Disobedient opposition to participation in dialogue

However, since the Vetevendosje Movement rules out any possibility of involvement in the dialogue process, the Democratic Party of Kosovo expects formal invitation from the country's institutions in order to review it.

LVV: We do not party with government in dialogue with Serbia

Rexhep Selimi, chief of the largest opposition party's Parliamentary Group in the Kosovo Parliamentary Assembly, Vetevendosje Movement, tells Radio Free Europe currently that there are no circumstances for LVVV to support the current government, which, he says, claims to lead dialogue with Serbia

“Therefore, the Vetevendosje Movement cannot side with such a government, which is not only unleg and unlegative, but a government that has already created uneven reports against Serbia, removing reciprocity measures as preconditions to continue talks with Serbia”, Selimi stressed.

Avni Bytyqi, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Kosovo, this other opposition party in the Kosovo Assembly, speaking of Radio Free Europe, says that this political subject considers that the topic of dialogue is very important for the country, while the current approach of Prime Minister Hoti to this subject is inconsistent.

“We believe that the invitations you make in television studios are not serious in relation to the political situation we are going through. The Democratic Party of Kosovo will review with the utmost seriousness any invitation coming from the country's institutions, especially on the topic of dialogue, since we too are interested in what this prime minister's approach to this topic will really look like. In this context, The PDK is still hosting the official invitation from Prime Minister Hoti”, Bytyqi stressed.

Meanwhile, political affairs analyst Imer Mushkolaj, in a conversation with Radio Free Europe, has expressed the opinion that despite Prime Minister Hoti's initiative to establish the Forum of Leaders of Parliamentary Political Parties, with the idea that the Kosovo side in dialogue with Serbia has a common position, it has a good goal, it is unnecessary.

“Such so-called bodies of unity, such unity forums are not necessary now when Kosovo has its own institutions and the president and the government have its constitutional responsibilities. Such forms and such so-called groups of unity have had logic when Kosovo had not yet declared independence. While no one can force or force the opposition to become part of the dialog process, Mushkolaj said.

Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti has earlier declared that Kosovo is ready to enter the dialogue process and expects the first meeting within this process to be soon.

However, he has stressed that the dynamics of dialogue and the outcome of the agreement do not depend on Kosovo.

For Dialogue, Opposition Role in Assembly

For the passage of the deal, if it is eventually achieved, two-thirds of the votes of the 120 Kosovo Parliament deputies will be needed, while in favour of forming Hoti's government 61 MPs have voted.

MP Selimi says the conclusion of the dialogue process is a hypothetical circumstance, but according to him, the collapse of Albin Kurti's government and the formation of the Avdullah Hoti government is made of the goal that, as he says, Kosovo President Hashim Thaci will have a government that does not oppose an eventual agreement reached with Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq.

What we're seeing, all this effort and the president's informal joint venture with other mechanisms, is to make sure someone prevents such an agreement. It is understandable that the Vetevendosje and Kurti Movement would never accept any more and let alone actors of actions that oppose the interests of Kosovo citizens, Selimi stressed.

The Democratic Party of Kosovo has not provided any clarification whether its deputies will vote in favour or against the agreement between Kosovo and Serbia if it is eventually reached depending on the content of the agreement.

Analyst Mushkolaj estimates that in terms of the process of dialogue the opposition can play its role in the Kosovo Assembly by discussing the process before and after the eventual agreement, it can establish dilemmas, it can provide proposals, as well as in the finals of the process, if an eventual agreement is reached with Serbia, to vote on that agreement or not.

That's the opposition's role. Representatives of the government coalition, who have chosen to make this coalition, have done it with the idea that they have the full responsibility to establish any agreements that can be reached with Serbia. This is extremely legitimate and legal. On the other hand, I say that the opposition, simply, should be left in its opposition role, to make opposition in the convent, and when it comes to reaching the assembly, shake hands to vote for or against it”, Mushkolaj stressed.

Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti, on May 10th, at the Kosovo Academy of Sciences and Arts has presented, as he has called, the framework of principles to approach dialogue with Serbia.

He has stressed that the “dialog will be developed only on the foundations of the Kosovo Constitution”, meanwhile, the principles of this dialogue will be that Kosovo's “territorial integrity will be undisputed”, “the conflict between Kosovo and Serbia will be eliminated permanently” and Kosovo's “constitutional organisation is non-negotiable”.

In addition to forming the forum of parliamentary political party leaders, who, as it has been said, would have only a consultative role, Hoti has also warned the formation of the Council of Experts for Dialogue, as well as the request to the Kosovo Assembly to form a parliamentary commission for dialogue.

Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, which has started since 2011 with the European Union's mediation, has been interrupted at the end of 2018, due to a tax the then Kosovo government imposed on products imported by Serbia.