The President of Kosovo Hashim Thaçi, said today after visiting the memorial of the missing persons in Pristina that no one has the right to keep the European future of Kosovo hostage based on any kind of provincial logic. Therefore I believe and strongly hope that things will move in the right direction,” Thaçi said.
Supporters and members of the Vetëvendosje movement together with officials of the Socialist Party in Albania, announced for today at 12:00 hours a protest against demarcation of the border between Kosovo and Montenegro, in front of the Embassy of Kosovo in Tirana. The participants will be addressed by a delegation from Peja with representatives from Rugova villages at the border with Montenegro.
Kosovo Assembly MP from the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK,) Lahi Brahimaj, said that the 1 September Assembly session on the Agreement for the borderline between Kosovo and Montenegro, will be postponed for another date because the coalition government does not have sufficient number of votes. He said that many MPs from the coalition government have already announced that they would not vote the current version of demarcation.
The leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK,) Ramush Haradinaj said that the campaign of the President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, the Prime Minister Isa Mustafa, and Assembly President Kadri Veseli to impose voting for the demarcation of the border with Montenegro, is a flagrant violation of the Constitution.
Veton Surroi considers that renegotiation of the agreement for the demarcation of the border between Kosovo and Montenegro is an interest of Kosovo, because, according to him, this would create an internal consensus. He also considers that it is an interest of Kosovo and Montenegro for the demarcation to happen based on the consent of both parties. Currently this is not possible being that one of the parties is not unanimous, he writes.
The leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), Ramush Haradinaj, through a press statement said today that Kosovo government leadership is violating the Constitution by putting pressure on MPs to vote the border demarcation deal. “Kosovo’s president, prime minister and speaker of the Assembly are violating the Constitution by pressuring the MPs to vote the demarcation deal with Montenegro. Kosovo will have its borders, without taking or giving away any territory.
The U.S. Vice President Joe Biden during his official visit to Kosovo told a press conference on Wednesday that Kosovo must ratify the border-demarcation agreement with Montenegro and establish the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities. Otherwise, he said, Kosovo would lose the support of the US if it doesn’t fulfill these two agreements. “The agreement on border-demarcation with Montenegro is a fair deal and will have a positive impact on the region,” Biden said.
Kosovo government commission on border-demarcation with Montenegro has published a press statement saying that the demarcation with Montenegro is in full compliance with Peja/Pec’s local development strategy. “The amount of municipal areas comprises the total surface of Kosovo. The administrative boundary lines between municipalities of Junik, Decan, Peja and Istog in Kosovo and municipalities Plave, Beran and Rozaje in Montenegro were and also are the boundary line between Kosovo and Montenegro in the entire period from 1974 to 2015.
The Vetëvendosje Movement MP, Driton Çaushi, during an interview for KTV said the situation in Kosovo will not remain quiet if the government does not annul the border-demarcation agreement with Montenegro. “The situation will not remain quiet, our actions will be radicalized. The responsibility will be with the government of Kosovo,” he said. Çaushi is currently serving 30 days house arrest for releasing teargas inside the Kosovo Assembly building.
The State Commission for Demarcation and Maintenance of the State Border refutes completely what it called the untruth published by Shpejtim Bulliqi, who claimed that “the current demarcation changes the map of Kosovo on the state flag.”
The press release says that the Commission states with full responsibility that this statement is false, unprofessional, with maps drawn based on free will and not based on any valid legal map, document and the reality on the ground.