Albania, for the first time, stated it does not align with the foreign policy statements of the European Union, with regards to the ongoing dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, facilitated by the EU, considering the recent terrorist attack in the north of Kosovo.
On 14 September, Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksander Vucic met in Brussels with EU envoy for the dialogue Miroslav Lajcak and the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell. The meeting yielded no results, with Borrell stating Kurti was not ready to move forward with dialogue, unlike Vucic, who “accepted their proposal” for implementing the basic agreement for the normalisation of relations, which led to strong criticism from Kurti.
On 19 September, Borrell asked both sides to engage in the dialogue constructively and in good faith, which includes implementing the EU proposal without further delay. It also includes both parties implementing all agreements of the past dialogue, including the Association of Serb Municipalities.
But for the first time in its history, Albania said it could not be aligned with the EU on these matters, Prime Minister Edi Rama said in reference to a declaration from 19 September.
“We find it impossible to align with the European Union without seeing a second statement that addresses the problem of the last few days where a dramatic development has occurred after a police officer of the Republic of Kosovo was killed by a criminal group that was clearly ordered to terrorise northern Kosovo, which was followed by the declaration of a day of national mourning in Belgrade.”
In the early hours of Sunday morning, a Kosovo police patrol was ambushed by some 30 heavily armed gunmen, accompanied by armoured vehicles, leaving one officer dead and another wounded. The men fled to a local monastery, where they barricaded themselves in and traded gunfire with police for hours.
Four of those involved in what the EU called a ‘terrorist attack’ were killed.
Rama said that the EU’s original call for dialogue was not wrong in itself but needed to be re-addressed in the current context.
“For us, this is unacceptable, unjustifiable, and even reprehensible because it is not European and because, at the same time, it is the worst signal that Serbia could give at the same time to the whole Balkans and the whole of Europe,” he said regarding the day of mourning called for the four individuals killed due to their involvement in the terrorist attack.
Rama said Albania has requested the EU and the entire Euro-Atlantic community raise the alarm at the highest level and use instruments available to respond to the message coming from Belgrade.
“Until there is a second statement from the European Union, we will not align with the first statement. This is the moment to loudly condemn what happened in the north of Kosovo”, said Rama.
Russia supports Serbia over EU-dubbed ‘terrorist attack’ in north Kosovo
European Commission sources for Radio Free Europe said that what happened in Kosovo, the amount of weapons found, and the information being received from the ground is indeed changing the game.
The comments came after a meeting on Tuesday with the EU envoy for the dialogue and stakeholders from the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) and the NATO-led international peacekeeping force in Kosovo known as KFOR.
The source said there were requests for measures to be taken against Serbia, but full support was given to Lajcak to continue with the dialogue and press for the implementation of agreements reached so far.
They did, however, note that calls for a more balanced approach and not to hold Kosovo solely responsible for escalation in the country were forthcoming since before the attack on 24 September.
(Alice Taylor | Euractiv.com)
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Source: euractiv.com
