“At the meeting held on December 1st, 2020, the RGCE (Regional Group Continental Europe) has agreed to start the operation of KOSTT as a regulatory zone within the regulatory bloc Albania-Kosovo, i.e. that the implementation of the Connection Agreement between KOSTT and ENTSO will start on December 14th, 2020,” KOSTT announced on December 2nd. Neither Belgrade nor Pristina officials have revealed what precisely this entails.
According to KoSSev’s sources, EMS workers in Kosovo received a similar announcement after the meeting held on December 1st. The workers were told that at midnight on December 13th, the exchange of electricity between JP EPS and KOSTT, through which the energy supply needs of the residents of the north were met so far, will end.
The news that a connection agreement between KOSTT and ENTSO was approved in April this year, following a multi-year-long objection by Serbia and the EMS, was announced to the public immediately after the agreement was approved by the RGCE.
After KOSTT published parts of the connection agreement in June, it was revealed that one of the points of the agreement concerned the licensing of Elektrosever company – which was supposed to be issued within 30 days.
According to the information available so far, this company has yet to be licensed, although as per a previously signed energy agreement, the establishment of Serb-ran companies (Elektrosever – supplier in northern Kosovo and EPS – wholesale supplier) was a condition for the KOSTT to operate as a regulatory zone.
In response to KoSSev’s findings that KOSTT will start „operating independently,“ the head of the Kosovo Office, Petar Petkovic said that the electricity supply will not be cut off. Petkovic did not comment on whether the agreement between KOSTT and ENTSO will be implemented soon.
The Serbian President, Aleksandar Vucic also objected to the agreement back in April, warning of arbitration if the agreement is implemented.
“I warned them about the injustice of their decisions. We will complain wherever we can. We will first seek provisional measures within 14 days, and when they make a decision we will not apply it. When you want to create this kind of energy chaos, you will have Serbia’s answer, because we will not let you trample over our country and our people –nor our people in the north of Kosovo, nor our people as a whole, nor our country,” Vucic emphasized at the time.
“If someone thinks that the time has come for someone to physically take over Valac, I beg them not to do it,“ he added.
Two years ago – „victory more important than INTERPOL“
Two years ago, the ENTSO working group also held a vote on the same issue. In November 2018, the president of Serbia boasted of „Serbia’s victory“ in a vote among the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO), which, according to him, enabled EMS to remain part of the energy grid in the north of Kosovo.
Although a small victory, it was more important than Kosovo failing to join INTERPOL, Vucic said at the time.
„It is an important victory for us, a small defeat for them, and a great victory for us. Particularly bearing in mind that we were right because justice was on our side, it was not fair for them to do that to us and they did not succeed,“ he said.
The Serbian President thanked the Hungarian people for this „small victory.“ He revealed that Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina also voted against Kosovo’s proposal, while Macedonia and Montenegro abstained for the first time.
Several opposition parties in Serbia, citing their own sources, have also alleged that KOSTT is starting its independent operation.
Oslobodjenje: Workers took the equipment out of Valac during the weekend
In the past several days, the Oslobodjenje movement and Mladjan Djordjevic have been the most vocal regarding this issue. In his latest statement published this morning, Djordjevic called on „President Aleksandar Vucic, Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, the Serbian government, and all 243 MPs who support the ruling majority to stand before the people and explain what exactly is happening in northern Kosovo, to whom they handed over Serbia’s energy system, as well as who gave them the authority to do such a thing?”
Djordjevic recalled that „the energy supply to Serbian consumers in Kosovo by companies from central Serbia“ ends today, which was confirmed by KOSTT. Previously, KoSSev and the Pristina media, as well as Belgrade-based Vecernje Novosti, wrote about this issue.
The KoSSev portal wrote on December 4th that the “transition period” defined by the connection agreement between the Kosovo operator KOSTT and ENTSO would end on December 14th. The implementation of this agreement – which was created back in 2015 – was blocked because it was conditioned by the registration of the company Elekstrosever with the Pristina Energy Regulatory Office (ERO).
The leader of the Oslobodjenje movement also noted that „the workers of Elektromreza Srbije cleaned out the Valac power station over the weekend, removing the equipment and materials,“ adding that they thus „obviously prepared to hand it over to the new owner“.
The KoSSev portal requested a comment from EMS this morning, but we received no reply by the time the news was published.
Nearly two weeks later, an answer had still arrived from the Serbian Minister of Energy, Zorana Mihajlovic, or the press service of the ministry to KoSSev’s inquiries.
The email sent to ENTSO also went unanswered.
Along with Djordjevic, the leader of the People’s Party, Vuk Jeremic also spoke about Serbia „handing over the power system in the north of Kosovo to the Albanians.“ According to Jeremic, the proof of this claim lies in the fact that the Kosovo Office denied claims which have never been made – that the energy supply will reportedly cease – but not the original accusation – that the administration was handed over to KOSTT.
The Otadzbina movement reacted in a similar way to the denials of the Kosovo Office, assessing the connection agreement between KOSTT and ENTSO as „another proof of Aleksandar Vucic’s treacherous policy.“ This movement also accused government officials of diverting public attention from the document proving these claims. The KoSSev portal had insight into the same document.
„Regardless of whether the transfer of the right to supply, distribute and trade electricity will take place on December 14th, as some media have claimed in recent days, or if it will be done a few days or months later, it does not change the sad fact that Serbia will give up the electricity grid in Kosovo,“ Otadzbina wrote in a statement.
The citizens must know the truth
Miroslav Parovic from the People’s Freedom Movement also reacted this morning.
Parovic urged the head of the Kosovo Office, Petar Petkovic „to request the information on which dispatch center manages the high-voltage side of the Valac substation as of today from the director of Elektromreza Srbije as soon as possible and share it with the public.“
„If the control signals come from Pristina, then the citizens must know that from today there is no energy security for Serbs in the north of Kosovo, having in mind that without the management of the high voltage end of the Valac substation, there is no electricity connection of this part of the southern Serbian province to the rest of the country,” Parovic’s statement reads.
He also alerted that the Pristina government „could decide to turn off the power supply for the entire north of Kosovo with just a push of a button,“ adding that „the re-activation would require the takeover of the Valac substation.”
Finally, he called on Petkovic to share the truth with the citizens, instead of „covering up the wrong moves of Aleksandar Vucic“.
Rama and Hoti announce a new chapter in the Albania-Kosovo regulatory bloc
The Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama was the first to confirm the news that KOSTT started operating independently as a regulatory zone within the regulatory bloc Albania-Kosovo.
Rama visited the dispatch center of the Transmission System Operator in Albania today, where he announced that a 400 kW transmission line between Albania and Kosovo was put into operation.
He said that the start of its operation was postponed due to Serbia’s veto, adding that it agreed to recognize the agreement on the transmission line only if it remains dependent on Serbia.
The Albanian Prime Minister revealed that the veto was removed, thus enabling the operation of the transmission line. He did not reveal further details.
He also noted that Kosovo’s energy independence is the result of a regional Schengen.
Energy independence is one of the joint successes of Kosovo and international partners, the Kosovo Prime Minister of Kosovo, Avdullah Hoti also reacted later in the day.
„KOSTT has fulfilled all the conditions provided by the agreement and is now operating independently,“ Hoti wrote in a Facebook post.
He emphasized that KOSTT opened a new chapter in the Albania-Kosovo bloc.
Read more:
Petkovic: „Nothing spectacular will happen on December 14th“
Beta: Valac to remain within EMS, daughter company is still not registered – Kosovo Office confirms
Will KOSTT take over energy supply management in the north as of December 14th?
Hajdari: Kosovo gained energy independence; German embassy congratulates
ENTSO-E: Discussion with EMS and KOSTT on ways to solve the CE Deviations issue ongoing
Serbia could face penalty after row with Kosovo slows Europe’s clocks again
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
