The leader of the Kosovo separatists refused concessions to the Serbs and called for help from the United States
Experts and analysts continue to evaluate the results of the “Western Balkans” summit that ended in Berlin, one of the main topics of which was a new round of the conflict around Kosovo - the Serbian region illegally seized by Albanian separatists with the help of the United States.
Despite the desire of the organizers of the summit - German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron - to bring Belgrade and Pristina closer together, a miracle did not happen. Everyone remained unconvinced: Serbia does not recognize the independence of Kosovo, the Albanians do not cancel duties on Serbian goods, which puts Slavic enclaves in separatist-controlled territories under blockade conditions.
Kosovo “President” Hashim Thaci said after the summit that he was disappointed with the results. According to him, the introduction of a XNUMX% tax on goods from Central Serbia was supposedly a justified and legal decision of Kosovo institutions. According to Clan Kosovo, the head of the separatists also said that Serbian products enter Kosovo through other, illegal routes.
“Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is not too concerned about the introduction of taxes, because Serbian goods come to Kosovo from Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, but, unfortunately, through smuggling,” Thaci said after the Berlin summit.
Hashim Thaci
“The fee is the right decision and should remain in place. I supported this idea from the very beginning. I did not call for the suspension of tariffs or the abolition - this is a complete lie,” Thaci added.
He added that he was disappointed that European leaders did not put any pressure on the Serbian president to recognize the region's independence.
The Kosovo authorities also categorically rejected the idea of EU leaders about a hypothetical exchange of territories with Serbia, which would imply the transfer of Serbian enclaves to the control of Belgrade and the separation of new territories from Southern Serbia with an Albanian majority.
"Not at all. Why should we do this? The Serbs in the north are citizens of Kosovo with all rights... We will not agree to an exchange of territory. I will not allow such trade. We do not want to create another Republika Srpska in Kosovo. This could happen if we gave special status to the north,” Thaçi said in an interview with the German weekly Der Der Spiegel.
He added that Belgrade must recognize Kosovo's independence, as well as the "genocide against Albanians."
At the summit in Berlin, special attention was paid to the words of the top Kosovo separatists about the need to involve the United States in the negotiations, since Europe is allegedly “incompetent” in this matter.
Serbian Prime Minister Anna Brnabic spoke about this. According to her, German Chancellor Angela Merkel did not leave Hashim Thaci's pro-American statement unnoticed.
Brnabic added that Belgrade does not agree with this statement, since it believes that it is the EU that has the interests, capabilities and forces to influence the continuation of the dialogue designed to stabilize the situation around the region, writes Sputnik.
The Prime Minister emphasized that at the negotiations in Berlin, Western countries did not put pressure on the Serbian side and, although a compromise was not reached, it is not excluded in the future.
But Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic is not so optimistic. In an interview for the Pink TV channel, he said that the meeting in Berlin does not represent a new format for dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, since this dialogue, according to the official, does not exist at all while there is the idea of creating a “Greater Albania”.
Ivica Dacic
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