Pacolli: The future can be built in the Balkans by imposing political decisions and denying past

First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kosovo Behgjet Pacolli is standing for an official visit to Poland. Minister Pacolli is participating in the Western Balkans summit under way in the western Polish town of Poznañ, where he was hosted by Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz.

As the statement to the media reports, Pacolli said the Economy, Civil Society and Security are all topics of great importance to Kosovo and the region. According to him, given that the nature of relations in the Western Balkans region is complex, built on distrust and continuing disagreements, socio-economic integration becomes even more difficult and much unstructed.

“We cannot build co-operative relations in the Balkans as we deny the past and therefore the reconciliation process remains blocked. We have not built the future until peace is established for victims of the past”, Minister Pacolli said before the foreign ministers of the Western Balkans.

He argued that the future cannot be built in the Balkans by imposing political decisions for citizens in other countries and undermining their well-being.

“Kosovo does not want to condition any attempt to find solutions to unresolved issues, but continues to consider that mutual co-operation based on agreement and mutual respect is the way to move forward”, the minister said, adding that we strongly believe the common future in Europe is possible and that today's difficulties can be overcome by building the prospect of our people's future.

The minister before the attendees said he has talked a lot about the visa liberalisation process over the past seven years, since the start of the visa liberalisation guide in 2012.

“However, I still have to show why Kosovo deserves visa liberalisation and its importance not only for Kosovo, but also for a stable European perspective”, Pacolli said.

She also talked about European prospects and vision for years to come.

Kosovo has signed its first contractual agreement with the European Union, the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, which is the first point for accession to the European Union, but Kosovo remains only the option “”.

Pacolli also said the European perspective remains the strategic choice for Kosovo.