Prishtina, 24 April 2013
The following is the full text of the speech given by Prime Minister Thaçi:
As you know, the first agreement on the normalization of relations between the states of Kosovo and of Serbia is a formal agreement between our two countries, for peace and good neighborliness.
Now, all Kosovo’s institutions must work toward implementation, naturally with the guarantee and full support of the European Union, the United States of America, implementing stakeholders in the country’s institutions, and other internal stakeholders, EULEX, NATO, and the OSCE for the free elections that will be held in the north.
Tomorrow, the Kosovo delegation will be in Brussels, led by Deputy Prime Minister, with regard to the implementation process. Kosovo has prepared an implementation plan, and it is ready. Tomorrow, it will be presented to the cabinet of Baroness Ashton in Brussels.
The plan is concrete, with laws, deadlines and implementation stakeholders. We expect to have an agreed implementation plan by April 26, as is required in the original agreement for the normalization of relations between the states of Kosovo and Serbia, in order to immediately begin implementation.
We have stressed previously and we also emphasize today, that implementation will be a challenge. The fate of the agreement will depend on implementation. The support of all Kosovo institutions is extremely important to this process. I mean, the entire Kosovar political spectrum, with the exception of some particular parties, and that of the Kosovo Assembly, Presidency, Government, local authorities, and citizens of the country.
The statements by the Serbian Government to citizens in the north, calling for implementation, are encouraging. I am grateful to the EU for their united position on continuing the process of implementation, and also for the firm stance of the U.S., to immediately proceed with the implementation plan and to take concrete actions with regard to implementation.
I stress once again, that this plan is not directed against anyone, and is in everyone’s interest.
The implementation plan should not frighten anyone, including the people in the north, regardless of the misleading impression given by several people who have been holding the north hostage now for 14 years.
Our plan is peace plan, it is a plan of understanding, tolerance, a plan of coexistence for the future, a plan of development, employment, growing social welfare, a plan for a new life, a plan for a European and democratic Kosovo, it is a joint plan between Kosovo and the entire democratic world.
Therefore, I know that we will have challenges, but I am convinced that we will succeed.
All our commitments will be peaceful, communicative and direct with citizens in the north, in order to have the free movement of people and goods, to have law and order, to have democracy, political pluralism, the organization of free elections, legitimate leadership and reform of all those mechanisms about which we agreed in the agreement.
What is vital is that the agreement is respected in full, in accordance with the resolution of the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo, the Kosovo Constitution and its laws
In this regard, we have no dilemmas and no hesitation. We are committed to working with all the international actors to begin implementation as soon as possible. But, it is an implementation that will affect the life of every citizen in the north, and their families and will directly affect the building of good neighborly relations with Serbia, as a necessary precondition for our two countries and peoples to move towards integration in NATO, the EU, Kosovo and the OSCE, and the UN.
The implementation plan will be completed within the next two days, as was planned in the agreement signed between the two prime ministers, and then in the next week or days, because the date is not yet determined, it will be ratified after the signing of this agreement by the two prime ministers and naturally, by Baroness Ashton as a guarantor of this agreement, ratified by the Parliament of the Republic of Kosovo.
I take this opportunity on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo, to thank the entire political spectrum for the support given to this process since the beginning, and with their vote and strong support in the Parliament of the Republic of Kosovo.
I thank the political leaders of all political parties, the LDK, Mr. Isa Mustafa, the AKR, President Pacolli, the AAK, Mr. Haradinaj, the SLS’s leader, Mr. Petrovic, the leader of the 6 +, Mr. Yagxhilar, the Bosnian community, and I thank the PDK for their united and professional support for the agreement. I would like to thank all the deputies one by one for the trust and support they have given the agreement by their vote.
On the other hand, we also understand and respect the different voices, but the democratic order and the will of the majority must be respected, and the state of Kosovo must be respected.
In this regard, Kosovo has been a good example, in the past and the present, and it will be in the future. It is extraordinarily important that at historic and decisive moments, political parties in Kosovo set to one side their narrow group, party and electoral interests, putting these interests in the service of the national interest, as this is high political culture, and national responsibility; and, we should be grateful to each other, and continue this tradition, as in negotiations in Vienna where we worked as a unity team, and as we now work together in Parliament and in Government in these difficult times and for implementation.
There is enough democratic space for political confrontations with the political spectrum and this should be respected and promoted further. But, we have also sent the best message as the political spectrum to the citizens of Kosovo, and by our decision that we have taken as a country, we have held together the people of Kosovo, and we have also sent a clear message to the whole democratic world that Kosovo is united in important state decisions; it is united in terms of joint cross-ethnic efforts, looking out for the interest of the state above all, in order to consolidate a civic democracy, a European order.
With this commitment that we have shown, we have come closer to the time of Kosovo’s integration into NATO and the EU.
So once again, let me thank you, deputy ministers, ministers, and government cabinet for the work and dedication you have shown.
Of course, now another chapter begins, one for which we have signed the agreement – the implementation of this agreement.
I expect that there may be some obstacles, but have full confidence that we will succeed. Those signing the agreement and implementing it are of good will and are working for peace, stability, and regional cooperation, and they are in the service of people in the north, and at the service of the Europeanization of the region.
Thank you.
Last modified: July 31, 2022