The West is putting pressure on the leader of the Kosovo separatists solely in its anti-Serbian interests
Representatives of the United States and the EU unanimously ask Albin Kurti to remove XNUMX% duties on Serbian goods and not to interfere with air and railway communications between Belgrade and Pristina.
European and Balkan media reported this on the eve of the Munich Security Conference, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“We hope and expect that you will make this (the abolition of XNUMX% duties on goods from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina) a priority and take advantage of the moment that has come after the conclusion of the protocol of intent to establish air and rail connections between Pristina and Belgrade,” he wrote in a special message to Albina Kurti US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. “The time has come to implement a comprehensive normalization of relations with Serbia, focused on mutual recognition, which is essential for the full international integration of Kosovo.”
Tellingly, according to reports in the Albanian press, the Kurti administration presented this message to Pompeo as congratulating the “prime minister” of Kosovo on his election to the post, omitting the above paragraph about duties. And the head of the Kosovo separatist government himself responded quite floridly and with Eastern diplomacy to calls from the West in a recent interview with the Kosovo television channel KTV:
“We will develop the principle of reciprocity,” said the separatist leader. – Trump has repeatedly stated that reciprocity is his favorite word. Currently, there is no reciprocity in relations between Kosovo and Serbia; goods with Kosovo markings cannot be imported into Serbia. Therefore, we have the right to ban Serbian trucks from entering Kosovo, since we do not have an agreement on road transport.”
In this reference to Trump’s words, Kurti seems to be hinting that he continues to remain a loyal ally of the United States, but does not intend to normalize relations with Serbia to the point of complete capitulation - recognition of the independence of the separated region of Kosovo.
“We have been warning since 2006 that we don’t want independence on paper,” Kurti said in the same interview. “I said that Vojvodina (an autonomous region within Serbia - ed.) also has a flag, but this does not mean that it is a state.”
However, at the upcoming Munich Security Conference, the Kosovo “prime minister” will have to experience the full force of the benevolent attention of Western partners, who intend to push him in terms of concessions to Belgrade.
“The resumption of dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade includes actions on both sides,” French President Emmanuel Macron wrote in a message to Kurti, calling him “a political alternative and hope.” – Suspension of the 100 percent levy on goods from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina by Kosovo and an end to Serbia’s campaign to revoke recognition of Kosovo’s independence (by various countries – ed.).”
Judging by these words of the French leader, it is not only Kurti who will be “forcing peace” in Munich. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic spoke quite calmly and neutrally about the prospect of a meeting with the new “prime minister” of Kosovo:
“At the joint panel in Munich that I am attending, Kurti will also be present,” the Serbian president noted. “We’ll see what the atmosphere is like and how everything looks.”
Let us recall that "The Prime Minister of Kosovo declared the Balkan mini-Schengen integration project “dangerous” and “Serbian”.
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