The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, has also reiterated from Croatia that Serbia is behind the attack on the Ibër-Lepenci canal. He said that in cooperation with allied countries, capacities are being raised along the border with Serbia to increase security within Kosovo.
“Nervousness in Belgrade is being translated into aggressiveness against Kosovo”, said Kurti in a press conference with the Prime Minister of Croatia, Andrej Plenkovic.
Kurti was asked about the current protests in Serbia and the impact they may have on the process of negotiations with Kosovo. And he said that Belgrade has not learned from its past, as it called Serbia a paramilitary state.
“For a century and a half in Serbia, there were only two and a half years of democracy. Serbia is not a democratic state, human rights and minorities are not respected. The establishment in Serbia does not believe in political pluralism, there is no rule of law and that is why there are such fierce student protests… They have turned into what we know, a paramilitary state. They bring Milan Radoicić to us to undertake terrorist actions, while in Belgrade they beat the students. We know from historical experience how this ends, but it seems that Belgrade has not learned any lessons from its past. We want good neighborly relations, that’s why we have the Brussels Agreement”, he said.
Kurti added that it is necessary to insist on Brussels to exert pressure on Belgrade to respect the agreements that lead to normalization.
“Kosovo is a normal country, we have remarkable economic growth of 6% of the gross domestic product in the last 4 years, we have democratic progress, but our normal relations must also contain a normal Serbia. Here, Brussels can help much more than it currently does”, he said.
Croatian Prime Minister Plenkovic, while mentioning the attacks by Serbian groups in the north of Kosovo since last year, said that a quick result cannot be expected, but that it is important that the process be peaceful and that there are more talks between the two parties.
“We believe in the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia that results in normalization and ends with mutual recognition and functioning that leads to the position that Kosovo undertakes the journey towards the EU. There are five EU states that have not recognized Kosovo and this process may not be fast”, said Planković.
