• 27 new cases of coronavirus in last 24 hours (media)
• Thaci: New government to assume its responsibilities (media)
• PM's office: Constitutional Court contradicted itself (media)
• Kosovo Assembly presidency to meet tomorrow (media)
• LDK: We have required votes for new government (media)
• LVV demands transcripts of Constitutional Court (media)
• Kosovo’s acting Deputy PM suspects Court’s decision is "falsified" (media)
• Constitutional Court rejects claims its ruling is falsified (Kallxo)
• Nagavci: No-confidence motion, result of appetites for power (KTV)
• President Thaci meets AKR leader Pacolli (media)
• Tunheim: Court made fair decision on President’s decree (Gazeta Express)

Kosovo Media Highlights

27 new cases of coronavirus in last 24 hours (media)

Kosovo’s National Institute for Public Health said in a statement on Monday evening that 27 new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the last 24 hours.

The new cases are from the municipalities of Vushtrri, Podujeva, Fushe Kosove and Mitrovica.

Koha highlights that yesterday’s new cases are the highest recorded in Kosovo since 26 April.

Thaci: New government to assume its responsibilities (media)

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci said on Monday that the decision of the Constitutional Court has paved the way to the formation of the new government. “It was proved that democracy in Kosovo has matured and that the independent institutions function successfully. The way has been paved for the formation of the new government of Kosovo. I hope this will mark a new chapter for stability and development,” Thaci told a press conference.

“It is important to respect the constitutional and legal order of Kosovo. I expect the new government to be formed as soon as possible, because the circumstances require a functional and effective government. Kosovo doesn’t have the luxury of vacuum in governance. We need institutions that will push things forward with clear priorities, and not institutions that claim to be victims of the past and stagnation.”

Thaci said: “it is good that there is a timeline now and a date for the new session, therefore, I call on the political parties and the Prime Minister candidate to assume their responsibilities. Kosovo and its society were damaged both internally and abroad as a result of frequent changes in government and Prime Ministers in the last four years”.

Thaci said the new government must focus on an economic revival plan after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thaci called on EU member states to take the delayed decision for visa liberalisation for Kosovo.

Thaci also said: “we need to safeguard our special and permanent relations with the United States and other European partners. The new government must urgently lift all measures that impede our relations with the United States".

PM's office: Constitutional Court contradicted itself (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister's Office issued a statement following the Constitutional Court publishing the entire text of its decision on the candidate for forming the new government saying the Court has not presented the accurate content of the work of the constitutional committee.

"This Committee had explicitly rejected the proposal for a new government to be formed following the motion of no confidence. In addition the Court has distortedly presented facts regarding the automatic dissolving of the Assembly following no-confidence motions in 2010 and 2017," the statement reads.

PMO also states that parallels drawn by the Constitutional Court's ruling between Kosovo and other countries are irrelevant to the case at hand. "Kosovo's constitutional order bears no similarities with either Moldova or Turkey, and even less so with United Kingdom which has a regulatory system that falls within the common law."

The court, states further PM's office, has contradicted itself in the provision stating that the majority of the judges voted on the accordance of the President's decree referring to paragraph 4 of article 95 while in the ruling the paragraph 4 is deleted. "This cannot be a technical error or rewording of language but is a contradiction of the decision the judges adopted. They either voted on article 95 of the Constitution in its entirety or paragraph 4 of article 95."

The office of the prime minister stated that its legal experts are preparing a detailed analysis of the court's ruling and will publish it to "show the absurdity of this decision which we cannot accept."

Kosovo Assembly presidency to meet tomorrow (media)

All media reported on Monday that the Kosovo Assembly Presidency will meet on Tuesday to discuss the request of 61 MPs for an extraordinary session on Wednesday that would vote on a new government.

LDK: We have required votes for new government (media)

Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) parliamentary group chief, Arben Gashi, submitted on Monday to the Assembly a request for an extraordinary session where MPs will vote on a new government after the Constitutional Court published its full decision on President Hashim Thaci’s decree giving LDK’s Avdullah Hoti the mandate to form a new government.

Gashi said the extraordinary session will be held on Wednesday. He also said they have the required number of votes to form a new government. “We expect we will have a new government on Wednesday. We also expect to have 64 or 65 votes in favor of the new government,” he added.

Gashi said the presidency of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) will decide on the names of its government ministers on Tuesday. “The presidency will meet at 16:30 and then we will announce the name of ministers. As far as the agreement with the Serbian List is concerned, the new Prime Minister will publish it, as we have not published any of the other agreements yet,” he said.

LVV demands transcripts of Constitutional Court (media)

Vetevendosje Movement (LVV) has demanded the Constitutional Court release all transcripts and minutes of the meetings in relation to President Hashim Thaci's decree for formation of the new government.

In a statement, LVV said head of the party's parliamentary group Rexhep Selimi has formally asked the Court to release transcripts.

"The unconstitutional decree of the President cannot be justified through the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo just as the ruling of the Constitutional Court has been placed above the Constitution to justify the President. Therefore as a party in this case, we request to be made available with documents  showing what is the basis used to justify what cannot be justified in the light of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo," LVV said.

Kosovo’s acting Deputy PM suspects Court’s decision is "falsified" (media)

Several media reported on Monday that Kosovo’s acting Deputy Prime Minister Haki Abazi is claiming that the decision of the Constitutional Court on President Thaci’s degree has been falsified.

“You are testing the end of patience and tolerance. The announcement by the Constitutional Court is scandalous and anti-constitutional, and the decision is falsified – a readdress is the least that should happen,” Abazi wrote in a Facebook post.

Constitutional Court rejects claims its ruling is falsified (Kallxo)

The Constitutional Court has rejected claims that its ruling on the legality of President Hashim Thaci's decree has been falsified.

"The statements and allegations of 'forgery' are untrue and inaccurate," the Constitutional Court said adding that the findings published yesterday are identical to those published in the notification last Thursday.

Nagavci: No-confidence motion, result of appetites for power (KTV)

Kosovo Assembly Vice President and senior Vetevendosje member, Arberie Nagavci, said in an interview to KTV on Monday that time will tell the truth behind claims made by Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) representatives that “ruining relations with the U.S.” were the reasons behind their no-confidence motion against the Kurti-led government.

Nagavci argued that appetites for power were the real reasons behind the no-confidence motion. “The no-confidence motion is simply related to appetites for power. They were in power but not in the way they were used. You know that Kurti’s government decided to reduce the number of privileges and ministries, whereas now the number of government ministries is expected to increase,” she added.

Nagavci said Vetevendosje has not ruled out eventual street protests. She also said they have yet to decide if they will attend an eventual session of the Assembly on Wednesday where MPs could vote on a new government.

On relations with the United States, Nagavci said: “We are grateful to them [U.S.] for their continuous support. I believe our relations must be based on respect, we are certainly grateful to them, but at the same time we also want to maintain our self-respect. What we wanted to do was to safeguard Kosovo’s integrity and sovereignty, the same way other countries have helped us”.

Nagavci said acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s intention was to have a broad-based team for negotiations with Serbia. “We wanted to have a broad-based team, a team that would protect the interests of the Republic of Kosovo, and not a team that would try to conclude an agreement regardless of the cost,” she said.

Nagavci said it was normal to seek reciprocity with Serbia. “It is beyond any norm in international relations to ask a country to renounce reciprocity,” she said.

“Mutual respect is needed. Statements that reciprocity will be lifted show that this government has a certain mission. This government will be short-lived. Time will tell that the damage they will inflict on Kosovo will be irreparable,” Nagavci said.

President Thaci meets AKR leader Pacolli (media)

Several media outlets reported on Monday that President Hashim Thaci was seen meeting with New Kosovo Alliance (AKR) leader Behgjet Pacolli in downtown Prishtina on Tuesday. Citing unnamed sources, Indeksonline reported that Pacolli is insisting to get the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a new government.

Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) leader Ramush Haradinaj however is adamant not to give up any of the four ministries he was reportedly promised in exchange for joining the new coalition government led by the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK).

Gazeta Express quoted Haradinaj as saying on Monday that the AAK ministers in the new government will be Blerim Kuci – Minister for Economic Development, Meliza Haradinaj – Minister for Foreign Affairs, Rame Lika – Minister for Education, Selim Selimi – Minister of Justice and Besnik Tahiri – Deputy Prime Minister.

New Kosovo Alliance (AKR) deputy leader Fatmir Matoshi told Klan Kosova on Monday that this party will vote in favor of a Hoti-led government but that they do not know yet if they will join the new coalition government. “There is no doubt that we will vote in favor of the Hoti government,” he said.

Tunheim: Court made fair decision on President’s decree (Gazeta Express)

U.S. judge John Tunheim, an advisor from the U.S. Administration in drafting the Constitution of Kosovo, told T7 on Monday that the Constitutional Court made a fair decision on President Hashim Thaci’s decree giving LDK’s Avdullah Hoti the mandate to form a new government.

Tunheim said: “I think this is fair. When members of the Constitutional Committee met and when they received assistance from the Venice Commission and international authorities, there was a debate on this issue. There was a concern about a long period of time without government, which would weaken and destabilise the country. This is why the Constitution foresees a fast process for nominating a government and if the winner of the elections cannot form a government for any reason or if there is a successful motion of no-confidence, then the President has the authority to move to the other possible majority and if there are two failed attempts, you have to go to elections. But the President needs to go to a second group that can form the majority. The Constitution is drafted in a way that encourages the formation of a stable government and if there is no request to go to elections immediately, only after the 60-day period expires and there is no government, then you would go to elections, because everyone was concerned about a long period of time without government, which would have clearly been destabilising. The Constitution does not have clear timelines – a number of days – for everything. We cannot predict every possible problem. Even in the United States, our constitution was adopted in 1789 and there have been very few amendments since then. Our Supreme Court and in reality, all courts in the U.S. interpret the constitution. They implement it in accordance to what is happening in our country. This is happening in Kosovo too. There is no specific date for everything. When drafting the constitution, you cannot set specific dates on every aspect on what can happen. The framework of the constitution is to encourage a quick formation of the government so that the country can have a stable government.”