Daily Media Monitoring Summary: Wednesday 12 December, 2001
DAILY REPORT

**I BELIEVE THAT THE PRESIDENT WILL BE ELECTED (1)**THERE ARE MANY THINGS THAT UNITE US (2)**SHALA: WRONG CALCULATIONS (3)** INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATION IN KOSOVO HAS A COLONIAL MENTALITY (4)

1. During a meeting with Kosovar media, UNMIK Chief Administrator Hans Haekkerup expressed his belief that the Kosovo Assembly would soon elect the president of Kosovo, but did not mention a exact date. "I hope the president will be elected and the government will be formed and we will handover authority to them. No one wants to keep this democratic process a hostage," Haekkerup was quoted as saying, Koha Ditore reports.

Haekkerup expressed his happiness that we now have a parliament for Kosovo. He explained that parliament's work will not be in his domain, but that it will be the responsibility of the president of the Assembly. He refused to comment on a possible political coalition between the deputies. "It was my wish that the first session went smoothly, however it was not only up to me," said Haekkerup regarding the first session of Kosovo's Parliament.

Democracy and chaos are not the same; there are rules in democracy',, said UNMIK chief who turned off the microphones to Fatmir Limaj and Rada Trajkovic while they were talking. According to Haekkerup, in Denmark's Parliament if there is an agenda then all the deputies respect the agenda. In Denmark there is no need to turn off the microphones because the deputies are disciplined, said Haekkerup, recollecting his 19 years in Denmark's Parliament.  
Haekkerup said that no one had suggested to him that a minute's silence be observed for all the war victims or that the Jashari family was to be invited for the first parliamentary session. He informed the media that Hashim Thaçi brought him the request for the presence of the Jashari family on the night of the session, but added that if he was serious about this issue he would have done it earlier and we would have found a way to resolve this matter, concluded Haekkerup. 

2. Rilindja on page two carried an interview with Nexhat Daci, the president of the Kosovo Assembly.

Asked to comment on the flow of the first session of the Kosovo Assembly and his own impression of the event, Daci was quoted as saying, "it was a proud feeling to see Kosovo constitute its internationally-recognized multi-party parliament after so many wars and suffering. For me it has a specific meaning, because even the address of the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan gives a seal to the Kosovo Assembly that it was desired by all the countries in the world. Therefore, let us hope that even the flows of the session, despite the disagreements, were in a parliamentary spirit". Adding to the issue, Daci also said that the game rules in the parliament are obligatory rules. They are at the same time democratic and obligatory, in order to prevent anarchy. "We held a session in the original building of the parliament which unfortunately still doesn't have seats in its offices. Nonetheless, I have to say that the activity of the deputies began immediately, though not in its full structure. As you know, the Kosovo Democratic Party didn't nominate its members for the assembly presidency, but let us hope that the future session of the assembly would be held in the full Assembly structure."

Regarding the upcoming second assembly session and its agenda, Daci expressed optimism that the session would be finalized in order to move on with other tasks, such as the endorsement of the regulation for the functioning of the assembly, "because as long as we don't have our regulation, we have to use the regulation endorsed by UNMIK", he said.

Speaking about his oath after being elected Assembly president, during which he claimed that he would cooperate with everyone, including those who didn't cast their votes for him, Daci said that during his experience at the University, the Kosovo Academy of Arts and Science and the European Academy and in international meetings, he saw big names disagreeing, however in the end they all came to conclusions which were very valuable for science and mankind. "Therefore, I don't have anything against a disagreement with me, because I believe that the goal of all Kosovars is to bring to life the results of the 1991 referendum and the results of the 1989 - 99 war, therefore there are many things that unite us," he added.

In closing, the paper asked Daci about his visions of Kosovo after three years, after the end of his mandate, the newly-elected Assembly president was quoted as saying, "if the international community and the United States of America will not have concrete results from the Kosovo Parliament which I will lead, then I am going to be the saddest man in Kosovo and I will consider myself a failure. This was the reason why I accepted the nomination. I think that I have the energy, the potential and the will to give a part of what has been left of me to the Kosovars."
 

3. We don't know the calculations of our main political parties, but it seems that all of us are going to pay the debts they might create for us one of these days. We even might have to pay interest. The successful say that in politics the greatest danger is when one enters a political process without knowing big and small loses, but big and small victories, writes Blerim Shala in a column for Zëri.

Facing the different types of evil is becoming a political reality after the first session of Kosovo's Parliament held on Monday, 10 December. Political leaders of Kosovo are risking more than ever from a phase where they were political opponents during the general elections, to a phase where they are seeking partnership for forming Kosovo's central government and they may well end up as open enemies that will fight each other without compromise. From mutual pre-elections scores we are going to a period of settling scores in Kosovo's Parliament.

The scores can be different, depending on the party leader. Someone may believe that he can hold Kosovo's government alone, the other calculates to disgrace the opponent in power, to win the future parliamentary elections. In both cases we are dealing with revolutionizing the Kosovar political scene, especially when we thought that it was time for institutionalizing politics.

Kosovo's future and status have no time to wait for one side or the other to fail in their options. For those that are currently failing in forming a strong government in Kosovo will all pay dearly one day. Afterwards it would be fully irrelevant who would win the elections after three years.     

4. "You cannot ask someone to be responsible if you do not give them competencies," was the last message to the international community by Dr. Richard Goldstone chairman of the International Commission on Kosovo, former constitutional judge in South Africa, former Hague Tribunal prosecutor for war crimes in former Yugoslavia, Koha Ditore reports.

Goldstone said in Brussels that a troublesome element in Kosovo is the conduct of the international community, which according to him is adopting a colonial mentality. I was horrified when an international official in Kosovo told me that the Kosovars don't deserve independence, because they are not mature enough to do their own work. This reminded me of south Africa, where the white people refused to give competencies to the black, claiming that they were not capable, said Richard Goldstone.

Goldstone believes that the Kosovars will have an illusion of self-determination much greater that it is in reality and this could bring a conflict of competencies between the locals and international administration which could later on cause a constitutional crisis and would slow down the overall economic and social development of Kosovo. He emphasized the paradox of the UN Security Council Resolution 1244 which can be read as you wish because it is not open for interpretation.

The commission estimates that even though there have been many positive changes in Belgrade there can be no reason for a democratic Kosovo within a democratic FRY even though this option is preferred by Belgrade and the international community. He also reminded that Covic's idea of dividing Kosovo would represent another Bosnia and Herzegovina. Covic with his statements is causing illusion among the Serbs and is irritating the Albanians.

After everything that happened to Albanians under the Serb regime it is unrealistic to expect the Albanians to live again under Belgrade administration, said Goldstone, adding and added that the only issue that unites the three main Kosovar Albanian political parties is the aspiration for independence. If you ask Kosovars they say that they do not want independence tomorrow they want it yesterday.