Prishtina, May 15th 2019 – President of the Republic of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, met today with the Ambassadors and the heads of international missions in Kosovo, to share with them the opinion on the meeting in Belin and expectations from the meeting which is going to be held in Paris.
President Thaçi stated that he welcomes the return of the attention of Germany and France to the western Balkans issues, particularly to the dialogue process between Kosovo and Serbia.
“I highly praise the goodwill of Chancellor Merkel and the insistence of President Macron to move the western Balkans issues forward, “said President Thaçi.
Speaking in relation to the Berlin meeting, President Thaçi said that “Berlin meeting did not conclude or open an idea or a concept on the possibility for an achievement of a final Kosovo-Serbia agreement.”
The President welcomed the request for the continuation of the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, in search of a peaceful agreement, which for Kosovo should be a final, legally binding agreement, resulting in mutual recognition and UN membership.
“An agreement which preserves the multi-ethnic character and substance of the country and its society, and which opens the way for integration in NATO and EU,” said President Thaçi.
The head of state also potentiated the importance that EU member states, the western countries in general, to be more unified and clear in this process, particularly the five Quint countries, USA, United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy.
“The experience of the recent past shows that whenever this unity worked, the political scene in Kosovo was also unified and ready to move ahead,” said the President.
President Thaçi said to the Ambassadors and heads of missions, that he was unpleasantly surprised when he learned that the Berlin meeting was not coordinated with the United States of America.
The President qualified as positive achievement of the Berlin meeting the agreement of Kosovo and Serbia, on insistence of President Macron, to hold the next meeting in Paris on July 1st.
“I hope that the Paris meeting will be better prepared, that the EU states will be more unified, will present creative ideas on how to move forwards and that the meeting shall have substance,” said the President.
In relation to the participation of Kosovo at the July 1st meeting in Paris, the President said that Kosovo at this meeting will be unified and shall be represented by the leaders of the institutions, via the State Delegation on Dialogue and that as the platform of the Kosovar delegation shall serve the resolution of the Parliament of Kosovo.
On the obstacles to the dialogue process, President Thaçi stated that “we will not allow that the dialogue is conditioned by Serbia,” and added that the tariffs on Serbian products shall remain in force.
At the end of the meeting with the ambassadors and heads of international missions in Kosovo, President Thaçi added that another disappointment with the Berlin meeting was also the disunity of the EU states in relation to the visa liberalisation for the citizens of Kosovo.