Albanian Language Media:

 

• Media: CIA chef talked mostly about Kosovo during stay in Serbia 
• Kupchan: Kurti should listen to the allies about the Iber bridge (media)
• Lajcak in Alpbach: Interesting conversation about future of Western Balkans (media)
• CEC: No officially declared coalitions yet, deadline August 30 (ekonomia)
• Diaspora census: 600 thousand people registered so far (RTK)
• Police arrest a Serb in Jarinje, wanted for threatening another Serb in 2022 (media)
• Rama: Albania will have opportunity to host NATO Summit in 2027 (RFE)

 

Serbian Language Media:

 

• Milenkovic, Arsenijevic on drivers’ license conversion, persisting problems (Radio KIM)
• Ponos: Presence of Serbia in northern Kosovo nearing to an end, Vucic’s policy ‘treacherous’ (N1, BETA)
• Petkovic responds to Ponos (Novosti)
• Milivojevic: Kosovo one of key topics during Macron’s visit to Serbia (RTS)
• D.N. arrested at Jarinje, sent to 48-hour detention (Kosovo Online)

International: 

• CIA chief visits Kosovo, meets President and Prime Minister (Prishtina Insight)                                 

 

Albanian Language Media  

 

Media: CIA chef talked mostly about Kosovo during stay in Serbia 

Most news websites cover a BBC in Serbian article according to which during his recent stay in Serbia, CIA Director William Burns talked mostly about Kosovo. Citing unnamed sources, the news agency reported that “the topics with Serbian officials were more about politics than intelligence and that discussions were mostly about Kosovo”.

Kupchan: Kurti should listen to the allies about the Iber bridge (media)

Charles Kupchan, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and professor of international affairs at Georgetown University, in an interview with TeVe1 said that relations between Kosovo and the United States are not hurt but that there is a sentiment in Washington that some moves by Prime Minister Albin Kurti were provocative. “No, I hate to call it a split which would be a harsh term. But I think that when you look at Prime Minister Kurti’s mandate, and the election of mayors in the northern municipalities by a very small minority, the conversion of license plates, the issue of ID cards and the currency, there is a sentiment in the U.S., in Washington, that Prime Minister Kurti sometimes makes steps that are provocative, that are not in the spirit toward normalization, and the enforcement of the agreement which the EU has put on the table, and although the parties have not signed the agreement they have expressed their support for it,” he argued.

Asked on the eventual opening of the Iber bridge in the north of Kosovo, Kupchan said he thinks that “if Prime Minister Kurti moves unilaterally, he doesn’t have the consent of the Serbs in the north, the consent of Belgrade, the consent of the U.S. and NATO countries, this move could do more harm than good”.

Lajcak in Alpbach: Interesting conversation about future of Western Balkans (media)

The European Union’s Special Envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue Miroslav Lajcak is participating at the Alpbach Forum in Austria.

Lajcak expressed pleasure that he has returned to this forum, saying that there was an interesting conversation about the future of the Western Balkans and the potential of the next generation.

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani is also participating at the forum. She also said that there was discussion about the Euro-Atlantic future of Kosovo.

The European Union's special envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, is participating in the Alpbach Forum in Austria.

CEC: No officially declared coalitions yet, deadline August 30 (ekonomia)

Valmir Elezi, spokesperson of the Central Election Commission (CEC), has said that Political entities have until 30 to declare their coalitions, otherwise, they will be competing alone in the February 9 elections.

“According to the Law on general elections political parties which are registered in the CEC and which want to participate in the elections in February 2025 through coalition, must notify the CEC, respectively the Office for Registration, Certification and Financial Control of Political Entities how they want to p[participate in these elections in this way. The deadline to make the announcement is August 30, so by this time all political parties must notify the CEC that they eill participate in the February 9 elections through a coalition,” Elezi said. He added that until Monday, they did not accept any coalition.

"The coalition can be built by at least two political parties and the political party cannot withdraw from the coalition after being certified until the election results are certified by the CEC. Also, the political party which is a member of the coalition cannot participate as a member of another coalition, ie of other parties or even as a separate party in the electoral process. Up to the moment we are talking, the CEC has not received any notification from the political parties that they will seek certification in the elections through the coalition," he said.

Diaspora census: 600 thousand people registered so far (RTK)

Expatriates will have the possibility to register as non-resident citizens in the Kosovo census process until August 31, through the e-diaspora platform.

Avni Kastrati, director of the Kosovo Statistics Agency told RTK that preliminary data show that about 600 thousand people living in diaspora have been registered.

Kastrati has called on emigrants to register, because it is in their interest and in Kosovo's interest to know the exact number of those living abroad.

He said that there are some requests to postpone the deadline further for the registration of emigrants on the grounds that they have not had access to information and are not sufficiently informed.

“This does not pose a problem from the technical point of view… but this is decided by the highest level, by the government,” he said. 

Police arrest a Serb in Jarinje, wanted for threatening another Serb in 2022 (media)

Kosovo Police Deputy Director for the north, Veton Elshani, told Kallxo news website today that police arrested Dusan Nesic today at the Jarinje crossing between Kosovo and Serbia. Elshani said Nesic was wanted by the court because of threatening another Serb in 2022. No other details were disclosed.

Rama: Albania will have opportunity to host NATO Summit in 2027 (RFE)

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said today that Albania will have the opportunity to host the NATO Summit in 2027. “Next year we will host leaders from 44 European countries – from the UK, to Ukraine, and Sweden, Norway and Turkey – at the Summit of the European Political Community. In 2027, we will have the opportunity to host the NATO Summit. These are things that could not have been imagined years ago – for Albania to become a point of reference and to be entrusted with such roles,” Rama said at the conference of ambassadors in Tirana.

Radio Free Europe contacted NATO to comment on Rama’s remarks but received no response. This year’s summit of NATO was held on July 9 – 11 in Washington. 

Rama also said that the objective of his government is for Albania to be ready to sit at the EU table in 2030 and that “the ambassadors have a very important role to play, and it should be raised to a new level”.

On Albania’s relations with countries in the region, Rama said the government has made clear its vision to look toward the future and not resort to the problems of the past. “Looking toward the future with the eyes of the past does not suit us. This is our key approach and point upon which we build relations of interaction with the region. We need to do more with Italy, Turkey and Greece. We will soon open the doors of the embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” he said.

On relations with Kosovo, Rama said it is Albania’s duty to support “the final shaping of Kosovo’s international subjectivity”.

 

Serbian Language Media 

 

Milenkovic, Arsenijevic on drivers’ license conversion, persisting problems (Radio KIM)

Marko Milenkovic from New Social Initiative said the process of drivers’ licenses conversion in the north of Kosovo went without significant problems, but that there are still some persisting issues, Radio KIM reported.

“Significant number of citizens converted their drivers’ license. However, this process resolved only part of the problem. In fact, many citizens were not able to obtain a Kosovo driver’ license although they wanted to. There are still many problems related to Kosovo documents, not all citizens have Kosovo documents nor can they get them because of various problems with the civil registry. In particular, if we speak about persons born during the war, outside of Kosovo, in Novi Pazar or nearby municipalities”, Milenkovic told Radio KIM.  

People who do not have Kosovo ID cards will not be able to drive cars as of today as Kosovo ID card is a precondition to having a Kosovo driver’s license. Lack of dialogue with the Serbian community, according to Milenkovic, contributed to this problem.

“This entire process has been marred with lack of cooperation and coordination. This should have been part of the Brussels agreement and dialogue process, to undertake such steps in coordination, primarily with the international community, and in this case with the Serbian bodies, to have exchange of information which was lacking {…}”, Milenkovic added.

Expenditures

What Serbs in the north of Kosovo perceive as particularly disputable is the fact that the Kosovo Ministry of Interior invalidated their Serbian drivers’ licenses during the process of their conversion with Kosovo ones.

“I see this as yet another problematic step in a sense, that in fact, in the previous period, we did not have cases such as drivers’ licenses being taken away and invalidated. Kosovo institutions do not have the right to take away the right of the citizens to have Serbian drivers’ licenses. It only creates uneasiness and an uncomfortable situation for those citizens, who perceive this step as humiliating, when you take away and invalidate the document, which is recognized in the entire world, but is not in Kosovo only. You are exposed to additional costs. You can not deny them the right to possess that document, but you expose them to additional costs and obligations, and they have to go to the nearest place in (central) Serbia and get new drivers’ license they can use everywhere, but not in Kosovo. This act goes with the spirit of the current Kosovo government, in which the very same reaction and attitude of institutions on the ground tries to demonstrate the force and approach to the citizens which is not fully fair and tolerant, but somehow unilateral”, Milenkovic added.

Imposed decision

Leader of Serbian Democracy, Aleksandar Arsenijevic said there are several thousands of people who were not able to obtain Kosovo drivers’ license because they do not have documents issued by Kosovo authorities.

“Those are people who, for example, were born after 1995 (in Kosovo) and those older than 25 years who were not born in the territory of Kosovo because of forced circumstances. There are plenty of people from Zubin Potok born in Novi Pazar. Also, those from Leposavic born in Novi Pazar, Raska, Kraljevo. People from the Gnjilane region who were born in Vranje or Nis, because it was less complicated for them. Those people born outside of Kosovo, do not have the possibility to get Kosovo documents, although both parents have Kosovo documents and they attended primary, secondary schools and university here, but they can not get Kosovo documents”, Arsenijevic said.

Although the process of conversion went without problems, Arsenijevic said this decision was not accepted voluntarily.

“It was simply imposed. As you can see here, we have police, Kosovo police officers everywhere, who are punishing the people, so the people in order not to be punished, not to have their vehicles confiscated, in order not to face bigger problems, to be able to function normally, like take those sick to the hospitals and so on, were forced to convert their drivers’ licenses”, he added.   

Ponos: Presence of Serbia in northern Kosovo nearing to an end, Vucic’s policy ‘treacherous’ (N1, BETA)

Serbian MP and leader of Serbia Center (SRCE) opposition party Zdravko Ponos said that ban on Serbian drivers’ licenses brings to an end symbolic presence of the Serbian state in the north of Kosovo, in a manner done earlier in the areas south of the Ibar river, N1 reported.

He said abolishment of the Serbian drivers’ licenses was not unexpected and did not come as a surprise. “It is yet another in a series of steps undertaken by Pristina authorities, by which an actual situation on the ground has been changed in order to create a more favorable position for Pristina ahead of remaining dialogue phases with Belgrade”, Ponos said.  

Asked how he evaluates the policy of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and President Aleksandar Vucic in relation to Kosovo over the last 12 years, Ponos said after everything that happened, and especially because of how it happened, he has no doubt that Vucic's Kosovo policy deserves to be called “treacherous”.

"It is impossible for a man to be unsuccessful in everything, if he had a real intention to do at least something well”, he said. "Just in case someone believes in the possibility that he meant well, but it turned out badly, and that Vucic is justifying himself in that way, isn't such an epoch-making failure reason enough for him to be accountable, to settle the accounts", he added.

Asked what were Vucic's biggest mistakes regarding Kosovo, Ponos responded it would take a long time to list them all.

"If I were to accept the possibility that he had good intentions, but was just epochally incompetent and unsuccessful, that enumeration would take time. Certainly, the fact that he decided to hand over everything that was asked of Serbia immediately, unconditionally and in advance would deserve a special place. Formally only for the promises of Pristina and international mediators, and essentially as paying back installment for foreign support for him coming to power in order to do exactly what he did", he said.

Asked about consequences of such decisions, Ponos said that Serbs are emigrating from Kosovo en masse. “The most painful indicator of the situation and trends is that more and more families are sending their children even to primary school outside of Kosovo, to relatives in Kraljevo and other cities. Those children will not return to Kosovo. And the rest of the family will follow sooner or later", he said.

Ponos pointed out that the attitude of the Kosovo Government and the international community towards the Serbian community in Kosovo is with double-standards and hypocritical.

"They are guided by logic - there are no Serbs, there are no problems. Now they are already turning to the concept that just enough Serbs should be preserved there to show off. Like Indians in reservations", he said.

Petkovic responds to Ponos (Novosti)

Member of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) Presidency, Petar Petkovic said in reaction to remarks voiced by leader of opposition Serbia Center (SRCE) that “it was shameful to replace theses, the number of brazen attacks on our own people in Kosovo and Metohija, the Serbian Orthodox Church with coquettishness and pandering to the interests of Albin Kurti, which is shamelessly carried out by NATO General Zdravko Ponos”, Novosti daily reported.

Petkovic said that every statement Ponos made about Kosovo “would be signed by Albin Kurti, and that's all our people need to know about the one who disbanded the legendary Pristina Corps and was an accomplice in the abolition of the famous brigades of the Serbian Army, which he reduced to battalion level in order to courted Western interests, and left our people in the lurch and without protection. Let him turn to his fellow opposition member Borko Stefanovic (the first Belgrade negotiator at technical level in Brussels in 2011) to ask him why he signed seven agreements harmful to the interests of Serbs and why he recognized and introduced the term "RKS" into the agreements and thus opened a Pandora's box for Serbs in the southern province?”

Petkovic also said that in contrast to Ponos, who is not allowed to mention Kurti, nor the number of incidents and attacks on Serbs, who is not allowed to say that Kurti is the main source of the problem, but blames Belgrade for his crimes, “our country, led by President Aleksandar Vucic, is valiantly fighting under impossible conditions to provide hundreds of jobs for our people in Kosovo and Metohija, with all available diplomatic and economic measures, fight to save our people on the territory of the province and not allow new “Storms” (Croatian military operation that resulted in expulsion of large number of Serb civilians) and Pogroms (in relation to March violence against Serbs in 2004) that Ponos watched silently”.

Milivojevic: Kosovo one of key topics during Macron’s visit to Serbia (RTS)

Former high-ranking diplomat Zoran Milivojevic said Kosovo will be one of the key topics during the upcoming visit of French President Emanuel Macron to Serbia, RTS reported. He termed the visit as very important given that France as a state with a serious international reputation has a significant role in achieving Serbian state and national interests.

“I think one of the key topics will be the issue of Kosovo and Metohija, the position of the Serbian people, the role of KFOR in which France participates, and the obligations of the international community to protect the position and rights of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija", he said.

He added we are entering a period that is extremely important when it comes to Kosovo. It is important for Belgrade that the position of the Serbian people there is understood, same as the conduct of the Pristina side and need to respect international obligations.

He also said for Serbia it is important that France has in mind what KFOR mandate is, and what KFOR is referring to it, being based on UNSC Resolution 1244 so it is necessary to prevent further escalation of measures that Pristina undertakes and enable a normal life for the Serbs there.

D.N. arrested at Jarinje, sent to 48-hour detention (Kosovo Online)

This morning around 5.00, D.N. (20) from Mitrovica North was arrested, Kosovo Online reported citing confirmation from the police.

Deputy commander for the region North Veton Elshani said the person was sent to 48-hour detention.

According to Elshani he was arrested because of earlier cases of “threats” from 2022 and was wanted by Kosovo police because of that.  

 

International 

 

CIA chief visits Kosovo, meets President and Prime Minister (Prishtina Insight)

 

As part of the tour in three Western Balkans countries, CIA Chief William Burns visited Kosovo to meet President Osmani and Prime Minister Kurti.

 

The Chief of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) William Burns spent two days in Kosovo for official meetings with the country’s top leadership in a surprise visit. His trip also included stops in Sarajevo and Belgrade as part of a larger Western Balkans tour.

 

Burns’ visit included discussions with Kosovo’s top leaders focusing on deepening strategic cooperation between Kosovo and the United States.

 

Under tight security measures, Burns made his way from the airport to downtown Pristina on Thursday afternoon to meet with President Vjosa Osmani.

 

On Friday morning, he stepped into Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s office in a meeting in which the Head of Kosovo Intelligence Agency (AKI), Petrit Ajeti, was also present.

 

After the meeting, PM Kurti described Burns as a “brilliant diplomat,” and noted that the visit was an opportunity to discuss a wide range of topics and strengthen strategic ties. 

 

Kurti emphasized that the meeting’s aim was to advance cooperation in democratic peace and Euro-Atlantic security in both the region and beyond.

 

“We seek to further strengthen and expand our robust bilateral relations with the United States,” Kurti wrote in a Facebook post following the meeting, which the government described as a historic milestone.

 

Kurti also expressed Kosovo’s “steadfast commitment to shared values and principles, including freedom, democracy, and unwavering aspirations toward NATO and EU membership.”

 

President Osmani also made her first statement after the meeting, emphasizing that the alliance with the United States remains a cornerstone of Kosovo’s security, peace, and progress.

 

“It was a pleasure to welcome the Chief of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, Ambassador William Burns, to the Republic of Kosovo,” Osmani wrote on Facebook.

 

His visit comes at a time when the relationship between Kosovo and the U.S. is rife with challenges. 

 

Recently, U.S. Ambassador Hovenier expressed concerns that certain actions by Kurti’s government, particularly regarding the opening of the Ibar Bridge, were seen as “unilateral” and “uncoordinated,” negatively affecting the Kosovo-U.S. partnership.