Wrote: Etrit Rexhepi
Content has been published claiming that the European Union (EU) has published a report on the attack on the Kosovo Police in Banjska, for which it holds the Serbian state responsible.
The claim was published on June 3, through a video material from a television station with content in the Albanian language, "A2 CNN".
What is the truth?
Hibrid.info has researched and confirmed that the EU has not yet come up with an official investigation report, at least not publicly, about what happened in September last year in Banjska.
Link to the video material published by "A2 CNN" television on Youtube:
This video titled "EU security report: Banjska and every other incident in the north is the fruit of the Serbian state", published on the official "A2 CNN" channel on Youtube, reflects the news edition dedicated to Kosovo on this television.
In the story published in this edition, the claim is based on a publication by the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), which is an EU agency, which is referred to in the prepared story as an EU report (see here).
According to what is stated in this publication, the terrorist group that carried out the attack in Banjska is linked to the Serbian state, while all responsibility for the incidents that occurred, mainly in northern Kosovo, falls on the Serbs.
Another article published by this television's portal implies that the publication on which this claim is based is an EU report (see here).
Hibrid.info checked the website of this institute and found the publication in question (see here).
After verifying the content of this publication, it has been confirmed that the article contains the information claimed by "A2 CNN" television.
But, in the publication with authors Ilir Deda and Bojana Zoric, it is indicated that the article in question presents a "brief" (in Albanian, summary).
According to the definition published by this institute, these summaries are written with the aim of raising awareness of existing and emerging foreign and security policy challenges facing the European Union (see here).
As reports, the EUISS values publications, which usually present the results of large collaborative research projects or individual studies for third parties, containing in-depth analysis of key security and defence issues by both analysts and experts external to the Institute (see here).
Another piece of evidence that proves that the article in question does not present an EU report as claimed is the fact that both authors of the publication, in their posts on the social network “X”, refer to the document in question as a summary and analysis (see here and here).
Other findings from hibrid.info show that the European Union has not yet issued an official investigation report on the incident in Banjska (see here and here) even though the country's Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, Besnik Bislimi, had announced that Kosovo had sent the European Union and each member state a 48-page report on the aggression in Banjska (see here).
Analyze:
The claim that the EU has published a report holding the Serbian state responsible for the attack in Banjska is incorrect.
Hibrid.info has found that the article on which the claim is based does not represent an official EU investigation report. That publication is a summary and analysis aimed at raising awareness of existing and emerging foreign and security policy challenges facing the European Union.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses this content as "Manipulation of facts".
Reasoning:
“Factual manipulation” is a rating given to informational content that uses facts known to be accurate but interprets them in a distorted manner. These reports typically use accurate information to draw incorrect conclusions or claims, thereby misleading consumers of media content about the actual meaning of the facts presented.