"Thaci wants Serbs in government"

Hashim Thaci "plans on forming a new government with Behgjet Pacolli and minorities, primarily Serbs", says a Pristina newspaper. Albanian language daily Koha Ditore's editor-in-chief Agron Bajrami added that the calculation could be premature if Pacolli's party failed to pass the threshold. "Thaci wants Serbs in government" “Such development could open up some new combinations which could result in Kosovo not getting a government immediately after the elections process is finished and parliament constituted,“ he told daily Danas. Bajrami has assessed that the early elections will be held without a true election reform and that there is very little time to organize them well “which means that manipulation of votes will be greater“. “This gives advantage to bigger and more organized parties from which Thaci's Democratic Party of Kosovo (DPK) is both the biggest and best organized. I think that DPK will keep and even increase the percentage of votes a little, from 32 to 35 percent,“ Bajrami stressed. “Democratic Union of Kosovo (DSK) will continue to fall so it is very possible that it won't be second anymore after the elections and it can even happen that it will fall to the fourth place,“ he siad. The Koha Ditore editor-in-chief says that candidates for the second place are Ramush Haradinaj's Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) and Albin Kurti's Self-Determination Movement, New Spirit Party is likely to pass the threshold while other Albanian parties are struggling to pass the threshold. “The technical dialogue with Belgrade is another element which influenced internal political developments in Kosovo. I think that it is quite clear that, in the time when the government has a limited mandate, the prime minister can count that the international community, primarily Brussels, will have a lot of understanding and it won't make him extend his hand to Tadic too much,” he explained. Bajrami also added that “if it comes true what Thaci expects and that’s to get a new four-year mandate and even stronger parliamentary majority” after the elections that Kosovo PM would be in much better position to speak to Belgrade and to agree to certain concessions. “Relations between Kosovo and Serbia are determining our individual relations with the EU. Neither Serbia nor Kosovo can hope for the membership in the EU as long as there are ambiguities between us. This means that Serbia will have to recognize Kosovo or to admit that the independent Kosovo exists and it will have to accept that Kosovo can become a member of the EU and UN as an independent state,” he pointed out and added that Kosovo would at the same time have to accept some “new arrangements and additional concessions toward Serbia and the north is being regularly mentioned there”. He assessed that it will not lead to a partition of Kosovo but that it might include "autonomy for the Serbs in the north". Hashim Thaci (Beta, file)

"Thaci wants Serbs in government"

“Such development could open up some new combinations which could result in Kosovo not getting a government immediately after the elections process is finished and parliament constituted,“ he told daily Danas.

Bajrami has assessed that the early elections will be held without a true election reform and that there is very little time to organize them well “which means that manipulation of votes will be greater“.

“This gives advantage to bigger and more organized parties from which Thaci's Democratic Party of Kosovo (DPK) is both the biggest and best organized. I think that DPK will keep and even increase the percentage of votes a little, from 32 to 35 percent,“ Bajrami stressed.

“Democratic Union of Kosovo (DSK) will continue to fall so it is very possible that it won't be second anymore after the elections and it can even happen that it will fall to the fourth place,“ he siad.

The Koha Ditore editor-in-chief says that candidates for the second place are Ramush Haradinaj's Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) and Albin Kurti's Self-Determination Movement, New Spirit Party is likely to pass the threshold while other Albanian parties are struggling to pass the threshold.

“The technical dialogue with Belgrade is another element which influenced internal political developments in Kosovo. I think that it is quite clear that, in the time when the government has a limited mandate, the prime minister can count that the international community, primarily Brussels, will have a lot of understanding and it won't make him extend his hand to Tadić too much,” he explained.

Bajrami also added that “if it comes true what Thaci expects and that’s to get a new four-year mandate and even stronger parliamentary majority” after the elections that Kosovo PM would be in much better position to speak to Belgrade and to agree to certain concessions.

“Relations between Kosovo and Serbia are determining our individual relations with the EU. Neither Serbia nor Kosovo can hope for the membership in the EU as long as there are ambiguities between us. This means that Serbia will have to recognize Kosovo or to admit that the independent Kosovo exists and it will have to accept that Kosovo can become a member of the EU and UN as an independent state,” he pointed out and added that Kosovo would at the same time have to accept some “new arrangements and additional concessions toward Serbia and the north is being regularly mentioned there”.

He assessed that it will not lead to a partition of Kosovo but that it might include "autonomy for the Serbs in the north".