Sali Berisha, chairman of the Democratic Party, has responded to Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić’s remarks about cutting off Kosovo’s water supply, which he described as a direct threat to Albanians and Kosovo.

The Democratic leader called Vučić “Edi Rama’s boss,” while warning that the Serbian president’s stance is a cause for alarm not only for Kosovo but for the entire region.

According to Berisha, this is an “open, inhumane threat inspired by mythology.” He accused Vučić of pursuing a policy fueled by hatred of Albanians.

In his response, Berisha wrote that Aleksandar Vučić’s latest threat against Kosovo and its citizens is that “he will cut off your water supply.”

The Democratic Party leader said that this open and inhumane threat, inspired by mythology, demonstrates once again that the president of Greater Serbia, Vučić, with what he described as a sick imagination and boundless hatred of Albanians, may be planning to use thirst as a genocidal weapon against their ethnic group and the neighboring country.

The Democratic Party strongly condemned the threat, describing it as an act that destabilizes peace and stability in the region.

The post Berisha Responds to Vučić: Threat to Cut Off Kosovo’s Water Is Inhumane appeared first on Albeu.com.

Pristina Mayor Përparim Rama has published on Facebook footage of the removal of a banner reading “Free Ukraine,” following a statement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Belgrade.

In a post on the social network, Rama stressed that Kosovo’s statehood must be respected and that Pristina will respond in the same way whenever that statehood is disregarded.

“The state of Kosovo must be respected. Whenever Kosovo is not respected, the capital, Pristina, will always respond in the same way.

Our sensitivity and solidarity will always be with peoples facing war, violence and persecution. More than many others, we know what war means for freedom, dignity and the right to exist as a state.

However, no cause and no policy can be built by scorning Kosovo’s statehood and the sacrifice of its people,” Rama wrote.

The post Kosovo must be respected,” Përparim Rama reacts to Zelensky’s statement in Belgrade appeared first on Albeu.com.

Democratic Party National Council Chair Julinda Emiri today accused Prime Minister Rama of leaving the capital without a museum, art gallery, theater or national circus. In a statement, she said the National Gallery closed its doors for reconstruction in October 2021 and, five years later, remains closed.

She stressed that the Democratic Party is seeking full information on the location of the thousands of works in the national collection, as well as the conditions in which they have been stored and conserved and the measures taken to ensure their security and monitoring during the years the Gallery has been closed. It is also seeking a final, verifiable date for its reopening.

Statement by Julinda Emiri, Chair of the Democratic Party National Council:

The Democratic Party strongly condemns the fact that the country has now been left without a National Gallery of Art for five years and demands full transparency from the government regarding the Gallery’s reconstruction, as it is one of the most important institutions of Albanian culture and national memory.

The National Gallery closed its doors for reconstruction in October 2021. In August 2026, five years later, it remains closed and under “reconstruction.” Meanwhile, the institution has a director, an administration, a budget, programs, calls for projects, competitions, a website and social media accounts. It has everything except the most important thing: open exhibition doors for the local public and foreign visitors.

Three years after the announcement of the reconstruction, in July 2024, Prime Minister Rama publicly announced from the construction site that the National Gallery was “being reborn,” with new exhibition spaces, a library, laboratories and a new concept for its halls.

Two years later, none of this has happened, and the Gallery remains closed.

The responsible ministry continues to issue tenders for reconstruction work, meaning that we are not close to completing the reconstruction but are instead at some unknown stage.

This cannot simply be considered a delay.

After five years, citizens have the right to know what has happened to this project, why there have been such delays, how much it has cost and when it will be completed.

The Democratic Party calls on the government to publicly answer the following questions:

-What was the original deadline for completing the reconstruction of the National Gallery?

-How many times has this deadline been changed or postponed, and for what reasons?

-What was the project’s initial value, and what is the total value of the contracts and tenders conducted to date?

-What additional work was approved during the project’s implementation, and how much did it cost?

-Have the contractors complied with the contracts and deadlines?

-Have penalties been imposed for the delays and, if not, why?

-Who supervised the work, and who is responsible for the project’s drawn-out delays?

-When will the National Gallery actually reopen to the public?

But there is another issue, one even more important than the reconstruction and the Gallery itself: Where is the national collection of Albanian art?

The Democratic Party is seeking full information on the location of the thousands of works in the national collection, as well as the conditions in which they have been stored and conserved and the measures taken to ensure their security and monitoring during the years the Gallery has been closed.

These are not political questions concerning day-to-day politics. They are basic questions about a public institution, a national asset and a project funded with Albanian citizens’ money.

A National Gallery is not a warehouse for paintings; it is the visual memory of a nation. A government cannot keep this treasure hidden behind scaffolding, delays and lies for five years while issuing new deadlines, tenders and promises.

The Democratic Party demands the full publication of all contracts, tenders, contract addenda, deadlines, cost estimates and payments made for the reconstruction of the National Gallery from 2021 to the present. We are also seeking a final, verifiable date for its reopening.

As a participant in the protests for more than two months, and as an actress not only on stage but also in the resistance against the demolition of the National Theater, I know that the citizens in the square are there for this as well. They are there because of corruption not only in roads, AKSH or the police, but also in art and culture.

Edi Rama must resign over this as well: as a former artist, a former culture minister and the current prime minister who has left the Albanian capital without a National Museum, a National Gallery of Art, a National Theater or a National Circus. Not even the most brutal occupiers did this to Albania.

The post DP Accuses Rama Over State of Cultural Institutions: Tirana Has No Museum, Gallery, Theater or National Circus appeared first on Albeu.com.

Albania’s Minister of Defense, Ermal Nufi, described as scandalous and intolerable the position of Serbian minister Snezhana Paunović, who stated that, had she been in Milošević’s place, she would have carried out ethnic cleansing in Kosovo.

During today’s press conference, Nufi stressed that there was no need for further comment on the nature of the statement, other than to define it as scandalous and unacceptable. He recalled that both the prime minister and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had responded to the matter.

Nufi said that, in his capacity as minister of defense, he fully supports the prime minister’s position. According to him, the reactions seen within Serbia also demonstrate that reasonable people there represent the European approach that the Albanian side wants to see from Serbia.

He emphasized that rhetoric of this nature must be condemned and cannot be accepted, adding that both support for and silence in the face of such a statement are equally deadly, A2 reports.

The post Nufi Condemns Serbian Minister’s Statement on the “Ethnic Cleansing of Kosovo”: Scandalous and Unacceptable appeared first on Albeu.com.

According to Elezi, the position expressed by the minister should not be viewed as an isolated case, as it represents the strategy and true conduct of official Belgrade towards the Republic of Kosovo. He assessed that this rhetoric is used as a signal and an incitement for radical, criminal and terrorist groups operating in the north of the country.

The expert placed the statement in the context of recent developments, recalling that two days earlier Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić had publicly defended Milan Radoičić, the main person responsible for the terrorist attack in Banjska.

“We are seeing a kind of embrace by Serbian politicians of the terrorist groups that carried out the attack in the north. The minister’s statement deliberately provoked an international reaction, seeking to motivate parallel structures to destabilise Kosovo’s constitutional order,” Elezi said.

He added that Russia and Iran also have an interest behind this approach in opening new hotspots of tension in the Balkans. According to him, the aim is to divert the attention of the United States and its allies from other global crises.

Elezi also criticised the response of state institutions in Pristina, describing the management of the situation as insufficient. In his assessment, declaring the Serbian minister persona non grata or warning of criminal complaints remain superficial measures intended only for “political and media consumption”.

According to the security expert, the National Security Council should have been convened immediately to analyse the fluid situation and increase intelligence vigilance.

He also called for the preparation of files containing concrete evidence and for official documents to be sent to the Quint countries and international organisations, instead of making statements to the media.

Elezi further assessed that NATO should receive an official request to increase its presence, particularly at a time when a reduction in forces has been discussed.

The post Bedri Elezi: Serbian minister’s statement reveals Belgrade’s approach and encourages radical groups in northern Kosovo appeared first on Albeu.com.

The opening session was addressed by EESC President Seamus Boland and European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos, who delivered the keynote speech. The closing remarks were delivered by Valentina Superti, Director for the Western Balkans at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG ENEST).

In her speech, Commissioner Kos said that the EU enlargement process goes beyond technical reforms, as it represents a societal transformation that strengthens democracy, institutions and fundamental rights. She highlighted the indispensable importance of civil society for transparency and accountability, recalling that the European Union was created on the shared aspiration for a Europe of peace, cooperation and democratic values, where the wars of the past are never repeated.

In the plenary discussion entitled “Accelerating socio-economic convergence with the EU to boost European growth and competitiveness”, Kosovo was represented by Dren Puka, Executive Director of the Kosovar Civil Society Foundation (KCSF).

Puka expressed his gratitude to the EESC for revising its initial decision, through which Kosovo had been excluded from the Enlargement Candidate Members Initiative.

According to him, the outcome of the EU Growth Plan for the Western Balkans depends on the involvement of citizens and civil society in the relevant reforms. He cited environmental protests in Albania as an illustration of the consequences that may result from implementing reforms without participation and citizen ownership.

He also raised concerns about increasing political and financial pressure on civil society in the Balkans. Puka said that following USAID’s withdrawal, funding for civil society in the Western Balkans has lost more than 120 million euros, with around 26 million euros of that amount relating to Kosovo.

Within the framework of negotiations on the new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), he called on EU institutions to prioritize financial support for independent civil society in enlargement countries, treating it as a strategic investment in democratic resilience and the consolidation of Europe.

The response by Puka to a statement made this week by Snezhana Paunović, Serbia’s Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, drew the greatest attention from those present. In a television interview, she had said that, if she were Slobodan Milošević, she would have “ethnically cleansed” Kosovo in 1998.

Puka described the statement as “a reminder of what power does when it feels no responsibility or accountability, and when no one challenges it”. He stressed that war rhetoric remains present in the region and that the European Union cannot remain silent in the face of it.

He linked the issue directly to Commissioner Kos’s keynote speech, in which she presented peace as the European Union’s fundamental value. “Once we are together in the European Union, we no longer wage war,” she said, calling on the 27 member states to support enlargement as an investment in the continent’s shared peace, freedom and prosperity.

“Convergence with the EU is more about embracing European values than anything else,” Puka further said. He added that only concrete EU action can turn Commissioner Kos’s statement, “never again war”, into a promise for the future rather than merely a memory of the past.

Alongside the Executive Director of the Kosovar Civil Society Foundation (KCSF), representatives of the Union of Independent Trade Unions of Kosovo (BSPK), the United Union of Education, Science and Culture of Kosovo (SBASHK), the Kosovo Business Alliance (AKB), and the Civikos Platform also took part in this plenary session from Kosovo.

The post Kosovo debuts as an enlargement candidate at the EESC plenary session, Puka condemns Serbian minister’s statement appeared first on Albeu.com.

The decision came after her statement several days earlier that, had she been in Slobodan Milosevic’s position, she would have ethnically cleansed Kosovo in 1998.

Paunovic has been permanently banned from entering or transiting through the territory of the Republic of Kosovo. Her statement was also strongly condemned by acting Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla, who described it as a continuation of a state policy that, he said, for decades had brought violence, crimes and attempts to eradicate Albanians from their lands.

In a Facebook post, Svecla announced that he had signed the decision declaring the Serbian minister an undesirable person.

“As Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kosovo, today I issued a decision through which I declared Snezhana Paunovic persona non grata, undesirable, with a permanent ban on entry into or transit through the Republic of Kosovo. The era when Albanians were oppressed, massacred and ethnically cleansed has ended once and for all,” Svecla wrote.

He stressed that the Serbian minister’s rhetoric was unacceptable and incited hatred, calling for it to be condemned by all states.

According to Svecla, any attempt to revive ideologies of ethnic cleansing or threaten the Republic of Kosovo will receive a “firm, legal and institutional response.”

Naim Miftari, a KLA wartime fighter and commander, as well as a former KPC superior after the war, also spoke to “Bota so” about Paunovic’s statement.

Miftari said that the minister of what he calls the fascist state of Serbia had been fortunate, linking this also to the theft of funds by a clan of thieves.

“How fortunate you are, Minister Snezhana Paunovic of the fascist state of Serbia. You are fortunate because almost more than 90% of the war funds collected from our Albanian compatriots were stolen by Serbia’s allies, by the 3% clan of thieves, led by Bujar Bukoshi. Likewise, the ‘Homeland Calls’ fund was stolen by another clan, led by Hashim Thaci,” Miftari said.

He further stated that Serbia had also been fortunate, in his view, because the KLA was not allowed by other countries to arm itself with military weapons and fought mainly with personal weapons.

“Your greatest fortune, Serbia, was that your people managed to divide our clean war. Another stroke of fortune for you was that NATO and countries such as America, France, Germany and Great Britain did not allow the KLA to arm itself with military weapons, but it fought mainly with personal AK-47 weapons and armaments from Albanian territorial reserves from the 1960s and 1970s, often with only a few dozen bullets,” the former fighter stressed.

In conclusion, Miftari said that another stroke of fortune was that KLA members did not stain their hands with the blood of Serbian civilians.

“Once, the KLA tried to break through in Koshare to link the front with the Dukagjin Zone and, immediately, NATO’s French Mirage aircraft bombed KLA positions, killing dozens of volunteer soldiers, out of fear that the Albanian people might win the war on their own and would not remain dependent on the international community, which, according to you, was largely pro-Serbia.

And fortunately, KLA soldiers did not soil their hands with the blood of your civilians, did not kill Serbian civilians, did not rape Serbian women, did not disappear thousands of bodies of Serbian civilians, did not carry out ethnic cleansing and did not execute Serbian civilians and prisoners,” Miftari concluded.

The post Naim Miftari responds to Serbian minister: KLA was not allowed to fight with military weapons appeared first on Albeu.com.

The outlet also quoted the music star, who described the protests as “inspiring” during her podcast with writer Lea Ypi as a guest.

“Dua Lipa has expressed her support for Albanians protesting against plans for a luxury resort linked to Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

The pop star, whose parents are Kosovar Albanians, described the protests as ‘inspiring’ on her podcast.

The demonstrations have seen police clash with protesters for more than a month,” the outlet wrote.

The post Citizens’ Revolt in Tirana: Sky News Highlights Dua Lipa’s Statement Against the Government, Singer Calls Protests “Inspiring” appeared first on Albeu.com.

He said he expects a more decisive and engaged reaction from official Tirana, emphasizing that the stance taken so far was not adequate.

Sveçla called for exposing what he described as Belgrade’s “hypocrisy,” arguing that the hostility is not directed solely against Kosovo but against all Albanians.

“Naturally, considering that Albania is the mother state and that its own Constitution obliges it to protect Albanians and their interests wherever they are, I expect more. I expect a real and proactive reaction to these threats. Because this is not just about words, but about threats that are fueled by our painful past and by Serbia’s traditional behavior. I think Albania should have a more substantial and energetic reaction. This minister was a deputy and part of the Serbia-Albania Friendship Group, a group where, unfortunately, Serbian chauvinists have participated. We need to unmask this cunning behavior of Belgrade, because their problem is not Kosovo, but Albanians as a whole,” said Minister Sveçla.

The post Sveçla criticizes Tirana’s reaction to Serbian minister’s statement: A firmer stance is needed appeared first on Albeu.com.

An interview with the Serbian Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, Snezhana Paunović, has sparked a storm of reactions due to a shocking statement.

She expressed that “for our shortcomings and stupidity, if I had been as free as Milošević, I would have ethnically cleansed Kosovo in 1998”.

This rhetoric has been strongly condemned by political figures in Kosovo, as well as by the European Union. Anitta Hipper, spokesperson for the European Commission, stressed that while the EU does not comment on individual statements, it is clear that there is no place in Europe for language that justifies or incites ethnic cleansing.

She underlined that such claims directly clash with the fundamental values of human dignity, reconciliation, accountability, and good neighborliness, upon which the European Union is founded.

Security expert Gurakuç Kuçi, in a statement to “Bota sot”, assessed that the recent claims of Vojislav Šešelj and Minister Paunović are evidence that the political mentality that generated the war crimes of the ’90s remains alive in Serbia. According to him, these statements relativize war crimes and ethnic cleansing, highlighting what he calls “the true face of the Vučić regime”.

Kuçi further analyzed: “Within a few days, two statements from Serbia showed us how little the political mindset that produced the crimes of the ’90s has changed. First, Vojislav Šešelj spoke about the executions in Srebrenica as if they were a mathematical operation. He calculated how many people could be shot by seven people in a few hours and then said: ‘You who have never shot anyone, don’t know what it’s like.’ A few days later, Serbian Minister Snezhana Paunović declared that, if she had been in Slobodan Milošević’s place, she would have ‘ethnically cleansed Kosovo’. In the same interview, she described the KLA as ‘guerrillas trained by butchers’, and called NATO’s and KFOR’s entry into Kosovo an ‘occupation’.”

He added that these statements are the sensational true face of the Vučić regime, which it expresses through the mouths of others. According to Kuçi, Šešelj rationalizes the way the executions were carried out, while Paunović rationalizes what, according to her, the Serbian state should have done with the Albanians. The former minimizes the crime through technical calculations, while the latter presents ethnic cleansing as a strategic alternative that Milošević did not carry out completely. In both cases, he stressed, the victim disappears as a human being, and in their place remain numbers, shooting capacities, and labels such as “terrorists” or “butchers”.

Kuçi continued by saying that it is the same ideology that denies the genocide in Srebrenica, minimizes the Reçak massacre, and justifies ethnic cleansing. What is particularly concerning, he pointed out, is that these statements no longer come exclusively from radical elements, but are uttered by representatives of the Serbian state institutions themselves.

He argued that the real danger lies precisely in the fact that such language was once promoted by radical structures, while today it is articulated within institutions. When executions are rationalized and ethnic cleansing is justified, we are not dealing simply with a denial of the past, but with the preservation of a moral and political climate that could allow its repetition.

Meanwhile, another security expert, Arben Dashevci, described Minister Paunović’s statement as unacceptable and a clear reflection of the continuity of Belgrade’s approach toward Kosovo. For “Bota sot”, he said that such a statement incites hatred and glorifies the policies of Slobodan Milošević’s regime, proving that the mindset of the ’90s continues to be present in Serbia.

Dashevci stated that the minister has a completely negative and absolutely unacceptable approach, denying the existence of the state and citizens of Kosovo. He stressed that the message sent by Belgrade with statements praising the policies of the ’90s shows their old mindset toward Kosovo, and that this is incitement of hatred and glorification of the policies of Milošević, known as the butcher of the Balkans.

In conclusion, Dashevci warned that the return of war and ethnic cleansing narratives creates insecurity and is unacceptable for a state aspiring to EU membership. He called on the international community and Kosovo’s diplomacy to react strongly to these statements, adding that it is unacceptable that in 2026 someone who aims to join the EU would hold such a stance.

The post Beyond a simple statement – Analysts decipher the message behind the scandalous outburst of the Serbian minister appeared first on Albeu.com.