Eurasia Press & News
Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said ahead of the new round of dialogue on the normalization of relations with Serbia that he will not allow the creation of some form of Republika Srpska in the north of Kosovo, Croatian news agency Hina reported today.
At the meeting between Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić in Brussels on May 2, “the draft of the status of the municipalities in the north of Kosovo, where the majority of Serbs live,” will be presented, which is a key point of the negotiations, according to Hina.
Kurti, who spoke with the agency’s journalists on Friday at the economic forum in the Greek town of Delphi, said that he had not yet seen the draft.
The Serbian side prioritizes the formation of a community of municipalities with a Serbian majority in the north of Kosovo, which is foreseen by the Brussels agreement on the normalization of relations from 2013, reminds Hina.
Kosovo is trying to fight that the community of municipalities in the north of Kosovo does not have executive powers, stressing that it does not want to have something like Republika Srpska in BiH on its territory.
“Given the insistence of Brussels, I will be happy to see what kind of draft they have prepared, although I think it would have been better if they had presented it to me in Pristina first. However, I will ensure that what was already agreed on February 27 in Brussels is fulfilled, the existence of an appropriate level of self-government of the Serbian community according to the highest European international standards for the protection of minorities,” said Kurti.
“But what we will not allow is the right to territorialization and the creation of anything that would look like Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina. “We will not allow a satellite parastate with a destructive essence that would undermine the statehood of Kosovo,” he added.
Kurti claims that he sees similarities with Russia in Serbia’s relations with neighboring countries. “Our country, however, is a normal democratic country that gives individual and other rights to its citizens, but does not allow territorialization based on ethnicity because it is against democracy and the republic,” Kurti added.
He said that he “serves all citizens of Kosovo regardless of ethnic identity, social background or religious affiliation, and that in Brussels he will ensure constitutionality and legality in the entire territory of Kosovo”.
“Territorial sovereignty and integrity are something that must not be violated. I want normal relations with Serbia, European relations, good neighborly relations. The protection of minorities is important to us. But we cannot give executive powers to the local community because executive powers belong to the government and municipalities,” he stressed.
He added that, in addition, he wants to strengthen public services that would be offered to all citizens regardless of ethnicity, and not to provide them because of ethnicity.
“So, let’s wait and see how the meeting in Brussels develops,” Kurti said.
He said that “the starting point” of the meeting will be the adoption of a joint declaration on missing persons in Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008.
Kurti travels to Brussels encouraged by two international successes achieved last week, according to Hina. The Council of Europe (CoE) approved Kosovo’s admission to that human rights organization because 33 member countries out of a total of 45 voted so. At the same time, the EU canceled visas for Kosovars, so they can travel more easily to all countries except Spain, which five EU countries that do not recognize Kosovo, kept the previous regime.
“All the citizens of Kosovo, all the people in my country, felt more European this week than ever,” said Kurti Hini.
He said he was grateful to “partners and friends, including Croatia” who helped Kosovo exceed the required two-thirds majority to be in the Council of Europe.
Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman said after the vote that Croatia “strongly supported” Kosovo’s membership in the Council of Europe.
Kurti said that Kosovo and Croatia have excellent relations and that he looks forward to the progress of those relations, trade exchange and economic cooperation.
