Brussels, 14 September 2023
Dear journalists,
Dear citizens,
Thank you for having us, to address you regarding the next high-level meeting here in Brussels, under the mediation, facilitation of the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign and Security Policy and the Vice-President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell, and his special European envoy, Miroslav Lajcak.
At this high-level meeting, I have proposed a sequenced roadmap for the implementation of the Brussels Agreement of February 27, and the Ohrid Implementation Annex of March 18.
This proposal, this sequence of how the steps should be to implement the Basic Agreement, which we have agreed upon, I will be able to distribute to all of you at the end of this press conference.
The other side, that is the president of Serbia, did not give any proposal and the meeting did not have a result.
There can be no compromise, since there can be no compromise between the sequential proposition and the old conditional.
When I asked during this meeting to see the proposal that Serbia has given, because I was told that there is one, the mediators were not able to bring it.
And only after the end of the meeting I was given a two-page document in English and in Serbian in Cyrillic, which represents a document at least six months old, which means that it cannot be a sequenced guide as proposed by the Serbian side, but which was actually a document of Serbia’s stipulation that once the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian Majority should be implemented, that is, that agreement before 10 years, and then eventually we will be able to move on to the implementation of this Basic Agreement.
I had to tell you that we are not in April 2013, when Baroness Ashton, her adviser Robert Cooper and the prime ministers of that time, Hashim Thaçi and Ivica Daçic, were in the room. It’s not the 2013 deal.
Clearly, Article 10 of the Basic Agreement states that all previous dialogue agreements in Brussels must be implemented, which are binding and valid, and there are 39 in total. But it is not possible from Article 10, out of 39 agreements, to select only one such agreement and to decide like the cart before the horse, to become both the essence and the precondition. So, I have not accepted such a condition.
It is regretful that the European emissary Lajçak has accepted such a condition and the condition from
Serbia that the mediator Lajçak has accepted, has undermined his function as a facilitator and mediator, but I could not accept one such thing, infringing on Kosovo, whose Prime Minister I am.
So, we also have this other document that is older than six months that represents the conditionality document of Serbia, which the association once saw and then we also have in our hands and we were not aware that there was such a document.
It cannot be called a proposal because when you read the content you will see that it is conditional, whereas we have made a proposal and it is unfortunate how exactly when I am constructive and make proposals, a kind of nervousness is caused in the room and the dialogue becomes difficult.
I once again thank you all for your patience and once again express my full willingness that each of the 11 clauses of the Basic Agreement, each sentence of the 6 clauses of the preamble and each clause of the 12 clauses of the Ohrid Implementation Annex, I am ready and interested to implement it an hour ago, in full, without any conditions.
Question: You mentioned Prime Minister that Mr. Lajcak has accepted the conditionality of the Serbian side and, according to you, has violated the role of the facilitator. Did you mean that Mr. Lajcak in this case, has taken part in this process in favor of Serbia?
And the next question has to do with whether the issue of sanctions was discussed, since your deputy Mr. Besnik Bislimi mentioned a few days earlier, before this meeting, that these sanctions will be abolished by the EU?
Prime Minister Kurti: I found out today why the sequenced implementation of the agreement has not been progressing for six months, because a major obstacle has been put in place from the very beginning, which is the conditionality of Serbia. I did not have this document before. I didn’t know. I have heard the statements, I believed that they were the positions of one side, but it is now clear to me that Serbia’s conditionality has turned into the position of the mediator, the European facilitator Lajcak. In order to move forward, this must be overcome. Any student of the Faculty of Law anywhere in the world when they read the basic agreement says this is de facto mutual recognition. You have the preamble, you have the first articles, and nowhere do you find the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian Majority. I would have to see what are the Brussels agreements that Article 10 refers to, in order to understand that there are also prior obligations. But, this agreement from the beginning when it is read as a text and in the following is very clear that it is a de facto recognition. Now to completely ignore this essence of this agreement and this prioritization of things there, and to place the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian Majority as a prerequisite and at the center where we are almost at the end of April 2013, is contrary to the Basic Agreement itself, which ultimately we accepted and launched publicly and officially on February 27 and which has also become part of the conclusions of the European Council.
Question: Was Mr. Kurti unfair, Mr. Borell in the media conference that he did earlier, unfair to Kosovo. Were there tensions between you and Mr. Vucic in the meeting that took place today?
Prime Minister Kurti: I believe that any of you will be able to make the most accurate assessment after reading our proposal for the sequence of the roadmap, the steps that must be followed to implement the agreement and also the condition that official Belgrade gave at least six months ago because the document has no date, but based on the content it is clear to us that this document was written before the Ohrid Agreement was made, namely the Implementation Annex Agreement which is an integral part of the Basic Agreement. As for the sanctions which are being called measures, so that the 27 of the European Union is not forced to vote, the de-escalation has taken place in Kosovo. We must be careful that there is no re-escalation and for this we are doing everything possible, but also the confiscation of armaments and weapons in the north, as well as the arrest of criminals and the corrupt, is a function of law and order and constitutionality and justice which help de-escalation. For us, the rule of law on the one hand, and de-escalation and security on the other, are not in conflict, on the contrary, they help each other. Therefore, since this de-escalation has taken place, since the Administrative Instruction to implement Article 72 of the Law on Local Self-Government has been signed by the Minister of Local Government Administration, Elbert Krasniqi, the way is open for these unjust measures that are harming the most democratic state in the Western Balkans, be definitively removed.
Question: How long has the work been left now Mr. PM after this what happened and did anyone consider this your sequencing plan?
Prime Minister Kurti: They, as mediators and facilitators on one side, and the other side on the other side already have our proposal and they should give their opinion on this. Today there was no proposal on the table in Brussels except what I brought as the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo.
Question: Borell and Vucic were also in agreement about the interpretation of the way to go to the elections, both of them said that the Kosovo proposal is too long and is not a proper solution and should go through the easiest and most convenient option, that’s resignation, can you consider that?
Prime Minister Kurti: The Serbian List, as a branch of the ruling party in Serbia operating in Kosovo, on November 5 resigned collectively in the municipalities in the north of Kosovo, and they did so with bad intentions and made a mistake. For their mistake they should not have to pay the current presidents who have a weak idea of legitimacy because the turnout was low, but they are the only ones who have legitimacy. I am interested in the early elections as soon as possible, but you cannot force anyone to resign, on behalf of anyone, this must be done respecting the Administrative Instruction, which states that a petition must be organized with 20% of the signatures of the electoral body in the respective municipality in order to then organize the voting, right to the end of the term of office of the mayors. This is the democratic legal path from below, impositions from above are neither democratic nor welcome.
Question: Can you speak Serbian, given that we had a statement from President Vucic and Borrell, who said that you were not ready for steps such as the creation of an association with a Serbian majority, which has been an obligation for 10 years and is somewhere under key?
Prime Minister Kurti: Today, as Prime Minister of Kosovo, I was the only one who proposed something in Brussels. I proposed a sequential roadmap on how to implement the Brussels agreement of February 27 and then the implementation of the Ohrid Annex of March 18. I can also give you this letter that I proposed today, in English. Neither from the Serbian side nor from the Brussels side was there any letter as a proposal. This is the third proposal of Kosovo, but it is my first proposal as Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo. Now, this is the first meeting at the level of the Prime Minister of Kosovo and the President of Serbia where we discuss the implementation of the agreement for this sequential roadmap. There I realized that, in fact, Serbia has never proposed any sequential guide like us, but it has only submitted a document that is a condition, that first this union of municipalities must be done, and then we will see about the agreement.
This brings us back to the situation, in April 2013, but it is not Katherine Ashton, Robert Cooper, Ivica Dacic and Hashim Thaci. Now we are 10 years later, all the agreements from Brussels, 39 of them are within the article 10 of this agreement that we reached. I will not deny that these agreements exist and all that are binding and valid must be implemented, but this is Article 10. I cannot accept that the community of municipalities and the creation of an association is a prerequisite for the execution of our agreement, because it contradicts this agreement. During our meetings and today, I have always been ready to discuss the association of Serbian-majority municipalities, but it is not possible to negotiate the draft statute of the association if we do not first agree on a sequential roadmap. I made a proposal, there was no other proposal, but it was basically impossible to have a compromise due to the fact that there is no compromise between conditions and proposals. There should be two propositions.
Question: But this is an agreement that exists for 10 years, I don’t know what is not clear here?
Prime Minister Kurti: That agreement is now part of a much bigger agreement, I am not running away from that agreement, but that agreement cannot be placed in the center, any law student who would read the Brussels agreement would say that this is de facto mutual recognition between Serbia and Kosovo. But Serbia now somehow wants to deny this, so let’s talk about that association of municipalities. It is within the framework of all previous agreements, but it can neither be a prerequisite in terms of time nor central in terms of space.
Question: So, you agree to form the association based on the principles of 2013 and 2015, are you saying this now?
Prime Minister Kurti: Now I said that in that sequential guide we have to negotiate a draft statute, for the Serbian community in Kosovo, and in relation to Article 10 where those two agreements are, but when the time comes for that. This cannot be the first phase of our negotiations, on the other hand, you should know that the 2013 agreement has three parts. The first part is the association of municipalities, the second part is the integration of Serbs in the Kosovo system, which is not the case today, and the third part is article 14 which says that Kosovo and Serbia cannot create obstacles for each other on the road European. But this is where President Vucic committed a violation on December 10 of last year, when he sent 5 letters to 5 countries that have not yet recognized Kosovo’s independence within the European Community. So, the dearest agreement that is officially in Belgrade was broken on December 10. On the other hand, this 2015 agreement has not passed the test of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo. I also said in Ohrid 6 months ago that I am ready to write the draft of the statute, but on 3 pillars which should be the ones that hold that creation… The first pillar would be the Constitution and Constitutionality of the Republic of Kosovo , because if Kosovo wasn’t a Republic I wouldn’t be prime minister either, the second is the attitude of Frederica Mogherini, who said on August 24, 2015, the day before the agreement, that the Association cannot have executive powers or represent the third layer of governance in Kosovo, and the position of the American government, which was published on January 30 of this year through a text by Gabriel Escobar and Derek Scholer. So the American, European and Kosovo pillar. If official Belgrade wants these three pillars to be the basis on which we can negotiate, then I am willing, but it is not possible….
Question: Here is a bit of a draft statute?
Prime Minister Kurti: That draft statute was even worse than the Republika Srpska, and both Europeans and Americans admit that. That draft statute no longer has any value because there, e.g. there are various powers for the association that are more than our assemblies and our governments because they enter the domain of independent institutions of Kosovo, such as Independent Mining Commission. So, that proposal is not a proposal that can be accepted by anyone, and that’s why even official Belgrade no longer insists on it.
Question: Borrell, Prime Minister, also spoke about the risk of re-escalation of the situation in the north if the demands of the European Union are not accepted. What does this warning mean for you?
Prime Minister Kurti: Those who say that there may be an escalation, must show who will do the escalation. I repeated today, Mr. Borrell, which we cannot talk about an eruption of violence in the north, because there is no volcano in the north of Kosovo. The eruption is the eruption of the volcano. There can be no outbreak of violence, because violence is not a natural phenomenon or disaster. Violence is not like fires, storms, floods, or volcanoes, or earthquakes. So when there is violence and escalation, we have to find the structures and proper nouns and adjectives that make the escalation. I am never one to blame the population, I never think that the violence is done by Serbs, but by certain structures, criminal groups, especially connected or directly with those that we have declared terrorists, such as “Civil Defense” and “Brigada northern”. So, we would never have to speak anonymously, impersonally, about the escalation and occurrence of violence, because violence is committed by certain subjects who must be identified and judged and punished.
Question: The last one from me Prime Minister. Did you agree at the meeting what will happen to the meetings within the dialogue after today’s disagreements?
Prime Minister Kurti: It belongs to European mediators and facilitators, to see how the way forward should be. As the prime minister of the Republic of Kosovo, I am committed to justice, to the law for everyone. I am also the prime minister of the Serbs in Kosovo. 4 percent of the population in Kosovo are Serbs, so they are not all Albanians, and we also have 3 percent of other minorities, which we should not forget, Bosniaks, Turks, Ashkali, Egyptians, Roma and the Gorans. Economic development on one side, European and Euro-Atlantic values on the other, and the rule of law everywhere for everyone, without discrimination and privileges, is a guarantee of success that leaves no one behind.
Question: The de-escalation that my colleague mentioned, so the first question actually has to do with the holding of extraordinary local elections in the north of Kosovo, will the mayors of the municipalities resign, considering that the international representatives say that this will was the easiest way, that would be the first question, and the second question, you said that you started de-escalation after the meeting in Bratislava with Miroslav Lajčak, is de-escalation for you the strengthening of the roadblocks on the bridge where already exists as a police base where people of Serbian nationality are detained?
Prime Minister Kurti: I am neither the president of northern Kosovo nor a policeman there. Kosovo is a democratic state, an independent republic where we have the rule of law. That is, when there is a police action, I watch it in the media, just like you. Prosecutors, police officers are the ones who act. On the other hand, we cannot force the mayors to leave their jobs. We want people there to compete, to ‘fight’, to be active in politics. The Serbian list made a big mistake out of malice when it first left the system and then boycotted the elections. Now, we cannot pay for their mistake and suffer, the wrongdoers will be the ones who suffer. Now I want people to participate in elections, in new elections, so there is a possibility that 20% of the electorate in a municipality will sign a petition and start a process that will end the mandate of those mayors there and I accept them, they do not have full legitimacy, their legitimacy is quite weak, but these others have no legitimacy at all, that is, those who left the institutions, called for a boycott, erected barricades, did various smuggling in the northern part of Kosovo, they cannot now throw ashes in our eyes, tell us that these mayors would not be in those institutions. Those who integrate live better. For example, the Serbs in the southern part of Ibri, they live much better because they are integrated. Even here in Brussels, Albanians, Serbs and others who have integrated live better, those who do not integrate live badly, but they should not now demand that someone else be punished and pay for the malice and political mistakes.
Question: It has been said that the EU has come up with a proposal for things to go in parallel, since one side did something to get something. You didn’t say how you declared for this EU proposal, and what proposal it is?
Prime Minister Kurti: Undoubtedly, the sequence of the implementation plan implies such a relationship, and in what I have proposed it is clearly visible, but once again I am reemphasizing it, I had the patience to listen to the management team for half an hour as they read the proposal to us a Republika Srpska plus Kosovo and, she went. Now we cannot continue with the Association until the Association is fully implemented and then we look at the agreement that started as a Franco-German proposal.
Question: This was the European proposal, first the Association and then let’s see the others, or was it parallel?
Prime Minister Kurti: Such is the conditioning of Serbia, which has unfortunately turned into the attitude of the European emissary.
Question: Prime Minister, do you really feel betrayed by the EU, after this… (Inaudible)… Do you feel betrayed that you were not involved in the topic…?
Prime Minister Kurti: Now I have sworn in the Republic of Kosovo, and I feel responsible and accountable against it. As for the European mediators, it’s up to them to talk about how Kosovo gives three proposals, Belgrade none, and when they tell us that Belgrade has also given, it takes over an hour to find a document over six months old. So, you would have to ask them why we are in this situation.
Question: Mr. Prime Minister, let’s clarify once again, we were told that the EU came up with a compromise proposal which Vucic accepted, but Kurti rejected, you are saying that the proposal is Serbia’s and why in your narrative are you putting the responsibility only on Lajcak considering that there were two European officials in the room, one even higher than Lajcak?
Prime Minister Kurti: First of all, there is no proposal from Belgrade, there is a conditional document that when you read it you will confirm it, there can be no compromise between the proposal and the conditionality and the last one, which is the first today, a written document with a concrete proposal was brought only by the Republic of Kosovo, through me neither the Serbian side, nor the European Union. The European Union has facilitated and mediated.
Question: Has the European Union come up with a proposal, as Josep Borrell said. Just a few minutes before your arrival?
Prime Minister Kurti: Look, the European Union is there to ensure that the proposals of the parties are within the spirit and form of the European Union, Europe, so they do not make proposals, they take care that the proposals of the parties are such that they do not exceed the European Framework. Now, the Serbian side did not bring a proposal but sent a conditionality to the European Union and between the conditionality and the proposal there cannot be an arithmetic average, but there was no written document from their side.
Prime Minister Kurti: Resignation is a moral act, believe me, there are only God knows how many more people are demanding the resignation of your president in Belgrade than of my presidents.
Question: Just one question…
Prime Minister Kurti: Resignation is a moral act, it is an individual and personal moral act. You can’t force someone to resign.
Question: But you said they have no legitimacy?
Prime Minister Kurti: It is a dictatorial mentality, to force someone to resign, this is not possible in Kosovo, Kosovo is a democratic state, maybe in Serbia, I don’t know, I haven’t been in a while.
Question: You are waiting, is it normal for you that Lulzim Hetemi, since May 20, today is September 14, how many months have passed…
Prime Minister Kurti: The question, the question, what is the question?
Question: Do you really think that the mayor will stay in the building all those months?
Prime Minister Kurti: This is a consequence of the Serbian List, which is the SNS branch in Kosovo, which with its resignation, a collective resignation, wanted to explode the Kosovo state system, in the northern part of Kosovo. But that didn’t happen. So, their attempt to break up the state of Kosovo in the northern part of the country failed, now they have to pay and suffer for that malice and mistake.
Question: Prime Minister, I had a question in English: It seems that the dialogue is not progressing, you have already spent 5 hours in the building, and what can we expect as the next step? And I had another question: President Vucic said that there was a compromise proposal which you rejected. What exactly does this mean? Thanks in advance!
Prime Minister Kurti: Thank you very much for this question! Today I presented a proposal for a sequenced roadmap for the implementation of the Brussels agreement of February 27 and the Ohrid Implementation Annex of March 18. In this sequenced guide for the implementation of the agreement, I have provided a series of steps that include the eleven Articles of the Basic Treaty and the 12 points of the implementing annex. I made a proposal, this is the third proposal of Kosovo, but my first proposal as Prime Minister of Kosovo. On the other hand, the Serbian side has not brought any proposal, but when I have asked for the Serbian proposal, the European facilitators and mediators have discovered that basically there is no such proposal but they have brought a document older than 6 months and if you read it you will immediately notice that this does not present a sequenced roadmap for the implementation of the agreement, but a condition that we must first create and implement the association of municipalities with a Serbian majority and then we will see. However, the latter contradicts the Basic Treaty, which provides in Article 10 that all 39 agreements signed by our predecessors must be implemented if they are valid and binding. So, you cannot single out two of them from the 39 agreements and put them forward as a precondition, like the cart before the horse, and in this way sabotage the implementation of what we have previously agreed upon.
Question: I understand that, but what are the next steps? You cannot continue like this in the coming years.
Prime Minister Kurti: The next step is the negotiations for the sequenced roadmap for the implementation of the agreement, so that what exists as a text on paper becomes a reality on the ground. But for this we need intensive negotiations, which should be organized by facilitators and mediators who I hope will invite us sooner or later.
Question: But today Mr. Borrel has accused you of blocking the deal.
Prime Minister Kurti: Well, I don’t want to speak on his behalf and he shouldn’t speak on my behalf. I encourage you to read my proposal and this document through which Serbia is conditioning its cooperation. From this document I understood that now and six months ago we have not been able to continue with the implementation because Serbia has made the creation of the association a prerequisite, and even more so has blocked the treatment of any other Article of the Basic Agreement.
Question: Prime Minister, will you give permission to Mr. Vucic, he said he is interested in coming to Graçanica and Pristina very soon, will you give him permission?
Prime Minister Kurti: Have you seen the permit?
Question: Will you give them, I ask you. Will you give him permission because he is interested in coming? Will you give him permission?
Prime Minister Kurti: Have you seen the request?
Question: Did you make it public a little earlier?
Prime Minister Kurti: When you send us the request, we will analyze it with higher seriousness and sincerity. Thank you very much!
Last modified: September 21, 2023