovo could witness a similar situation to that in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) if President Hashim Thaci is “irresponsible” and does not give the mandate to the entity that secures a majority of MPs in the second round. Gashi said his most preferred scenario would be for LDK to stay in the opposition this term while a possible coalition with Vetevendosje would be his second most preferred outcome.

Kusari-Lila to resign from mayor’s post (RTK)

Mayor of Gjakove/Djakovica, Mimoza Kusari-Lila, announced on Facebook that she plans to resign from her current post and take on a seat in the new Kosovo Assembly. Kusari-Lila, co-founder of Alternativa, thanked the citizens for their support and said that she would remain in her post until the first session of the Assembly is called.

Prosecutor claims senior KLA officials were behind March 2004 riots (Kallxo)

The news website reports that an Italian prosecutor part of EULEX has claimed to have discovered the way the March 2004 riots were organised and how some of the unsolved murders then were carried out. In a 41-page request for detention of the group held responsible for some of the events that unfolded in March 2004, the Italian prosecutor says that late 2000 a group of former KLA fighters agreed to start a secret war to take control over the whole territory inhabited by Albanians in Kosovo. The group is said to have taken orders by high-profile KLA commanders which at the time were exercising leading political functions.

US suspicious over humanitarian center in Nis (RTK)

Hoyt Yee, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, expressed concern about the Russian-Serbian disaster relief center in NIS, close to the border between Serbia and Kosovo. Yee told Serbian weekly NIN that the U.S. does not object Russia’s help in humanitarian crisis and emergency situations, but it is suspicious over the activities of this center, at Nis Airport. He expressed concern “not so much about what it is now, but what it might become if it receives what Russia has been asking from Serbia, which is some kind of special status, a protected diplomatic status or immunity”. “I am not aware of cases when humanitarian workers in other countries need diplomatic immunity. Because of all this, we consider that Russia has other goals with this center,” Yee said.