Prishtina, 27 October, 2023
Dear representatives of the media,
Dear citizens,
Yesterday, on the sidelines of the European Council Summit, as part of the dialogue in Brussels, we held a meeting with the heads of the European Union, with the Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, with the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, with the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, with the President of the Council European, Charles Michel, the Vice President of the European Commission, the High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, as well as his emissary, Miroslav Lajcak.
This meeting took place after the visit of five emissaries from the European Union and the United States of America to our country on October 21 of this month, during which they also offered a plan proposal for moving forward.
The meeting was a good opportunity to ask the leaders of the European Union for more security on the border between Kosovo and Serbia, where the aggression against Kosovo came from, with the paramilitaries who carried out the criminal and terrorist attack sponsored by Serbia, and I also asked for punishment and the sanctioning of Serbia for the terrorist attack on Kosovo as impunity becomes an encouragement for repetition. We do not seek sanctions for the sake of punishment but we seek sanctions as punishment for the sake of non-repetition. You all know that we had 16 barricades for three weeks in December last year, then we had the wounding and injury of about 90 members of KFOR, a dozen Kosovo policemen and quite a few journalists at the end of May of this year, as well as the kidnapping of three Kosovo policemen in Leposaviq on June 14 of this year. Meanwhile, on September 24, they killed Sergeant Afrim Bunjaku, the hero of Kosovo. We do not need the fifth episode, and in order to prevent the repetition of such murderous violence, it is necessary to punish and sanction Serbia.
In this meeting, I emphasized that the paramilitary terrorist group of Milan Radoicic and other responsible parties should be extradited from Serbia to Kosovo and face justice in Kosovo. The Republic of Kosovo is the most democratic country in the region and with the rule of law of the highest level, also evaluated by the “World Justice Project”, there exactly in Kosovo they would have a fair and just trial, especially since it would be also monitored by the European Union rule of law mission, EULEX.
For its democratic and economic progress, Kosovo deserves to have the status of a candidate country for the European Union as soon as possible, and for the recognition of Kosovo to be joined by five non-recognizing states, to the 22 that recognize Kosovo’s independence.
Meanwhile, in order to increase the security of Kosovo and the region in general, the Partnership for Peace, an agreement with NATO towards membership in the North Atlantic Alliance is both a necessity and a solution. The Republic of Kosovo is committed to full normalization of relations with Serbia and mutual recognition. In this regard, I reminded him that on February 27 in Brussels we accepted the Basic Agreement, six sentences in the preamble, 11 articles and the Implementation Annex in Ohrid on March 18 with its 12 points.
But in both cases, on February 27 in Brussels and on March 18 in Ohrid, the Serbian side, namely the president of Serbia, refused to sign the agreement. Although he said that he accepts the agreement, he also agrees with its text and content.
I also offered the signing of the agreement at the Berlin Process Summit in Tirana on October 16, where Serbia, which was represented by its prime minister, also refused, as did the president of Serbia. Meanwhile, at the meeting on October 21, we were told by the American and European emissaries that the draft for self-sufficiency that they brought was carefully written with respect to the letter and structure of the Constitution and the laws of the Republic of Kosovo, and that if it were to be signed there, it was foreseen that it would be controlled The Constitutional Court immediately, that is, the Constitutional Court gives its assessment of the constitutionality of this proposal as an answer.
Meanwhile, yesterday at the European Council Summit in Brussels in front of the heads of the European Union, we offered to sign the Brussels Basic Agreement of February 27, with the entire Ohrid Implementation Annex of March 18, and the proposal for the implementation of the 7th article of the Agreement in relation to the 10th article, that is, for the idea of the single promotion transformed into a proposal.
The signature would imply acceptance, and therefore implementation. However, acceptance means signature, and only signature means acceptance and guarantee of implementation. We told them this very clearly yesterday, emphasizing that the European Council Summit in Brussels is the event and the place where this should happen.
Serbia refused to sign again, thus rejecting the draft for self-sufficiency or the implementation of Article 7 of the Agreement in conjunction with Article 10 of the Basic Agreement.
Citizens of Kosovo from the Serbian community have rights guaranteed and extended by the Constitution of our Republic, the Serbian language is the official language throughout Kosovo at all levels of administration, 17 percent of local representatives in the Municipal Assemblies are Serbian, while 10 countries are seats reserved for the Serbian community in the Parliament of the Republic of Kosovo which are being boycotted and are not being used. We know that MPs use their free will to sometimes boycott temporarily on issues. However, doing the boycott all the time from the position of the reserved seat, this is a great harm done to the Serbian community first, and then it is also an attempt to harm the state of Kosovo.
Let’s not forget that from 2008 until now, the 62 percent allocated budget of the Republic of Kosovo for municipalities per capita is higher in the 10 municipalities with a Serbian majority than in the other 28 municipalities. So, we made calculations from 2008, when Kosovo’s independence was declared.
We want the integration of Serbs in the institutional and social life in Kosovo. Those who integrate always live better.
After more than a decade of insistence in the Association, in Zajednica, Serbia yesterday refused to sign a draft for self-sufficiency that was brought by the European Union itself and the United States of America.
In a time of numerous crises, the high-level meeting that took place on the sidelines of the European Council Summit shows the importance that the European Union and the heads of the European Union attach to the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia.
The Republic of Kosovo highly values the commitment of the European Union, the United States of America, their leaders, their emissaries and we thank them for their role and contribution.
Now is the time for Serbia to be held responsible for the terrorist and criminal attack on Kosovo as well as for the refusal to sign the agreements.
We have to sign what we agree on. Signature is acceptance and signature is a guarantee of performance.
Thank you. Now we will be able to answer some of your questions.
Last modified: October 30, 2023