UNMIK Media Observer, Afternoon Edition, July 19, 2024

Albanian Language Media:

Osmani meets Macron, discusses Kosovo’s full integration (media)
Osmani thanks Belgian PM for supporting Kosovo (media)
Gervalla meets Hovenier, highlights need for more intensive cooperation (media)
KLI: New law on IMC threatens values and principles of democracy (Kosovapress)
Rexhaj: Serbs buying Albanian land, giving it to Serb churches (media)
Hoxhaj: New phase of complications in Kosovo’s relations with partners (media)
Court sentences Bajrovic to 12 years in prison for war crimes in Istog (media)
KFOR publishes video of its troops patrolling on Iber Bridge (media)

Serbian Language Media:

Gogic: Serbs in north would see opening of bridge as provocation (Blic, Kosovo Online)
Dacic says attacker on police officers in Loznica killed (KoSSev)
Person arrested under suspicion of aiding attacker on police officer previously convicted, but fled (N1)
Vanovac: New law is attack on media freedom in Kosovo, especially on Serbian newsrooms (Kosovo Online)
One month detention for former KLA member arrested in North Macedonia (KoSSev)
Vucic: Lithium mining project to enable Serbia's quantum leap to future (Tanjug)
Serbian Govt explains content of MoU with EU on sustainable raw materials (N1)
Scholz: Memorandum reinforces cooperation (N1)
Von Cramon against lithium deal with Serbian Government (N1)
Zelenskyy meets Vucic, thanks Serbia for financial and humanitarian assistance (N1)

Opinion:

In Kosovo’s divided Mitrovica, disputed bridge could become a meeting point (BIRN)

International:

Appeals Court upholds ruling in favour of ‘Jeta në Kosovë’ investigation into solar energy monopoly (Prishtina Insight)
Court finds Kosovo Bosniak guilty of war crimes (BIRN)

Albanian Language Media

Osmani meets Macron, discusses Kosovo’s full integration (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani said in a Facebook post today that during her meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron they “discussed the importance of moving forward toward Kosovo’s full integration in Euro-Atlantic structures, in partnership with our allies and for the benefit of all our citizens without any difference”.

Osmani thanks Belgian PM for supporting Kosovo (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani said in a post on X that she met with Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and thanked him for his support for Kosovo over the years. “During the EPC Leaders’ Summit yesterday, we discussed the importance of Kosovo's Euro-Atlantic integration, our membership in international organizations, and our shared commitment to strengthening Kosovo-Belgium cooperation,” Osmani said.

Gervalla meets Hovenier, highlights need for more intensive cooperation (media)

Kosovo’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Donika Gervalla, said she met with U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Hovenier on Thursday and “discussed current political developments in Kosovo” and the expectations of the people of Kosovo “for strong support from friends, partners, and allies in important reforms toward strengthening the state of law and standards of democracy, the fight against crime and corruption and thorough reforms in important areas such as education, healthcare, and public administration”. Gervalla said she also highlighted the need for more intensive cooperation on regional and global initiatives. “These meetings serve not only to strengthen the strong and sustainable partnership between Kosovo and the U.S., but also the importance of close cooperation to achieve our shared strategic and diplomatic objectives,” she said.

KLI: New law on IMC threatens values and principles of democracy (Kosovapress)

The news agency reports that the Kosovo Law Institute (KLI) published a report today titled “The politicization of the Independent Media Commission (IMC)” which argues that the Law on the IMC will completely destroy the constitutional independence of this institution and turn it into an institution dependent on the Assembly and easily influenced by the government. The report was drafted following an analysis of the law which was adopted by the Assembly on July 11.

Florian Smajli, a researcher with the KLA, said that findings show that the approach of the new law is dangerous and that it directly threatens the values and principles of democracy embodied in the Constitution of Kosovo. He also said that the increased number of members is a decision that is not based on a realistic analysis and that it does not correspond with the proper functioning of the IMC. “Being that this law was not supported by the international factor, civil society, the media, and the opposition, this course of action clearly shows that the adoption of the law was only the willingness of the ruling party,” he said.

Gzim Shala, a senior researcher with the KLA, said that the new law will result in the politicization of the IMC, and that before the law was adopted there was a wild campaign against the IMC whereby according to him representatives of the ruling party even accused them of national treason, “and all because of their decision-making in the IMC”.

Shala argued that “with regards to the selection of members, the number of members which is expected to be increased from 7 to 11, will be done in a way that the parliamentary committee on the media will develop vacancy procedures and then the members of the IMC will be voted with a simple majority. Every government has at least a majority in the Assembly, and this enables every government to easily select all members of the IMC and therefore politicize the Commission … This situation, this draft law and this course of action, the way the provisions were drafted, will lose the meaning of the IMC as an independent constitutional institution. In fact it does not contain any independence for the IMC, it simply makes it an institution dependent on the ruling party,” he said.

Shala further argued that if the law would have been sent to the President for decree, the latter should exercise her constitutional right to send back the law to the Assembly.

Rexhaj: Serbs buying Albanian land, giving it to Serb churches (media)

MP from the Vetevendosje Movement, Arber Rexhaj, said in a debate on TV Dukagjini on Thursday that there are real concerns that Kosovo Serbs were buying properties from Albanians and then giving them away to Serb orthodox churches. He argued that this was being done to block works of “national interest” such as the construction of roads because of problems related to expropriation. “When it comes to expropriations, we are coming across properties of the Serb Orthodox Church. Lately there is a tendency by Serbs to buy properties of Albanians, they buy them first and then they sell or give them away to the Orthodox Church, throughout the territory of Kosovo. This phenomenon has been going on for years, and now it has picked up. This is being done to obstruct issues of national importance for the people of Kosovo. The security mechanisms are working on this,” he said.

Hoxhaj: New phase of complications in Kosovo’s relations with partners (media)

Deputy leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Enver Hoxhaj said in a Facebook post today that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s visit to Serbia shows that “Serbia has become a strategic interest for his country and the European Union”. He argues that Serbia has for long used strategic relations with Russia and China as a geopolitical mechanism in its relations with the EU and that “starting from today, it will use an internal instrument: the European car industry will have exclusive access to Serbia’s lithium deposits and lithium is the instrument of its power toward the EU”. Hoxhaj also notes that “no one knows the content of a declaration on cooperation that will be signed today, but one thing is known, this is a new phase of complications in Kosovo’s relations with European partners”.

Court sentences Bajrovic to 12 years in prison for war crimes in Istog (media)

The Basic Court in Pristina sentenced Ekrem Bajroviq today to 12 years in prison for war crimes committed in 1998-1999 in the municipality of Istog and the surrounding villages. The Special Prosecution of Kosovo in September last year filed charges against Bajrovic noting that as a member of Serbian police and military forces, individually and in cooperation with other persons, he took part and contributed to the application of repressive measures of killing, raiding, mistreatment, arrests, torture, and inhumane treatment of Albanian civilians.

KFOR publishes video of its troops patrolling on Iber Bridge (media)

Most news websites cover a video posted by NATO’s peacekeeping mission in Kosovo (KFOR) showing its troops patrolling the bridge over Iber River. The post notes that “KFOR continues to implement its mandate - based on UN Security Council Resolution 1244 of 1999 - to provide a safe and secure environment for all people living in Kosovo”. See video at: https://tinyurl.com/yj27hb3v

Serbian Language Media

Gogic: Serbs in north would see opening of bridge as provocation (Blic, Kosovo Online)

Belgrade-Pristina dialogue is in a stalemate and instead of taking actions that would relax relations, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti persistently insist on those impairing them. The latest in a series of such acts is the decision to open the main bridge on Ibar River, an act that Serbs in the north oppose. Analysts told Blic daily that Kurti with this decision does not want to bring the two communities together, but rather to provoke and demonstrate how he regains control over people in the north.

Instead of bringing two parts of Mitrovica together, this bridge divides them and is a symbol of conflict between Serbs and Albanians. It is open for pedestrian traffic, but not for vehicles. More than 1000 incidents between Serbs and Albanians took place on this bridge, because of which local Serbs erected barricades and KFOR members have been permanently stationed there.

Pristina wants to change the situation on the ground, and on April 29, Kosovo Government supported a decision, made one day prior by local Mitrovica North Municipal Assembly councilors, appointed after the Serbs collectively left Pristina institutions in the north, to open the bridge.

This runs contrary to the agreements reached in Brussels, which clearly say it is necessary to delineate administrative authorities between southern and northern Mitrovica before such a step can be made.

It is not done yet, and Gogic told the daily it is not about genuine desire to make the bridge symbol which connects the people, but rather a provocation.

“Opening of a bridge on the Ibar River has no practical importance because Mitrovica North is connected with the rest of Kosovo with other bridges open to traffic. The importance is more symbolic. Serbs in the north would perceive the opening of the bridge as provocation and as an attempt by Pristina authorities to again demonstrate how they regain control over them”, Gogic said.

He added, that is why Kurti now opens this topic, in particular ahead of parliamentary elections in Kosovo.

“Still at the end, it is KFOR that decides about opening of the bridge, because Italian Carabinieri are stationed there”, Gogic said.

Those from the international community clearly said that they do not look at this initiative benevolently. EU special envoy for Belgrade-Pristina talks, Miroslav Lajcak said the “time is not yet” to open the bridge, while KFOR Commander Major General Ozkan Ulutas said earlier “decision about bridge should be made in Brussels”.

Mitrovica North residents also told Blic they are not in favor of bridge opening as it would lead to escalation of the situation. One of them said no conditions had been created for it, people in Mitrovica North do not feel free and safe, and there are security issues every day as well as that there is lack of trust.

Dacic says attacker on police officers in Loznica killed (KoSSev)

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said that the attacker who killed one Serbian police officer and wounded another one had been killed, KoSSev portal reported.

“Members of the police have killed the killer of the police officer in the Loznica area”, Dacic said, the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced.

As the portal added, Dacic is on his way to Loznica.

Person arrested under suspicion of aiding attacker on police officer previously convicted, but fled (N1)

Zoran Radovanovic, arrested yesterday in Bijeljina (Republika Srpska, B&H), under suspicion of helping the attacker on Serbian police officers in Loznica, leaving one of them dead and the other one wounded was released on bail in amount of 75.000 euros pending trial, five years ago, it had been confirmed to N1 by Higher Court in Belgrade.

Radovanovic was sentenced in November 2022 to eight years in prison for organizing a criminal group smuggling narcotics. He was released on bail pending trial in 2019, after the first instant court verdict was overturned by the Court of Appeals. Then he fled. In October 2023 Basic Court in Subotica issued a warrant for him, N1 added.

Vanovac: New law is attack on media freedom in Kosovo, especially on Serbian newsrooms (Kosovo Online)

Adoption of Law on Independent Media Commission affects all media in Kosovo and particularly small newsrooms like Serbian ones, Ivana Vanovac, President of Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS) branch in Kosovo (DNKiM) told Kosovo Online. She added this law allows the authorities to eliminate any media outlet if its critical approach bothers the political establishment.

She highlights one of the key criticisms – legal ambiguity, meaning the law's provisions are not fully specified, especially in the most sensitive areas, such as imposing monetary penalties.

"In this part, there is a provision that if a media outlet violates the ethical code, it can be fined between 200 and 40,000 euros, without further gradation, that is, specification for which offense each amount is intended. I assume this is left to be regulated later by some bylaw, but from this perspective, we really cannot know if such a bylaw will be enacted and what it will look like", Vanovac explains.