Kurti: Haradinaj government is dead, zombie government

In an interview for the Life Journal in Kosovo, Kurti has also talked about co-operation with the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), which he has said have the joint, president Hashim Thaci's prevention mission.

Among other things, the first VV one has spoken about the 100 per cent tax on Serbian goods, dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, and expectations by the Kosovo Government's Negotiator Team.

Recent warnings by the Government's Negotiator Team are that, within the final phase of dialogue with Serbia, the damage to war will be discussed, as well as the question of missing persons as they say mutual recognition is the main goal. Why would you not support a dialogue that deals with one of the issues Vetevendosje has consistently raised as criticism of the EU-mediated so far dialogue? Or do you not believe that the Negotiator team will set these as conditions?

Kurti: We've set up some necessary steps for dialogue. Those steps begin with full transparency on the dialogue made so far, the review and evaluation of 33 agreements during those six years, as well as the taking of responsibilities from responsible persons, for the failures this dialogue has produced for Kosovo. Then, we must officially and publicly lay down, as a state, as a government and as a assembly, our demands to Serbia, which owes us so much.

We should also begin in Kosovo to understand that the responsibilities and faults before the law are not repaid by declaring good intentions. It is not enough that someone, Hashimi, Ramushi, or anyone else can pick up any elements from Vetevendosje's programme, as our alternative is not the covert alibi for wrongdoers but the guide for the good.

With that, I mean that those who have deceived us and brought us stagnation and even aggression over these many years that have led dialogue and Kosovo, there is no need to believe this time they will do something good for Kosovo. As for the negotiating group, they are already known and stated by the EU that they have no role but as Thaci's advisers, so they are unable to establish conditions. They are not even being reported or given documents to know what the dialogue is about. PDK deputies, including the president's niece, Mrs. Evgeni Thaci, had supported and voted the so-called state delegation, which said he would limit President Thaci.

Once again, the only way to move forward with a legitimate, democratic and supported process by citizens and political subjects is to start with considering the existing dialogue, and then with our goals of applying to Serbia, as well as new elections that would determine which ideal and principled platform and what negotiating team should lead with dialogue and with Kosovo.

US President Donald Trump and the European Union have called for reaching an agreement on normalising relations between Kosovo and Serbia. Is Kosovo ready for such an agreement and do you expect this agreement to be another concession after concessions made with the Ahtisaari package?

Kurti: First, we need to clarify for world opinion and for Kosovo's friends and allies what “normalisation” means. For Kosovo, the only normal relationship could be recognition and compensation from Serbia, and nothing else. If any Kosovo politician has hinted that there could be normalised, even without recognition, it is a work to be investigated, as it opposes Kosovo's sovereignty. Kosovo is an independent country, and normal relations only exist with countries that recognise it.

I'm sure, with the contacts I have, that even the Kosovo allies see it this way, and when they talk about the agreement, they mean exactly the recognition of Kosovo. But we do not help either ourselves or our allies when we allow any Kosovo politician to lay the cards and ideas for normalisation without recognition.

As for the sacrifice of concessions, Kosovo has sacrificed enough. The recognition of Kosovo will not come from concessions and concessions that we will make, but only from our insistence on the state's progress and development in all respects. Even recognitions have diminished, and European integration has left and visa liberalisation is not taking place, not because we have sacrificed, but because we have a very corrupt state, with very bad image, that the whole world knows is governed by mobsters, monopolists and criminals.

To believe that through any concessions Kosovo will beat “buy” recognition is wrong. We bought no “ ” visa liberalisation, even though Ramush made concessions by giving it 8,200 hectares to Montenegro. Not even with Ahtisaari's package we bought “ ” can be seated at the UN. Those who think that giving territory in the north will receive recognition of Serbia, Russia and China, let them know that this is not the case. On January 22nd, 2019, at a Moscow institute, the analysis was released that even if Serbia recognises Kosovo to integrate itself into the EU, Russia will not recognise Kosovo because it does not gain anything from it. Who knows what Russia wants when you've shown that you're in a state of “you've sacrificed over and over again”. And after Russia, what China's gonna look for. So, once again, not to follow Thaci's ridiculous logic, to realize that he cannot buy recognitions. They are achieved only through the construction of a serious, developed state, and this is done with hardworking leaders and not with leaders who enjoy personal luxury.

According to you, how should the issue of the Presevo Valley be addressed under dialogue with Serbia? Do you support the idea of the team's chief negotiator, Shpend Ahmeti, who has said the Valley issue should be addressed within dialogue?

Kurti: The valley is not diaspora, to represent it from here, but is autochthon land, Albanian national soil. They cannot represent an unelected minority party group from Pristina. We have made our stance known: Presevo Valley should be represented in dialogue through their representatives. There's nothing too much in this request, and this should have been done in forever. Kosovo Serbs have had their representatives in dialogue, even with decision-making positions.

The valley is primarily a matter of the demands of the Valley's own inhabitants. They should not demand anything less than the rights and benefits enjoyed by Kosovo Serbs, and if Serbia does not grant them rights, then they would have to raise their issue internationally, understood with the help of Kosovo and Albania. The world would either force Serbia to implement its rights for them as it requires Kosovo Serbs, or support their secession and independence. There is no other road, and it is unacceptable apartheid or discrimination of Albanians on its soil in the 20th century.

Kosovo's Valley President's oral promises were not made in writing and signing such as the two sides agree and fail to negotiate. Also, those promises made the valley, which could make so much use of chapters 23 and 24 of Serbia's EU membership negotiations.

What is it relevant to stay with the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) on a line by refusing to be part of the negotiating team, since the government Mustafa has signed agreements in Brussels that you insist on reviewing?

Kurti: With Mr. Mustafa and LDK have an appropriate communication and co-ordination, which is playing a very good role because it is leaving Thaci without legitimacy in his quick shopping bid. Our common position concerns the fact that this dialogue cannot bring Hashim Thaci forward, nor a small group of parties held together around him.

It unites us to be in opposition, and to be the two largest parties in Kosovo, which together have the support of the absolute majority of citizens. As for the past, we certainly had disagreements and confrontations, because if we had also agreed on the past, we would not be two parties, but one party.

In politics, we in Vetevendosje do not begin with the resentments and resentments of the past, but we act guided by our programming and principled views, and we are willing to co-operate with subjects who have vicissitudes with us as long as they connect these attitudes. We are not like the PDK, and when we enter into co-operation with other subjects we stick to our word and vows until the end, with responsibility. So even our agreements have generally been written and transparent, not in the background.

Your request for review of the agreements reached in Brussels, does it endanger your partnership with the LDK?

Kurti: Absolutely not, we even have their support for a review of the six-year preliminary dialogue, and for parliamentary investigation into the entire process of dialogue and agreement as soon as possible. They know, the whole world knows, who the person and party has been pushing ahead beyond any mandate, a non-transparent process that has damaged Kosovo.

We have recently seen you using a softer language towards the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK). Does this mean that the LDK has remained the only political force with which you will be able to create a political moment of future making a coalition, even pre-election? Is the LDK the party with which Vetevendosje believes that change can be made in Kosovo?

Kurti: We have reserved the harsh tongue for power, especially The PDK, because they have been in power for 12 years and have captured the state in every sector. Other parties have entered coalitions with them, believing they can stop, but that has been impossible. True has resulted in Vetevendosje's statement, that the only way to stop it The PDK is leaving him alone, so not going into a coalition with him. Now all political subjects have understood who becomes the PDK shrinks, who opposes them. The PDK grows. Even voters are abandoning the PDK, which has fallen below 20%.

As far as coalitions are concerned, I cannot express myself so foolishly. The coalitions for Vetevendosje are a serious matter, because they will govern. Therefore, the discussion of the coalition should first be programming, and then it must be approved in the structures. We have shown that we have found common word before with other subjects and even with LDK as regards the program agreement. However, I am optimistic about the future, whether there will be a coalition or not. At the pace we are working on our organisation, which is extending to every Kosovo village and neighbourhood, we will soon be not only the largest party in Kosovo, but perhaps the largest Albanian subject in the Balkans. The evidence coming from the ground confirms this.

How much do you believe Kosovo is willing to face international pressures and how much do you believe Prime Minister Haradinaj will face this pressure and when should the tax be lifted, according to you? C# source filesIl is your proposal, how should the Government of Kosovo in the north react when it is known that there is no full extent of authority in that part?

Kurti: In the toughening conditions of separation between the US and Russia, as seen in the Venezuela crisis, I think not only should the tax be removed, but full reciprocity should be established between Kosovo and Serbia, as we have voted in the Kosovo Assembly on December 7th 2011, at the initiative of our Movement. Only through reciprocity can we force Serbia to recognise Kosovo.

As for smuggling, this only stops at border control. This is easy, through the Kosovo police and KSF. But that's not possible when in our country's top leadership positions there are people who have business partnership with smugglers.

In the past legislature in the Parliament, we have seen a much more unified and strong opposition, though not large in numbers as it currently is. And in this legislature, we are seeing a helpless opposition fail to challenge the country's government. Why is this happening? What more can Vetevendosje and what the LDK do to make the opposition appear more unified in attitudes and actions?

Kurti: Even now the opposition is strong and has a union of positions. It's the president who's at the lowest citizen support point. This president and government have had much more self-confidence when they entered technical and political dialogue a few years ago than they have now.

We staged a massive protest on 29 September 2018, and if the government or the president continue to push forward harmful projects, you can be sure we can protest twice as much. This poor, unemployed people cannot stand the fools and thieves of a group of ignorant and dishonest men.

You're saying what more opposition should do, but I remind you that we are in a strange situation, when the government no longer has the majority, and is forced to buy parliamentary votes to pass any law. The budget hasn't passed yet, and for everything they're dependent on the MPs they buy. It's a dead government, a zombie government. It cannot be long for this government, where neither of the constituent parties trust the other, and they are constantly reviled and embraced publicly in a snorkeling way. /JnK/