• Early general elections set to take place on 6 October (media)
• LDK nominates Vjosa Osmani as candidate for prime minister (media)
• Vetevendosje to LDK: Prime minister's post on rotation basis (media)
• Serbian List to consult Vucic before Kosovo elections (Koha Ditore)
• CEC expected to meet today (KosovaPress)
• Haradinaj: Thaci and Veseli were not fair with me (media)
• “Serbia paid money for de-recognition of Kosovo’s independence” (Zeri)
• “Kosovo will not remain passive to Serbia’s nasty games with recognitions” (RTK)
• McAllister: Kosovo should pay attention to our demands (RTK)
• Thaci-O’Connell sign MoU for support of KSF (media)
• Kosnett and O’Connell to attend conference on missing persons (Telegrafi)

Kosovo Media Highlights

Early general elections set to take place on 6 October (media)

President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci signed a decision yesterday setting 6 October as the date for early general elections.

Thaci instructed the Central Election Commission (CEC) to undertake all necessary steps to organise elections in line with applicable legislation. Earlier yesterday, Thaci decreed the dissolution of the Kosovo Assembly.

Koha Ditore is quoting sources from the CEC saying that the election campaign will start on 25 September while Zeri reports that the cost of elections is expected to reach €6 million.

LDK nominates Vjosa Osmani as candidate for prime minister (media)

The Democratic League of Kosovo has nominated Vjosa Osmani to be its candidate for the post of prime minister. At the same time, deputy leader Lutfi Haziri has been appointed in charge of running the party’s election campaign.

Koha Ditore writes that with Osmani’s nomination, Mustafa and the LDK leadership ended a history of mutual accusations and clashes. The paper says that Mustafa’s relations with Osmani had deteriorated in 2014 after the LDK decided to join a coalition with PDK, a move which Osmani and some other LDK officials opposed.

In a press conference after the meeting of LDK chairmanship, party leader Isa Mustafa said the party will be mobilised to win upcoming elections. “I have delegated all my duties as LDK leader to Lutfi Haziri, to cooperate with Osmani and win elections. Apart from the candidate, we will also set up a team to support the candidate for prime minister and explain the governing programme,” Mustafa said.

Osmani meanwhile vowed to bring Kosovo out of the “abyss”. “I guarantee the citizens that as of today they will never feel they don’t have a voice, especially the mothers, women, girls. I am convinced that only as a team by standing together we can achieve success and together with Lutfi Haziri we will be conscientious enough to restore Kosovo its dignity so that finally the citizens can feel proud and not ashamed of their leaders,” Osmani said.

Vetevendosje to LDK: Prime minister's post on rotation basis (media)

Soon after the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) came up with Vjosa Osmani's nomination for prime minister, the party met officials from Vetevendosje to discuss possibility of running under a joint ticket in 6 October elections.

LDK leader Isa Mustafa, along with deputy leader Lutfi Haziri and candidate for prime minister Vjosa Osmani met Vetevendosje leader Albin Kurti and deputy leaders Glauk Konjufca and Besnik Bislimi.

None of the officials addressed the media after the meeting but Bislimi took to Facebook to say that Vetevendosje did not receive a reply to their offer. “We agreed that the key priority of the new government is freeing the country from the Pronto Clan by fighting organised crime and corruption,” Bislimi said adding that Vetevendosje has sent a concrete proposal to Mustafa ten months ago detailing the modalities of the future government and that “this option would create the necessary synergy by putting Albin Kurti at the helm, on the possibility of agreeing to a period of two mandates and on rotation basis.”

Bislimi said it was important to note that both parties agreed not to meet representatives of other political parties. “For VV and LDK there is only one strategic partner in forming the future government. We have three more days left to reach the agreement long awaited by the vast majority of the country’s citizens.”

Serbian List to consult Vucic before Kosovo elections (Koha Ditore)

Igor Simic, deputy leader of the Serbian List told Belgrade news agency Tanjug that they will decide on whether to run in 6 October general elections in Kosovo after consultations with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and head of the Office for Kosovo Marko Djuric.

“As President Vucic continuously said, the coming period will be turbulent and we call on all Serbs to join the Serbian List,” Simic said noting that consultations with Vucic are expected to take place in the coming days in Belgrade.

CEC expected to meet today (KosovaPress)

Central Election Commission (CEC) became active immediately after the President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci announced that the elections will be held on 6 October.

This institution is expected to meet today to make the initial decisions with regards to organizing the upcoming elections. CEC Spokesperson Valmir Elezi told KosovaPress that they will discuss issues such as shortening of the deadlines for election activities in order to adjust with the days available, endorsement of the Operational Plan and endorsement of the planned budget for these elections.

Haradinaj: Thaci and Veseli were not fair with me (media)

The resigned Prime Minister of Kosovo and leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), Ramush Haradinaj, expressed once again his conviction that the imposed tariff on Serbian goods should not be lifted. He added that during the discussions for the tariff, Assembly Speaker Kadri Veseli and President of Kosovo were not fair with him.

‘Both the President and Veseli were completely unjust during the meetings with Americans behind the closed doors. The presented me as an obstacle for the resumption of the dialogue. Serbia was the obstacle by setting conditions. The one who committed massacres and crimes, set conditions. We, as victims, have to lift the tariff to go to the dialogue. I think that I acted right by not allowing this,” he said.

“Serbia paid money for de-recognition of Kosovo’s independence” (Zeri)

The paper quotes a report from an Africa-based media outlet involving the Central African Republic’s Foreign Minister who is accused of receiving 200 million Swiss Francs from an advisor to Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic for revoking recognition of Kosovo’s independence. The Minister, Sylvie Baïpo-Temon, is said to have revoked recognition of Kosovo without prior consultations with the Central African Republic’s Council of Ministers.

Kosovo’s Foreign Ministry meanwhile issued a press statement saying that it was concerned over media reports involving Central African Republic’s. “We are deeply concerned that the Serbian government has installed corrucption and bribery as diplomatic means to get falsified documents which do not have any use except for worsening relations between Kosovo and Serbia.”

“All diplomatic notes shown in Belgrade and rejected by relevant governments through diplomatic channels or publicly have been written by a single person, Vladimir Cizelj, who is known for his criminal past and ties to organised crime networks outside of Europe and who now works as advisor to Serbian Foreign Minister,” the Kosovo Foreign Ministry said.

“Kosovo is ready to act as a constructive neighbour but Serbia is installing a climate that does not provide space for normalisation of relations,” it concluded.

“Kosovo will not remain passive to Serbia’s nasty games with recognitions” (RTK)

Kosovo’s Acting Deputy Prime Minister and deputy leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Enver Hoxhaj, took to Facebook to write that Kosovo will not remain passive while Serbia plays nasty games with recognitions of Kosovo. “we have responded earlier by imposing the tariffs; however, it appears that that we have to undertake additional steps to prevent these attacks coming from Serbia,” Hoxhaj wrote.

McAllister: Kosovo should pay attention to our demands (RTK)

Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament and outgoing Rapporteur for Serbia David McAllister has requested from official Pristina on Monday in Serbia to lift the tariff on Serbian goods and enable resumption of the dialogue. He said during a press conference after the meeting with Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic that EU is ready to help on resumption of the Brussels dialogue as soon as possible.

Mc Allister recalled that there was no reaction from Kosovo toward the statement of the Quint countries and added that epilogue of elections should be waited. “The latest statement of the Quint states is clear. The U.S. and EU countries said the same thing. I hope that responsible people in Kosovo will pay attention to these advises and demands from our side,” McAllister said.

Thaci-O’Connell sign MoU for support of KSF (media)

The President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci received the Ambassador of the United Kingdom Ruairi O’Connell for a farewell meeting and thanked him for his contribution to the expansion of relations between our two states.

Thaçi and Ambassador O’Connell also signed at this meeting the Memorandum of Understanding between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Kosovo, on the continuation of the support for Kosovo Security Force (KSF). Thaci said this paves the way for the continuation of the KSF cooperation with United Kingdom, which will bring further increase of KSF capacities and abilities.

Kosnett and O’Connell to attend conference on missing persons (Telegrafi)

The U.S. Ambassador Philip Kosnett and UK’s Ruairi O’Connell are expected to take part at the annual conference organised today by the non-governmental Resource Centre for Missing Persons. The event is organised to mark the International Day of the Disappeared.