• Chollet: Final agreement requires tough choices and political courage (RFE)
• PM Kurti hosts five envoys from U.S. and EU today (media)
• Kurti: Mutual recognition, central point of agreement with Serbia (media)
• Kosovo License-Plate Issue Flares Up Again With Ban On Cars With Kosovar City Abbreviation (RFE)
• Haradinaj warns Vetevendosje: Forcing us to consider total blockade (Telegrafi)
• Kosovo in 2023: Between ‘crisis management’ and ‘conflict resolution’ (BIRN)
• Floods hit Kosovo, cutting drinking water supply to many towns (BIRN)
• Preparation conference in Thaci et al case rescheduled for Feb 15 (media)

Chollet: Final agreement requires tough choices and political courage (RFE)

Counselor to the U.S. State Department, Derek Chollet, said in an interview with Radio Free Europe that the final agreement between Kosovo and Serbia will require difficult choices and political courage. “Both governments need to be able to show a willingness to compromise. We think those compromises are possible. We are trying to come up with creative solutions to help them make those compromises. But we also want to be clear on the potential path here. We think that the upside of having this agreement moving towards normalisation is very clear for Kosovo, very clear for Serbia. In my view it would unquestionably make the lives of the people of Kosovo and Serbia better if they are able to sort this out and normalise the relationship along the EU proposal that is outlined. But there are a lot of details that need to be sorted out … This is going to be tough, as all negotiations are in the Balkans. But we do think that there is hope and that this is an opportune moment,” Chollet said.

Asked to comment on the latest decision by the Kosovo government not to allow the movement of vehicles with illegal Serbian plates, KM, and with renewed registration, Chollet said: “Unfortunately this is the exact kind of step that we didn’t want to see. When I was in the region last week, I made it very clear that the United States, working with the European partners, want to get out of the business of crisis diplomacy, where we just careen from one crisis to another, to getting down to the business at hand and moving forward on the dialogue that is EU led and EU facilitated towards normalisation based on mutual recognition. I think these steps over the last 24 hours announced by Pristina are not consistent with either the letter or the spirit of the agreements made in late November which averted an earlier crisis. We don’t think unilateral action should be announced by either side right now and we need to have a coordinated way forward so these sorts of things do not precipitate the kinds of crisis that we really need to avoid and distract our attention from the important work of the dialogue.       Friday this week is a very important set of meetings bringing together the German, French and the Italian national security advisors, along with the EU representative and Gabe Escobar, our representative for the Western Balkans from the State Department. We talked a lot about the importance of these meetings, some of the details when I was in the region last week, in Pristina and Belgrade. We really want these to succeed and this sort of announcement creates a distraction and could lead to a crisis that makes all of this progress much harder.”

PM Kurti hosts five envoys from U.S. and EU today (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti will host today five envoys from the European Union and the United States of America. A press release issued by Kurti’s office notes that he will meet EU Special Representative for dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Miroslav Lajcak, foreign policy advisors to the German Chancellor and the French President, Jens Plotner and Emmanuel Bonne, diplomatic advisor to the Italian Prime Minister, Maria Talo, and the U.S. special envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar. The meeting is scheduled to start at 10:00.

Kurti: Mutual recognition, central point of agreement with Serbia (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in an interview with Swiss public broadcaster SRF that mutual recognition must be the central point of an agreement between Kosovo and Serbia. “I am not saying that this is the only point of the future agreement, but it is the central point,” he said.

Full interview at: https://bit.ly/3R0yktZ

Kosovo License-Plate Issue Flares Up Again With Ban On Cars With Kosovar City Abbreviation (RFE)

Kosovo has turned away cars with what it says are illegal Serbian license plates issued after December 2022, Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla said on January 18, accusing Serbia of violating an agreement reached in November on the contentious issue.

Svecla confirmed that some cars with the KM abbreviation, which stands for the city of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo, on their license plates were denied entry into Kosovo on January 18 because they were re-registered in December.

The November agreement said Serbia was to stop producing these license plates, and, according to Kosovo officials, re-registering existing ones.

"Serbia has breached the November 2022 accord on car plates. [Kosovo's] Police Border Directorate has recently discovered cases of cars with illegal plates renewed by Serbian authorities as late as December 2022. As a result, entry into Kosovo was denied," Svecla wrote on Twitter.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3XrewSS

Haradinaj warns Vetevendosje: Forcing us to consider total blockade (Telegrafi)

Leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) Ramush Haradinaj said in an interview with TV Dukagjini on Thursday that the Kurti-led Vetevendosje Movement is forcing the AAK to consider “a total blockade” where their votes are needed in the Kosovo Assembly. Haradinaj made these remarks after the Assembly failed to adopt a draft law to withdraw pension funds. He said that the ruling party is not supporting any initiative coming from the opposition.

“As the opposition, we will consider our relations with the government, because we have often voted on issues that require 2/3 of votes, such laws related to the army and international agreements. Vetevendosje is bringing us in a position where we are going to have a consider a total blockade toward any initiative from the ruling government because they are not showing any understanding for our initiatives, including the initiative for the [pension] Trust,” Haradinaj said.

Kosovo in 2023: Between ‘crisis management’ and ‘conflict resolution’ (BIRN)

Kosovo’s prime minister thinks a deal to settle relations with Serbia is within reach. Experts say the situation on the ground hardly gives cause for optimism.

There’s little room for New Year optimism in Kosovo.

Brussels and Washington may have drafted big plans for the young country when it comes to settling relations with Serbia, but the reality of life on the ground has rendered long-term thinking impossible.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3XAvpdE

Floods hit Kosovo, cutting drinking water supply to many towns (BIRN)

Heavy rains these last days have caused flooding across Kosovo. As a result, many cities also face reductions in the drinking water supply.

Western and northern regions of Kosovo are dealing with severe floods in towns and cities including Mitrovica, Vushtrria, Peja, Skenderaj and Decan.

The Hydrometeorological Institute of Kosovo announced that heavy rains in the last few days had caused some rivers to flood, causing traffic problems, landslides, but also damage to agricultural land.

“As a result of the rain during the last few days, especially in the western, northwestern and northern parts of Kosovo, some rivers have presented rapid floods, which may have caused difficulties and problems, such as landslides, blockage of sewers and traffic difficulties, but also flooding of agricultural lands,” the announcement stated.

The intensity of rainfall has also caused problems for water treatment facilities. As a result, many cities face shortages and reductions in their drinking water supply.

The Prishtina Regional Water Authority has notified that some parts of Prishtina, Fushe Kosova, Obilic and Drenas will face a lack of drinking water due to the overflow of the Iber-Lepenci canal, making water sanitation impossible.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3Y1wgo3

Preparation conference in Thaci et al case rescheduled for Feb 15 (media)

The Specialist Chambers of Kosovo in The Hague said in a press statement on Thursday that “the Trial Panel II, upon further consultations with the parties and the participants, amended its previous (oral) order and scheduled the Specialist Prosecutor’s Preparation Conference in the Thaҫi et al. case for 15 February 2023 at 09:30.”