Constitutional Court Rules Pacolli Election Illegal

A mere 35-days after being elected President, the Kosovo Constitutional Court released a ruling yesterday that the election violated the Kosovo Constitution.  The official verdict of the case has not been released yet and is expected to come out on Wednesday.  Without the verdict, it is not yet know if new elections will take place for the post or if Pacolli will be forced to step down from the post. 

In other news, corruption and organized crime has been big in the Kosovo headlines recently.  The Global Post published an article about how the international community, particularly the US, has ignored allegations of corruption and involvement in organized crime when it comes to Kosovo politicians, particularly Haschim Thaci.  In similar news, it seems that Haschim Thaci also could have difficulties traveling internationally due to the allegations as he must secure diplomatic visas which offer him immunity so that he is not arrested abroad.

And finally, there has been a rash of articles lately about the parallels and/or differences between the intervention in Kosovo in 1999 and the current intervention ongoing in Libya.  Here are a few articles for each viewpoint.

Libya & Kosovo

•  Libya is starting to feel like Kosovo all over again
• Clinton cites Rwanda, Bosnia, Kosovo in Rational behind Libya intervention
• Libya: Not the New Kosovo
• Worse than Kosovo, Worse than Bush
• Myths of Kosovo

EULEX Makes War Crimes Arrests

Yesterday, EULEX made a series of arrests for alleged war crimes committed by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army.  Former Transport Minister Fatmir Limaj is again in the headlines facing new charges of war crimes (he was acquitted by the Hague in 2005 of separate charges due to a lack of evidence).  Along with Limaj, the Kosovo Police commander in Prizren was also arrested.  Reportedly when EULEX police went to the police station to execute the arrest warrant, members of Kosovo Police prevented them from carrying out the arrest and some members of the EULEX team were "held hostage".  Krasniqi later surrendered to EULEX police after consultations with his lawyer.  As usual, the arrests have been deemed a "demonization" of the KLA and an attempt to blacken the name of Kosovo.

In other news, Kosovo President Pacolli has been busy during his first weeks in office.  He has asked NATO to assist training the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) which is expected someday to become the army of Kosovo.  He also is planning on trying to change Kosovo election law to allow the President to be elected by the population rather than the parliament.  Pacolli also has made a visit to the northern Kosovo border with the KFOR commander to show support for those working at the border areas. 

For some reason, the Kosovo media has been overwhelmingly negative about Pacolli's election and presidency but while talking with people on the ground there is wide support and lots of hope for his presidency.  Most seem impressed that he is donating his salary to poor families and using his own funds to pay his staff and make renovations in the President's house.  Plus not many people in Kosovo can claim credit to bringing 25 recognitions for Kosovo's independence as Pacolli can.  Giving a breath of fresh air to all the negative media, here is a look at the positives that Pacolli's presidency may bring Kosovo.

Kosovo & Serbia Start Technical Talks

Last week, Kosovo and Serbia started yet another round of technical talks, this time facilitated by the European Union.  Support for the talks in the Kosovo Assembly is mixed with some opposition parties totally against any kind of talks with Serbia.  A vote to support the talks narrowly passed in the Assembly a few days after the talks began.  So far news emerging from the talks is basically that Kosovo will not discuss status and Serbia will not recognize independence.  The International Crisis Group (ICG) did a cannonball into the Kosovo political pool by releasing a report suggesting autonomy for Northern Kosovo which Kosovo politicians quickly rejected as a violation of the territorial integrity (sound familar?). 

Kosovo Elects Assembly & President

Yesterday the Kosovo assembly elected Bexhet Pacolli to be President of Kosovo.  AKR announced that Pacolli had stepped down as party leader and from his party duties following the vote.  The voting took two rounds, plus a break requested by PDK, before Pacolli finally gathered enough votes to be elected president.  Both the Assembly speaker, Jakup Krasniqi, and Vetevendosje have criticized the PDK request for break to be unconstitutional however it was still allowed.  Leaders of AAK and Vetevendosje have vowed to do everything in their power to end the coalition before the four-year term is completed giving even more credence to the speculation that the new shaky coalition may not last through to the end of 2011.  There are rumors that another round of elections will be held in September but only time will tell if the PDK-AKR-Minority coalition is strong enough to weather the criticism and strong opposition.

In other Kosovo-related news, a massive brawl between rival Kosovo Albanian gangs broke out on 17 February in London's Trafalgar Square resulting in the stabbing of three persons and the arrest of 19.  Fights have been reportedly breaking out over the past three years since Kosovo declared independence. 

MTCowgirl's Kosovo News

• Kosovo to preside over CEFTA in March
• Joint Albanian-Serb police patrol attacked in north of Kosovo
• Search for Kosovo missing stalls
• Kosovo plans to privitize Post & Telecomms by 3rd quarter

Kosovo Celebrates 3rd Anniversary of Independence Declaration

Amid the spectacular firework display at 10:30pm, most of the international media focused on the challenges that face Kosovo as it enters into it's fourth year of declaring independence from Serbia.  As mentioned the other day, economic problems still plague Europe's newest country with only one of five people under the age of 25 having employment and 14% of the population living below the extreme poverty line.

There were many articles about how cold reality is setting in or how Kosovo is a state of failed expectations, but still those of us on the ground can't help but hold on to the hope that over time problems with corruption, the economic hardship, lack of higher education, and life itself will improve.  After all, like a baby, you have to learn how to crawl before you walk and while many had hoped that Kosovo would take off running after declaring independence, it is not fair to expect that things would miraculously change overnight or in just a couple of years.

Life in Kosovo

It has been a while since I've broken away from reporting on the boring old news in Kosovo and wrote simply about life in Kosovo.

The phrase "the more things change, the more they stay the same" truly applies to Kosovo.  It seems that the road construction will forever make our lives hell and we are condemned to wait in lines of traffic with KPS acting as human traffic signals or taking our lives in our own hands to dive out in the an intersection with no traffic signs/signals/common sense.  Despite the best intentions to make Kosovo a cleaner place by implementing environmental measures at Obilic, Kosovo is a dirty and dusty place with the smell of wood or the stench of coal in the air during the winter and tree-lined streets with bird-$hit covered cars underneath them.  But despite all this, I must confess that after 10 years in Kosovo, it is home and when (some friends say "if"!) I leave I will take away many happy memories and fantastic friendships!

There are a few places that I have to mention for those looking for a place to go for a nice meal.  The first is Taverna Toscana (044 890 678 located near the entrance to the US Embassy.  Serving up homemade pasta and some of the finest cuts of steak we have found in Pristina, the restaurant not only serves fantastic meals but very reasonably priced.  For those with a bottomless pit of a stomach, I can recommend taking the set dinner menu which consists of a soup, salad & appetizer, main course, and dessert!  You are guaranteed not to leave hungry or with an inch of space left in your stomach for more food!!!

The second place on my highly recommended list is Old Country House in the village of Benice e Eperme (044 656 054).  Serving traditional Kosovo dishes such as homemade bread with "long", a bread dipping mixture that is to die for, and tava, Old Country House is a great little getaway from the hustle and bustle of Pristina. 

PDK & AKR to form coalition

After weeks of wish-washing in the press about forming coalitions between PDK and other political parties, it appears that the coalition has finally been formed although the appointment of who will be president has still not been decided.  According to the latest news, PDK will form a coalition with Pacolli's AKR with the post of president going to Pacolli, although as leader of his party I can't help but wonder if he won't run into the same constitutional violation that Fatmir Sedijui had last year!  But I imagine that all that will be hashed out before he takes office...or at least you hope that they've paid attention and know that the constitution doesn't allow the leader of a political party to be the president.

The Marty report and political problems have cast a shadow over the third anniversary of Kosovo's declaration of independence which comes up tomorrow.  Some say that the situation in Kosovo is worse than it was when the declaration of independence was made as the political elite continue to get richer while the poor get poorer and little progress seems to have been made in the areas of education and economic growth.  In fact, two Vetevendosje activists were so unhappy with the state of the University of Pristina that they threw red paint on the director during a speech.  Consequently they were arrested and sentenced to 30 days in jail.