Kurti: Borrell, Lajcak and Vucic Coordinated Views against Kosovo prior to Meeting in Brussels

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Premier Albin Kurti, Brussels, May 2 2023 (BETAPHOTO/European Council/Frederic Sierakowski)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said on Sept. 18 that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell and the Union’s envoy for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, had “synchronized” their views ahead of a recent meeting in Brussels to resume the talks between Serbia and Kosovo on the normalization of their relations.

Kurti said during a joint press conference in Pristina with Kosovo’s chief negotiator, Besnik Bislimi, that he travelled to Brussels for a meeting on Sept. 14 with “a concrete proposal” based on the principle of inclusivity, which, as he put it, meant that each article of the Basic Agreement signed by the two parties should be included in a sequenced implementation plan.

“The Annex to the Agreement contains three clauses mandating that each article of the Basic Agreement needs to be implemented, and that the parties must not obstruct any of them,” Kurti said, adding that Serbia and the EU mediators “maintain a clear stance against Kosovo in general, and the Basic Agreement in particular.”

“They have gone too far - they will implement the Basic Agreement in full, not just what Serbia wants. This logic is dead, and will go no further. Lajcak’s plan implements only what Serbia wants to be implemented,” Kurti said.

The prime minister’s deputy, Besnik Bislimi, said that the authors of the Franco-German proposal wanted an interphase in the Kosovo-Serbia Dialogue, where Kosovo should be offered de facto recognition of its independence, which should eventually be accepted de jure, too.

“The impotence of the international factor in the face of Serbia’s unconstructive role in the Dialogue produced the Franco-German proposal. The proponents requested an interphase, in which Kosovo should be offered that its independence be recognized de facto, and de jure at a later date. In a word, we have not given up a final agreement,” Bislimi explained.