Albanian Language Media:  

• Kosovo Assembly adopts budget for 2024 (media)
• Deliu-Kodra: 2024 will be an election year (KTV)
• Serbia confirms in writing not considering implementing Brussels deal (Koha)
• Gervalla: Policy of appeasement towards Serbia has failed (media)
• Kearns on letter to EU to lift measures against Kosovo (Kallxo)
• Osmani to give end of year speech at Kosovo Assembly today (media)
• COMKFOR Ulutas meets Quint ambassadors (media)
• Rohde: Governments sometimes listen, and sometimes they don’t (Kosovapress)

Serbian Language Media:

• Vucic: West will not give up on Kosovo independence (Tanjug)
• Rada Trajkovic on unveiling plaque at former Panda café: Cynical act of PM Kurti (KoSSev, Kosovo Online)
• Kurti wading into the election campaign, urges Albanians in Serbia to mobilize and vote for Kamberi (KoSSev)
• Westerlund: Pristina has to implement its obligations (Kosovo Online)
• Haradinaj says budget scandalous, discrimination of municipalities not run by Self-determination (KoSSev)

Albanian Language Media

Kosovo Assembly adopts budget for 2024 (media)

The Kosovo Assembly adopted on Thursday the budget for 2024, in an extraordinary session which was boycotted by the opposition. Prime Minister Albin Kurti thanked the MPs for supporting the budget draft law. The bill was adopted in a first reading in November. “This year too, for the third year in a row, the budget is adopted in December according to plan,” he said in a Facebook post. The budget for next year amounts to €3.3 billion. “We are continuing to strengthen the defense of the Republic, increasing security, increasing employment, we are providing added care for the families, and we are also supporting the reforms we have started and are enabling further economic development and better well-being for all citizens,” Kurti said.

In post on X, Kurti wrote that: “Our newly approved budget, 35% higher than our 1st year (2021), is dedicated to strengthening Kosovo’s defense and security, promoting employment, supporting families & businesses, advancing ongoing reforms & powering forward our already-strong economic growth. To a productive 2024!” https://shorturl.at/lANV9

Deliu-Kodra: 2024 will be an election year (KTV)

MP from the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Blerta Deliu-Kodra, said in an interview with the TV station on Thursday, that the ruling Vetevendosje Movement is preparing for new elections next year. She argued that the government failed to deliver on the promises it made during the election campaign and that it must be held accountable. “Kurti many times talked about the connection between education and the labor market, but we haven’t seen anything in this regard. He said the same issue about healthcare insurance. The prices of medical products are another challenge that preoccupies the citizens because they cannot afford them. There are many challenges that will make next year an even more challenging one. I am confident that the government has focused its policies to announce elections,” she said. “Even with the allocation of funds destined for subsidies and the possibility of allocating budget funds from one place to another. This shows that the budget is being allocated for the purposes of an election campaign. I believe 2024 will be an election year”.

According to Deliu, the Kurti-led government, in terms of capital projects, has favored municipalities led by the Vetevendosje Movement, while totally ignoring municipalities led by other political parties. “It is the most disproportionate budget I have seen during my terms as a member of the Kosovo Assembly. I understand that when you are in power you can allocate more budget to your municipalities, but I have never seen a more racist and disproportionate allocation of the budget,” she argued.

Serbia confirms in writing not considering implementing Brussels Agreement (Koha)

The daily reports in its leading front-page story that by expressing reservations to the declaration adopted at the EU-Western Balkans Summit, Serbia confirmed that it does not intend to implement the agreement on the path toward normalization reached in Brussels and the implementation annex reached in Ohrid. Koha learns from unnamed diplomatic sources that even though the declaration notes that all countries in the region have joined it, Serbia has expressed reservations and made it clear that accepting the text of the declaration does not imply to de facto or de jure recognizes Kosovo’s independence. “The Republic of Serbia stresses that this support [for the declaration] does not imply agreeing to Kosovo’s membership in the United Nations, in the system of UN organizations and agencies, and also the so-called territorial integrity of Kosovo,” a letter presented by Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic notes.

Gervalla: Policy of appeasement towards Serbia has failed (media)

Kosovo’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Donika Gervalla-Schwarz, said on Thursday that “Serbia has explicitly stated its refusal to implement the provisions of the Brussels and Ohrid agreements”. “I call upon the international community to acknowledge that the policy of appeasement towards Serbia has failed. A fundamental shift is needed now,” Gervalla wrote in a post on X.

Kearns on letter to EU to lift measures against Kosovo (Kallxo)

UK Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee chief Alicia Kearns, in an interview with the news website, commented on a letter that she and other foreign affairs committees’ chiefs sent to the EU asking for the lifting of measures against Kosovo. “We are calling once again for fairness to come back to the process and for the EU to lift these negative measures … We want them lifted because they are utterly unfair. They should never have been put in place the first time. And at this time when the EU claims that it is working to help stabilize the region, to prevent conflict breaking out, to have negative measures against a country who had foreign interference in their election, who then saw paid and armed thugs around their municipal offices, to have a country who had its own armed forces and police attacked, we had a police officer murdered and three police officers kidnapped. This is not a country that should be under negative measures, if it is any country, it should be Serbia, but what we are saying is that you need balance and fairness if you are trying to bring peace and you cannot have that if one side is under negative measures,” Kearns argued.

See more at: https://t.ly/Y-wXw

Osmani to give end of year speech at Kosovo Assembly today (media)

Most news websites report that Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani will give an end of the year speech at the Kosovo Assembly today starting at 11:00.

COMKFOR Ulutas meets Quint ambassadors (media)

NATO’s peacekeeping in mission in Kosovo, KFOR, said in a statement on Thursday that COMKFOR, Major General Ozkan Ulutas, met on Thursday with the Ambassadors of the Quint group, Ambassador of France Olivier Guérot, Ambassador of Germany Jorn Rohde, Ambassador of Italy Antonello De Riu, Ambassador of the United Kingdom Nicholas Abbott and the Ambassador of United States of America Jeffrey Hovenier, and with the Ambassador of Türkiye to Kosovo Sabri Tunc Angili and the European Union Special Representative in Kosovo Tomas Szunyog. “Participants exchanged views on a range of topics, including KFOR’s activities under its UN mandate and its continued security efforts in support to the EU-facilitated dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, towards lasting peace and security that respects the rights of all people,” the statement notes.

Rohde: Governments sometimes listen, and sometimes they don’t (Kosovapress)

German Ambassador to Kosovo, Jorn Rohde, said on Thursday during a discussion organized by the Council of Ambassadors of Kosovo, that Kosovo needs to do its homework and move forward in the process of normalization with Serbia. “To become a member of the [Council of Europe] you need to do certain things and publicly and privately we are urging the Kosovo Government to do certain things. Sometimes they listen, and sometimes not, whether it’s this government or previous governments. As bilaterally or as Quint partners, we issue statements on certain Constitutional Court decisions, which I think should be heeded, if you want to become a member, you need to do your homework,” Rohde said. 

See more at: https://t.ly/QsqVY

Serbian Language Media 

Vucic: West will not give up on Kosovo independence (Tanjug)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday evening Western powers would not change their positions on Kosovo independence or give up on it and that, without a doubt, Serbia will be under pressure over the issue in the future, too, Tanjug news agency reports.

In an appearance on the RTS, Vucic said he could promise Serbians that he would be safeguarding Kosovo and Metohija and all Serbian strategic interests, as he said, intelligently, responsibly and wisely.

"We will be protecting our national and state interests, but intelligently, without putting into question the economic prosperity or the future of Serbia, which is very important. We will be preserving peace and stability as we steer the country on the path to the EU, while always firmly safeguarding our traditional friendships with the Russian Federation, the People's Republic of China, Arab states and many African, Latin American and Asian countries, and that will be Serbia's policy", Vucic said.

Rada Trajkovic on unveiling plaque at former Panda café: Cynical act of PM Kurti (KoSSev, Kosovo Online)

Rada Trajkovic, leader of Serb European Movement from Kosovo and politician termed the act of Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, to unveil the memorial plaque at former Panda café in Pec, in which six Serb youths were murdered on December 14, 1998, as cynical, KoSSev portal reports.

"If it were honest to unravel the malignant operations for the destabilization of Kosovo, along with this memorial plaque to the innocent young men from Panda, there would also be plaques unveiled to the killed harvesters in Staro Gracko (14 harvesters killed in July 1999) as well as to the murdered children in Gorazdevac (two children killed in August 2003) whose killers are unknown", Trajkovic said mentioning two still unresolved ethnic crimes targeting Serbs, committed in post-conflict Kosovo.

Kurti wading into the election campaign, urges Albanians in Serbia to mobilize and vote for Kamberi (KoSSev)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti encouraged Albanians in Serbia to support one of two ethnic-Albanian parties in the fast-approaching local and parliamentary elections: “The struggle of Albanians continues – Shaip Kamberi“, KoSSev portal reports. 

Kurti held a rally with representatives of that party and its supporters from south Serbia in a crowded hall in Pristina on December 13 evening, during which he urged them to vote for Kamberi on Sunday, December 17, as part of the fight against what he termed as “authoritarian and anti-Albanian regime in Serbia“.

Shortly after coming to power, Kurti actively participated in campaigning ahead of elections in Albania through the Self-Determination party, the portal recalled. 

Westerlund: Pristina has to implement its obligations (Kosovo Online)

Swedish Ambassador in Pristina, Jonas Westerlund said yesterday Pristina has to implement its obligations, in line with the agreements from Brussels and Ohrid agreement, Kosovo Online portal reports citing RTK1.

“There is a process which started many years ago, and was successful in 2013 and in 2015. Now we have the Brussels Agreement from February 27, and Ohird Anex from March, with which both sides consented. What we should focus on in Pristina is that official Pristina implements obligations”, he said in reference to the Community of Serb-Majority Municipalities, the portal added. He also said the draft statue had been prepared very carefully, which included several requests of the Kosovo Government that should be met.

Haradinaj says budget scandalous, discrimination of municipalities not run by Self-determination (KoSSev)

Leader of Alliance for Future of Kosovo (AAK) Ramush Haradinaj said the budget presented for adoption at Kosovo Assembly, was the most scandalous that Kosovo ever had, KoSSev portal reports citing Pristina-based Gazeta Express.

He also said Prime Minister Albin Kurit “declared an open war to citizens”, and proposed to the municipalities to declare him “persona non grata”.

“The most scandalous budget that Kosovo ever had was put for adoption at the Kosovo Assembly. Discrimination of Albin Kurti against municipalities which are not under authority of his party did not happen even during the times of (Aleksandar) Rankovic (official of communist Yugoslavia during Tito’s time). By this budget Albin Kurti declared an open war on citizens of this country, reducing even bread to them. Prime Minister, revoke this budget before you face civic disobedience. If you do not increase this budget, I propose citizens of affected municipalities to declare you persona non grata”, Haradinaj is quoted as saying by the portal. The budget meanwhile had been adopted by the votes of ruling MPs, Serbian media reported.