Reactions in Kosovo for annulment of Paris meeting, a secret meeting in Berlin

The already confirmed annulment of the Paris meeting, where it would be discussed for the Kosovo- Serbia and a Berlin meeting of Kosovo Prime Minister and President of Serbia's advisers, who in Pristina interpreted the “secrete meeting”, has sparked numerous reactions in Kosovo's political structures. Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, says he has no information why the Paris meeting has been cancelled. “The reason the Paris meeting was postponed I don't know. But one thing can confirm that Kosovo is a serious party. Dialogue helps the political atmosphere, but it is not a condition for visa liberalisation”, said Haradinaj, who continues to insist that the tax on Serbia's products will not be lifted. And Serbia's President Aleksandar Vuciq, the annulment of the Paris meeting, linked it precisely to Pristina's refusal to remove the tax on Serbia. “There will be no meeting in Paris. The Germans and the French have understood who doesn't want talks, and who restrains them”, said Belarus where Vuciq is staying.

While the German government and the French presidency confirmed the annulment of the Paris summit, in Pristina the media reported a secret “meeting” in Berlin of Prime Minister Haradinaj's advisers with Serbian President Vuciq's advisers. Later this meeting was confirmed by Haradinaj and Vuciq, but that sparked harsh reactions in Pristina.

Why the Arifi-Dick meeting?

Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj said the meeting in Berlin (which took place between Avni Arifi, the former leader of technical dialogue and Marko Djuric, head of the Office for Kosovo in Serbia's government), has been formal, not public. I think it's good to clarify what's left unelected. The technical delegation's confrontation has confirmed that the only issue without resolution is recognition. It's very clear what the solution can do. The meeting was formal, not public. The delegations of the two sides are the target. Nicosia was the German Chancellor's office. Coalition partners have been previously announced. The association of Serb majority municipalities has not been at all part of the talks”, Haradinaj said.

Critical of Kosovo presidency

But Kosovo President Hashim Thaci's office, in a media report, said such unannounced, secret and uncoordinated meetings do not help in the process of Kosovo-Serbia dialogue. The president's “Office has not been informed of the participation of a prime minister's team in the secret meeting in Berlin, and we have not yet received any official information about what was discussed at this meeting. Such unannounced, secret and uncoordinated meetings do not help in the process of Kosovo dialogue Serbia, the sooner we already have the Negotiator Team, which is tasked with negotiating any subject with Serbia”, says a response to President Thaci's office.

Reactions by Opposition

Reactions took place by the two opposition political parties, the Democratic League of Kosovo LDK and Vetevendosje. For the LDK, the secret meeting of representatives of the Government of Kosovo and those of Serbia in Berlin, “is unacceptable and extremely dangerous”. “Dialolog has no reason to hide, no matter how his level and the issues discussed in the dialog. EU states also err if they cultivate such a practice, because they make the process of dialogue incredible for us and for the citizens of Kosovo. Such actions call into question the transparency Kosovo can expect from the dialogue, when not only have its citizens not been informed in advance of the contents of yesterday's meeting, but the meeting itself has been held secretly”, the LDK's reaction said.

This party says that, ” for secret meetings, the country's president was mentioned earlier, while now testimony is that the Kosovo Government” is on the same path, reportedly in the response of the LDK, which requires that Kosovo-Serbia “dialogue develop with necessary support of the US and with the mediation of the future EU Commission”.

Even the other opposition party Vetevendosje, says the “Hidden Arifi Djuric meeting is the continuation of the anti-national Avaz. “Haradinaj is the one, who first became prime minister, unconstitutionally left the dialogue to Thaci. He therefore opened the way for the anti-national project, that of partitioning Kosovo. And now, when we have stopped the Kosovo fragmentation project, through massive protests as well as internationally discrediting it, the prime minister sends his adviser to secret meetings. This prime minister, who refused to take his responsibilities openly by halting the risk Thaci was bringing, is now secretly going to revive over-end projects, such as “Zajednica” Serb majority municipality community”, says Vetevendosje's reaction.

The last to react was one of the co-chairees of Kosovo's negotiating team, Shpend Ahmeti, who said the “meeting held in Berlin in the middle of Avni Arifi and Marko Djuriqi is very harmful to political developments in Kosovo and in dialogue with Serbia. “Such secret tasks conflict with all the fundamental principles the delegation represents: that is the nontransparent meeting, away from the eyes of MPs and the public, without any legitimacy”, Shpend Ahmeti said. He recalls that months ago the Kosovo Assembly has adopted the state-run platform for Dialogue, which clarifys Kosovo's guiding principles in dialogue. “Aty says there is no technical and political dialogue, much less the continuation of the kind of dialogue we've had so far. So this meeting and the evental topics that have been discussed in it are in stark conflict with the guiding principles of the Platform”, one of the co-chairees of the state delegation of Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Shpend Ahmeti, says in his response. /dw/