• Kurti and Vucic to meet in Brussels today (media)
• Kurti: Basic agreement and annex must be implemented in their entirety (media)
• Lajcak: We discussed with Kurti about May 2 meeting (RTK)
• Kurti: There will be no Republika Srpska in the north (media)
• Kosovar PM, Greek FM meet for 10^th time in two years (Euractiv)
• Vela: BIA interviewed Kosovo police officers who were transiting (media)
• Tahiri: Statute of Association will affect borders in the Balkans (Klan)
• Corruption suspicious about energy corporation’s director cause turmoil in Kosovo (BIRN)
• “Kosovo seeking conflict at any cost,” Vucic slams opening of Iber bridge (Euronews)
• After bridge decision, Mitrovica North assembly to decide on mosque (Telegrafi)
• Kosovo’s abandoned ‘ghost houses’ guard their secrets (Prishtina Insight)

Kurti and Vucic to meet in Brussels today (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in a Twitter post on Monday that he arrived in Brussels and spent the day preparing for Tuesday’s meeting with EU facilitators and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. “Preparing for negotiations is both complex and simple: complex because there is a great deal of information & detail involved, among other things, but simple because the wishes of Kosovo are clear, honest and noble,” Kurti tweeted.

Kurti and Vucic are scheduled to meet in the evening in what will be the first high-level meeting after the accord they reached in Ohrid for the implementation of the agreement on normalisation reached in Brussels on February 27.

The office of EU High Representative Josep Borrell said in a statement on Friday that “The High Representative, supported by EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak, will hold a joint meeting with the leaders starting at 18:00. The meeting will focus on the implementation of the Agreement on the path to normalisation between Kosovo and Serbia. The Parties are expected to endorse the Declaration on Missing Persons as a first agenda item, to be followed by the presentation of/ a discussion on the first draft statute of the Association/Community of Serb majority Municipalities in Kosovo. The Parties will also have the opportunity to discuss current issues of political importance.”

Kurti: Basic agreement and annex must be implemented in their entirety (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti had a telephone conversation with the Counselor of the United States Department of State Derek Chollet. “Had a good phone call with Counselor DOS Derek Chollet today, where we discussed the agenda for tomorrow's meeting. I emphasized the importance that the Basic Agreement & its Annex must be implemented in its entirety and in good faith. I also thanked him for the U.S. support,” Kurti tweeted.

Chollet tweeted “Very good conversation with PM Albin Kurti about the May 2 leaders’ meeting on normalizing relations with Serbia through the EU-Facilitated Dialogue, the importance of implementing the Association for Serb-majority Municipalities immediately, and strong U.S.-Kosovo partnership.”

Lajcak: We discussed with Kurti about May 2 meeting (RTK)

EU Special Representative for the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Miroslav Lajcak, said in a Facebook post that he met with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, during his visit to Greece, to prepare in detail for the May 2 meeting in Brussels.

"I met with the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, to prepare in detail for the upcoming high-level meeting on May 2, which will be a particularly important meeting," Lajcak wrote.

He also said that he ended the week in the countries for which the Western Balkans is at the top of the agenda. "In Vienna, I spoke about the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia and its impact on the wider region during a panel discussion at Webster University. In Brussels, I had one of my regular exchanges with social democrats in the European Parliament, who follow the region closely and regularly travel and interact with the Balkans. And I ended my week in the sun in Greece, where I attended the annual Delphi Economic Forum in the ancient city of Delphi. Greece, as a direct neighbor of the Balkans, knows and understands the region well and therefore the forum paid special attention to the European future of the region. This was also the focus of my panel this year," Lajcak wrote.

Kurti: There will be no Republika Srpska in the north (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in an interview with Croatian news agency Hina on the eve of the new round of dialogue that the creation of a Serbian Republic in the north of Kosovo will not be allowed.

"Taking into account the insistence of Brussels, I will be happy to see what draft they have prepared, even though I think it would be better if they presented it to me in Pristina first," Kurti stated.

Furthermore, he assured that what was agreed on February 27 in Brussels will be fulfilled. He reiterated that the right of territorialization and creation of anything that would look like the Serbian Republic in Bosnia and Herzegovina will not be allowed.

"We will not allow a satellite pre-state with a destructive essence that would undermine the statehood of Kosovo," Kurti said.

Kosovar PM, Greek FM meet for 10^th time in two years (Euractiv)

Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti held a meeting at the Delphi Forum with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, the latest in a series of high-level meetings between the two countries, leading to whispers Athens could change its stance on non-recognition of Pristina.

Greece is one of the five EU countries, including Slovakia, Cyprus, Spain, and Romania that do not recognise Kosovo’s 2008 independence from Serbia.

Kurti thanked Dendias and Greece for their continuous support of Kosovo’s integration. They also discussed the recent elections in North Kosovo, the implementation of the EU-facilitated Basic Agreement and Implementation Annexe with Serbia, and expectations of the high-level meeting set for Brussels on 2 May.

In a vote on Kosovo’s accession to the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe human rights body, Greece abstained from the ballot in a move not welcomed by Serbia. This signalled to some that Athens could be softening its position and may even result in recognition.

Greece recognises and accepts Kosovo passports but has fallen short of considering it an independent state.

In recent months, high-level meetings have taken place between officials from Kosovo and Greece, with the latest being between the country’s two presidents. This was the tenth meeting between Kurti and Denidas in two years and the latter’s sixth official visit since he assumed office.

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

Vela: BIA interviewed Kosovo police officers who were transiting (media)

Chief of Staff to Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, Bleirm Vela, said that Serbian Police stopped and interviewed last week two members of the Kosovo Police, who were transiting the border.

“Last week, Serbia’s police and BIA stopped, interviewed 2 Kosovo Police officers at the border as they were transiting. This is evidence of Serbia’s illegal actions that hinders freedom of movement. Instead of joining forces with Kosovo to fight cross-border crime, Serbia does the opposite!” Vela tweeted.

Tahiri: Statute of Association will affect borders in the Balkans (Klan)

Kosovo’s former chief negotiator in the talks with Serbia, Edita Tahiri, argued that the model of the statute of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities that Kosovo Prime Minister Kurti will negotiate with Serbian President Vucic in Brussels will affect the functionality of Kosovo. According to Tahiri, this is also going to affect the fate of borders in the Balkans. "Because it will inspire all the minorities in the Balkans, even more the Albanians in North Macedonia, because they are not a minority there, but they are half of the population," Tahiri said.

Corruption suspicious about energy corporation’s director cause turmoil in Kosovo (BIRN)

The arrest of the former director of the Kosovo Energy Corporation, KEK, has sparked a verbal war between the opposition and ruling parties – while a coal power plant remains unfixed and KEK’s employees are waiting for pay rises.

Employees of the Kosovo Energy Corporation, KEK, protested on Friday demanding a pay and meal allowance increase, claiming the management is ignoring the workers who risk their lives almost daily to provide electricity throughout the country.

Selatin Sadiku, from the Union of Independent Trade Unions in Kosovo, said on Friday that 12 KEK employees had died this year alone. Referring to the arrest of KEK director Nagip Krasniqi on suspicion of corruption, Sadiku claimed, ironically, that Krasniqi had “managed to unite all the employees of the union,” adding that KEK employees were “not only lied to but robbed”.

Claiming that KEK has a higher budget than Kosovo as a whole, Sadiku said that it was shameful that “our money remains in the cash registers while the management is being investigated and imprisoned”.

Krasniqi’s arrest on April 19 has caused turmoil in Kosovo’s politics. Opposition parties have hailed it as proof of government abuse of the energy sector and government MPs have called it an act of “revenge”.

He was arrested on suspicion of misuse of his position or official authority, exercise of influence and conflict of interest.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3ni5FpQ

“Kosovo seeking conflict at any cost,” Vucic slams opening of Iber bridge (Euronews)

Kosovo’s government called it a “just decision” to fully open the bridge above the Iber river. After the last war in Kosovo, the bridge separated Mitrovica in two parts: the south, with a majority of Albanians and the north, with a majority of Serbs.

However, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is against this decision. He accused Kosovo’s Prime Minister of wanting “to distance Serbs” from Kosovo and criticized Albin Kurti as “a leader who seeks conflicts at any cost.”

On the other hand, the EU Special Representative for the Pristina-Belgrade Dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak reiterated that “now it’s not the right time” to open the bridge above Iber.

This issue has been at the center of the EU facilitated dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia towards normalization between the two countries. Both parties had agreed for the bridge to be open to traffic, but in practice, it was only opened to pedestrians.

Albanians and Serbs have clashed over the bridge in years. Despite the situation being calmer these days, EULEX troupes say tensions are still present, even though the situation is completely different compared to earlier years.

There is a merger of legal structures on Kosovo with parallel Serbian structures in the northern part of Mitrovica and practically the north is under the political control of Belgrade. Recent developments have made it even more apparent that the northern Serbs depend on Belgrade and move according to the political instructions there. Last year, the Serbs abandoned all institutions, triggering earlier local elections in the north. However, they responded to Vucic’s call to boycott the elections held on April 23^rd.

After bridge decision, Mitrovica North assembly to decide on mosque (Telegrafi)

After their decision to open the Ibar bridge for traffic, the municipal assembly of Mitrovica North will also try to issue a decision to reconstruct the mosque which was burned during the war. This is expected to happen in the coming weeks, the news website reports.

Nedzad Ugljanin, head of the municipal assembly, said he has great hopes that this will happen. “Yesterday there should have been the decision to rebuild the mosque that was near the bridge here, the old mosque, which was built in 1873. As non-majority communities, we have been living without human rights for 23 years now, because we don’t have a religious site,” Uglanjin said.

Kosovo’s abandoned ‘ghost houses’ guard their secrets (Prishtina Insight)

Empty, unfinished, decaying houses at village entrances are a common sight in Kosovo. But who owns them, why they are left in decay and their history is often an unresolved mystery.

A lonely house in the midst of changing landscapes has for years been left abandoned in the middle of a large meadow at the foot of the village of Bivolak.

Like a single frame capturing a larger story, the house serves as a landmark, a visual marker of time and space for all the other houses of its kind.

As time passed, the house remained unchanged, leaving many questions unanswered.

These abandoned houses have existed since anyone can remember and have slowly become part of the people’s collective identity. But there is still an unresolved mystery around their existence.

In the early 1990s, many of them had a clear purpose. They served as communal areas for Kosovo Albanians who had been expelled from Yugoslav public institutions of that time. Parallel education structures used them as school classrooms.

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