• KEK director Nagip Krasniqi arrested (media)
• COMKFOR: We will act if stability and security are threatened (media)
• OSCE calls for calm and democratic elections in the north (ATV)
• UNMIK chief Ziadeh welcomes visa liberalisation for Kosovo (media)
• Szunyog disappointed with absence of MPs during plenary sessions (media)
• Freedom of Information in Balkans still ‘on paper only’, panel hears (BIRN)
• Police identify three juveniles that damaged church door in Prizren (media)
• UNMIK chief condemns arson incident against church in Prizren (media)
• Population anxiety mustn’t be resolved at cost of women’s rights (BIRN)

KEK director Nagip Krasniqi arrested (media)

The leading news in most media is the arrest of the director of the Kosovo Power Corporation (KEK), Nagip Krasniqi, on Wednesday. The Special Prosecution of Kosovo, in a press release on Wednesday, confirmed the arrest and said that Krasniqi is suspected of having committed the criminal offences of “abuse of official position or authority”, “trading in influence,” and “conflict of interest”. The Special Prosecution said that the Special Unit of Investigations searched Krasniqi’s office in Pristina and his two apartments aimed at gathering testimonies related to the abovementioned criminal charges. “During the search operation, there were sequestered various documents related to the case, electronic devices such as three PCs, one laptop, cell phone, USB, as material evidence,” the prosecution said. Krasniqi has been put under 48-hour detention.

Telegrafi news website reports that Krasniqi’s arrest has renewed clashes between the government and the opposition, with the latter claiming that the arrest is proof of the government’s abuse in the energy sector. Leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Memli Krasniqi said that Krasniqi’s arrest is “the best proof of what we have claimed for months now and that is that Kurti’s government has made the biggest abuses in the energy sector, through corruption schemes”. Leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) Lumir Abdixhiku said this party has for long called for the resignation of the whole management of the Kosovo Power Corporation. He said there should be “political accountability for the energy mafia”.

COMKFOR: We will act if stability and security are threatened (media)

Commander of KFOR peacekeeping troops in Kosovo, Major General Angelo Michele Ristuccia, said on Wednesday that KFOR will continue to work closely with the EU and to provide the necessary security framework for Kosovo-Serbia dialogue to move forward. In a media address from NATO headquarters in Brussels, Ristuccia said that KFOR welcomes the EU-facilitated agreement on normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia and that “it is crucial for both parties to start implementing their obligations as soon as possible”.

Ristuccia also said that KFOR was ready to act if stability, security, and freedom of Kosovo are threatened. “As Commander of KFOR, I will continue to play my role in support of all the efforts that aim to provide lasting security for future generations. I will do so in full cooperation with all relevant stakeholders and my counterparts, including the EU, UN, OSCE, representatives of Kosovo institutions, security organisations of Kosovo, and the chief of the Serbian Armed Forces. KFOR will continue to carry out its mission and it is fully prepared in line with its mandate and to act if stability, security, and freedom of movement are endangered,” he said.

OSCE calls for calm and democratic elections in the north (ATV)

OSCE Head of Mission, Michael Davenport, said in an interview with ATV on Wednesday, that it is very important for the extraordinary elections in the four northern municipalities to proceed calmly and to have no attempts for disrupting the democratic election process.

“It is unfortunate that unfortunate that not only mayors and municipal assembly members, but also, police officers, judges and prosecutors withdrew from the institutions and therefore put at risk the integration of the judiciary and prosecutorial service and of course the municipal level functioning, most of which was gained under the EU-facilitated dialogue. So, I hope that these elections, of course it would be preferable for all the main political options to be taking part in this election, but I hope that nonetheless, they can proceed calmly and peacefully and that there will be no attempts to disrupt the democratic election processes,” Davenport said.

UNMIK chief Ziadeh welcomes visa liberalisation for Kosovo (media)

Most news websites reported on Wednesday that the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Kosovo and UNMIK chief, Caroline Ziadeh, welcomed the European Parliament endorsement of visa liberalisation for Kosovo. “This will facilitate travel and people-to-people exchange for the benefit of all communities,” Ziadeh said.

Szunyog disappointed with absence of MPs during plenary sessions (media)

Head of the EU Office in Kosovo, Tomas Szunyog, expressed disappointment on Wednesday with the absence of MPs during plenary sessions of the Kosovo Assembly. After the Assembly failed to hold its session on Wednesday, Szunyog took to Twitter to say: “It is disappointing that the Assembly of Kosovo has once again failed to hold a plenary session due to the absence of MPs. MPs have to prioritize parliamentary work, as they were elected by the citizens to perform their legislative role. Delays in the adoption of laws & appointments in institutions have a negative impact on the well-being of Kosovo citizens and reforms necessary for Kosovo’s progress towards the European Union. I call on the AoK to deal with this issue by introducing a mechanism that ensures MPs’ participation & voting.”

Freedom of Information in Balkans still ‘on paper only’, panel hears (BIRN)

Freedom of Information, FOI, Laws in the Western Balkans are over a decade old. Even though almost all countries monitored by BIRN have laws that are considered well-written, their value is often only on paper, speakers from the region told BIRN’s panel discussion, “Freedom of Information in the Balkans: Calls Not Answered”.

Planned legal changes to FOI laws seem designed to make it impossible for journalists to hold the authorities to account. When implementing FOI legislation, all Western Balkan countries have fallen significantly behind, BIRN’s annual freedom of information report officially launched on Wednesday said.

When properly implementing the laws and granting access to public records, especially to journalists, public institutions prefer to remain silent or answer partially – and not always grant full access to the requested information.

Last year, BIRN journalists submitted 376 FOI requests. Only 134 were fully answered; more than half of the requests were not answered at all (what is known as “administrative silence”), reflecting public institutions’ lack of transparency and proactivity. Lack of political will to fully implement FOI laws is a major drive behind current trends.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/41pO9ia

Police identify three juveniles that damaged church door in Prizren (media)

Kosovo Police said in a statement on Wednesday that it has managed to identify three juveniles (two 15 year olds and a 13 year old) who are suspected of damaging the door of an orthodox church in Prizren. The suspects were interviewed in the presence of social workers and attorneys and admitted they committed the offence. After consultations with the prosecutor, the three juveniles were released in regular procedures.

UNMIK chief condemns arson incident against church in Prizren (media)

Special Representative of the Secretary-General and UNMIK chief, Caroline Ziadeh, condemned on Wednesday the arson incident against the Saint Pantelija Orthodox Church in Prizren on Monday. “Attacks against religious & cultural sites undermine interethnic & interreligious relations. Perpetrators must be held accountable & freedom of religion upheld,” she said.

Population anxiety mustn’t be resolved at cost of women’s rights (BIRN)

Opinion piece by Florence Bauer is Director of UNFPA’s Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Concerns about falling fertility rates, however justifiable, must not become a ‘rationale for denying the rights and bodily autonomy of women and girls’.

In November 2022, the global population surpassed 8 billion people. At the same time, two-thirds of people on the planet lived in places where fertility rates had fallen below the so-called “replacement level” of 2.1 births per woman.

The big demographic transition – the shift from higher to lower mortality and fertility – is happening almost everywhere, but in some parts of the world it has set in earlier than in others.

This is why the world’s population is still rising while population growth has stalled, or reversed, in an increasing number of countries. And it explains why there can simultaneously be concerns about both “too many” people and “too few”.

Anxieties about “too few” people are particularly strong in Eastern Europe, where low fertility rates are compounded by high levels of emigration. As a result, country’s populations have been shrinking, in some cases by more than 25 per cent since the early 1990s.

Just as high fertility rates are often seen as catastrophic for the planet, alarmists see impending doom and civilizational collapse in the low fertility rates now common across most high and middle-income countries.

To be sure, there are many valid and pressing concerns related to the shift to smaller, older, populations. How can countries prosper economically? How do we ensure pension and health systems can cope with demographic change? How do we maintain services and infrastructure for people living in sparsely populated rural areas?

Read more at: https://bit.ly/41p053U