Meeting in Brussels, opposition continues to reject

On the same day, Thaci, but senior state officials will have a meeting with top EU representative Federica Moghrini.

At the July 17th meeting in Brussels with Moghrin will also be attended by Parliament Speaker Kadri Veselini, Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, Deputy Prime Minister Behgjet Pacolli, Fatmir Limaj and Diaspore Minister Dardan Gashi.

But outside this delegation have remained opposition parties. The latter say they refuse to go into dialogue with President Hashim Thaci.

The Vetevendosje movement continues to reject the dialogue process completely. The MP for this political subject, Albulen Haxhiu, has said it is pointless for them to go into a dialogue where neither the topics are known.

“As far as Vetevendosje Movement's stance is concerned with the negotiations, but also with this second meeting, which is said to take place on Wednesday, our position is clear to us as political subject, such as Vetevendosje and total rejection of this process of dialogue. Which is, in fact, a continuation of a long process of about six years, in which the process of dialogue Kosovo has lost significantly, and each of the agreements that have been signed in Brussels has been contrary to the Republic of Kosovo, but also to the interests of citizens of the Republic of Kosovo. For us as LVV is meaningless and, of course, it is an harmful approach to get into a dialogue where it is neither known exactly what the topics will be, nor have they received legitimacy from the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo. So it is an illegal dialogue, persons who are claiming to represent the Republic of Kosovo, do not represent the Republic of Kosovo, but represent their private and personal interests. So none of them have legitimacy”, she said.

Haxhiu has said he is opposed to President Hashim Thaci as part of the negotiating team. Also, she has said she opposes discussing Kosovo's internal issue in this dialogue

“We object that part of this dialogue is the internal issues of Kosovo, because Kosovo has been constantly more subject to this dialogue process than the party. This has been proved because it is consistently discussed on Kosovo's internal issues, and we in no way agree that Hashim Thaci is neither a part of this team, nor a leader”, Haxhiu said.

Vetevendosje Movement MP has indicated that in the coming days they will hold a meeting with opposition parties to co-ordinate about the process of dialogue, where she said they will continue with meetings until they reach a joint document on what is the solution to moving away in the process.

Even the Democratic League of Kosovo has declined to participate in the dialogue with Serbia, despite Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj's meeting with his party chairman Isa Mustafa at his home. But Haradinaj had failed to persuade Mustafa to participate in the dialogue.

Kosovo Preress during the day has made efforts to take a stance by the LDK about Wednesday's meeting, but have not responded to calls and editorial messages.

While even parties attending Wednesday's meeting have refused to speak, they have officially confirmed that they so far do not know what will be discussed.

On the other hand, civil society estimates that opposition parties would have to attend Wednesday's meeting.

Life Krasniqi, from KDI, has said that in this process it would require a team as comprehensive as possible.

“We as KDI have estimated that the Kosovo- Serbia should be led by a team as comprehensive as well as the involvement of opposition parties in the team, which will negotiate for the Kosovo side. We have estimated that there should be a general consensus of political parties, as this is a state process of high importance and stipulates either the internal regulation of Kosovo, the outcome of Kosovo's independence. Yes, at the same time as representation in the international arena of Kosovo. Since it is a very important process, under which a legally binding agreement is expected, which should be voted by 2/3 of the parliament's deputies' votes, we have estimated that consensus will be built in the first phase so that it does not repeat the scenarios of the past, as has been the case with the border demarcation agreement with Montenegro”, she said.

Krasniqi says how KDI has called and continues to make an extraordinary session in the country where the dialogue issue will be discussed, decide what the framework of discussions of the Kosovo side, which are expectations, the red lines and who will represent Kosovo.

What we're seeing is that even this final phase of dialogue is having the same lack of transparency as the previous two stages have been. So we, however political party leaders or institutions leaders talk about transparency, for all involvement, are not seeing transparency. So, transparency is missing even for the final phase of dialogue, we don't know what the topics of discussion are, we don't know the deadlines, we don't know what the expectations of the Kosovar side are, we don't know how to move forward, who will guarantee this process, what are the competitions. In fact, there are many questions that still remain, while the process of dialogue is moving forward. Therefore, I'm saying it's very important that political consensus be built as broad as political parties, as this is a state process. We see that there is an agreement between the parties in Government, this is a positive signal, but this is not enough since we know that when the agreement comes, it should be voted 2/3 of the Parliament's votes, and it is always better for the first phase to have consultations, to have inclusion, so that there is no extension”, Krasniqi said.

On Wednesday in Brussels will be Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, Parliament Speaker Kadri Veselini, Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, Foreign Affairs Minister Behgjet Pacolli, Deputy Prime Minister Fatmir Limaj and Minister for Diaspora Dardan Gashi.