Kosovo

In a surprise announcement, Kosovo President Hashim Thaci on Thursday said that he will not be seeking a second term when his mandate expires next April, drawing a line under a political career that has lasted over two decades.

Miroslav Laj?ák, the EU's new envoy on Kosovo-Serbia peace talks, is travelling to Pristina for the first time in his mandate in the next few days. But Kosovo president Hashim Thaçi has refused to meet him in his official capacity. More than that, Thaçi has said he will only do peace talks with the White House instead.

Kosovo’s newly elected government has removed all trade barriers for goods produced in Serbia, paving the way for a resumption of talks with Belgrade on an agreement that could enable the tiny Balkan country to get United Nations membership. After just three days in office, Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti said his country had acted in accordance with demands from the United States and the European Union.

Restarting talks on Serbia relations will be the new Kosovo prime minister's top priority, he said, but will the EU or the US lead the process? "The priority [of the new government] will be taking the responsibility to move forward on the dialogue [with Serbia] in cooperation with the EU and the USA, but not allowing change of territory or territorial exchange," Avdullah Hoti, the new leader, said after MPs voted him into office on Wednesday (3 June).

Kosovo’s parliament on Wednesday confirmed in office a new government led by Avdullah Hoti, the deputy leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, the junior party in the last government that initiated the no-confidence motion in March that toppled it.

Kosovo’s Constitutional Court has suspended a parliamentary vote on a new prime minister until May 29, dashing President Hashim Thaci’s hopes for a quick resolution to a political crisis.

He said that he is looking forward to a swift resumption of the dialogue to help achieve a comprehensive normalization of relations, stressing that he is ready to engage with all political actors in Pristina.

[…] A prosecutor of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, with headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands, asked the court's president to assign a pre-trial judge because of his "intent to initiate additional proceedings before the Specialist Chambers."

The senior UN official in Kosovo is stressing that strong leadership and political unity are needed now more than ever, as local leaders and their international partners wage war on the “enormous challenge” posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

President Hashim Thaci on Sunday announced that further steps would be taken this week to form a new government – even though outgoing Prime Minister Albin Kurti, who lost a no-confidence vote in parliament on March 25, is still demanding new elections once the pandemic is over.