Latest news with #Serb-majority
Euractiv
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Euractiv
Weapons, warrants, and whistle protests: the tensions shaping Kosovo's election season
A high-profile police raid on properties linked to a rising Kosovo Serb political figure has stirred fresh controversy weeks ahead of local elections, with authorities citing a cache of heavy weapons and the targeted party denouncing the move as politically motivated. Kosovo's Interior Minister Xhelal Svečla said police discovered rocket launchers and grenades buried in a horse barn during a 22 June search of a weekend cabin used by Serbian Democracy (SD) leader Aleksandar Arsenijević. He was out of the country at the time and denies any link to the weapons, calling the operation a political stunt. 'There is no doubt that this is a setup... the barn is open non-stop; anyone could have planted them,' Arsenijević told NIN. His party says he declined to return to Kosovo, citing safety concerns and the absence of due process. The FBI has been asked to investigate the legality of the search. EULEX, the EU's rule of law mission, confirmed it is monitoring the case. The searches targeted three locations – one in northern Mitrovica and two in Zvečan – and took place while Arsenijević and seven SD members were travelling abroad. SD vice president Stefan Veljković said police informed them of the operation as they returned to Kosovo. Arsenijević, who had left the group earlier for a family trip, opted not to cross the border. Arsenijević's mother, the only family member still in Kosovo, was reportedly not shown a warrant. The police have not confirmed whether one was issued, and the prosecutor's office declined to comment, citing the sensitivity of the case. Under Kosovo law, warrantless searches are permitted only if there is an imminent threat to public safety. Interior Minister Svečla has labelled Arsenijević a 'criminal' and vowed to arrest him if he re-enters Kosovo. Arsenijević has rejected the allegations, saying the campaign against him reflects a broader strategy to intimidate Serbs who challenge the status quo. A disruptive force Though SD holds no seats in Kosovo's parliament, the party has disrupted the political scene by offering an alternative to the dominant Belgrade-backed Serb List (SL) and ethnic Serb parties aligned with Pristina. Its rise reflects growing grassroots frustration among Kosovo Serbs, who feel politically orphaned. SL still occupies nine of the ten parliament seats reserved for Serbs, but its influence has waned following serious criminal allegations – including the September 2023 Banjska attack, claimed by former SL vice president Milan Radoičić. Since then, major parties have refused to work with SL. Arsenijević gained visibility through the 'Pištalka' or 'whistle' protests – noisy demonstrations held during visits by senior Kosovo officials to Serb-majority areas. He has accused Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Minister Svečla of implementing discriminatory policies and says he has been arrested more than 20 times, often violently. The SD leader's growing prominence has coincided with a series of contentious moves by the government targeting Serb communities. These include the closure of Serbian-funded cultural institutions, bans on Serbian flags and symbols – despite constitutional protections – and evictions linked to disputed privatisations. Authorities have also begun deporting Serb-Kosovar dual citizens working in Serbian institutions. While officials cite national security concerns, critics point out that none of the 11 individuals removed has been charged or convicted. Ethnic Albanians in foreign police forces have not faced similar measures. One longstanding grievance remains the stalled implementation of the Association of Serb Municipalities (ASM), guaranteed under the 2013 Brussels Agreement but yet to be established. While the government defends its actions as necessary responses to security threats – citing the Banjska attack and the Ibra‑Lepenec canal bombing – rights groups and opposition figures accuse it of overreach. Controversial incidents include the conviction of an ethnic Albanian officer who shot an unarmed Serb man at a checkpoint and the alleged police beating of a teenage student. Tensions further escalated on 28 June (Vidovdan), when SD vice president Veljković was arrested at the Gazimestan memorial site for wearing a T-shirt with Arsenijević's image and a Serbian flag. Though later released, he was stopped again, interrogated, and allegedly assaulted outside his home. According to SD, two men attempted to run him over with a van; one suspect has been arrested. Marko Prelec, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, has warned that such actions resemble 'a kind of soft ethnic cleansing – not meant to eliminate a minority but to marginalise it.' Mounting discontent The political climate remains tense. Prime Minister Kurti's Vetëvendosje has failed to form a stable government since February's elections, after 40 failed coalition attempts. Popular dissatisfaction is growing as the acting government struggles to manage Kosovo's energy crisis and economic headwinds. Food prices have soared by as much as 19%, while the Turkish-owned operator of Kosovo's energy grid has warned of potential collapse due to overuse and lack of investment. Over 37,000 Kosovars have emigrated in 2024 alone, according to official figures. Compounding the government's challenges is the EU's freezing of €813 million in grants over stalled normalisation with the Serb minority. Serbia, by contrast, has already received its first payout under the EU's new Growth Plan for the Western Balkans. The government also faces international criticism for plans to build two car bridges next to the iconic pedestrian-only Mitrovica bridge – a symbolic flashpoint between Serbs and Albanians. The EU and other international actors have urged Kosovo to abandon the project, arguing it risks inflaming tensions further. As local elections approach in October, Serbian Democracy's insurgent campaign and Arsenijević's standoff with Pristina and Belgrade may redraw the political map in Serb-majority areas. Whether the party can translate momentum into seats remains uncertain – but the government's handling of the Serb minority will likely remain under scrutiny.
Euronews
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Bosnian Serb leader rejects verdict appeal amid political turmoil
Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik has not appealed his verdict and will not attend the state-level court session next Thursday — the latest development in a prolonged high-tension political crisis in the Western Balkan country that has since simmered down to a steady boil. The crisis reached its peak in late February, when the Sarajevo-based Court of BiH convicted Dodik of going against the decisions of the country's international peace envoy, Christian Schmidt, which constitutes a criminal act. The verdict is not final, and Dodik had the option to appeal it. In the meantime, however, the president of Bosnia's Serb-majority entity of the Republika Srpska (RS), Dodik introduced new laws meant to ban the operation of state-level security and judicial institutions in what comprises about half of the Western Balkan country's territory. The decisions have been temporarily suspended by the state-level Constitutional Court. "As far as I'm concerned, that verdict doesn't exist, and it is null and void," Dodik told Euronews Serbia. "I didn't even appeal because the RS parliament stated that the work of that court is banned in the territory of RS, as the court itself is unconstitutional," he argued. At the same time, Dodik firmly rejected allegations that his actions have alienated him from political actors from the other entity of the Federation of BiH and inched the country, which already went through a bloody war in the 1990s, closer to renewed conflict. "What I want is to establish communication and maintain peace," Dodik said. "A year ago, according to (leaders of the other entity), the main warmonger was Milorad Dodik. But nothing happened." "You won't find a single action of mine heading in that direction, nor will you find even one such statement," he said. Dodik also questioned the legitimacy of High Representative Schmidt, saying he acted against "imposed decisions" by the envoy whose mandate, Dodik claims, contradicts the Dayton Agreement, signed in 1995 to end the war in the country. The agreement brought about the end of the war between the country's three main ethnic groups — Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats — that began in 1992 during the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia, deemed as the bloodiest conflict on European soil since World War II. The High Representative is meant to act as the chief arbiter in high-profile disputes and the key figure overseeing the implementation of the deal. The peace agreement, parts of which act as the country's constitution, split the country into two main administrative units, or entities: the Serb-majority RS and the Bosniak-Croat FBiH, partially overseen by an umbrella state-level government. Meant to appease the former belligerents, it created a complicated system of checks and balances, said to be the world's most complex democracy. Dodik's ongoing challenge to the High Representative and state-level institutions' authority has been deemed to be the EU membership hopeful's biggest test of post-war stability. The Court of BiH issued a nationwide arrest warrant for Dodik in March, but he has not been apprehended since. In the meantime, he has travelled to neighbouring Serbia, Israel and Russia, where he attended the 9 May Victory Day celebrations in Moscow, organised by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Back home, tensions flared up once again in late April after state-level security agency inspectors tried to arrest Dodik, but were prevented from doing so. While the details around the incident remained unclear, the domestic media reported that SIPA agents left after 'talking' to the RS police. Dodik later said he felt 'fine and safe". The European peacekeeping force in Bosnia, EUFOR, has stepped up the number of its troops in response to the tensions. In March, NATO's Secretary General Mark Rutte pledged the military alliance's "unwavering" support for Bosnia's territorial integrity. "Three decades after the Dayton Peace Agreement, I can tell you: NATO remains firmly committed to the stability of this region and to the security of Bosnia and Herzegovina," Rutte said at the time. "We will not allow hard-won peace to be jeopardised."
Straits Times
27-05-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
EU sanctions cost Kosovo 600 million euros in stalled funds, says think tank
ATHENS - Kosovo has lost out on more than 600 million euros of external funding relating to environmental protection and energy projects among others, since the European Union imposed sanctions in 2023, according to a report by the GAP Institute think tank. Kosovo's government disputes the sum, but the report, by a local body, gives one of the first independent assessments of the impact on one of Europe's poorest countries of sanctions for its role in stoking ethnic tensions in its Serb-majority north. "The measures ... have resulted in significant financial and developmental consequences, costing Kosovo around 613.4 million euros in suspended or indefinitely delayed projects," the GAP Institute said in its report. The affected funds relate to various financial instruments that have helped Kosovo's development since it gained independence from Serbia in 2008. The most-hit sectors are environment and energy, where more than 460 million euros have been stalled, the report said. That represents a big blow for a country that desperately needs to reduce its reliance on coal-fired power generation. Earlier this year, Reuters identified at least 150 million euros in stalled funds. The EU has not publicly said how much is delayed. Kosovo's government disputes both figures. Apart from 7.1 million euros that it says have been lost due to contracts expiring, the funds "are neither lost nor at risk" because they will resume when sanctions are lifted, a spokesperson told Reuters on Tuesday. The EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said last week that the bloc would begin to "gradually" lift the sanctions, on the condition that Kosovo de-escalate tensions in the north. A senior diplomat told Reuters that the EU would begin to provide technical assistance for EU-funded projects in the next few weeks but that there was currently no plan to disburse funds. Kosovo is not recognised as a state by some EU members, which makes lifting the sanctions more difficult. The gradual lifting "is not very substantial and it is very unlikely that the EU can move forward with funding," the diplomat said. Kosovo has aspirations to join the EU. However, that process has also been hobbled by Prime Minister Albin Kurti's role in raising tensions in the north by systematically closing Serb-run institutions, banning the use of the Serbian dinar within its borders, and choking trade. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Politico
09-05-2025
- Business
- Politico
Japan, Bosnia hire Continental
With help from Daniel Lippman FARA FRIDAY: Continental Strategy's foreign lobbying work is picking up. The firm is now registered to represent the Japanese Embassy and Bosnia and Herzegovina's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Washington, according to documents filed with the Justice Department this week. — Continental founder Carlos Trujillo, a former campaign adviser for Donald Trump who was tapped for a diplomatic post in the president's first administration, and Alberto Martinez, the former chief of staff to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, are working on both of the accounts. — So far this year Continental has registered to lobby for the governments of Haiti, Guyana and the Dominican Republic. Last month, the firm was hired by an Albanian political party that is also working with two of Trump's top campaign strategists. — For the Japanese Embassy, the firm will work to 'enhance' Japan's profile in the U.S., as Tokyo works to negotiate a trade agreement with the Trump administration that would stave off a 24 percent so-called reciprocal tariff on all exports to the U.S. Japan has already been hit with 25 percent tariffs on steel, aluminum and auto exports. The country's top steel manufacturer, Nippon Steel, is working to persuade Trump to greenlight its acquisition of American rival U.S. Steel. — At the same time, the Japanese government has no shortage of lobbyists and public relations shops on its payroll. The Japanese Embassy alone retains 19 different firms, according to DOJ filings, including Miller Strategies, Ballard Partners, Navigators Global, West Wing Writers, theGROUP, Tiber Creek Group, Forbes Tate Partners, S-3 Group, Holland & Knight, The Daschle Group, Hogan Lovells, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Prime Policy Group and Beacon Policy Advisors. — Trujillo and Martinez's Bosnia work comes as the Republic of Srpska, a Serb-majority territory in the country that is sympathetic to Moscow, has worked to court Trump allies. — The territory last month hired Rod Blagojevich, the former Illinois governor pardoned by Trump, to advance its interests in D.C. The region's ultranationalist leader Milorad Dodik also hosted Trump's former lawyer Rudy Giuliani earlier this year just before Dodik's conviction for defying the country's Constitutional Court. Dodik subsequently fled to Moscow, earning a rebuke from Rubio. — Continental's advocacy is being funded by the Bosnian American Alliance, a diaspora group led by businessmen Mirza Pilaković and Almas Šehić, according to local news reports. TGIF and welcome to PI. Send K Street tips. You can add me on Signal, email me at coprysko@ and be sure to follow me on X: @caitlinoprysko. KNOWING GAIL SLATER: 'Until Trump, Republicans largely embraced a light-touch approach to applying the country's antitrust laws — a tendency seen as part and parcel of the party's generally more business-friendly stances when compared to those of the Democrats,' Nancy Scola writes in POLITICO Magazine. 'Trump himself showed limited interest in aggressive antitrust against the major tech companies until near the end of his first term,' when his DOJ decided to take on Google. — That's shifted now, and Nancy writes that the evolution of Gail Slater, Trump's top trustbuster at DOJ, provides a 'window into how it all changed' for many other conservatives. 'Slater is a longtime Republican who throughout her legal and lobbying career has been known both as a by-the-book enforcer and bipartisan bridge-builder, according to interviews with nearly two dozen people who know her.' — 'But her long-standing disdain for the abuses of monopoly power has positioned her to be the leader of the surging MAGA antitrust movement's legal agenda, overseeing cases that include a pair of lawsuits against Google and another against Apple. She will also serve as an ally to [Chair Andrew] Ferguson as his FTC sues Facebook-parent Meta over its purchase of Instagram and WhatsApp.' SPEAKING OF SILICON VALLEY: The Consumer Technology Association, which represents both tech giants and smaller device manufacturers, flew company executives into town this week for its first fly-in week in an explicit effort to stop Trump's tariff plans — 'a rare direct pushback against the White House that could come with political costs,' POLITICO's Gabby Miller reports. — The weeklong lobbying blitz featured a reception at CTA's Capitol Hill townhome, visits to the Hill itself and meetings with administration officials. CTA has also launched a six-figure ad buy in Beltway news outlets and at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. — 'Its campaign is an attempt to solve a problem facing many once-connected industry groups trying to navigate Trump's Washington: to get the attention of the White House without riling up a president known for lashing back at critics. It also needs to convince Republicans to break ranks with a president who seems committed to jacking up tariffs even if they cause economic harm.' — ''It's a bit of an experiment,' Ed Brzytwa, CTA's vice president of international trade, told POLITICO in an interview ahead of the event. 'We're trying to engage [with the administration] as best as we can.'' — 'CTA, which sponsors the largest tech convention in the country — the annual CES in Las Vegas — has been more overt than most in critiquing Trump's trade policies, with CEO Gary Shapiro publicly swiping at the president's tariffs when they were first announced in the Rose Garden in early April.' But the association 'will have to balance publicly pushing its members' concerns against the tariffs while remaining seemingly aligned with the president.' ANNALS OF MAHA LAND: 'Before taking office, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vowed to avoid conflicts of interest in U.S. health policymaking, and said food companies and drugmakers exerted too much influence. Now that he is President Trump's secretary of health and human services, some companies run by Kennedy's allies in the Make America Healthy Again movement are getting a boost from the government,' per The Wall Street Journal's Kristina Peterson and Corrie Driebusch. — 'Kennedy has surrounded himself with MAHA activists and entrepreneurs touting alternative health approaches that stand to benefit from his rhetoric, changes in policy, and being publicly linked with the top public-health official.' — 'When Kennedy announced at the Department of Health and Human Services headquarters last month that the agency would work with food companies to strip some artificial food dyes from the American diet, he was joined by Vani Hari, an activist known as the Food Babe who co-founded Truvani, a company that makes plant-based protein powders, snack bars and supplements. Target started selling some of her products in April.' — 'Also speaking was Dr. Mark Hyman, an author of nutrition books and the co-founder of a membership-based health program called Function Health. Hyman has been a 'friend and partner on these issues for 20 years,' Kennedy said, adding that his 'The Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet' was 'a very good book.'' — 'The kinds of appearances that RFK Jr. has been having with MAHA allies might not directly violate ethics rules that prohibit using public office to benefit private individuals or businesses, but they fall in a gray area that such rules were meant to deter, according to ethics experts.' — 'Kennedy 'made a point of the evils of government doing the bidding of business in food and nutrition and medical areas—this starts to look kind of like the same thing,' said Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, also known as CREW.' SPOTTED at Cornerstone Government Affairs' spring happy hour for the Democratic Women Communicators Network, which featured remarks from Adrienne Elrod, and was hosted by Cornerstone's Kirsten West, per a tipster: Marnee Banks of Global Strategies Group, Chelsea Koski of Signal Group, Kristen Orthman, Sarah Schakow of Cisco, Leslie Wertheimer of American Express, Stephanie Nye of JPMorgan Chase, Brianna Frias of Instacart, Evelyn Chang of the Gates Foundation and Kemi Giwa of the House Financial Services Committee. Jobs report — Evan Meyers and Tessa Berner are joining the Ingram Group as members. Meyers previously was deputy executive counsel for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. Berner previously was director of finance data at the RNC. — Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria is now a senior adviser in Kuala Lumpur at The Asia Group. She previously was executive director of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation. — Robert Blair is joining WestExec Advisors as a principal. He most recently led U.S. government affairs at Microsoft focused on national security and emerging technology issues, and is a Trump Commerce and White House alum. — Alan Estevez is now a senior adviser at Covington & Burling. He previously was undersecretary of Commerce for industry and security. — Francisco Bencosme has joined the U.S.-China Business Council as government affairs director. He was previously senior policy adviser and China policy lead for the United States Agency for International Development. — Amanda Olear has joined Milbank as a special counsel. She spent the past 17 years at the CFTC, including serving as director of the market participants division. New Joint Fundraisers Majority Fund (Reps. Angie Craig, Pat Ryan, Jake Auchincloss, Joe Neguse, Sen. Ruben Gallego, The Bench) New PACs FIGHT FOR VIRGINIA'S FUTURE (Super PAC) Friends of Sterling Hilton (Super PAC) Get Off the Mat (Super PAC) Take the Money Out of Politics (Super PAC) UPL NA Inc. Political Action Committee (AKA UPL PAC) (PAC) New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS Al Lawson & Associates, Inc: Florida A&M University Cgcn Group, LLC: International Motors, LLC Cgcn Group, LLC: Onebrief, Inc. Continental Strategy, LLC: Consejo Mexicano De Negocios Hallowell Consulting, LLC: Indiana Conservation Voters Miller & Chevalier, Chtd: Blackberry Corporation Monument Strategies, LLC: Hyosung Americas Net Centric Alliance LLC: Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP Obo Learned Hand Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A.: Therabody, Inc. The Charles Group, LLC: Voyager Technologies, Inc. The Mcmanus Group: Sight Sciences Too Good To Go: Too Good To Go Valcour LLC: Hazim Nada New Lobbying Terminations Bockorny Group, Inc.: Cvs Pharmacy, Inc. Covino Smith & Simon, Inc. (Formerly Simon And Company, Inc.): Salt Lake County Liberty Consulting, LLC: Nj State Ymca Alliance Net Centric Alliance LLC: Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP Obo Allegis Redwood Amergis Public Primacy Strategy Group: Well Done Foundation
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Kosovo in political stalemate as parliament fails to elect speaker
By Fatos Bytyci PRISTINA (Reuters) - Kosovo's parliament failed to elect a new speaker for the fourth time on Friday, prolonging a legislative crisis that has prevented efforts to form a new government more than two months after an inconclusive election. Under Kosovo's constitution, a parliamentary speaker must be voted in before the election winner can form a government, but without cross-party support that is proving difficult, and the stalemate has exposed deep divisions in Europe's newest state. In the February 9 parliamentary election, following an acrimonious campaign in which outgoing Prime Minister Albin Kurti called the opposition "animals" and "thieves", his Vetevendosje party came first but did not secure an outright majority. Opposition parties, who have said they will not enter a coalition with Vetevendosje, partly blame Kurti for escalating the tensions in the country's Serb-majority north that have hobbled Kosovo's chances of joining the EU and triggered sanctions from the bloc. The fractured political scene could result in a snap election later this year if no government can be formed. Kurti's nominee for speaker, outgoing justice minister Albulena Haxhiu, received 57 votes on Friday, unchanged from previous votes and short of a required majority of 61 seats. Parliament must meet again in 48 hours to hold another vote. Opposition parties have asked Kurti to change the candidate if he wants their support. "There is no will from political parties to constitute the parliament," Haxhiu said after the vote. By law, parliament must continue to meet until a speaker is voted in. After that the country's president will give Kurti's party a mandate to form a new ruling coalition. If Kurti fails, the mandate will be handed to the second-placed Democratic Party of Kosovo and, if they do not succeed, the third-placed Democratic League of Kosovo party. If all efforts fail, the president can call snap elections - an outcome many analysts expect.
