Vetevendosje

Kosovo's government, led by Vetevendosje's Albin Kurti, is preparing to reintroduce reciprocity measures against Serbia, which were lifted by the former government because they were considered an obstacle to the EU-facilitated dialogue.

Gervalla-Schwarz was born in North Macedonia capital, Skopje, in 1971, when it was still part of socialist Yugoslavia. She spent her early childhood living between Skopje and Pristina, where her father, Jusuf Gervalla, was a well-known writer, singer and artist.

Vetevendosje MPs have also joined protests in Lezha in Albania against the construction of hydropower plants.

Kurti and his colleague's visit to Albania came three weeks after his government came to power, and before he has even laid out his domestic programme for governing.

Vjosa Osmani became Kosovo's fifth head of state in 13 years since the country declared its independence from Serbia on Sunday night when MPs in the Kosovo Assembly voted to appoint her as president.

Osmani, a 38-year-old lawyer, also became the second woman to hold the post, after Atifete Jahjaga, who was president from 2011 to 2016.

The election of Kosovo's next president took a new twist on Friday when the Vetevendosje [Self-Determination] party's parliamentary group called a meeting of the parliamentary presidency to examine a request to amend the Law on Election, suggesting that new snap polls might be on the horizon, less than two months after Kosovo's last elections.

Kosovo's election winner, Albin Kurti of the Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) Movement, has for the past two days been in the parliament building holding meetings with leaders of all political parties that won seats in the February 14 general elections, trying to form a government quickly before turning to the issue of the country's next president.

With the departure of Hashim Thaci, Kosovo's former president, to The Hague in November 2020 to face war crimes charges, and Vetevendosje's victory in early parliamentary elections in February, one might think that things will never be the same. It seems that we are putting the years of stagnation behind us and moving forward.

"Fewer cases are being left for the following year, but the essence is in the manner in which the cases are resolved," said Driton Demhasaj, director of the NGO 'Cohu', which has spent the past five years monitoring corruption cases in Kosovo.

The opposition Vetevendosje party was on course for a landslide victory in snap parliamentary elections in Kosovo on Sunday, on a day that its leader and prime ministerial candidate, Albin Kurti, described as a "bright day" when he cast his ballot at a Pristina polling centre in the morning.

Kosovo's parliament will vote on Wednesday morning on whether to endorse a new government led by Avdullah Hoti, the deputy head of the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, only four months after the same chamber voted in a government led by Albin Kurti.