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The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, said on Saturday that neighboring countries cannot feel safe from Serbia, until they are part of the European Union (EU).
Asked during the Peace Forum in Paris what are Serbia's goals towards Kosovo, Kurti emphasized that "its division, or territorial compensations."
"Serbia's neighbors, as long as they are not part of the EU, are not safe from Serbia, and this should be taken into account in Brussels. They are angry with the disintegration of Yugoslavia, they thought they could destroy it and take half of it, it didn't turn out that way", Kurti said.
Kosovo has accused Serbia of "attempted annexation of the north of Kosovo", after an attack by a group of armed Serbs in the village of Banjské in Zveçan on September 24, where a police sergeant and three attackers were killed. Serbia has denied the accusations, although responsibility for the attack was claimed by Millan Radoicic, the former vice-president of the largest Serb party in Kosovo, Lista Serbe.
" I think that, on the one hand, they [Serbia] want to see the division of Kosovo, they would like territorial compensation for their mistakes, but it is not possible," Kurti said in Paris on Saturday.
A few years ago, the former president of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, and that of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, had talked about the possible exchange of territories between the two countries, but this issue had caused many debates, both in Kosovo and on the international scene.
Kosovo is the only country from Serbia's neighbors that has not yet received the status of a candidate country for EU membership.
Montenegro and Serbia have started membership negotiations for years, while in July 2022 Albania and North Macedonia have also started them. Bosnia and Herzegovina received candidate country status in December last year.
Kurti believes that the reason why Kosovo has not yet received candidate status was the lack of visa liberalization until now, which the European Commission (EC) approved at the beginning of this year, before it comes into effect on January 1, 2024.
" We have no other alternative, Europe is our continent, the EU is our future and we want to benefit and contribute to the EU" , added Kurti.
Kosovo's path to the EU depends on its dialogue with Serbia, European officials announced last week.
Although Kosovo has applied for membership in the EU, the Commissioner for EU Enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi, said on November 8 that the Council has not yet asked the commission to give an opinion on this.
" We are ready to give the opinion ", he said.
" Our feeling is that for Kosovo, the road to the EU is coming through a successful dialogue. They should redouble their efforts to make the dialogue successful" , added Varhelyi.
On November 8, the president of the EC, Ursula von der Leyen, said that the implementation of the agreement on the creation of the Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority, could be a big step forward for Kosovo.
In the Progress Report for Kosovo, in most of the areas that are assessed, the European Commission has said that Kosovo has made "limited progress"./ REL
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