In an interview to Voice of America, the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia, Hoyt Brian Yee, said that the international community would support any legally-constituted government in Kosovo that shares that same fundamental values.
“I think the message of Quint, including the United States, was that we are ready and look forward to begin working with the new government in Kosovo, to achieve what the people of Kosovo tried to for many years and which unfortunately the previous government was not very successful in delivering: genuine progress, particularly in the field of economy, fight against corruption and toward creating an environment where businesses develop in Kosovo and where the country makes progress towards further integration with Europe, such as for example visa-free travel. All these were achievable during the last government but unfortunately were not. We want to therefore send a message as soon as possible to any government that we, the United States, representatives of European Union countries, are ready to cooperate with any legitimate government, that has the same fundamental values and objectives as us, which are known, including integration, strengthening of economy, more jobs for the youth, decreasing corruption. We are ready to begin work on all these goals. Naturally, we expect a sincere partnership between the government and the international community. It is our duty to help the government of Kosovo to carry out necessary reforms while it is the duty of the government of Kosovo to be serious and, sometimes courageous, a responsible government sincerely committed to fighting corruption and make progress and not simply cause delays, stagnation and play political games but be serious in taking concrete steps towards objectives of the people of Kosovo.”
Asked whether the U.S. government would cooperate with a government that would be made up of Vetevendosje, Yee said: “As I said, we are ready to cooperate with any legal government which comes out of a democratic process in Kosovo, or in any other country in Europe. We do not choose parties or leaders. This is up to the people to express political will through elections. It is a responsibility of Vetevendosje or other parties to find consensus on the necessary majority in parliament that would be able to function as a government. What we ask is for the new government and parties that make that government, as well as opposition parties, to fulfill their partnership tasks. So if we provide the assistance parties in Kosovo have requested, we will do our share. But we expect parties there to do their share too, namely respect legal state and no teargas, no violence at the parliament – something unacceptable in any democracy in Europe, meaning keep their promises. We do not want to be told that they will carry out some reforms and then not keep that promise, it also means unreserved fight against corruption, not say that they are against corruption and then keep corrupt officials in the government. If new government coalition parties do their work, meet our expectations we have expressed for a long time, we will do our work and support that government.
