• New round of Kosovo – Serbia talks will be held today (Kosovapress)
• President Osmani met with US Embassy Charge d'Affaires (media)
• Borrell: Kurti-Vucic meeting to be held before end of year (media)
• Gervalla in Brussels: NATO should not tolerate Serbia’s aggressiveness (RTK)
• ENEMO's IEOM to Kosovo presents findings and conclusion (media)
• WB Foreign Ministers urge EU to play a more active role (EWB)
• Serbian PM invites neighbor countries to join Open Balkan (euronews.al)
• Kosovo awards Croatian PM with Humanitarian Medal (euronews.al)
• Kosovo court upholds jailing of Serb ex-fighter for war crimes (BIRN)
• Police arrest four Russians for illegal border crossing from Serbia to Kosovo (RTK)
• COVID-19: Four new cases, no deaths (media)

New round of Kosovo – Serbia talks will be held today (Kosovapress)

A new meeting between chief negotiators from Kosovo and Serbia will be held in Brussels today. Kosovo’s delegation will be led by Principal Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi and the Serbian delegation will be led by Serbian Government’s Office for Kosovo chief Petar Petkovic. EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak will hold separate meetings with the chief negotiators. The news website notes that the agenda of the meetings is not known yet and it is also not known if a tripartite meeting will be held.

President Osmani met with US Embassy Charge d'Affaires (media)

The President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani received on Monday in a meeting the Charge d'Affaires of the American Embassy Nicholas Giacobbe, with whom they discussed the invitation received from President Biden for the Democracy Summit and the preparatory steps for participation in the Summit of the date December 9-10.

The President will lead the Kosovo delegation in this Summit which will be held virtually.

In this regard, President Osmani in cooperation with the US Embassy will draft a plan for presentation at the Democracy Summit, which will cover three areas: strengthening democracy and combating authoritarianism, the fight against corruption and promoting respect for human rights.

“Both interlocutors agreed that Kosovo is a good example of a developing democracy and that cooperation with the U.S. is a strategic orientation of Kosovo.

President Osmani thanked the United States for its continued support and stressed that Kosovo remains committed to partnering with the United States to achieve its goals,” reads a press release issued by the Office of the President.

Borrell: Kurti-Vucic meeting to be held before end of year (media)

The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said that he expects the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia to meet before the end of the year, in the framework of the dialogue for the normalization of relations.

Speaking after a discussion by EU foreign ministers on the situation in the Western Balkans, Borrell said he expects Kosovo and Serbia to implement all the agreements reached so far in dialogue, as well as to work constructively to reach a comprehensive agreement on the normalization of relations.

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, and the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vuicic met on 19 July, but made no progress on any of the contentious issues.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, a new meeting is expected to take place in Brussels in the framework of the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, at the level of chief negotiators and according to sources, the topics of discussion are related to the implementation of previous agreements.

According to Borrell, the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina was in the focus of the ministers' discussion on the Western Balkans.

Gervalla in Brussels: NATO should not tolerate Serbia’s aggressiveness (RTK)

Kosovo Foreign Minister Donika Gervalla stated in Brussels on Monday that NATO and the European Union should not tolerate Serbia's aggressive approach towards Kosovo.

At the meeting of Southeast European Foreign Ministers, she spoke about Russian and Chinese influence through Serbia in the Balkans.

Gervalla has raised the issue of recent developments in Kosovo saying it has received open threats of war from the neighboring state, Serbia.

She informed the foreign ministers about the direct threat, which was manifested by the presence of Serbian troops and vehicles on the Kosovo border, including Russian fighter jets, namely MIG 29.

Moreover, she stressed that during this crisis, the Russian ambassador appeared at the border of Kosovo and welcomed these threats and aggressive moves by Serbia.

The meeting in Brussels was held on the occasion of the chairmanship of the South East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) by Athens.

During this meeting, the priorities of the SEECP chairmanship from Athens were presented and current developments and regional cooperation were discussed, focusing on strengthening the synergy between the countries of Southeast Europe in order to develop the region.

Gervalla said that the SEECP should always adhere to its basic objective of increasing political and security co-operation as well as expanding co-operation in the areas of human capital, democracy and justice.

She also expressed Kosovo's readiness for effective cooperation in achieving the results planned within the SEECP agenda.

ENEMO's IEOM to Kosovo presents findings and conclusion (media)

The European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO) – “ENEMO preliminarily assesses that the voting process for the mayoral run-offs was overall well administered by the election administration. Despite a limited timeframe for campaigning and an increase in harsh rhetoric in between the two rounds, mayoral candidates were generally able to campaign freely and in a competitive environment. Numerous inconsistencies in election results of the first round led to a lengthy and complex process of recounting in between the two rounds, which may have affected public trust in the results, particularly for municipal assemblies”, said Pierre Peytier, Head of the Mission to Kosovo for Local Elections of 2021.

Based on the selected few polling stations observed by the mission and media reports during the Election Day, the voting process was overall orderly, without major incidents and election commission members seemed to be managing the process well. According to preliminary data announced by the CEC, the turnout in the second round of municipal elections was 37,85 percent.

“The Central Election Commission (CEC) prepared the second round of mayoral elections in a timely and efficient manner. However, the level of transparency of the CEC decreased during this period, as important information was not made available to the public. The conduct and transparency of the Counting and Result Center (CRC) has greatly improved since previous elections observed by ENEMO, yet the verification and recounting process conducted by this body was extremely complex and burdensome, lasting almost the entire period between the two rounds of elections, thus complicating the observation of its work,” said Bosko Nenezic, ENEMO’s Election Administration/CEC Observer.

Some CEC members raised the issue of the quality of training and testing conducted by the CEC and MECs for polling station commissioners, due to such a high number of recounted polling stations and other problems noted in the work of polling station commissions. While most discrepancies in the election results from the first round of elections seemed to be technical mistakes, many interlocutors, including CEC members, raised concern over a possible intent of certain polling station commissioners to affect the election results. ENEMO believes that the CEC made a proper decision to replace the commissioners from recounted polling stations for the second round of elections, yet the CEC should further analyse the reasons for these shortcomings. Additionally, the CEC should inform the competent authorities to adequately process all suspicious cases of possible election manipulation by commissioners, in order to prevent similar situations in future elections.

According to Kristina Kostelac, Election Campaign Analyst “ENEMO notes that numerous shortcomings in the legislative framework in terms of political and campaign finance remain one of the key election related issues in Kosovo. Additionally, the auditing process of political entities’ financial reports indicates withstanding shortcomings along with a complete lack of political will to ensure transparent financial reporting. The recent auditing process faced numerous challenges, including the excessive retrogradeness of the process that minimized the accuracy of the audit. The report indicates numerous issues, such as hidden and unreported expenses of political entities that are often incurred through separate unreported bank accounts, in cash or in return for certain services. This leaves space for financial manipulation and deprives voters and the general public from financial transparency of political entities”.

“The media continued to report freely and there were no major incidents mentioned to ENEMO affecting their independence to report. They were able to provide fair coverage for the mayoral run-offs through news coverage, interviews, TV debate programs and political advertisements and thus managed to keep voters informed about the electoral process. ENEMO noted ongoing shortcomings related to online and social media monitoring, in particular identifying possible costs involving paid advertising and their sources. Overall, the Independent Media Commission (IMC) was operating within the legal framework and was notifying TV channels which violated regulations during the campaign. Compared to the first round of elections, where the IMC was not effective in applying timely sanctions to those broadcasters, for the second round of elections, prior to Election Day, the IMC sanctioned six television stations for violating the legislation,” stated Maja Milikic, Media Analyst.

Since the start of the election period Elections Complaints and Appeals Panel (ECAP) received over 1,000 complaints which were adjudicated within the established timeframes. ENEMO reiterates that the existing deadlines for filing and adjudicating complaints are unreasonably limited, which does not ensure the right to effective legal remedy. Legislation regulating election dispute resolution has many loopholes enabling different interpretations. Due to insufficient legal provisions, some of the issues are regulated in practice, which can create additional ambiguity.

WB Foreign Ministers urge EU to play a more active role (EWB)

Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Western Balkan countries called for a more active role of the EU in the region at the event “Discussing the Future of Europe – Perspectives and Contributions from the Western Balkans”, which took place at the College of Europe Bruges campus. Students of the College also participated in the debate.

During their opening remarks, several Ministers called for the EU to play a more robust strategic role in the Western Balkans, which would include the acceleration of the enlargement.

“A credible enlargement policy is an investment in Europe’s stability. The region is securing important energy and road infrastructure for the Europe. Albania has met the conditions for the first Intergovernmental Conference and it is time to move forward”, said Megi Fino, Deputy Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of Albania.

Similarly, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bisera Turkovic said that the EU needs to move away from a lax attitude towards the region.

“The latest event at the borders of Belarus and Poland are a call for a more proactive and assertive role of the European Union. This approach is needed in the Western Balkans as well. The EU cannot allow the Western Balkans to be pulled back in the crisis like the one in the 1990s, and this is happening before our eyes”, Turkovic said.

Before giving the floor to the students, Rector of the College of Europe and former High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini pointed out that the eastern and southern neighbours of the European Union have a dedicated scholarship to study at the College, which was not the case with the Western Balkans and that perhaps a good institutional initiative would be to establish such a scholarship.

Several students asked the Foreign Ministers whether the lack of EU engagement and the enlargement fatigue has led to the rise of nationalism and a political turmoil seen in Bosnia and Herzegovina in recent weeks. One of the students also asked whether the EU carries the same weight for the Western Balkans as it did ten years ago given.

Other questions coming from the students tackled the barriers between the citizens of some countries in the Western Balkans, for example due to the visa requirements that still exist between Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

One of the questions was also how the debate on the future of Europe would continue following the formal conclusion of the Conference in Spring 2022. Vice President of the European Commission Dubravka Suica, who also participated in the discussion, said that the Commission was thinking of making the digital conference platform a permanent feature and that it was the best tool for the Western Balkans to use in order to participate in the Conference.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kosovo Donika Gërvalla-Schwarz agreed that there was a lack of communication between some countries of the region. This was caused, Gërvalla-Schwarz said alluding to Serbia, by the lack of apology for the crimes committed in the past as well as endangering the future of Kosovo.

When it comes to the assets of the Western Balkans, Gërvalla-Schwarz pointed out that the population of Kosovo is very young on average and that this was also the case in other Western Balkan countries.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Nikola Selakovic disagreed with the characterisation coming from the Minister Gervalla-Schwarz, saying that a country endangering peace and stability in the region would not be receiving the amount of foreign direct investments from EU countries Serbia was receiving.

On the issue of European integration, Selakovic highlighted the moving targets set for the Western Balkan countries, which, he said, did not exist in the previous rounds of enlargement.

“We are running the marathon, and at the 40th kilometre, somebody is saying to you that you have to run another 20 km – who is going to survive that?”, Selakovic asked.

On the issue of the future of Europe, he asked the College students whether anyone of them had started a family yet, saying that raising one’s children in Europe is s proof that Europe is the best continent to live on and the best contribution to its future.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro Dorde Radulovic also spoke about the need of the EU need to show the Western Balkans that it is not a moving target.

“Everyone is talking about the carrot-and-stick approach, and we need more carrots”, Radulovic said.

He added that, in the Western Balkans, people are still talking about some “obsolete ideas” from the 18th century such as nationalism, while the European Union is struggling against climate change.

“The 20th century was the time of great ideologies, let’s have ecology as the new ideology that can unite us all”, Radulovic said.

Federica Mogherini concluded the event with her own arguments in terms of the enlargement to the Western Balkans.

“This is the only case where enlargement coincides with reconciliation. And this is the basis for security and economic development. And also, sometimes the Europeans do not consider the cost of not doing something. We should ask ourselves what could be the alternative if we do not do it in 10 and 20 years”, Mogherini said.

Speaking about the divisions of opinion seen at the panel, Mogherini said that they do exist, but they are a part of democracy and part of European history.

Serbian PM invites neighbor countries to join Open Balkan (euronews.al)

The Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabic, has invited neighboring countries, Kosovo included, to join the Open Balkan initiative. “The citizens that live the region will gain a lot from the initiative”, Brnabic was quoted saying while responding to reporters during the opening of the 101st Rose-Roth seminar of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, hosted by Serbia’s Parliament.

Kosovo, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina have refused to join the initiative which aims to create a functioning common regional market.

The government of Kosovo led by PM Albin Kurti has dismissed the initiative and cautioned the other neighboring countries on remaining committed to the EU agenda.

On November 4, the three leaders of Albania, Serbia, and North Macedonia met in Belgrade. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced that the three leaders had agreed on establishing a council tasked to implement the agreements.

Kosovo awards Croatian PM with Humanitarian Medal (euronews.al)

The President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani awarded Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic with the Humanitarian Medal “Mother Theresa”. The gesture is a sign of gratitude to the Croatian premier and his support during the tragic bus accident in Slavonksi Brod, Croatia which claimed the lives of 10 Kosovan immigrants and left 26 injured.

“Croatia displayed humanism and deep care towards the families that lost their loved ones in the tragic accident”, Osmani said.

In a post shared by Croatian PM Plenkovic, he reiterated his country’s support in contributing to peace and cooperation in the region, as well as endorse Kosovo’s European path.

President Osmani also awarded the General Hospital “Dr. Josip Bencevic” in Slavonski Brod, for their care and professionalism when treating the injured.

Kosovo court upholds jailing of Serb ex-fighter for war crimes (BIRN)

Kosovo’s Court of Appeals upheld the verdict sentencing ex-fighter Zoran Djokic to 12 years in prison for his involvement in Serbian forces’ attacks on ethnic Albanian civilians in the town of Peja/Pec in 1999.

The Court of Appeals in Pristina on Monday rejected appeals from the defence and prosecution and upheld the 12-year sentence handed down to Zoran Djokic for war crimes against civilians in 1999.

“The verdict contains sufficient and convincing reasons for establishing the facts clearly,” the court said in the verdict.

In February this year, Pristina Basic Court found Djokic guilty of war crimes against the ethnic Albanian civil population in the town of Peja/Pec during the Kosovo war.

The court found that Djokic was part of an organised group that wore military, paramilitary and police uniforms and forcibly entered the homes of Kosovo Albanians in the Kristal and Te Soliterat (since renamed Rrokaqielli) neighbourhoods of Peja/Pec in March and April, physically and mentally abused them, robbed them and then forced them out of their houses. Some of the victims were killed.

The first instance verdict said that the operation by Serbian forces against ethnic Albanian civilians began in the Kristal neighbourhood on March 28-29, 1999, with the aim of evicting them from their homes and killing them, and then widened its focus to also target the Te Soliterat neighbourhood in April.

Police arrest four Russians for illegal border crossing from Serbia to Kosovo (RTK)

During the implementation of duties and legal authorizations through the competent units for efficient management and control of the state border Kosovo Police today on 15.11.2021, around 11:45 in the village of Jelakce, Leposavic, has stopped a suspected Opel Astra car, with foreign license plates BG /// - nn, in which there were four persons, foreign (Russian) citizens, who had entered the Republic of Kosovo illegally through alternative routes.

Four (4) detained persons, two (2) males and two (2) females, all Russian citizens, were escorted to the Police and a case was initiated against them for "unauthorized crossing of the border or border line".

The competent authorities have been notified about the case and with the decision of the prosecutor the suspects are sent to detention for 48 hours for further procedures, it is said in the notification.

COVID-19: Four new cases, no deaths (media)

Four new cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in Kosovo in the last 24 hours. Eight persons recovered during this time. There are 424 active cases of COVID-19 in Kosovo.