Vetevendosje leader Albin Kurti made it clear today to Dashiell Caldwell, director for Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia in the British Foreign Office, and to British ambassador Ian Cliff that dialogue with Serbia must be suspended. Kurti also said that the process of privatization should be stopped. Vetevendosje issued a communiqué after the meeting saying that Kurti informed Caldwell and Cliff about post-election developments and meetings between political parties. “We said that there are three phases. Phase one, and we all agreed on this very quickly, is that there will be no Thaci 3.

EULEX chief Bernd Borchardt and British ambassador Ian Cliff met with Prime Minister Hashim Thaci this morning. Thaci’s office confirmed the meeting but did not provide further information. The news agency notes that Cliff and Borchardt visited the government of Kosovo one day after the Mitrovica riots.

British Ambassador to Kosovo, Ian Cliff, said today that parliamentary elections were free and fair. Asked about the LDK-AAK-Nisma coalition, Cliff was quoted as saying, “Kosovar political parties need to talk and agree; this is not our matter because we do not interfere in the process”.

The British Ambassador made these remarks after meeting Gjilan mayor Lutfi Haziri, with whom he discussed economic development in Gjilan, the development of the infrastructure, international donations and the integration of all communities.

The Ambassador of the United Kingdom in Kosovo, Ian Cliff, in an interview for Radio Free Europe, said that the people of Kosovo were voting like European citizens. “What I have seen so far, these elections look like anywhere else in Europe,” said Ambassador Cliff. However, he said that not everything is finished yet, and he called for the same behavior to continue also during the counting of votes. He said the message that there should not be any fraud had been received very well, said Ambassador Cliff.

The British Minister for Europe, David Lidington, said that the stance of London is that Kosovo Serbs should vote on 8 June in order for the elections to have international legitimacy. Meanwhile, the British Ambassador in Kosovo, Ian Cliff, informed Serb politicians in the north that symbols of the “Republic of Kosovo” will not be removed from ballots and that an election boycott would hurt Kosovo Serbs.