Good evening everyone. Thank you for waiting for us until this hour.
We had several bilateral meetings today in Brussels, we did not have a trilateral meeting. The Government of the Republic of Kosovo has expressed its clear, determined position on the implementation of the Basic Agreement which was agreed on February 27 of last year and was then followed by the Implementation Annex which is an integral part from March 18 of the year spent in Ohrid. We consider that the Basic Agreement and the Implementation Annex are a distinguished achievement in the foreign policy of the Republic of Kosovo for good neighborly relations with our northern neighbor, with at least de facto recognition in the center, but it is also an achievement of the European Union who has mediated, has facilitated entire rounds of this dialogue either at the level of the prime minister with the president, or at the level of the chief negotiators.
Question from the journalist: Prime Minister, why did the tripartite meeting fail, because Borrell said it was your fault that you did not meet with President Vuciq. What were the requirements that led to failure?
Prime Minister Kurti: The last time we had a trilateral meeting was on September 14 of last year, that is, ten days before the terrorist attack in Banjska of Zveçan, and since then we have not had a trilateral meeting. A lot has happened since then. Banjska happened, but also happened the letter of withdrawal from the Basic Agreement, in which the former prime minister of Serbia Bernabiq read and deposited before the European 27.
As the High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security, and the vice-president of the European Commission, Josep Borrell, himself said, I have asked for guarantees of good faith and good will that enable the implementation of the agreements. There can be no implementation of agreements without good faith and good will, and these come through the three guarantees that I have highlighted. The first is the signing of the Basic Agreement, only the signing of the Basic Agreement brings legal security, juridical on the one hand, and cancels previous violations. The second guarantee is the withdrawal of the letter of the former prime minister (of Serbia) Bernabiq, because in that letter she tells us that Kosovo’s independence, seat in the UN and territorial integrity are not accepted. What is the meaning of implementing agreements or trying to normalize relations when they say that independence, seat in the UN, and territorial integrity will not be respected by the other side. Meanwhile, the third guarantee I requested is the handover of the master criminal Millan Radojqiq and his terrorist gang to the Kosovo authorities. We cannot resurrect the murdered police sergeant, Afrim Bunjaku, but Serbia must hand over Millan Radojqiqi to us. That is why today we had bilateral meetings, without the trilateral one. In any case, there will be a discussion of the chief negotiators at the beginning of July, but we will not be able to practically implement the Agreement, for which we are very interested, without realizing the good will and good faith, and for which we believe that they pass through these three things: the signing of the Basic Agreement, the withdrawal of Bernabiqi’s letter, and the surrender of Millan Radojqiqi.
Question from the journalist: Do you have information from the American side because Jim O’Brien told us in an online meeting that you have behind, that Serbia withdrew from the first version of the letter that Bërnabiq sent? Are you in contact with Washington about this matter, and does the EU understand your request for the extradition of Radojqiq?
Prime Minister Kurti: I believe that Millan Radojqiq must be handed over to the Kosovo authorities, otherwise the normalization of relations, peace in the region, will not happen in the region. It is a violation of Article 2 and Article 3 of the Basic Agreement, therefore we do not see alternatives, compromises or concessions to the rule of law and justice. The issue of handing over Millan Radojqiqi is not a political request of Kosovo, but a necessity of the rule of law in the democratic, independent state, the Republic of Kosovo.
I cannot now know the details of what the president of Serbia was able to issue, but the reservation letters from the side are a violation of the Basic Agreement. You can guess if the Kosovo side also decides to send reserve letters to the Basic Agreement where this work leads. We have told you to withdraw these reserve letters because the Agreement is very clear with its relatively short text, so let’s commit to its implementation. These side reserve letters are a direct attack on the Basic Agreement, which is why we asked for them to be removed.
Question from the journalist: Is it expected that there will be meetings at the level of chief negotiators if there are no meetings at all at a high level, because the EU has often said that without movement at a high level, even practical work at the level of chief negotiators cannot be carried out, then what is the meaning of those meetings?
Prime Minister Kurti: It will be tested at the beginning of July, most likely on July 2, between the two chief negotiators who will discuss the sequencing. But the implementation of the Agreement requires its observance. What we have done today, we have protected the Basic Agreement. The Basic Agreement is under attack and today we have defended it. The Basic Agreement is under attack from the non-signing, it is under attack from Bërnabiq’s letter and it is under attack from the freedom of Radojqiq, who otherwise continues exercises and training for new attacks in Serbia. Therefore, in order to normalize relations, we have said that these three guarantees are necessary.
So, let’s discuss the next sequencing, but for implementation, respect is needed, protection of the Basic Agreement is needed, which I am sure will be achieved with exactly what we said today and for which I also thank Mr. Josep Borell, who very adequately listed what we told him, clearly quoted them, but we would not have called them conditions, but guarantees of good will and good faith.
Question from the journalist: When we are on the sequence, have you seen today’s proposal that the European side has prepared and if so, what is the difference compared to the presentation on September 14?
Prime Minister Kurti: We have not arrived there. This is a matter for the chief negotiators, but what I can say is that, for now, we only have the sequenced roadmap plan for the implementation of the Basic Agreement from December of last year, which is the version we have.
Question: Today we saw Mr. Kurti at the press conference Mr. Vuciq, who directs all the accusations to the Kosovar side. Do you believe that there can be an association of municipalities with a Serbian majority without direct recognition from Serbia and do you believe that with Mr. Lajcak and Mr. Borell hopes that something concrete will be achieved in these last six months, or are you looking for changes in this direction?
Prime Minister Kurti: The Basic Agreement is based on de facto recognition at least. The issue of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities is an issue inherited from past governments. We do not deny this, but it can be addressed in article 7 and 10 of the Basic Agreement. We now have the Basic Agreement, which is bigger, higher, deeper than anything that has been done before, and for that we are very happy and we want it to be implemented.
Article 7 talks about the management of the Serbian community, Article 10 talks about the implementation of all agreements that were made in the past. There are 39 already. These for the association are two out of 39, and we cannot allow the Basic Agreement to be pushed into the background by making the association an urgent issue, or putting it at the center. We do not deny the legacy of the previous governments, but the Basic Agreement must be protected in its essence.
Let’s not forget that when the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian Majority is requested, they refer to the Agreement of 2013. Otherwise, tomorrow it will be 11 years since it was ratified as an international agreement by 84 votes in the Assembly of the Republic. On the other hand, Serbia does not consider it an international agreement. And not only that. It has violated the agreement of 2013, where the first six points are about the association, but from point 7 to point 10 are about the integration of Serbs in the institutions in Kosovo, for which Serbia has given an order for collective resignation and boycott and in particular violated Article 14, which states that Kosovo and Serbia will not hinder each other in their European integration journey. So in other words, the most beloved agreement referred to by Serbia, which tomorrow has the 13th anniversary of its ratification in the Assembly of Kosovo, was violated by Serbia itself, except that it was not voted in the Parliament of Serbia, because they do not consider it international agreement. So, things are not so black and white, and we patiently and with great care and attention listen, address everything and above all, first of all, we are in defense of the Basic Agreement which, of course, Serbia continues to attack.
Question from the journalist: Do you have hope in Mr. Borrell and Mr. Lajcak in this last six months at the end of the mandate or are you looking for changes?
Prime Minister Kurti: I always have hope, I am optimistic, not only because the job description requires me to do so, and I am very happy to answer this request in my position. Now I can’t know how the following weeks and months will go, but what I know is that the international factors do not agree with that reserve letter of the former prime minister (of Serbia) Bernabiq, they would like the Basic Agreement to was signed and they consider Milan Radojcici and his paramilitary group a criminal and terrorist. So, in terms of values and the essence of things, they have an understanding of what we say and do.
Question from the reporter: A question about measures. According to the officials of the European Union, if the parties are not constructive today, they risk the benefit of the fund from the European Union, and Kosovo risks over 900 million euros allocated from this Expansion Plan fund. Is the non-meeting or now the failure of the tripartite meeting for the benefit of funds endangering Kosovo?
Prime Minister Kurti: The benefit of the funds is in a longer period. About half are grants, half are loans. It is true that Kosovo will benefit close to 1 billion euros, which means that it is higher than the size of our country in the Western Balkans of these six countries that have not yet been integrated into the European Union. You have seen that the High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security, Josep Borrell, who is also the Vice President of the European Commission, has requested that the measures for Kosovo be lifted. That’s all we can do. So, Kosovo is in its right. In the north, de-escalation took place in the summer of last year. It is true that the re-escalation took place in September (2023) by the terrorist group of Radojcici, meanwhile this year we have taken a giant step thanks to the Administrative Instruction, article 72 of the Law on Local Self-Government has enabled first the petition of 20 percent and then even the voting, but Belgrade and an order to boycott it, since it had 20 percent of the votes, but they did not have 50 percent of the votes. Because they did not have 50 percent of the votes then they became destructive and demanded a boycott. Now there are some internal dynamics in the 27th of the European Union, why we still have the measures now that we are talking. But the main man of the Foreign and Security Policy, the Vice President of the European Commission says that the measures should be removed from Kosovo. As Kosovo, we cannot do more than that.
Question from the journalist: Do you know which countries are against lifting the measures? France, Italy are being mentioned and how do you consider Hungary taking over the Presidency of the EU from Monday, knowing that Hungary did not vote for Kosovo’s membership in the Council of Europe, said it will vote against, in the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and was also not in favor of the work of the Assembly. What’s going on?
Prime Minister Kurti: The 27 states of the European Union are together in the European Union, this does not mean that they do not have differences. You know that five of them do not recognize us, Spain, Slovakia, Romania, Greece and Cyprus do not recognize the Republic of Kosovo. We cannot equate them because they are not equal to Kosovo. On the other hand, even when we have different votes in international institutions and organizations, it is not that they vote the same, but in terms of the measures, what differences with what nuances exist in Brussels is the answer, but not from me who is in Brussels.
Question from the journalist: Mr. Kurti, does it make sense to go further in the dialogue with Serbia, knowing that we are at the end or we are in the last year of your government? Do you think that early elections eventually or elections in this situation, even if we don’t call them early, could not open some kind of new path within this process?
Prime Minister Kurti: Kosovo is a normal democratic state. We have abnormal relations with Serbia, but because Serbia is not a normal democratic state. Which means that in order to normalize relations, Kosovo should not change, but Serbia, and we cannot change Serbia without the European Union, without the United States of America, without the democratic West in general. We cannot know how long this will take, but we do everything we know and can and I can say that Kosovo today, after three years, has been constructive in the dialogue and has benefited from the dialogue because it has maintained a principled position and has been patient in necessary explanations for our European and American partners. I wish the best, but I cannot know when we can have the normalization of relations with Serbia, which of course only makes sense based and organized around recognition in the center.
Question from the journalist: What about the internal plan in the sense of the search for legitimacy…?
Prime Minister Kurti: Yes, I tried to enable new democratic elections in Kosovo now that I am in the last year of my mandate and when the next elections are no longer a matter of years but a matter of months, we said to jointly discuss the dissolution of the Assembly in one month and suitable season, but it seems that the majority of the opposition in Kosovo wants only one thing more than my departure, and that is the criticism and attack on me, which means that we should continue to remain prime minister until further it will be four years, and then we will no longer be able to postpone the elections.
Question from the journalist: But you are ready for elections, right?
Prime Minister Kurti: I am always ready for democratic governance and for new parliamentary elections.
Question from the journalist: Can you tell us about the Hungarian Presidency, what are the expectations?
Prime Minister Kurti: Let’s see, it’s a matter of days when they will take the leadership. Hungary has recognized us. It has been seen that there are also personal relations between the heads of the two states, in this case with Serbia, but I believe that we should give some time, in the months of July and August, to the Hungarian leadership on the one hand, but also to the new European Commission on the other hand, so that we can give accurate and stable assessments, judgments.
Question from the journalist: Are the Brussels and Ohrid agreements finally dead? Can we call it a failure after this failure of the tripartite meeting?
Prime Minister Kurti: Absolutely not. If Serbia were asked, the Basic Agreement would be undone, but it (the Basic Agreement) is being successfully defended by the Government of the Republic of Kosovo, by our country in general with all institutions on one side, and by our European and American partners on the other. If Serbia were asked, the Basic Agreement would be killed immediately.
Last modified: June 27, 2024