Albright: US “is not helping” resolve differences between Kosovo and Serbia

She has made these comments during a discussion of the House of Foreign Relations Committee, led by Eliot Engel, about authoritarianism, disinformation and good governance during the coronary pandemic.

“What has happened, unfortunately, is that there are now questions about the borders and that Kosovo has been part of Serbia, but I think that in many ways, I have to say this with regret that the United States is not helping solve this issue with (Serbian president, Aleksandar) Vuciq and what Serbs have tried to undo, which has resulted in a genocide cleanup which the international community has condemned”, Albright has declared.

It with this statement appears to have referred to border exchange discussions, originally distributed in 2018, the REL reports.

Among the discussions has been the idea that Serbia can take a part of northern Kosovo in exchange for the Presevo Valley.

The United States has not ruled out the possibility of exchanging territories if both sides agree, until within the European Union countries, this idea has prompted pro and counter reactions.

The damage to relations between Kosovo and the US has been one of the reasons to hold the no-confidence motion against the government now in office led by Albin Kurti.

On the day of holding this motion, Kurti had said the motion was due to Kosovo President Hashim Thaci's shopping for territorial exchange with Serbia.

I'm convinced that there's a deal, practically the president confirmed it to me at the meeting that we were”, Kurti said.

The “Motor of this is like leaving this government in order to open up the proclamation of the state of emergency and the deal ready for territorial exchange”, it had declared, among other things.

But later the White House envoy for dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Richard Green, American Ambassador to Pristina Philip Costett and State Department envoy for the Western Balkans Matthew Palmer, they had said there was no secret plan for exchange of territories between Kosovo and Serbia, as some” speculated.

House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Eliot Engel has said that Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq is currently leading with an iron fist and that he is doing everything to harm democracy in Kosovo, trying to promote countries towards recognising Kosovo's citizenship.

The elections have just been held in Kosovo, and the United States now appears to be moving away from the two-party commitment we've had in past administrations, starting with Clinton, Bush and the rest”, he has indicated.

During the debate, Engel has once again recalled the praise expressed by Albanians for the American people.

No matter how much you can travel, you can never find a place that greets Americans as joyfully as Kosovars. I've never seen a country that loves and appreciates Americans and is grateful for what we've done in 1999 to prevent genocide in front of Europe once again, so my heart breaks, which in a way we have turned our backs on those people”, is expressed among others.

In March of this year, two US senators -- David Peru and Rand Paul -- had said the US should reconsider its presence in Kosovo if Kosovo does not abolish the 100 per cent fee on Serbia's goods.

In the meantime, the suspension of the US government's Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) programmes was also announced in the wake of $50m.

This already suspended programme was focused on reforms of the two most critical areas identified as obstacles to development in Kosovo, such as lack of electricity sustainability, as well as real weaknesses and shortcomings in rule of law.

Later, Kosovo's incumbent government has replaced the reciprocity tax for Serbian goods, but not for those in Bosnia, the decision that has not been welcomed by American authorities, as they have demanded that obstacles not be created in the process of dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia.

This dialogue was suspended from November 2018, when taxes were imposed by Kosovo authorities on Serbia's goods.