VZCZCXRO1027
OO RUEHAST
DE RUEHPS #0600/01 1981850
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 171850Z JUL 06
FM USOFFICE PRISTINA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6308
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0765
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHFMIUU/AFSOUTH NAPLES IT
RHMFIUU/CDR TF FALCON
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEPGEA/CDR650THMIGP SHAPE BE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUFOANA/USNIC PRISTINA SR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 PRISTINA 000600 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR DRL, INL, EUR/SCE, AND EUR/SSA, NSC FOR BRAUN, 
USUN FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI, USOSCE FOR STEVE STEGER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM UNMIK YI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: PISG PROGRESS ON CG STANDARDS PRIORITIES 
 
REF: PRISTINA 567 
 
PRISTINA 00000600  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
Sensitive But Unclassified, Please Protect Accordingly. 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Kosovo's Provisional Institutions of Self 
Government (PISG) continue to make progress on fulfilling the 
Contact Group's 13 priorities for standards implementation. 
Prime Minister Agim Ceku announced July 11 that two of the 13 
had already been fulfilled and the PISG completed another on 
July 17.  Ceku's political advisor, Avni Arifi, assured 
Contact Group representatives July 12 that the PISG is on 
track to complete the others.  Those priorities requiring 
Kosovo Assembly action by the end of October, however, will 
likely be subject to at least some delay as the Assembly 
enters its August recess.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) The PISG is making progress in completing the CG's 
13 priorities for standards implementation.  PM Ceku 
announced July 11 that two of the earliest milestones, 
allocation of the 2006 PISG funding for returns by June 30, 
and allocation of the first grant from the PISG Minority 
Media Fund by July 31 had been met.  Ceku's advisor on 
standards implementation, Avni Arifi, updated CG 
representatives on July 12 on progress since Ceku's last 
briefing on June 27 (reftel). 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
New Minority Focused Laws Still Need Some Work 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
 ¶3. (SBU) According to Arifi, progress on draft laws focused 
on minority rights (laws on languages, religious freedom and 
cultural heritage) continue apace.  Arifi claimed that 
minority representatives (including from Kosovo's ethnic 
Turkish community) had agreed to proposed amendments to the 
draft law.  The government submitted it to the Kosovo 
Assembly on July 13 and on the following day a version 
approved by the OSCE passed unopposed and without amendment 
through the Assembly committee on public administration.  The 
Assembly secretariat has scheduled review by the budget and 
communities committees (on which sits Mahir Yagcilar, the 
current Assembly presidency member from the minority party 
"Six Plus" coalition and the major proponent of the naming of 
Turkish as one of Kosovo's official languages) for the week 
of July 17 in the hopes of including it on the agenda for the 
July 27 plenary, the last before the Assembly's August 
recess.  (NOTE:  Yagcilar told PolOff July 11 that he is not 
entirely happy with the population percentage requirements 
defining official languages and languages in use and would 
rather the law simply designate Turkish as an official 
language in four municipalities.  The government's compromise 
was to require the municipality of Prizren to adopt Turkish 
as an official language.  END NOTE). 
 
¶4. (SBU) Arifi noted that the Assembly would take up the law 
on religious freedom on July 13.  Despite a walkout by 
members from opposition parties July 13 to protest the 
limiting of discussion on the performance of the Ceku 
government in its first 100 days in office, the remaining 
quorum of Assembly members approved the law by a vote of 57 
in favor and 5 against.  The plenary rifled through the 28 
amendments to the draft law quickly, adopting them without 
debate and without even publicly reading them.  The Assembly 
rejected an amendment offered by the Justice Party's 
representative, Ferid Agani, on religious education with 
little opposition, but approved by a 15 vote margin his 
amendment requiring a reference to Kosovo in the name of 
every religious community. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Arifi told the CG representatives that the law on 
cultural heritage has been harmonized with European 
legislation and sent the previous week to the Assembly for 
review by the appropriate committee.  He added the government 
expects the Assembly to adopt the law at its final summer 
session July 27.  (NOTE:  The legislation would then be 
delivered to A/SRSG Steve Schook for promulgation.  END 
NOTE).  Discussion then ensued about the failure of the 
current draft to include language suggested by UN Kosovo 
 
PRISTINA 00000600  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
Envoy Martti Ahtisaari's team in Vienna allowing for changes 
to the law based on final status negotiations.  (NOTE:  There 
is some confusion about where the law stands; or more 
correctly, with whom it sits.  At the July 11 Standards 
Working Group meeting on Cultural Heritage, Deputy Minister 
for Culture, Youth and Sports Angelina Krasniqi also stated 
that the draft law on cultural heritage is with the Assembly. 
 On July 14, opposition Assembly member Enver Hoxhaj, 
chairman of the Kosovo Assembly's Committee on Education, 
Culture and Youth, stated in an e-mail sent to PolOff and 
other participants in the meeting that the draft law is not 
currently at the Assembly or with his committee and that the 
Assembly has been waiting for Ceku's office to send over the 
revised draft law since it was finished in April.  Arifi 
quickly countered with his own e-mail response which 
contained a scanned copy of the transmittal memorandum used 
to send the draft law over to the Assembly on July 5.  END 
NOTE).  An EU lawyer assisting the Assembly on legislation 
told PolOff July 17 that the law will not likely be read in 
plenary before the August recess. 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
Funds Transferred to KPC for Svinjare Repairs 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Arifi confirmed that 967,000 euros had already been 
transferred to the Kosovo Protection Corps to complete 
reconstruction and repair work and assist in resolving other 
pending claims concerning homes in Svinjare damaged during 
the March 2004 riots.  He added that an additional 1.1 
million euros had been transferred July 12, bringing the 
total amount available to over 2.0 million euros.  Arifi 
added that although a board established to discuss 
implementation of Svinjare 
reconstruction/repairs/compensation has been established and 
had its first meeting on July 11, the PISG has not yet 
established a similar board for compensation and 
reconstruction claims outside Svinjare, nor does the 
government have data on the extent of commercial property 
damaged in March 2004. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
Pilot Project Rental Scheme for Residential Properties 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Arifi informed Contact Group representatives that 
the Ministry for Environmental and Spatial Planning has 
prepared a proposed rental scheme for residential properties 
abandoned by internally-displaced persons formerly under the 
administration of the Housing and Property Directorate (HPD) 
which it presented at the Property Rights Working Group on 
July 6.  He noted general agreement between the PISG and the 
Kosovo Property Agency (KPA), the successor to the HPD, that 
housing rentals will not be paid out of public funds. 
(COMMENT: "Agreement" may be an overstatement -- the PISG has 
made clear it cannot offer to pay the rents and the KPA has 
scarcely considered the matter.  END COMMENT.).  Arifi told 
CG representatives that the PISG preferred that private real 
estate agents handle the rental scheme, but gave way to the 
insistence of KPA Head Knut Rosandhaug that the KPA retain 
ultimate responsibility for it.  He added that although 
UNMIK, the PISG and the KPA have not yet agreed on the scope 
of the rental scheme, a pilot project involving residences in 
northern Mitrovica and Pristina and Peja/Pec and the nearby 
ethnic Serb enclave of Gorazhedevac may begin in August.  He 
told the CG representatives that the rental scheme will 
involve only 3,500 of the 5,300 HPD administered properties 
because there are 1,800 properties for which ownership has 
not been established conclusively or for which owners have 
not replied to HPD's notices. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Concerning the 2,804 HPD claims pending 
implementation, Arifi informed CG representatives that 800 
have already been implemented and of the remaining 2,044 
cases occupants in 1,800 of those residences have appealed 
the HPD's decisions.  He added that in 200 cases the owners 
had not requested the eviction of the current occupants, 
preferring instead to have the premises occupied.  He noted 
 
PRISTINA 00000600  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
that representatives from the Ministry of Internal Affairs 
had met with the Kosovo Police Commissioner and Deputy 
Commissioner to discuss a joint monitoring system to improve 
effectiveness in deterring and reversing re-occupations. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Arifi said that the Ministry of Transport and 
Communication (MTC) has identified 13 bus lines for 
minorities in consultation with the Ministry of Communities 
and Returns (MCR), but implementation has not begun because 
UNMIK's Office for Communities, Returns and Minorities (OCRM) 
has questioned how they were determined.  Arifi said PM Ceku 
has asked the MTC to identify the criteria used to determine 
the proposed routes.  PolOff reminded Arifi that PM Ceku 
promised to ensure that minority communities who will 
actually use the lines are fully consulted before the 
government completes the transportation strategy. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Arifi stated that Minister for Communities and 
Returns Slavisa Petkovic and OCM head Sandra Mitchell had 
reached agreement on June 30 on the allocation of the 
remaining 2006 PISG funding for returns (reftel).  He added 
that of the 4.7 million euro budget allocation, the 
government had already transferred all but the 1.4 million 
euros destined for organized returns projects in 
Abdullah-Presevo (ethnic Roma returning to Gjilan) and Kucici 
(ethnic Serbs returning to Skenderaj/Srbica). 
 
¶11. (SBU) Arifi had little progress to report on completing 
investigations and pending prosecutions from the March 2004 
riots.  He repeated PM Ceku's statement from two weeks before 
that work in seven high profile cases is continuing as a 
priority.  Arifi added that the Ministry of Justice is 
working closely with UNMIK on these and other cases and that 
a draft regulation on witness protection is being prepared 
and should be adopted soon. 
 
¶12. (SBU) According to Arifi, the Kosovo government decided 
July 12 to hire an additional translator for each ministry 
and the office of the prime minister.  He added that the 
Ministry of Public Services will organize training sessions 
for current as well as new translators. 
 
¶13. (SBU) Arifi was able to confirm that on July 11 all 
eleven recipients of the PISG minority media fund had 
received their 4,545 euro grants.  Recipients include four 
Kosovo Serb, two Bosniak, one Turkish, 2 multi-ethnic and two 
media outlets representing vulnerable groups.  This 
allocation occurred well before the CG's July 31 deadline. 
 
¶14. (SBU) Arifi noted an increase in the number of court 
liaison offices and sub-municipal police stations.  As of 
July 12, the government has established eleven court liaison 
offices which are currently operating.  Minister of Justice 
Jonuz Salihaj participated in the opening ceremonies for 
offices in the Serb villages of Osojan/Osojane (Istog 
municipality) and Bablak/Babljak (Ferizaj municipality) on 
July 7.  According to Arifi's report, the PISG has opened a 
total of 15 sub-municipal police stations and two more are 
planned in Gusterica (Lipjan municipality) and Vrbovac (Viti 
municipality). 
 
¶15. (SBU) The CG had asked the PISG to appoint a director for 
the anti-corruption agency by July 1.  The council of the 
anti-corruption agency met on June 7 to select candidates 
from the 30 who applied, but found that none were suitable 
for the position of director.  The government re-advertised 
the vacancy and June 30 was the closing date for 
applications.  According to Arifi, 50 people applied and the 
government sent the names of the two top candidates to the 
Kosovo Assembly for it to decide.  A protracted discussion of 
the first 100 days of the Ceku government kept the Assembly 
from deciding between these two candidates until its July 17 
plenary, at which it selected Hasan Preteni, a former colonel 
in the Kosovo Protection Corps and former member of the 
Kosovo Liberation Army, as director of the anti-corruption 
agency. 
 
¶16. (SBU) There was less to report on the selection of the 
 
PRISTINA 00000600  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
government's member of the Independent Media Commission 
(IMC).  Arifi stated that the procedures for selection of the 
candidate are on the agenda for the current session of the 
Assembly.  Once adopted, candidates will be proposed and 
chosen during the Assembly's last session before its summer 
recess on July 27.  He noted that the IMC has been 
established and is currently working, albeit without a member 
representing the government. 
 
¶17. (SBU) Arifi informed CG representatives that the Kosovo 
Assembly returned the revised draft law on public procurement 
to the office of the prime minister on June 29 and requested 
that it resubmit it as amendments to the existing law rather 
than as a new law.  Arifi reported that the Ministry of 
Finance and Economy confirmed July 7 that it would comply 
with this request within a week.  To date the amendments have 
not yet been submitted. 
 
¶18. (SBU) COMMENT:  These bi-weekly updates from the PISG are 
helpful in keeping it focused on implementation of the CG's 
13 priorities for standards implementation.  They are also 
informative on the relationship between PM Ceku's office and 
the Kosovo Assembly.  Although the PISG has now completed 
three of the 13 priorities -- and one of those ahead of 
schedule -- we are concerned that the confusion over the 
draft law on cultural heritage suggests to us that progress 
will be harder to come by from here on out.  END COMMENT. 
 
 
¶19. (U) U.S. Office Pristina clears this cable for release in 
its entirety to U.N. Special Envoy for Kosovo Martti 
Ahtisaari. 
MCBRIDE