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"West is sucking Serbia", Kurti told Reuters: Brussels did not react when Belgrade violated agreement

2024-09-20 18:31:14Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
"West is sucking Serbia", Kurti told Reuters: Brussels did not react
Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti accused the West on Thursday of "peddling" Serbia out of fear and concerns about destabilization, adding that it is not "paying" and that Kosovo is "paying" for it.

Kurti's government has been criticised by some Western countries and the EU for a series of decisions in the Serb-majority north of the country this year, where he has said he wants to impose heavy and law.

He said the West, being "very careful" with Serbia, is making Kosovo "pay for this, and that's not fair."

Speaking in an interview with Reuters news agency on Friday, Kurti said: "I think serbia's [West] abuse over the two and a half years since russian aggression in Ukraine has started is not paying off, so someone has to say enough."

"Serbia's strong ties with the Russian Federation and the deep historical, economic and cultural ties between them, are making the West be very careful with Serbia," Kurti said.

Serbia, unlike EU and other Western countries, refuses to impose sanctions on Russia for Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

It continues to maintain warm ties with Russia, even though it has said it supports Ukraine's territorial integrity.

Meanwhile, in recent months Serbia has signed an agreement with France to buy about 2.7 billion euros worth of fighter jets, as a memorandum of understanding on lithium with the EU.

"It [Serbia] has found partners even in the West because of the fears and concerns that some diplomats have that destabilization could happen again. Before the war in Ukraine I saw some Western diplomats very relaxed, now they are very scared. I think they were wrong then and they're wrong now," he added.

"Brussels to pressure Serbia"

Kurti criticized the European Union, which both neighbors want to join, for not reacting to Serbia's "violation" of the country.

"Brussels should play the role of a judge who pipes whenever there is a violation of the Agreement," Kurti said, referring to the Basic Agreement that Kosovo and Serbia reached under EU mediation in early 2023 to normalize relations.

The European Union has repeatedly criticized the parties for not complying with this agreement.

Kurti insisted that the agreement be signed and that Serbia withdraw a letter that then-Prime Minister Ana Brnabic sent to the EU last year, expressing reservations about the deal, and handing over to Kosovo Milan Radocic and his group, suspected of the armed attack in Banjska.

"What we have seen these two years is that Brussels has not reacted when Belgrade has violated the agreement. We want Brussels to pressure Serbia to respect the agreement and engage with goodwill and constructively in its full implementation," Kurti said.

Kurti's government banned the Serbian dinar, closed several Branches of Serbian post offices, as parallel Serbian institutions in a series of decisions this year, while it aims to open the bridge over the Ibar River, for which it has been criticized for risking unrest and instability.

Regarding the bridge over Ibar, which divides Mitrovica in the Albanian-majority south and the Serb-majority north, Kurti accused Serbia of wanting to keep it closed.

"Serbia wants to keep the bridge closed in Mitrovica because it wants to keep alive the dream of partitioning Kosovo. She wants to turn the bridge over Ibar into a new frontier. That will not happen," he said.

Now the bridge is open only to pedestrians and Italian KFOR soldiers are on it. The Police Department is also close to her.


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