Hashim Thaçi

Kosovo is to hold early general elections on June 8, as leaders of the country's main political parties agreed Tuesday.

Kosovo assembly to be dissolved on Wednesday - report

PRIŠTINA -- The assembly of Kosovo should be dissolved on Wednesday, and early parliamentary elections called for June 8.

This is according to RTV 21, which also reported that a session will be held tomorrow that will vote on this proposal.

Fule: Kosovo has to work more on reforms

BELGRADE -- Kosovo has finished the negotiations on the SAA agreement with the EU, "but it has to work more on reforms and relations with its neighbors."

This is according to EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule who was in Priština on Tuesday.

Members of the Kosovo Central Election Commission, CEC, are concerned they will have only a limited time to prepare for early general elections if they are held next month.

“If June 8 is set as the date, the CEC will have only about 30 days, which will be quite challenging,” Florian Dushi, a CEC member, told BIRN.

June 8 proposed as date for elections in Kosovo

PRIŠTINA -- Hashim Thaci has said that he proposed "the holding of parliamentary elections on June 8," during the Wednesday meeting with leaders of other political parties.

The meeting took place at the U.S. embassy in Priština.

The Kosovo Democratic League and the ‘Vetevendosje’ Movement, both opposition parties, said on Monday that they would not be held to ransom by Serb MPs who have threatened to abstain in a crucial vote next week on constitutional changes to establish a Kosovo army if they don’t get agreement on future minority representation.

BELGRADE / BRUSSELS - Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said that the Kosovo government’s approval of a special court to investigate 1998-1999 war crimes committed by members of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army KLA, former ethnic Albanian paramilitary organization, in Kosovo-Metohija (KiM), is a step forward for justice and the rule of law.

The Parliament in Pristina approved Wednesday a law to extend EU's rule-of-law mission to Kosovo, EULEX, until June 2016.

A special court will also be set up to investigate alleged war crimes by the former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), according to BalkanInsight.

The proposal to establish the new tribunal was passed by 89 votes to 22 in parliament on Wednesday, although Prime Minister Hashim Thaci called it “the biggest injustice and insult which could be done to Kosovo and its people”.

Kosovo’s government on Tuesday voted in favour of a draft law which will see the mandate of the EU rule-of-law mission, EULEX, extended until June 15, 2016, and guarantees the continued operation of EULEX’s Special Investigative Task Force, SITF.

The extension of EULEX’s mandate was requested by Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga.