The President of the Czech Republic frayed the nerves of Albanian separatists in Kosovo
The visit of Czech President Milos Zeman to Serbia caused a diplomatic scandal: the head of state said that he was in favor of Prague’s withdrawal of recognition of the illegally seized Serbian region of Kosovo and Metohija as an independent state. However, Zemen’s initiative was not supported by other Czech high-ranking politicians. But the top of the Albanian separatists in Pristina decided to make a demarche in response, refusing to participate in the summit of the prime ministers of the Western Balkans.
Zeman made his statement at a televised press conference following a closed meeting with Serbian leader Aleksandar Vucic.
“I would also express my personal opinion that a country led by war criminals cannot be part of the community of democratic states,” said the Czech president.
Zeman lamented that he could not undo recognition of Kosovo on his own - “I am not a dictator.” But he promised to raise the issue at an October meeting of senior constitutional officials.
“I am glad that Defense Minister Lubomir Metram said that recognizing Kosovo was a mistake. He will most likely support me. We’ll see who will be on the other side,” the head of state added.
Aleksandar Vučić thanked his Czech colleague for his position in connection with the southern Serbian region, calling him a sincere friend of Serbia and the Serbian people.
“I did not expect that he would initiate certain actions on the issue of revoking recognition of Kosovo. I am very grateful that his voice will be heard,” Vucic said.
True, Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petříček immediately rejected the possibility of changing Prague’s position on Kosovo.
“I see no reason for such a debate at the moment, although I am of course open to hearing the president’s opinion on this topic ... but the priority of Czech foreign policy is to try to help stabilize the entire Western Balkan region,” the foreign minister said.
“The Czech government recognized Kosovo and at the same time agreed on the establishment of diplomatic relations. We are talking about recognition of a state, which from the point of view of international law is final. The Czech Republic has not withdrawn recognition of a single state in its entire history,” the country’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The same position was taken by Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, who noted that he would talk with the president and the speakers of both houses of parliament about the coordination of foreign policy. He also stressed that he sees no reason to change the country's policy on the issue of recognition of Kosovo.
The Czech leader's statement caused a sharp reaction in Pristina. According to the SSTC agency, representatives of the top Albanian separatists demonstratively refused to participate in the summit of the prime ministers of the Visegrad Group and the Western Balkans, which began its work in Prague.
The Praga International radio station recalls an interesting detail - during the bombing of Serbian territory by NATO troops, the current President Zeman was Prime Minister and supported the military intervention of the alliance.
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