• Thaci to talk borders in the U.S., Haradinaj on visa liberalization (Zeri)
• Thaci meets Austrian counterpart, discuss visas and final deal with Serbia (media)
• German MP: Germany to apply more pressure for Kosovo’s recognition (media)
• Tahiri accuses Kurti of sabotaging key phases of state-building process (media)
• Haxhiu: If PSD doesn’t join protest against Thaci, hypocrisy (Zeri)
• O’Connell on Kosovo’s membership of INTERPOL (Lajmi)

Thaci to talk borders in the U.S., Haradinaj visa liberalization (Zeri)

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj will travel soon to New York, on the eve of the United Nations General Assembly, the paper reports. Thaci is expected to talk about dialogue and the border with Serbia in his meetings with different leaders, while Haradinaj will lobby for visa liberalization for Kosovo. Thaci earlier said that he could also meet U.S. President Donald Trump.

Thaci meets Austrian counterpart, discuss visas and final deal with Serbia (media)

Kosovo President, Hashim Thaci, met in Vienna with Austrian President, Alexander Van der Bellen, several news websites report. “I had the pleasure to meet Austrian President, Alexander Van der Bellen, in Vienna. We discussed cooperation between Kosovo and Austria, visa liberalization for Kosovo and developments in the Western Balkans, with special emphasis on reaching a final agreement between Kosovo and Serbia,” Thaci said after the meeting.

German MP: Germany to apply more pressure for Kosovo’s recognition (media)

German MP, Renata Alt, said in an interview to Deutsche Welle, that the German government must apply more pressure for Kosovo’s recognition and added that she does not support the plan for border changes between Kosovo and Serbia. “It is not good to have border changes along pure ethnic lines in the Balkans. It is a dangerous game that can have unpredictable consequences that no one can imagine at this point. Republika Srpska could ask to join Serbia. I think moving borders does not resolve national problems. In the long-term plan, there shouldn’t be any borders and ethnic communities should enjoy the same rights everywhere. The EU has always supported this,” Alt said. “Such changes [borders] support only nationalistic tendencies. This cannot be our objective. The Balkans countries have a great geo-strategic importance between Europe and Asia, therefore, it is in our interest to have a stable region. At the same time, candidate countries must know that they need to meet the Copenhagen criteria if they want to join the EU one day. And this is not happening”.

Tahiri accuses Kurti of sabotaging key phases of state-building process (media)

Several news websites report that Kosovo’s Minister of Justice, Abelard Tahiri, took to Facebook to oppose Vetevendosje leader Albin Kurti’s initiative for protests against talks with Serbia. Tahiri said Kurti has resorted to the old practice of attacking Kosovo’s negotiating team in talks with Serbia and accused him of trying to undermine the historical state-building process. “The Republic of Kosovo must become a member of the United Nations in order to ensure a stable existence and a permanent guarantee of its international subjectivity … With his political machinations, Kurti opposed the negotiations in Rambouillet and Vienna, but he could not stop liberation or statehood through these processes, so there is no dilemma that his most recent initiative to undermine the process which aims to secure a UN seat for Kosovo, will also fail …,” Tahiri said.

Haxhiu: If PSD doesn’t join protest against Thaci, hypocrisy (Zeri)

Vetevendosje MP, Albulena Haxhiu, said in an interview to the paper, that if the Social Democratic Party (PSD) does not join the upcoming protest against President Hashim Thaci’s initiative on border changes, “they will show hypocrisy”. Haxhiu said they invited the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) to join the protest “but at this point they believe they should not protest and I don’t agree with their position”. “We also expect that the individual positions of some LDK MPs will become the official positions of their party. We even call on these MPs to individually join the protest, because this is an all-national protest and not a party protest, and we are obliged to come to our country’s defense”.

O’Connell on Kosovo’s membership of INTERPOL (Lajmi)

The British Ambassador to Kosovo, Ruairi O’Connell, told the news website today that his country supports Kosovo’s membership of INTERPOL. “The United Kingdom views Kosovo’s membership in line with the mandate of INTERPOL, to increase cooperation, common knowledge and the best practices for implementing international law. We believe that exchanging information would help implementation of our joint objectives in the fight against organized crime,” O’Connell said.