• Lacroix hosted by Kurti, says “results are apparent” in several areas (media)
• Trust, an important component for social and economic development (RTV21)
• After meeting Lajcak, Kurti says he will draft "vision" for Serbs (Koha)
• Lajcak: What I heard left me worried (media)
• Serbian List: We’ll not return to institutions without Association forming (Koha)
• Konjufca: Lajcak is biased, he conceives dialogue as if Kosovo's status has not yet been defined (RTV21)
• Power: The U.S. wants mutual recognition (RTK)
• Von Cramon: Vucic should end the dialogue with Kosovo (Albanian Post)
• More political will needed for progress of Serbia and Kosovo on the EU path (EWB)
• Osmani asks for Kosovo to have seat at COP28: Climate change knows no politics (Koha)
• Kurti: We have had cyber-attacks on our government system (media)
• Osmani invited to inauguration of Montenegro President Milatovic (media)
• Maldives presidency refutes Vucic: We have not withdrawn recognition of Kosovo (media)
• Kosovo: RTK continuing to push for EBU membership (Eurovoix)

Lacroix hosted by Kurti, says “results are apparent” in several areas (media)

Most news websites reported on Thursday that Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, stayed for the first time in Kosovo. He was hosted by Prime Minister Albin Kurti, who informed him about the latest achievements and expressed gratitude for the cooperation and support from UN agencies in Kosovo.

Kurti talso talked about the ways Kosovo is working to implement the UN Sustainable Development Goals. “Lacroix commended Kosovo on the latest effort to improve the situation of human rights, rule of law and gender rights in the country, saying that the results are apparent,” a government press release notes.

Lacroix said that Kosovo continues to have the full support of the UN to further develop democratic objectives.

Trust, an important component for social and economic development (RTV21)

On the fifth anniversary of the Trust-Building Forum, the UNMIK mission in Kosovo has called for continued investment in peacebuilding and trust-building for social and economic development.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, has commended the commitment of institutions and organisations in Kosovo for trust-building.

He said that trust-building increases resilience and mutual trust between the communities and institutions.

Lacroix said that trust is of key importance in society and public institutions because it enables solidarity.

“Trust-building increases resilience and mutual trust between the communities and institutions. Allow to express my deepest and highest gratitude for all communities in Kosovo, NGOs, civil society, and international actors, for their commitment to build an inclusive society in an environment that enables coexistence and trust … Trust is one the most potent connectors because it has the power to relate and motivate at different levels and measures and is the most fragile ones, easy to undermine and difficult to restore,” he said.

UNMIK chief Caroline Ziadeh said that as part of the Forum, the mission has implemented 250 trust-building activities and projects and invested around US$12 million.

She said that effective peacekeeping requires continuous investment in peacebuilding.

“The Mission has contributed over 12 million dollars in trust-building initiatives, multilingualism, access to justice, addressing misinformation, promoting economic empowerment of youth and women, supporting people with limited abilities, and protecting the environment … I want to add that trust starts with everyone one of us. Today we acknowledge that effective peacekeeping above all requires continuous investment in peacebuilding. We need to be sustainable and unwavering in this aspiration even during the most uncertain times. Experience shows us that there is no ideal configuration or means for trust-building, and this is precisely the reason why we need to revive and reiterate our commitment to peace. During our peacebuilding work, we have managed to identify changes and experiences and learn from them. We have gone one step further, we have managed to identify the commonalities and the impact that trust-building has on healthcare and family life,” she said.

Mayor of Pristina, Perparim Rama, said the focus of the capital is to be a strong voice in protecting and furthering the provision of services for all communities without any difference.

The capital, in its focus has the inclusive concept of respecting human rights. As the capital city, we will interact with citizens all over Kosovo, who have made Pristina their home by starting to live here. Their contribution is an added value for the city and the diversity of experiences enrich our coexistence … Last year we launched the campaign for free registration which will continue this year too and through this campaign our goal is for all citizens of Pristina to have citizenship. We want to be open to all citizens and be a powerful voice for protecting and advancing the provision of services for all communities without any difference,” he said.

During the UNMIK event “Trust-building in Kosovo: Supporting Togetherness for a Better Future” was launched the dialogue center “Barabar” which is located in Pristina and created by two non-governmental organisations.

The goal of the center is to increase cooperation and tolerance for all communities.

During the event, letters of appreciation were given to all those that contributed to trust-building in Kosovo, and the head of the Missing Persons Resource Centre, Bajram Cerkini, received a certificate too.

After meeting Lajcak, Kurti says he will draft "vision" for Serbs (Koha)

The EU's special envoy for dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, stayed in Kosovo on Thursday. In the early hours, he met with Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi.  After the discussion of about two hours, the EU emissary affirmed that the meeting was intense, but useful.

Lajcak has said that they are trying to find a middle ground regarding the formation of the Association, considering the opposing positions of the parties. "We discussed how the EU sees the drafting of the statute in detail with Prime Minister Kurti, and I think we had an understanding of the process," he said.

Later during the day, Prime Minister Albin Kurti said that they insisted that the agreement reached be implemented in full and without delay.

"We are now interested in collaborating to further draft together a vision for the Serbian community in Kosovo in terms of the adequate level of self-management as seen in Article 7 of the reached agreement while not overlooking Article 10. This is our goal in parallel with what should be implemented fully and as quickly as possible," stated Kurti.

Lajcak: What I heard left me worried (media)

EU Special Representative for the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Miroslav Lajcak, said on Thursday after his visit to the north of Kosovo: “It was important for me to again visit the north of Kosovo and talk to different interlocutors in order to get my own firsthand impression of the current situation. What I heard left me worried. We need to avoid any possibility of escalation and fully focus on normalisation.”

Serbian List: We’ll not return to institutions without Association forming (Koha)

The Serbian List informed about the Thursday's meeting with the Special Representative of the European Union for Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, in the north of Mitrovica. They discussed the political and security situation in Kosovo was discussed.

In the statement issued on the official website of this party, it is said that the representatives of the Serbian List have told Lajcak that the Serbs of the north will not return to the institutions of Kosovo until the Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority is formed "in accordance with the agreements of 2013 and 2015 reached in Brussels".

It is further said that the extraordinary elections held on April 23 in four northern municipalities were also discussed, the results of which Serbian List says it does not recognise.

Konjufca: Lajcak is biased, he conceives dialogue as if Kosovo's status has not yet been defined (RTV21)

Kosovo’s Speaker of the Assembly, Glauk Konjufca, in an interview for Radio Television 21, criticized the Special Envoy of the European Union for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, after his recent statements about the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian Majority and the opening of the Iber Bridge in Mitrovica.

"The chief negotiator is not impartial. Lajcak, in the way he conceives the negotiations, is like talking to two states that have not defined their status. He should be clear that Kosovo has defined its status 15 years ago," he said.

"If you think that the Association does not prejudge anything and all options are open to the Association, you are wrong. And if he thinks all European options are on the table, he's wrong again. Kosovo is a unitary state and has only two levels of government - central and local".

"We know the essence of dialogue. To us, dialogue is dialogue between two sovereign states, but to Serbia it is not like that. Well, big deal. It doesn't bother me. To the state of Kosovo, this is a dialogue between two state entities," he added.

Konjufca commented Lajcak’s statement at the Iber Bridge in Mitrovica that the decision for its opening should be made within the dialogue.

"I think that if he crossed the bridge and if the bridge is crossed, then Lajcak should not have conditioned its opening. I find it unfair that everything ends in negotiations. So also the right of people to move freely in their land, in their country, because these are rights guaranteed by the constitution..."

"The bridge like Lajcak has often been crossed by other political figures, ministers... everyone. The point is not to have illegal obstacles placed by the structures that commit serious violations of basic human rights in the state of Kosovo," he said.

Power: The U.S. wants mutual recognition (RTK)

The journalist, who used to report from war zones in Bosnia and later on Serbian crimes in Kosovo, returned in Kosovo as the head of the United States Agency for International Development, reports that national broadcaster. Samantha Power requested from Gjilan, where she met small farmers and businesses that USAID has supported, that the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue end with mutual recognition.

"The creation of the Association of Municipalities with a Serb majority is an absolutely critical step that must be taken to ensure that normalization can continue. It is urgent to create the Association,” she said adding that it is important that ideas are exchanged and compromise is reached so that normalization that will ultimately result in mutual recognition can continue.

The head of USAID said that her country welcomed the signing of the Declaration on the Disappeared and they expect it to be implemented.

"There are still many important decisions to be made, but here, the agreement that has already been reached on missing persons, you have more than 1,600 people whose remains have not been found, and whose families are still grieving for them, not knowing what happened to them. Even this agreement, I think, is only a step and of course it should be implemented, it is an important agreement and it is not something that had happened before".

In the evening, Power visited the Innovation Center of Kosovo in Pristina, where she met with young entrepreneurs, whom the agency she leads has supported over the years. Today Power will meet the Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti, as well as representatives of civil society, media and communities.

Von Cramon: Vucic should end the dialogue with Kosovo (Albanian Post)

The rapporteur for Kosovo in the European Parliament, Viola von Cramon, in an interview for the Balkan news network "N1" stated that the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, "knows very well that at some point he must end the dialogue with Kosovo".

"He not only talks, but also works. I hope he shows in practice what he said. He did not sign the agreement (the Basic Agreement on February 27, and the implementing plan on March 18 in Ohrid, North Macedonia), but he promised to implement it. We want Serbia to be more serious and now new steps must be taken to finalize the agreement," said Cramon.

If the opposite happens, the German MP warned of consequences for Vucic, saying that the European Union would act as it has done with others when they have followed destabilizing policies and contrary to EU values.

"The EU can easily and quickly cut off funds and stop payments, as has been done to Milorad Dodik (President of Republika Srpska – the Serbian entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina) and others, but we don't want that to happen , they are just waiting for Serbia to fulfill what it has signed and to which it owes", she added.

"Since the war in Ukraine started, every country had to make a choice. It took a while until the President of Serbia decided to vote the resolution at the UN. Now we expect it to harmonize and impose sanctions on Russia" she said.

"We don't want China's influence through Serbia in the Western Balkans. We are clear that we want Serbia to turn towards the West, but not only financially, but also politically," she said.

More political will needed for progress of Serbia and Kosovo on the EU path (EWB)

More political will, concrete action and mutual trust are needed from both sides to ensure genuine progress, urge Socialist and Democrats in European Parliament (S&D) in light of the reports on the two countries adopted on Wednesday.

The S&D Group stated that the desired progress in the dialogue must not be an alibi for turning “a blind eye to the autocratic rule of President Aleksandar Vučić”. “First and foremost, Serbia must align with the EU sanctions against Russia or lose the financial support that it gets from the EU”.

““While fully acknowledging the importance of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, we also need to be aware that a much-aspired progress in this process, which in practice is minimum, must not be an alibi for the EU to shy away from more assertive politics towards Serbian authorities. This approach has proven very harmful in the past. It goes without saying that it is the European People’s Party – Vučić’s political family – who bear a special responsibility in this regard. We fully support the Serbs who want a different, better, non-violent and European Serbia. Their aspirations give hope that it is possible to break the permanent crisis spiral which has a negative impact on the entire region”, said MEP Tonino Picula.

He stressed that more has to be done to counter Serbia democratic backsliding, adding that continuous financial support to Vučić’s regime does not bring Serbia closer to the EU.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/41KvH3r

Osmani asks for Kosovo to have seat at COP28: Climate change knows no politics (Koha)

During her speech held on Thursday at the Global Empowerment Meeting (Harvard GEM) "Growth in a Green World" President Vjosa Osmani has requested participation of Kosovo at the table of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP28).

Osmani said that due to the impossibility of being a party to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and a signatory party to the Paris Agreement, Kosovo has been left out of financing instruments that could help it face the challenges of climate change.

Kurti: We have had cyber-attacks on our government system (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, participated in the discussion on “Cybersecurity: Is disinformation the next threat?”, within the Conference on Information Integrity organized by NDI.

During this discussion, Kurti said that we have a solid but not sufficient defense in terms of cybers attacks. “I believe that we have a solid defense, but not enough. We have had two major cases of DIDOS attacks on government servers and we have succeeded in spite of the obstacles they have caused us. They did not manage to penetrate the system, to damage our system, but they made it difficult for us to operate,” Kurti said.

Kurti said that cybers attacks are not only those that want to harm or steal, but we also have attacks in the framework of hybrid warfare.

“We are also learning from the case of Albania, but the attacks are not the only ones that want to harm or steal you, there are also attacks within the framework of what is being called the hybrid war, that is, the infiltration with true sources, with untrue news and often with untrue stories which are made public by certain centers,” he said.

Kurti added that we have cybers attacks on government systems and not only, and on the other side we also have those which are attacks that do not aim at the collapse of the system but at the deformation of opinion.

He has said that addressing cyber security threats requires cooperation with allies.

Osmani invited to inauguration of Montenegro President Milatovic (media)

Kosovo President, Vjosa Osmani, has been invited to participate in the inauguration of the  President of Montenegro, Jakov Milatovic, the Presidency of Kosovo has confirmed.

"The invitation for President Osmani to participate in the inauguration of President Milatovic has arrived. The president is abroad. As soon as she returns, we will let you know," Bekim Kupina, the president's media advisor, told RTKlive.

Maldives presidency refutes Vucic: We have not withdrawn recognition of Kosovo (media)

The Maldives has refuted Serbian President, Aleksandar Vucic, who in January included this country among the "nine countries that have withdrawn the recognition of Kosovo".

In a press conference on Thursday, Miuvaan Mohamed, the spokesman for the Office of the President said ‘Maldives have not decided not to accept the recognition of Kosovo. It is definitely a false claim,’ reported "MV" and "mihaaru".

Kosovo: RTK continuing to push for EBU membership (Eurovoix)

Head of the Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK) has confirmed that the Kosovar broadcaster is continuing to lobby for membership in the European Broadcasting Union. Speaking to the Board of RTK regarding the first month of 2023, the Chairman of the broadcaster of Kosovo has confirmed that the channel is continuing to push for membership in the European Broadcasting Union.

Besnik Boletini explained that RTK is continuing to attend EBU events to lobby for membership and an invitation to compete in Eurovision. To be able to participate in a future edition of the Song Contest, Kosovo must become a member of the International Television Union, as well as a member of the United Nations. Earlier this year the broadcaster launched Festivalit të Këngës which would be used as the nation’s Eurovision selection should it be able to compete. In the past, Kosovo has participated in other Eurovision events.

For example, in 2011, RTK selected Tringa Hysa to participate in the Eurovision Young Dancers contest that year. Kosovo has representation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 with the Albanian representatives Albina & Familja Kelmendi coming from Kosovo.