Prishtinë, 28 November 2022
The first Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, Development and Dialogue of the Republic of Kosovo, Besnik Bislimi, participated in the Belgrade Security Conference at the discussion table on dialogue with Serbia. Deputy Prime Minister Bislimi attended the conference online, due to a ban on his visit and physically attending the conference in Belgrade.
In his address, he expressed regret at the inability to be physically present, saying it did not reduce his desire to be part of this panel. Deputy Prime Minister Bislimi spoke on the objective and purpose from the beginning of the Kurti II Government, that in the dialogue process, to talk about the final agreement, where he mentioned the prepared proposal with six elements of what this comprehensive normalization would look like, delivered to Mr. Lajcak not only when discussed publicly at the Meetings on 18 August, but also during the last quarter of 2021. During this process, there were issues that were carried and could not be avoided, such as the energy issue and that of registration plates. There was a strong interest in making them important by linking them to tensions and other issues, whereas they should be only technical. Deputy Prime Minister Bislimi said the biggest problem in the dialogue process is the divergence between the positions of the two sides, where for Kosovo it is important that we have a final document and centered on mutual recognition, and for Serbia is the opposite.
As for the issue of registration plates, he said the request for a deadline extension derives from major disinformation campaigns Vuçiç presented to citizens, concerns against threats of parallel structures to citizens in the north and Vuçiç’s apparent willingness to create tensions over a basic issue. There have been no capacity deficiencies on our part to meet the requirements arise from the process. Vuçiç has also spoken of surrender, but this is a concept that criminals use when talking to government institutions and we don’t want to see citizens in that position. We have been told, and have been willing to cooperate in finding a mechanism through which we make the transition easy, so that citizens’ readiness in accordance with the rule of law increases. He also commented on the recent measures around the registration plate issue, explaining the transitional stages and said that we hope this process will be finalized without incident by 21 April, which incidentally is the same as the last deadline to reach a permanent agreement, according to EU standards and practices, which failed due to lack of positioning by the Serbian side.
At the close of the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Bislimi also spoke of the successes and achievements of the Government and the continued dedication to the conclusion of the dialogue process.
Last modified: October 31, 2022