The new Kosovo Government will have to address the topic of dialogue with Serbia, regardless of difficulties and obstacles that may arise in the process. This is a request from the international community and in particular from the United States, as highlighted on several occasions by the U.S. Envoy for Western Balkans, Matthew Palmer, Deutsche Welle reports. “We will make clear our expectations that the new government of Kosovo will be a government in favor of the dialogue, willing to suspend the tariffs which are an obstacle to resuming the dialogue, willing to form a strong negotiating team and willing to engage with Serbia on the table of talks with a serious objective of reaching an agreement on the normalisation of relations,” Palmer said.
Kosovo is now in an election campaign and candidates for Prime Minister have expressed their opinions about the dialogue for normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia. The Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) candidate for Prime Minister, Vjosa Osmani, said in the event of her victory, she will lead the dialogue with Serbia and not as has been in the case in the past where the process was led by the President of Kosovo. “The dialogue must be led by the Kosovo government; I will lead the process. In terms of negotiations and dialogue, I have greater experience than any of the candidates for Prime Minister. After we as the government negotiate and sign the agreement with Serbia, in constant cooperation with the Kosovo Assembly and after the Assembly ratifies the agreement, then the President has the ceremonial duty of signing the decree for the ratification of the agreement,” Osmani said.
AAK/PSD candidate for Prime Minister, Ramush Haradinaj, said the decision to introduce the 100-percent import tariff on Serbian goods while he was Prime Minister, showed Serbia that Kosovo will not agree to the process of dialogue with conditions. “Kosovo and Serbia need good neighbourly relations. We are ready to do this. But we will not agree to submission or any second-hand situation. Only as two countries and neighbours with interests. This situation was never any clearer to Serbia and the tariff has proved this,” Haradinaj said.
Vetevendosje leader Albin Kurti said that if he is elected Prime Minister, all agreements reached in the Kosovo – Serbia dialogue so far must be reviewed, and that he and his government will form a negotiating team that will review every area. “We need to form a negotiating team with a clear strategy and principles for dialogue, in order to avoid cacophony on this issue, and this cannot be done immediately. This requires a commission that will close the chapter of the 33 agreements reached in the process of dialogue from 2012 to 2017,” Kurti said.
NISMA leader and candidate for Prime Minister, Fatmir Limaj, wants unity in the political landscape on the dialogue with Serbia. “The people of Kosovo do not deserve a situation in which our allies, who have stood by our side in the most crucial times, to be disappointed by the lack of institutional abilities to make decisions in the interest of the country’s future. The Kosovo Assembly adopted a platform that should serve as basis for a broad-based consensus of our political positions on the dialogue with Serbia,” Limaj wrote in a letter to all political parties.
PDK leader and candidate for Prime Minister, Kadri Veseli, has yet to announce his position on the future dialogue with Serbia. His election campaign is completely focused on the fight against corruption and organised crime.
Political commentators meanwhile argue that they have yet to see clear options in the approaches of Prime Minister candidates vis-à-vis the dialogue with Serbia.
