Albanian Language Media:

 

• Kurti meets Hargreaves, discuss bilateral relations, developments (media)
• Gervalla: Serbia is the one threatening the region (Koha)
• Haxhiu: Serbia should be pressured to hand over war criminals, terrorists (TeVe1)
• Canak: Info about plans to displace Serbs to Sandzak from sources (media)
• Five Serbs summoned for interviews for “falsification of documents”(Koha)
• Shea: Kosovo government needs to engage fully in the dialogue (Klan Kosova)

 

 

Serbian Language Media:

 

 

• Petkovic: Hearings of the leaders of the Serbian List - brutal political persecution of Serbs from the north (Kosovo Online)
• Milovic: The presidents of the provisional authorities of the municipalities were summoned to the police for questioning (RTS, Kosovo Online)
• Serbian democracy: Through dialogue, Serbian institutions were recognized as a reality (KiM radio)
• Leaders of closed Serbian institutions summoned for interview - suspected of "falsifying documents" (KoSSev, alternativna.com, KiM radio)
• "If a child is born, there is nowhere to register": While Serbs in Kosovo live without institutions, Albanians open shops (N1, NMagazin)
• Peci announces investment in agro-tourism in the North, reacts to claims of Serbian discrimination: “I cannot imagine any reason for it” (KoSSev)
• Minister Miscevic in Bled: Serbia understands the importance of dialogue; Hill: EU enlargement a very complex process (RTS)
• Lajcak, Miscevic discuss EU Growth Plan for Western Balkans (Tanjug)
• ProGlas on the meeting with the delegation of Serbs from Kosovo: The situation in Kosovo a consequence of Vucic's policy (Danas)
• RFE: EU says relations with Russia can’t be business as usual (N1, NMagazin, Danas)

 

Albanian Language Media

 

Kurti meets Hargreaves, discuss bilateral relations, developments (media) 

 

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti met on Tuesday with UK Ambassador to Kosovo, Jonathan Hargreaves, and discussed bilateral relations, programs of cooperation and developments in Kosovo. A press release issued by Kurti’s office notes that he thanked Hargreaves “for UK’s support for the Kosovo Customs with technical equipment to fight contraband, and for cooperation in the area of defense and the Kosovo Security Force, which is training Ukrainian soldiers in the UK as part of the Interflex operation”.

 

Hargreaves said in a post on X after the meeting that they discussed “the shared concern of the UK and other international partners of Kosovo about recent government actions in the north of Kosovo”. He said that they also discussed “a range of bilateral issues including the UK’s support for Kosovo Customs and Tax Administration and security, including the role of UK forces in KFOR”.  

 

Gervalla: Serbia is the one threatening the region (Koha)

 

Kosovo’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Donika Gervalla, said in her address at the Bled Forum in Slovenia, that Kosovo is discussing the issue of the main bridge over Iber with internationals, and that the problem is that Serbia is threatening Kosovo with war. “What we are doing is we’re having discussions to open the bridges, because they are meant to connect people and they should not remain symbols of division from the time of Slobodan Milosevic. We are committed to offering peace and security for everyone, but we are also determined to fight illegal structures and criminal gangs that threaten not only Kosovo but also our citizens in the north. We won’t stop doing the right things only because those on the other side of the border [referring to Serbia] don’t want to see us moving forward. The very existence of Kosovo is a problem for the northern neighbor. This is the problem,” she argued. 

 

Haxhiu: Serbia should be pressured to hand over war criminals, terrorists (TeVe1)

 

Kosovo’s Minister of Justice, Albulena Haxhiu, said on Tuesday that the international community should put pressure on Serbia to hand over people responsible for war crimes in Kosovo and those that carried out the attack in Banjska in the north of Kosovo in September last year. “It’s important that our international partners put pressure on Serbia to hand over the war criminals and also those that carried out terrorist attacks that violated Kosovo’s constitutional order and sovereignty,” she argued.

 

According to Haxhiu, it should be clear to Serbia that only Kosovo, namely the Special Prosecution of Kosovo, can investigate the Banjska attack. “On two separate occasions, the institutions of Kosovo, through the Ministry of Justice, addressed Serbia’s institutions responsible for providing evidence related to chief terrorist Milan Radoicic and also to other terrorists who participated in this terrorist attack, but Serbia has not responded yet”.

 

Canak: We got info about plans to displace Serbs to Sandzak from sources (media)

 

Several media in Kosovo cover an interview that Serbian politician and co-founder and former leader of the Social Democratic League of Vojvodina, Nenad Canak, gave to Belgrade-based Danas, highlighting his remarks that he and Sonja Biserko [Director of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia] got the information about the possible displacement of Serbs from the north of Kosovo to Sandzak in Serbia, from several sources. “We believed that we must not allow it to go unnoticed and start shifting the blame from one side to the other, as has been the case in history. We believed we should share our information with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti because it is his obligation to provide security for Serbs in Kosovo,” he argued.

 

Canak said that “if there are elements that match, namely the construction of certain buildings in Sandzak, if there are high intensity preparations, the closing of the university in the north of Kosovo and displacement, then it is clear where this leads”. “In order not to be surprised later, we believed that Kurti should be informed in time. We believed that these actions could cause a new escalation,” he said.

 

Asked if they discussed the information with officials in Serbia, Canak claimed that no one in Serbia does not want to talk about it.

 

Five Serbs summoned for interviews for “falsification of documents”(Koha)

 

Kosovo Police Deputy Director for the north, Veton Elshani, said on Tuesday that police have sent summons for interviews to four Serbs and that one of them is not in Kosovo. The five Serbs are suspected of “falsification of documents”.

 

The news website notes that on August 30, Kosovo Police closed five buildings of Serbian-run structures in the four northern municipalities under the suspicion that they had issued falsified documents. The police operation was condemned by internationals as “unilateral and uncoordinated”.

 

Shea: Kosovo government needs to engage fully in the dialogue (Klan Kosova)

 

Former NATO spokesperson, Jamie Shea, said in an interview with Klan Kosova on Tuesday that Kosovo needs to engage fully in the EU-facilitated dialogue. “This dialogue can be disappointing, but it represents the best way forward toward sustainable solutions and it is important that the Kosovo government engages fully in it,” he said.

 

Shea said that in a time of tensions, a phase of calmness would contribute greatly to the negotiations. “A period of calmness in the north of Kosovo can help create a better context for the dialogue, which should resume in autumn with the new leadership of the EU,” he said.

 

Saying that KFOR had to deploy on the main bridge in Mitrovica throughout August, Shea argued that close consultations between Kosovo’s authorities and international organizations on the ground are more important than ever during a time of tensions in the region. “It will be much easier for the parallel structures to be peacefully dissolved as part of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and  a process that provides security for the Serb community and its future place in Kosovo,” he added.

 

Serbian Language Media 

 

Petkovic: Hearings of the leaders of the Serbian List - brutal political persecution of Serbs from the north (Kosovo Online)

The director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, said this evening that the orders to interrogate the leaders of the Serbian List as suspects, due to "falsification of documents" are an indication of the brutal political persecution of the leaders of the Serbs from the north, ordered by Albin Kurti, and which, he warned - have far-reaching consequences, reported Kosovo Online. 

"Kurti continues to carry out terror in the north of Kosovo and Metohija! Now he wants to arrest political representatives of the Serbian people in order to realize his plan - to expel half of the Serbs and arrest the other half," Petkovic said on X. 

He pointed out that the leadership of Serbian institutions did not falsify anything, but did everything exclusively in accordance with the law, providing services to both Serbs and Albanians.

"If Kurti had formed CSM, we would not be in this situation today," Petkovic noted.

He also said that Belgrade immediately informed the international community and KFOR about this latest act of Kurti's violence.

"If their highest reach is announcements and verbal condemnation without any concrete reaction, it becomes clear what is the background of Kurti's persecution of Serbs," concluded Petkovic.

Milovic: The presidents of the provisional authorities of the municipalities were summoned to the police for questioning (RTS, Kosovo Online)

The vice-president of the Serbian List, Dragisa Milovic, confirmed last night that the presidents of the provisional authorities of the municipalities in the north were summoned for questioning by the police on September 5 under the charge of falsifying documents, reported portal Kosovo Online, citing RTS. 

Summoned were the presidents of the PA Kosovska Mitrovica, Zvecan, Leposavic - Ivan Zaporozac, Ivan Todosijevic and Zoran Todic, the director of the PIO Fund for Kosovo, Igor Simic, as well as the director of the Directorate of the PIO Fund for Kosovska Mitrovica, Milan Radojevic.

He pointed, among other things, to the extremely difficult situation in which the Serbs in Kosovo find themselves after the last action of the Kosovo authorities, the intrusion of Serbian institutions and their closure, stating that 5,000 people remained on the streets.

Serbian democracy: Through dialogue, Serbian institutions were recognized as a reality (KiM radio)

"The essence of the dialogue since 2011 was to find a way to eliminate the dual institutional system that exists in Kosovo and consolidate a single system that would be recognized by both Belgrade and Pristina. Through the dialogue, Serbian institutions were recognized as a reality on which the Serbian people's life depends in Kosovo - both in the economic sense, and in the sense of the services that these institutions provide to them," said this political party in a press release, reported KiM radio.

Leaders of closed Serbian institutions summoned for interview - suspected of "falsifying documents" (KoSSev, alternativna.com, KiM radio)

KoSSev portal reported last night that the heads of Serbian institutions in the north of Kosovo, after their closure last week by the KP, will be invited to report to the police as suspects for questioning for alleged falsification of documents. Following the closing of the institutions, the KP summoned five Serbs from the North of Kosovo who are connected to this case.

Invitations have been officially sent to four persons, to the fifth, it has not been sent yet, because he is not in Kosovo at the moment, Deputy Commander of the Kosovo Police, Veton Elshani, told KoSSev. "They are suspected of falsifying documents," he specified.

To the question of KoSSev, what does this mean and what documents did these persons allegedly falsify?

"This means that for us the case is treated as falsification of documents. The prosecutor can change the classification after the hearing, but for now the case is handled like that," Elshani said.

However, he answered in the affirmative to an additional question - that they are being charged with this criminal offense because it is about the documentation of Serbian institutions in Kosovo.

KoSSev learns that the summons for the hearing on September 5 was delivered to them yesterday, but Elshani claims that he has no information when the suspects will be heard. Elshani did not want to announce the identity of the five persons who were served summonses for the hearing, i.e., the functions they performed.

However, according to the knowledge of the KoSSev portal, it is about the presidents of the Provisional Authorities of Kosovska Mitrovica, Zvecan, Leposavic - Ivan Zaporozac, Ivan Todosijevic and Zoran Todic, the director of the PIO Fund in Mitrovica, Igor Simic, as well as the former mayor of North Mitrovica, under the Kosovo system, Milan Radojevic.

In question are high-ranking officials and functionaries of the Serbian List, who have so far held several positions, both party and institutional, including in the Kosovo and Serbian systems.

According to KoSSev, none answered calls and messages.

Elshani confirmed to KoSSev that Serbian institutions will not be reopened.

"They are closed, that's over," he said shortly.

"If a child is born, there is nowhere to register": While Serbs in Kosovo live without institutions, Albanians open shops (N1, NMagazin)

Institutions in the north of Kosovo are still blocked. The buildings that housed the municipal administrations of the Serbian system have been occupied by the police, and there is less and less chance that employees will be allowed to return to them. There is every chance that, apart from dinars, citizens will have to go to central Serbia for the most ordinary administrative matters. The only Serbian institutions in the north are now health and educational, which otherwise function with numerous obstacles.

Instead at the workplace, people are protesting, in front of the building where they worked until last week. The employees of the Serbian institutions asked the police when they could return to work and on what basis they entered the premises.

"Without any administrative act, without any explanation, no one came to warn us," says Sasa Petrovic, an employee of the Municipal Administration.

"We are not a parallel institution, we are an institution that provides services to all citizens regardless of race, religion or nationality," says Vucina Jankovic, Head of the Kosovo - Mitrovica district.

Kosovo considers these institutions illegal, but citizens in majority Serbian areas have a need for their services.

"If a child is born today, they will have nowhere to register. If a person dies, they will have nowhere to register, any social benefits, student loans, any document, anything," explains Dusan Radakovic, from the NGO "Advocacy Centar for Democratic Culture".

For now, there is no alternative because the services provided by Kosovo institutions do not replace those that work in the Serbian system. But that is why services offered by Albanian businesses in the north of Kosovo are becoming more common. Several of them have been opened in the past ten days. Mainly in premises managed by the Privatization Agency of Kosovo. The first was "Meridian", a shop which, by opening in northern Mitrovica, became the 45th in the already existing chain in Kosovo.

"They speak both languages, Serbian and Albanian, so the best experience of shopping in our store will be provided for Serbs as well," says Anton Gashi, executive director of "Meridian Express".

Some of the shops run by local entrepreneurs were closed due to the ban on goods from Serbia and other obstacles to work. Serbs rarely or almost never enter newly opened bars.

"They have no problem buying from Albanians, 300 meters from here is the ETC where Serbs buy perhaps more products than Albanians. All these bars that were opened literally on a political basis, under the pressure of the ruling structure in Pristina to open bars in the north for Albanians," believes Dusan Radakovic, from the NGO ACDC. 

He says that there is a fear that the intention of opening the shops is to change the ethnic structure in the north of Kosovo. And inter-ethnic relations between Serbs and Albanians, in the midst of heightened tensions, are getting worse.

Peci announces investment in agro-tourism in the North, reacts to claims of Serbian discrimination: “I cannot imagine any reason for it” (KoSSev)

“People should not feel pressured by the presence of the police. People should know that the police presence does not mean that it’s against someone. It’s just to ensure the rule of law and to make all the activities possible, so that people who want to go shopping anywhere, have a coffee, visit a pharmacy, or go anywhere else, are safe and free,” said Kosovo’s Minister of Agriculture, Faton Peci, in an interview with KoSSev.

The interview was conducted last week, just a day before a new operation by the Kosovo Police, which on Friday shut down the remaining Serbian institutions in Northern Kosovo, including municipal services and administrative offices. The police are now guarding these buildings, where employees have been gathering each morning this week.

The interview was arranged at the Ministry’s invitation to promote its latest program, worth over €20 million and funded by the German government. This program aims to develop agro-tourism, with a special focus on Northern Kosovo, supporting rural tourism and small-scale farmers.

Read more at:https://tinyurl.com/yz9fydpm

Minister Miscevic in Bled: Serbia understands the importance of dialogue; Hill: EU enlargement a very complex process (RTS)

The Minister for European Integration Tanja Miscevic stated yesterday at the Bled Strategic Forum (BSF) that the continuation of unilateral measures implemented by Pristina towards the Serbs in Kosovo is not a European value, reported RTS.

Minister Tanja Miscevic said at the panel "Europe Whole and Free: Enlargement as a Strategic Project of Reconciliation" that Serbia well understands the importance of dialogue for the process of accession to the European Union (EU).

She pointed out that she will not enter into a discussion with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kosovo, Donika Gervalla, but that she believes that it is important to respect human rights, especially minority rights, and that it is not a European value to say that one-sided measures will be continued.

Hill: EU enlargement is a very complex process

At the same panel in Bled, on the enlargement of the EU, the American ambassador to Serbia, Christopher Hill, said that what happened in Ukraine was something that made the unity of the EU very important, and transatlantic relations even more important. "We all agreed on the need for a stronger and even bigger EU. The fact is that the European Union has standards and that these standards exist for membership in the European Union and that the EU consults a lot with those who are not members, including us, but including and many candidates," Hill said. He pointed out that EU enlargement is a very complex process.

He also mentioned that it is important to develop a feeling of working together among the candidate countries, that the EU wants to accept new members, but that it will not accept the problems of those countries, that is, that it wants to see an effort to solve those problems, reported RTS.

Lajcak, Miscevic discuss EU Growth Plan for Western Balkans (Tanjug)

The EU special envoy for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and other Western Balkan regional issues, Miroslav Lajcak, announced on Tuesday he had met with Serbian Minister for European Integration Tanja Miscevic at the Bled Strategic Forum (BSF) in Slovenia, reported Tanjug agency. 

"In the margins of BSF2024, I spoke to Serbian Minister for European Integration Tanja Miscevic about the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans in the context of Serbia’s EU accession and the EU expectations from Serbia," Lajcak wrote in a post on X.

Earlier, he also posted that he had taken part in a "very insightful discussion" on the Western Balkans and its path towards EU accession, convened by Slovenian FM Tanja Fajon.

ProGlas on the meeting with the delegation of Serbs from Kosovo: The situation in Kosovo a consequence of Vucic's (Danas)

The ProGlas initiative announced yesterday following the meeting with a delegation of Serbs from Kosovo that it was concluded that the current state of Serbs in Kosovo is the result of "the disastrous manner of Vucic's twelve-year rule of representing autocracy and party interests as state and national", it was stated in the announcement.

As they state, ''in this way, the collapse of every democratic life of the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, as well as the absence of their authentic voice in negotiations about the future, brought the Serbian community in KiM to the brink of survival''.

ProGlas say that at the meeting there was a complete harmonization of positions regarding the Kosovo issue, but that this is also the case for all other "accumulated" political problems in Serbia, with the conclusion that the key precondition is the dismantling of the personal regime of Aleksandar Vucic. 

- The ProGlas initiative provides full support to all political organizations of Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija who represent the original representatives of the interests of citizens living in those areas and whose voice must be respected when deciding their political fate - they concluded in the announcement.

RFE: EU says relations with Russia can’t be business as usual (N1, NMagazin, Danas)

Radio Free Europe was told by European Union spokespersons that Serbia was warned that maintaining ties with Russia during its aggression on Ukraine are not compatible with the EU accession process.

An EU reply to RFE said that the Union was crystal clear to its partners that relations with Russia cannot be business as usual following Moscow’s aggression on Ukraine. The reply came following the announced meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Serbian deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin at an economic forum in Vladivostok this week.

The EU said that it wants to be able to count on candidate countries as reliable partners in terms of common principle, values, security and prosperity.

RFE also asked Serban Prime Minister Milos Vucevic about the meeting and he replied that it’s not that bad and not sensational. “We did not break off diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation. We are not forbidden from meeting Russian Federation officials,” Vucic said and recalled that his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban met with Putin in Moscow recently. “We will not apologize for or justify our policies which we can explain,” Vucevic said.