Authority and integrity of Kosovo is full according the Constitution of Kosovo - Gates 1 and 31 under control, special police member dies

After the intervention by Kosovo Police special units to regain control over Gates 1 and 31 at the border with Serbia, on member was shot in the head by a sniper. All dailies report that opposition parties, civil society organizations, MPs and different committees have expressed support for the government’s intervention in the north and called on it not to back down. That police have managed to maintain control over the two gates but that a member of the special police passed away last night in Pristina Hospital as a result of head injuries from what is believed to have been sniper fire in an ambush near a Serb town Zubin Potok.

Daily paper Koha Ditore carries the front-page headline Executing sovereignty in the north claims life of a police officer. Law enforcement authorities have managed to deploy Kosovo customs officials and border police officers at Gates 1 and 31 in the northern part of the country, but it is not known if the intervention was successful as one police officer died and four others are injured.  

There are unconfirmed sources that say that there was an armed clash between ROSU units and groups of Serbs mobilized from parallel structures. The Serbian state which has maintained control over the north for 12 years, deployed numerous armed members of the Serbian Gendarmerie. Sources from northern Kosovo told the paper that hundreds of Gendarmerie members took up positions in certain locations. Serbs have blocked all roads leading to the two border crossing points with Serbia.

Kosovo Assembly Speaker Jakup Krasniqi and the heads of most parliamentary groups said on Tuesday that the police operation to regain control over Gates 1 and 31 is fully supported by constitutional order.

Despite statements by EU representatives that the police intervention in the north was rushed and not harmonized with the international community, MPs insisted that local institutions should not back down from controlling the two gates which were a source of smuggling and corruption since the declaration of independence. They also argued that both the Constitution and the applicable laws support restoring control over the two gates.

Madam Presidnet Atifete Jahjaga states on State Television as the right decision that has full support of the population. She supported the action of the Government. “It is a rightful decision that has the full support of the population and all political parties in Kosovo, and also the international support, because it is a sovereign and legitimate right of the state to have control over its entire territory,” said Jahjaga. She added that since Serbia withdrew from the last round of discussions without any reason and risked three other agreements that the delegations agreed upon, there is no other alternative except for the Republic of Kosovo, through legal and lawful means to extend its authority and govern its entire territory, and to fight smuggling and organized crime, one of the preconditions for integration in the European Union for Kosovo.

While PM Thaçi in a press conference said that “We acted rightfully, there is no turning back. He adds that he would not back down from his decision to establish control at Gates 1 and 31. “I have said that our partnership with the international community should be saved, however the Constitution and sovereignty of my country are sacred to me and go beyond any partnership and loyalty. Last night’s decision by the Government is a clear demonstration of our determination for law and order, and a clear demonstration of our will to fight crime and corruption in every corner of Kosovo,” said Thaçi in a 12 minute speech. 

ICO supports the Government action in the north. The International Civilian Organization (ICO) is the only international mission in Kosovo to officially support the Government in its actions in the north. ICO spokesman Andy McGuffie said that as in every sovereign country, the government has the right to take steps to ensure proper administration, including the control over its borders and customs.

“Now it is of great importance to resolve this issue peacefully and through discussions and negotiations. No one will gain any advantage through violence. We also encourage the government to accompany its efforts for establishing administrative control in its territory with determined efforts to support its citizens in the northern part of the country,” McGuffie added.

French ambassador to Kosovo Zhan Fransoa Fitou supports the decision of Kosovo institutions by stating that “Kosovo takes responsibility”.

Zhan Fransoa Fitou announced that the decision of the Government should be respected because it is its right to take such decisions. “We should respect it, like it or not,” said Fitou for Radio Dukagjini. “This decision has created a new situation and we should live with this situation. It is necessary to ensure peace,” he said. “I am convinced that organized crime will not be imported or exported from Kosovo given this new situation. The best possible thing would be for trafficking to stop now,” said Fitou. He also suggested EULEX and Kosovo’s Government sit and discuss how best to implement the Government’s decisions.

U.S. regrets action wasn’t coordinated with international community. State Department issued a statement regretting that the action by the Government of Kosovo to take control of border crossing points in the north was not coordinated with the international community.

“We call on the governments of Kosovo and Serbia to continue to work urgently to deescalate the situation. The U.S. strongly welcomes the actions of NATO’s peacekeeping force in Kosovo to deescalate the situation and for working on creating a safe and secure environment and we will continue to support KFOR and other international stakeholders in this task,” read the statement.

The U.S. State Department called on all parties to refrain from using violence. “The free movement of goods between Serbia and Kosovo should be addressed in the EU-facilitated dialogue. Unilateral actions by both parties – the unilateral embargo by Serbia on Kosovo products in 2008 and Kosovo’s latest decision for reciprocity measures, after both parties failed to reach an agreement on normalizing customs, has resulted in this dead-end road. We have faith in the EU management involved in dialogue and we call on both parties to immediately return to the negotiating table.”

Thus, representatives of the European Union said the action by Kosovo authorities to bring under control Gates 1 and 31 was not useful. “The action was not carried out in consultation with the international community and the EU has not endorsed it,” said the EU representative in Kosovo, Fernando Gentilini, in a statement yesterday.

Meanwhile, Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU High Representative Catherine Ashton told Radio Free Europe that the EU would like the situation to cool. “It is crucial for the situation to be calm and to return to where we were. Our rule-of-law mission EULEX is ready to assist Kosovo authorities in this direction. Dialogue is the only way to resolve the issue of customs stamps and to reestablish free trade in both directions,” Kocijancic said.

On the other hand UNMIK condemns violence in the north. Several dailies report that UNMIK officer in charge Robert Sorenson expressed deep regret over the situation in northern Kosovo and called on all parties to restrain from any action that could further aggravate the situation. Through a press release, Sorenson condemned the violence adding that dialogue based on mutual respect is the way to solve matters.

“UNMIK is ready to assist in efforts for calming the situation. We call on all parties to work with EULEX and KFOR in reestablishing order and solving issues through discussions and mutual understanding,” Sorenson added.

Conservative ire threatens GOP debt plan in House

By CHARLES BABINGTON - Associated Press | AP – 6 hrs ago

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Stung by revelations that his plan would cut spending less than advertised, House Speaker John Boehner on Tuesday postponed a vote on a debt-ceiling measure that was already running into opposition from tea party conservatives. The move came just a week before an Aug. 2 deadline for staving off the potential financial chaos of the nation's first-ever default.

With time running short, the speaker promised to quickly rewrite his debt-ceiling legislation after budget officials said it would cut spending by less than $1 trillion over the coming decade instead of the promised $1.2 trillion. The vote originally scheduled for Wednesday is now set for Thursday. That may give Boehner more time to hunt for votes, but it gives Congress and the White House even less time for maneuvering.

Meanwhile, public head-butting between Democratic President Barack Obama and the Republicans showed no sign of easing. The White House declared Obama would veto the Boehner bill, even if it somehow got through the House and the Democratic-controlled Senate.

For all that, it was the tea party-backed members of Boehner's own party who continued to vex him and heavily influence the debt and deficit negotiating terms — not to mention his chances of holding on to the speakership.

Their adamant opposition to any tax increases forced Boehner to back away from a "grand bargain" with Obama that might have made dramatic cuts in government spending. Yet when Boehner turned this week to a more modest cost-cutting plan, with no tax increases, many conservatives balked again. They said the proposal lacked the more potent tools they seek, such as a constitutional mandate for balanced budgets.

Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, chairman of a large group of conservative Republicans, sent a tremor through the Capitol Tuesday when he said he doubted Boehner had enough support to pass his plan. The Boehner bill would provide an immediate debt ceiling increase but would require further action before the 2012 elections.

Obama strongly opposes that last requirement, arguing that it would reopen the delicate and crucial debt discussions to unending political pressure during next year's campaigns.

The president supports a separate bill, pushed by Majority Leader Harry Reid in the Democratic-controlled Senate, that would raise the debt ceiling enough to tide the government over through next year — and the elections.

Boehner wasn't helped when presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty and the groups Tea Party Patriots and Tea Party Express criticized his plan. A worse blow came when a congressional analysis said his plan would produce smaller savings than originally promised. Of particular embarrassment was a Congressional Budget office finding that Boehner's measure would cut the deficit by just $1 billion next year.

Boehner's office said it would rewrite the legislation to make sure the spending cuts exceed the amount the debt limit would be raised. Adding a political touch, it accused the Democrats of declining to put forward specifics subject to the same sort of review.

Earlier, responding to the conservative Republican opposition, Boehner quickly went on Rush Limbaugh's radio show, then he began one-on-one chats with wavering Republicans on the House floor during midday roll call votes.

"He has to convince a few people," Rep. Tom Petri, R-Wis., observed dryly from a doorway.

A serious, almost dire urgency ran through Boehner's efforts. The clock was ticking down to next Tuesday's deadline to continue the government's borrowing powers and avert possible defaults on U.S. loans.

Congressional veterans say a final-hour bargain can't be reached until both parties irrefutably prove to themselves and the public that neither the Democrats' top goals nor the Republicans' can be reached in the divided Congress.

Moreover, Boehner's grasp on the speakership could be weakened if he fails to pass the debt-ceiling plan that bears his name. Assuming no more than five Democrats support the measure — the same number that backed a GOP balanced-budget bill last week — Boehner can afford to lose no more than 28 of the House's 240 Republicans.

His allies predicted he'll make it, and Boehner got a vocal endorsement from his sometimes rival, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va. But holdouts were not limited to the much-discussed freshman class, elected in the tea party-fueled 2010 elections.

"He can't get my vote because I felt like that, for long-term solutions to this problem, all these promises we make in cutting spending never seem to occur," said Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga. " I've been here nine years and I've never seen it happen yet."

Six-term Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona, a long-time critic of deficit spending, said he also was leaning against Boehner's bill even though he knows a tougher measure cannot be enacted. "Obviously you have to weigh that against passing something that just doesn't solve the problem," Flake said.

Major business groups weighed in. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged support of Boehner's bill, while the conservative Club for Growth denounced it as too weak.

While Boehner searched for votes, some Americans seemed to edge closer to notion that the Aug. 2 deadline might pass without a solution. The stock market fell again, although not dramatically. California planned to borrow about $5 billion from private investors as a hedge against a possible federal government default.

The White House spoke with veterans groups about what might happen to vets' benefits if a deal isn't reached. Obama has said he can't guarantee Social Security checks and payments to veterans and the disabled would go out on schedule.

The Senate worked on other issues, waiting to see if Boehner's bill would pass the House and come its way. Reid, D-Nev., said the Boehner bill could not pass his chamber.

Reid has his own plan. Like Boehner's, it would identify about $1.2 trillion in spending cuts to the day-to-day operating budgets of government agencies. Reid's proposal, however, would require only one congressional vote to raise the debt ceiling before the 2012 elections. And it counts an extra $1 trillion in savings from winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Both proposals would create a bipartisan congressional commission to identify further deficit reductions, especially in major health care programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.

For seven months, tea party-backed House members — freshmen and veterans alike —have rewritten congressional traditions. Speakers typically can twist arms, offer favors and issue veiled threats to round up the needed support on tough votes. It's possible Boehner will be able to do so on the debt-ceiling matter.

But many tea party activists abhor political compromise. They insist that their elected officials stand on principle, regardless of the consequences.

"A lot of the tea party guys owe certain support groups," said Rep. Walter Jones Jr., R-N.C. He said he had not decided how to vote on Boehner's bill.

Freshman Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., bristles at the notion that tea party-influenced newcomers are sheep-like ideologues willing to risk default. "We're not a bunch of knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing Neanderthals," Gowdy said. "We're interested in answering what we perceive to be the mandate, which is to stop the spending and change the way Washington handles money."

Gowdy said he was leaning against Boehner's proposal.

But freshman Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., a tea party favorite, felt otherwise.

"This Boehner plan, does it have everything that I want in it?" West said. "Absolutely not. It is the 70-75 percent plan that we can go forward with."

Petri, a 33-year House veteran, said Boehner may need the votes of 35 to 40 Democrats, which Democratic leaders say is impossible.

Asked how Boehner will get out of his predicament, Petri paused and said: "When I think of it, I'll give him a call."

Norway Mourns Its Dead as Harsh Rhetoric Spreads

By VANESSA FUHRMANS And SVEN GRUNDBERG

OSLO—A Norwegian man confessed to killing nearly 100 people in a pair of attacks on Friday, calling his rampage "atrocious" but "necessary."

Photos: Attacks in Norway

Zuma Press

People mourned outside a cathedral in Oslo on Sunday.

The confession by Anders Behring Breivik, made via his lawyer and preceded by a 1,500-page, xenophobic screed he published online before the massacre, has shocked this small Scandinavian country and unnerved governments across Europe, where far-right parties espousing anti-Muslim views, if not violence, have recently been on the rise.

The attacks, including the bombing of a government building in Oslo and a shooting spree at a Labor Party youth camp on a nearby island, left at least 93 people dead in what authorities described as a deranged attempt to declare war on the forces of multiculturalism and pluralism that have taken hold in Norway and much of Europe.

Mr. Breivik's manifesto against the "Islamization of Western Europe" echoed sentiment that has found a renewed voice on the fringes of mainstream politics from Sweden to Italy. Populist politicians have won votes and influence by arguing that Europe is letting in too many people, especially Muslims who they say don't accept Western values and who, according to these politicians, cause crime and unemployment. The view that fueled Mr. Breivik's extremism "is a sentiment you find in all European countries," said Thomas Hegghammer, a senior research fellow at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment in Oslo.

Norway, a relatively wealthy, sparsely populated country, has little recent history of political extremism, much less terrorism. That it was the site of such an attack, even if by an isolated gunman, has unleashed concern across Europe that the anti-immigrant underswell that has swept much of the Continent in recent years could metastasize suddenly and unexpectedly into violence.

As flags across the city hung at half-staff, hundreds of people flocked in the rain Sunday to Oslo Cathedral, where Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, King Harald of Norway and other leaders attended a memorial service. Outside, many onlookers openly wept and milled about for hours as they contributed to a growing carpet of flowers and candles.

Norway's ruling center-left Labor Party, which has long championed immigration and multiculturalism, appeared to be the primary target of the attack.

Police said at least 86 people, many of them teenagers, were killed in the Friday-afternoon shooting at a summer camp for the youth wing of the Labor Party.

About 600 people were present at the time of the attack, which occurred on the island of Utoya north of Oslo. The rampage followed the bombing of government offices in the Norwegian capital that killed at least seven.

The mass shooting on the island went on for more than an hour before a SWAT team arrived. Police were continuing to search for victims and said the death toll could rise when several people missing on the island are accounted for.

A police spokesman said Mr. Breivik, who is 32, set off a car bomb in central Oslo, then traveled to Utoya. They said he used two weapons, a handgun and an automatic weapon, to shoot indiscriminately at people, most of them teens, for over an hour.

The woodsy lake island has for decades been the site of a summer camp for the Labor Party's next generation, a place Prime Minister Stoltenberg described over the weekend as "the paradise of my youth."

In his online writings, Mr. Breivik saw the party youth movement and its campaigns to bring the country's immigrant youth into its fold as a manifestation of multiculturalism gone wrong and the "terrorizing of political conservatives."

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

An undated image on Facebook shows the 32-year-old suspected attacker, whom local media identified as Anders Behring Breivik.

With no bridges to aid the island campers' escape, Mr. Breivik had the time to wander the woods and rocky shore and methodically hunt down his prey. As shots and screams were heard on one part of the island, eyewitnesses said many teens hid in the woods until a man wearing a policeman's uniform arrived, telling them it was all right to come out. When they did, he mowed them down.

Adrian Pracon, a 21-year-old former camper who had returned this summer to work in the information booth, recalled running through the woods and jumping in the water with dozens of others in an effort to escape to the mainland. But he said his clothes grew too heavy with water and forced him back to shore, where Mr. Breivik was.

"I begged him not to shoot me, and he didn't," Mr. Pracon said in a telephone interview from his bed in a nearby hospital. "He wanted to shoot the people still in the water first."

Man accused of shooting and bomb attacks deems killing "atrocious" and "necessary" his lawyer said. Video courtesy Reuters.

By then, he said, Mr. Breivik had switched to firing single rounds, presumably to save bullets. "He was so cold and concentrated" as he continued to walk and shoot the fleeing teens, Mr. Pracon said.

When the gunman returned an hour later to where Mr. Pracon and nearly 20 others lay behind rocks on the shore, Mr. Pracon said he played dead while the shooter killed many of those around him. The shooter put a bullet in Mr. Pracon's shoulder "but I didn't move," the 21-year-old said.

Police said that when they found Mr. Breivik on the island, he surrendered immediately. They said he was answering questions, adding that the interrogation was likely to continue for several days.

Norway Attacks

See the locations of an explosion in Oslo and an attack at a youth camp.

In Norway, anti-immigrant opinions have found few mainstream platforms. Unlike other Scandinavian countries, including Sweden and Denmark, Norway doesn't have a mainstream far-right party.

Norway's oil wealth and relatively open society seem to have blunted such forces. With a more-than-$550 billion sovereign-wealth fund that averages about $112,000 per citizen, high wages and a low 3.4% unemployment rate, it is one of the richest countries in the world.

Mr. Breivik was once a member of Norway's conservative, populist Progress Party, the second-largest group after the Labor Party. The Progress Party has taken a hard line on immigration in the past but less so than populist anti-foreigner parties that have taken hold elsewhere in Scandinavia.

Downtown Oslo

The Progress Party on Sunday denounced the bombing and island massacre as "horrible and cowardly attacks…contrary to the principles and values underpinning the Norwegian society."

Even with modest immigration inflows, the Progress Party's membership has more than doubled and put pressure on Norway's ruling coalition in recent years to propose tighter immigration measures.

—Charles Duxbury and Katarina Gustafsson contributed to this article

Sparkes: We are investigating few deputies

In an interview for Kosova Sot, Deputy Head of EULEX, Andy Sparkes, commented on the investigation of deputies. He said that it is a confidential matter, but he did reveal that yes, few deputies are under investigation. “I cannot give you a number, but I can say that it is not half of the parliament”, says Sparkes. He also said that EULEX is not pursuing a political agenda in regards to the Limaj case.  However, according to him Limaj is being looked into because there are many corruption allegations against him.

Senior officials of the European Union have increased their pressure on the Kosovo Assembly regarding immunity of MPs. According to the paper, the immunity issue was further complicated after EULEX decided to call on heads of parliamentary groups to take a position on the matter, a move which falls outside of its regulated work.

Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for the EU High Representative Catherine Ashton, told Radio Dukagjini that the EU expects Kosovo to clarify the immunity issue. She added that EULEX enjoys the full support of the EU in its requests to the Kosovo Assembly to provide explanations on the immunity of MPs.

“Kosovo needs clarity on the immunity of members of the Kosovo Assembly and we fully support the letters that EULEX sent to the Assembly, in order to have clarity in the interpretation of the Constitution, it is unavoidable,” stated Kocijancic.

While, newspaper Zëri comment’s that the EU is supporting EULEX’s request to clarify the immunity of MPs who are under investigation. Meanwhile, experts and legislators in Kosovo argue that such requests are politicizing the cases.

The paper quotes Penal Code expert Ismet Salihu as saying that he doesn’t understand why EULEX has involved the Constitutional Court in the matter, when the prosecutor of the case can call for the immunity of an MP to be removed.

Salihu said that developments surrounding the immunity and case of former Transport Minister Fatmir Limaj are politicizing the case. “Politics have interfered,” he added.

First Kosovo state census proves controversial

By Linda Karadaku for Southeast European Times in Pristina -- 18/07/11

The first population and housing census since the country's declaration of independence was finalised in April, with official results published last month.

Census Commission Chairman Rifat Blaku told SETimes, "We assess the census as successful, based on the international evaluation, as foreign experts also confirm."

Blaku explained that the number of Kosovo residents came very close to the number of voters, because "the voters list was taken from the civil registry. There is a difference between census and civilian registration [civil registry]," he explained.

He admits, however, that the census "might not have been completely accurate" having had some technical errors.

"But we had no complaints," Blaku says, adding that the census was conducted by the municipal commissions in 34 municipalities after long preparations that started in 2003, and with international assistance from Eurostat, Italian Instat, the Swedish SIDA, UNPFA and a number of countries such as Great Britain, Luxembourg, and Switzerland.

"The whole process cost about 11m euros. The margin of error is 3% to 5%. The result is 95% accurate," Blaku told SETimes.

The Kosovo Statistics Office concluded that the overall resident population in Kosovo is 1,733,872, excluding the Serb majority municipalities in the north -- Leposavic, Zubin Potok, Zvecan and Northern Mitrovica -- where the census was not conducted.

After the results came out, Kosovo Statistics Office Executive Director Isa Krasniqi said the census in the north was not conducted due to objections there.

Minister for Public Administration Mahir Jagxhilar says there is no plan to try again.

"Necessary co-operation with the population, in order to conduct the census, has not been guaranteed," Jagxhilar told Radio Free Europe.

Kosovo's Council for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms (CPHRF) considers the 2011 census a failure, saying it does not reflect the real population numbers. The Council cited irregularities, such as complaints by citizens who were not involved in the census.

The census was not conducted in the north, which questions the legitimacy of the process. Furthermore, CPHRF points out that Kosovo citizens temporarily living abroad were excluded from the census, the majority of which are decisive in defining the social and economic conditions of Kosovo families -- "the main goal of the census", says CPHRF.

The Commission termed their exclusion a violation that needs correction, because it marked a basic violation of human rights. The headcount also had some shortcomings related to citizen information and the training of those conducting the census, the Commission said.

CPHRF asked the institution in charge to review these shortcomings and start "an extraordinary census", accompanied by a powerful media campaign, to ensure that all those who did not participate in the last census, participate in this one.

The Kosovo Academy of Arts and Science also dismissed the results of the census and supports a new census based on proper preparations. It said that the reasons for the failure of the census "are by now known by professionals involved or not involved in the process".

Before 2001, the census was conducted in 1981 with the participation of all communities, according to the Kosovo Statistics Office, which counted 1.6 million residents at the time.