The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, said that the meeting in Brussels did not have any results due to Serbia’s conditionality for the establishment of the Association before the implementation of the Brussels and Ohrid agreement.

After the meeting with the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vucic, the head of government said that during this meeting he proposed a clear plan for the sequencing of the implementation of the basic agreement, meanwhile, after the meeting, the mediators of the dialogue gave him a two-page document, which does not talk about the implementation of the agreement, but its conditionality with the establishment of the Association.

Kurti said that he was not aware of such a document, and he criticized the dialogue facilitator, Miroslav Lajcak, for violating his role in the dialogue by accepting such a condition before agreeing to the Ohrid agreement.

“I have proposed a sequenced roadmap for the implementation of the Brussels agreement and the Ohrid annex of March 18… On the other hand, the president of Serbia has not given any proposal and the meeting did not have any results. There can be no compromise since there can be no subsequent compromise between a sequential proposition and an old condition. When I asked during this meeting to see the proposal that Serbia has given, the mediators were unable to bring it. Only after the end of the meeting, they gave me a two-page document in English and Serbian, which is a document that is at least six months old, which means it cannot be a sequenced roadmap of the Serbian side, but it was a document of Serbia’s stipulation that the Association must be implemented once and then eventually we can move on to the implementation of the basic agreement”, he said.

Kurti underlined that in order to move forward, the Serbian conditionality must be overcome, since the implementation of the Brussels and Ohrid agreement has been put in a big obstacle.

“It is a pity that the EU Special Representative Lajcak has accepted such a condition, and the condition made by Serbia that was accepted by the mediator Lajcak was in violation of his function as a mediator and facilitator, but I cannot accept such a thing in violation of Kosovo, whose prime minister I am… We were not aware that there is such a document. Because when you read the content, you will see that it is a condition… Today I found out why the sequential implementation of the agreement has not been progressing for six months. A capital obstacle has been put to it from the beginning, which is the conditioning of Serbia. I didn’t have this document before; I didn’t know about it. I have heard the statements and I believed that they are the positions of one side, but for me, the conditionality of Serbia has turned into the position of the European facilitator Lajcak. In order to move forward, this must be overcome”, said Kurti.

In addition, Kurti requested the removal of the European Union’s punitive measures against Kosovo, as Kosovo has taken steps to de-escalate the situation in the north.

“Regarding the sanctions that are being called measures so that the 27 European countries are not forced to vote. De-escalation has happened in Kosovo; we must be careful not to have a re-escalation. We are doing everything possible. But also, the confiscation of weapons and the arrest of criminals is a function of law and order that helps de-escalation… Since de-escalation has taken place and the Administrative Instruction to implement Article 72 of the Law on Local Self-Government has been signed, the way is open for these unjust measures that are harming the most democratic state in the Western Balkans to be finally removed”, emphasized Kurti.

However, he stressed that elections in the north should only happen through petition.