6 hours agoVuchiqi warning: Do not delay dialogue with Kosovo, Balkan fire could be set
Periskopi(7 years ago)
(7 years ago)Failure to resume talks between Kosovo and Serbia for normalisation of relations could destabilise the Western Balkan region, which is still being revived by the wars of the 1990s, Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, has said in an interview for Reuters. Twenty years after NATO bombings on the former Yugoslavia to halt attacks [...]
Twenty years after NATO bombings on the former Yugoslavia to halt Serbia's brutal attacks on Kosovo Albanians, talks have been blocked.
The two countries must fully normalise relations before they can continue their path towards membership in the European Union.
Any late day can create conditions in which a spark can set the region on fire. The West States must know that”, Vucinqi said.
This is the danger... of feeding nationalist feelings”
In response to Serbia's efforts to undermine Kosovo's membership in international organisations, Pristina imposed a 100 per cent tax on goods imported from Serbia, which could cost Serbia's economy 600m euros annually, about 0.4 per cent of GDP.
To resume dialogue, Serbia requires the removal of this tax, a step supported by the US EU.
What the solution may be remains unclear. Both Vuciki and Kosovo President Hashim Thaci have translated ideas for <x0 limit correction” or “deletion” ʹterms interpreted by analysts as exchange of territories.
The West sees the integration of the entire region into the EU and NATO as a way to preserve regional stability.
Our subx0> entry into the European Union depends on dialogue with Pristina and on whether we will one day reach an agreement”, Vuciqi said in this interview, adding that he expects from Germany, France or the EU as a whole to be more active in the negotiation process.
I think we'll see some of their future initiatives”, he said, without giving details.
Vuciqi, in power since 2012, has said he has not planned to resign or call early elections, something that is being demanded by thousands of oppositions in the protests that began last December and accuse the government of nepotism, corruption and violations of media freedoms, something he denies.
