Albanian Language Media:

• Osmani thanks Kearns “for exposing Serbia’s destructive agenda” (media)

• Menendez: A West’s Belgrade-centered policy will not work (Gazeta Express)

• Haradinaj: Joint statement confirms Kosovo is Euro-Atlantic (media)

• Kosovo says restoring of parallel bodies by Belgrade violates agreement (Koha)

• Bislimi calls on Serbia to implement roadmap for energy agreement (media)

• Kurti on energy efficiency measures; subsidy cover 45% of investment (media)

• Osmani joins petition for Google to recognize Kosovo (media)

• Govt: Radomirovic was not involved in military operations during war (Telegrafi)

  Serbian Language Media:

• Svecla claims north moves towards normalcy, Serbian List says he spreads lies and disinformation (Radio KIM, KoSSev)

• Petkovic responds to Bislimi, says Pristina obstructs Energy Roadmap for moths (media, social media)

• Defense lawyers of Pantic and Zaric filled appeals to Court of Appeals (media)

• Vucevic: Serbia-Egypt cooperation seeing upward trend (Tanjug)

• Drecun: Serbs in Kosovo under continuous pressure (Tanjug)

• Dveri Movement: Has Vucic given up on UN SC session on Kosovo (N1)

• Vulovic says Kosovo police broke a panel in Cyrillic alphabet on Zubin Potok municipal facility (Kosovo Online)

International Media:

• ‘Stronger reaction to Vucic’, politicians of several countries letter to EU and US (euronews.al)

• Calls Grow for Kosovo Community Funding Call to be Annulled (BIRN)

Albanian Language Media

Osmani thanks Kearns “for exposing Serbia’s destructive agenda” (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani took to Twitter to thank UK MP Alicia Kearns and her calls “to expose Serbia’s destructive and destabilising agenda”. “Thank you Alicia Kearns for your tireless efforts in exposing Serbia’s destructive and destabilizing agenda. Grateful to all signatories for their strong support for Kosovo’s sovereignty and democracy. Together, we'll safeguard our shared values and strengthen democracy!” Osmani tweeted.

Menendez: A West’s Belgrade-centered policy will not work (Gazeta Express)

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez has joined a number of Western politicians who called on the United States and the European Union to change their approach to the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia and to take on a tougher approach toward Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. “I am proud to join transatlantic Chairs of Foreign Affairs Committees and legislators, including @aliciakearns, @MiRo_SPD & @ChairOlek, to ask our governments to reconsider their approaches to the Serbia-Kosovo relationship. A Belgrade-centered policy for the Balkans will not work,” Mendez wrote in a Twitter post.

Haradinaj: Joint statement confirms Kosovo is Euro-Atlantic (media)

Leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), Ramush Haradinaj, in a Facebook post on Monday, thanked all the signatories of the joint statement on relations between Kosovo and Serbia that was sent to EU, U.S. and UK senior officials. “The achievements we have made so far as a state are thanks to the aid and coordination with our allies, and with the United States in particular. This act confirms that Kosovo is Euro-Atlantic and that this commitment will stand forever,” he said.

Kosovo says restoring of parallel bodies by Belgrade violates agreement (Koha)

The daily reports on its front this morning that “Serbia is going in the opposite direction from what it agreed to in the latest meetings in Brussels as part of efforts for de-escalation in the north”. While Kosovo agreed to have new elections in the north after summer in order to make way for the return of Serb representatives to local institutions, Belgrade has decided to renew its illegal structures in Kosovo. The decision of the Serbian government is being opposed in Pristina and is being qualified as a flagrant violation of the Brussels agreement. Illegal structures were also appointed for the municipalities of Klina, Fushe Kosove, and Podujeva. 

Chief of Staff to Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, Blerim Vela, said in a reaction that the act goes against the Brussels agreements. “This is a flagrant violation of the Brussels agreement, and Kosovo's sovereignty is an example of institutional aggression applied only by Russia in Ukraine,” Vela argued.

Bislimi calls on Serbia to implement roadmap for energy agreement (media)

Kosovo’s First Deputy Prime Minister and chief negotiator in the EU-facilitated talks with Serbia, Besnik Bislimi, called on Serbia on Monday to implement the roadmap for the energy agreement agreed in Brussels. “Implementation of the Energy Roadmap is a matter of urgency. Non-payment incentivizes criminal activity at the cost of taxpayers and the environment. Kosovo has continuously played a constructive role and has implemented all obligations. We expect and demand the same from the other side,” Bislimi wrote on Twitter. 

Kurti on new measures for energy efficiency; subsidy cover 45% of investment (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti announced in a Facebook post on Monday new measures for energy efficiency in private households and that the subsidies will cover 45 percent of investments, up to €5,500. “Last year, we subsidized 10,000 families with €5 million to purchase efficient equipment for heating. This year, we have tripled the budget for equipment with €20 million,” Kurti said.

Osmani joins petition for Google to recognize Kosovo (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani has joined a petition asking Google to recognize Kosovo, saying in a Twitter post that she was “happy to join duadotcom’s initiative calling on Google to include Kosovo in all of its services. A long overdue decision. A small tweak for a giant leap in equality, accessibility, and inclusivity”.

Govt: Radomirovic was not involved in military operations during war (Telegrafi)

The Kosovo government reacted on Monday to some reports according to which Radoica Radomirovic, recently appointed deputy minister for communities and returns in the Kurti-led government, was part of the Yugoslav army during the war in Kosovo. In a response to RTV2, the government said that Radomirovic was not involved in military operations. “Our institutions have verified all information and confirmed that he was not involved in military operations or any similar operations during the war in Kosovo. He served as an accountant in the administration as a civilian staff,” a government spokesperson said.

Opposition parties have meanwhile opposed the appointment, with some even criticising the Kurti-led government of being “anti-national”.

Serbian Language Media

Svecla claims north moves towards normalcy, Serbian List says he spreads lies and  disinformation (Radio KIM, KoSSev)

After Kosovo police said they confiscated graphic cards, cannabis and weapons in an apartment in Mitrovica North, Kosovo Interior Minister Xhellal Svecla said that “for more than 20 years the northern part of Kosovo has been living illegally. According to him “criminal groups and activities were flourishing” but “that the previous reality shades away day by day”, accusing official Belgrade and President Aleksandar Vucic for supporting crime in the north, Radio KIM reports.

Reacting to his statements Serbian List said that Svecla with lies and disinformation attempts to link everything bad that is happening with Serbs, Serbia and President Aleksandra Vucic

Serbian List also accused Svecla and, as they said, anti-Serb regime of Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti that they by lies and disinformation attempt to link everything bad that is happening with the Serbs, Serbian state and President Vucic and “thus justify illegal presence of Albanian parapolice units in northern Kosovo”.

Serbian List in a statement, listing numerous crimes that took place in southern Kosovo among Albanians, ranging from 400 kilograms of confiscated cocaine to murders and armed attacks, asked if Serbia and Vucic “were also to blame for that”.

They also argued that because Kosovo Interior Minister Xhellal Svecla and Prime Minister Albin Kurti invested all their capacities to fight Serbs, they should be held responsible for criminalization that is happening in the settlements, villages and cities populated by Albanian majority.  

Petkovic responds to Bislimi, says Pristina obstructs Energy Roadmap for moths (media, social media)

Office for Kosovo and Metohija Director Petar Petkovic took to Twitter to respond to Pristina’s chief negotiator Besnik Bislimi’s remarks on Energy Roadmap, urging him to present facts and not spins, Serbian media reports.

“Facts, not the spins Besnik Bislimi. Since October Pristina has been obstructing Energy Roadmap implementation. Belgrade in March already was urging for the issue to be resolved, then in April we came to Brussels with all the experts, and Bislimi came alone. Two months we are waiting for Pristina’s response. It has been clear who is sabotaging the agreement”, Petkovic wrote in a post. 

Defense lawyers of Pantic and Zaric filled appeals to Court of Appeals (media)

Nebojsa Vlajic and Dejan Vasic, defense lawyers of Momir Pantic and Zarko Zaric, two Serbs arrested on August 4 and 5 respectively, under charges of allegedly committing war crimes in Kosovo, said they filed an appeal to the Court of Appeals over first-instance court’s decision to send them to one-month detention.

Pantic, a former police station commander in Istok was arrested at Merdare crossing point while on his way to Kosovo to take over documentation related to his property. As his lawyer said Pantic was coming to Kosovo regularly.

Zaric, former commander of the police sub-station in Rakos village returned to his home village of Ljubozda near Istok in 2017 and lived there with a group of Serb returnees. He was arrested in his home village by Kosovo police on Saturday.  

Vucevic: Serbia-Egypt cooperation seeing upward trend (Tanjug)

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Milos Vucevic began an official visit to Egypt on Monday with a meeting with the country's Minister of Defence and Military Production Gen Mohamed Zaki.

The parties noted that Serbia-Egypt cooperation was seeing an upward trend that was also a result of last year's meeting between Presidents Aleksandar Vucic and Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in Serbia, the Serbian Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

Vucevic said his visit was another confirmation of the good cooperation between Serbia and Egypt and their defense ministries, and expressed a commitment to further development and advancement of relations in the field of military technology, military education and military-to-military cooperation.

Drecun: Serbs in Kosovo under continuous pressure (Tanjug)

Serbian Parliamentary Committee on Kosovo and Metohija Chairman Milovan Drecun said on Monday the latest developments in Kosovo demonstrated that Serbs there were under continuous pressure aimed at showing them they were undesirable.

Speaking to Pink TV, Drecun said developments in Kosovo and measures implemented there aimed at making life harder for Serbs and at creating a situation where they had no future.

Pristina's Prime Minister Albin Kurti is pushing a narrative about de-escalation and some kind of civic initiative for a dismissal of mayors, but that is "feigned de-escalation", Drecun said.

"Under the guise of de-escalation that can in no way be described as a situation that will lead to defusing the current crisis in the north of Kosovo and Metohija, Kurti is taking unilateral actions that represent a continuation of the horrible terror against the Serbs and the pressure on them", Drecun said.

Dveri Movement: Has Vucic given up on UN SC session on Kosovo (N1)

Deputy leader of the Serbian Movement Dveri Ivan Kostic asked whether the Serbian leadership has given up on a special UN Security Council session on Kosovo, noting that a month has gone by since President Aleksandar Vucic’s announcements that he would request it, N1 reports.

It has been eight months since the Serbian President wrote to KFOR and the UN asking that Resolution 1244 be honored and that Serbian security forces be allowed to return to Kosovo, Kostic said in a written statement.

“Except for headlines in all the regime print media and big words at conferences organized by the President, the Serb people in Kosovo and Metohija have so far not benefited from any of that in any way”, he said.

Vulovic says Kosovo police broke a panel in Cyrillic alphabet on Zubin Potok municipal facility (Kosovo Online)

President of Zubin Potok Interim Municipal Authority and former mayor Srdjan Vulovic said Kosovo police had broken the panel containing the name of the municipality in Cyrilic alphabet that was placed at the entrance to the municipal facility, adding this is yet another message that Pristina authorities do not want Serbs in Kosovo, Kosovo Online portal reports.

Vulovic told the portal that over the weekend people do not gather in front of the municipal facility, and that the panel was removed then. He also said part of the inscription “Zubin Potok Municipality” placed above the entrance to the facility also in Cyrilic had been removed, and that only four letters remain.

He also said Zubn Potok municipal facility is surrounded by police forces, cordon and a fence, and that is why he thinks no one else could approach the building. He stressed that since Kosovo police took over the building there was not a single incident in Zubin Potok adding that police were not provoked by anything.

After elections, the portal recalled, Kosovo police also removed Serbian flags from municipal facility.  

International Media

‘Stronger reaction to Vucic’, politicians of several countries letter to EU and US (euronews.al)

Politicians of some western countries demand a tougher approach of the international community towards the Serbian President, Aleksandar Vucic.

“Serbia’s tendencies to obstruct the democratic elections in Kosovo must be publicly criticized and concrete measures must be taken to hold Serbia accountable if it continues to endanger free and democratic elections,” says the letter addressed to Josep Borrell, Anthony Blinken and James Cleverley

According to the media, the letter was signed by the heads of the foreign policy committees of the Bundestag, Michael Roth (SPD) and the US Senate, Bob Menendez, but also the heads of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the British House of Commons and the parliaments of the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Ireland , Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

“We demand that the international community learn from our past and ensure that we do not pursue Belgrade-centric policies in the Balkans,” the letter states.

Foreign politicians are calling for a return to balance in relations between Kosovo and Serbia.

Calls Grow for Kosovo Community Funding Call to be Annulled (BIRN)

Kosovo’s government is coming under pressure after doubts were raised about the beneficiaries of 500,000 euros of funding for minority community organisations.

Civil society organisations representing Kosovo’s Serb minority have urged the government to annul a decision disbursing 500,000 euros in funding to organisations dealing with minority communities after suspicions were raised last week over how the beneficiaries were picked.

The CSOs argue that the allocation of funds, published on July 10 on the website of the Office of the Prime Minister, violated procedural and administrative rules and the “obligations of institutions to respect the rights of non-majority communities”.

“We call on the Government of Kosovo to annul the results of this Public Call and announce a new one, which will demonstrate the ability to indiscriminately respect the law and citizens from non-majority communities whose rights are often not respected,” 11 organisations said in a statement on Saturday.

The office of Prime Minister Albin Kurti did not respond to a request for comment.

Doubts about the results of the call grew on August 1 when Elizabeth Gowing, an adviser to Kurti on minority issues, announced she had ceased cooperation with the Office for Community Affairs within Kurti’s office after learning about the results.

Read more at: https://t.ly/ICi5C