Kurti: I stressed that the agreement with Serbia should be made during the term of Biden and Borrell
The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, and the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vuiqi., Met on Tuesday in Brussels, as part of the dialogue, but the parties did not agree on the issues raised.
This was their first meeting in Brussels, in the framework of the dialogue mediated by the European Union. The new round of dialogue is expected to take place in July.
The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti said that the sooner an agreement is reached between Kosovo and Serbia, the easier it will be, as he stressed that without mutual recognition, neither party will be able to join the EU.
“I stressed that within the mandate of Mr. Borrell and within the mandate of President Biden, the agreement should be made, but the sooner it is done, the easier it is,” Kurti told reporters after the meeting in Brussels.
He acknowledged that reaching such an agreement would not be easy, but said he was not “pessimistic” that “we are already dealing with things at their core, and we are not trying to avoid the elephant in the room.” “This is because the president (of the United States, Joe) Biden has asked for mutual recognition since we currently have mutual non-recognition.”
Meanwhile, regarding the meeting with Vuiqiiq, he said that he presented four new ideas, one of which was the signing of a peace agreement, where Kosovo and Serbia would pledge not to attack each other and “in this way to contribute to peace and security in our region and beyond. “
Kurti also said that during the meeting he raised the issue of missing persons, which according to him, is an issue “that does not wait”.
“On the issue of missing persons, those who disappeared with violence, the head of the Serbian delegation, Mr. should be removed from his position and should be interrogated. Veljko Odalovi,, who in 1997-1999, was the ‘chief (chief) of the Kosovo region’, and led the occupied Kosovo together with Mr. “Zoran Angelkovic,” said Kurti.
“There does not seem to be a willingness (from Serbia) to deal with the responsible people of that time, who, unfortunately, are also in state positions. So, it is not about people who have become deputies with the votes of the citizens, but about people appointed by the local government, in those positions they have “, he added.
The Prime Minister of Kosovo also said that he has proposed that after mutual recognition, regarding minorities, the principle of bilateral reciprocity be applied, creating in Kosovo a National Council for Serbs, as Albanians living in Serbia have.
He also presented an idea for the redesign of the CEFA agreement, but according to him the three proposals were rejected by the Serbian delegation, while for CEFTA they did not receive a response.
Vucic: We absolutely did not agree on anything
Meanwhile, after the meeting, the President of Serbia, Vuiqiiq said that he did not agree with Kurti “absolutely for nothing”.
Vucic also said that Kurti asked him if he would recognize Kosovo’s independence.
“The man came to disagree about nothing. The man came to say ‘I came to ask you when you will accept the independence of Kosovo’. My answer was never. “Then it exploded,” Vucic said.
The Serbian president said that the Kosovo side does not want to fulfill the agreements they have signed.
“So, they do not want to talk about the Kosovo Association at all. Secondly, they urgently asked to immediately hear when we will recognize an independent Kosovo and thirdly, they call incidents and provocations the fact that Serbs want to participate in liturgies in their churches because the lands for those churches have been given “Maybe during the rule of Slobodan Milosevic,” Vucic said.
He added that they talked with the Kosovo side about the issue of missing persons, the principles and how important it is to find out the places where they are buried, Albanian or Serb civilians. He said that he offered the Kosovo side that always if they have doubts about where there may be any cemetery, they should be opened and told to the public. But, according to him, at this point there was a verbal clash with the Kosovo side.
“Then we were told that this could not be done. Why can’t it be done? Because Veljko Odalovic is in charge of the commission and according to them he is Gering and Goebbels. Then I told him that he looked more like Goebbels than Veljko Odalovic. But, to be honest, all that I said is in softer form than it really has been. “I did not see any rational approach and nothing else,” Vucic said.
The meeting was mediated by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, and the EU Special Envoy for Kosovo-Serbia Dialogue, Miroslav Lajajakk.
