Avdullah Hoti: We refused to talk about license plates with Serbia, Government to seek recognition

Hoti considers that in this form the focus is shifting from “the final agreement on mutual recognition”.

The former prime minister has warned the Kurti government not to slip into technical dialogue until it has shown how far the executives were at the helm they had refused to discuss the plates without reaching an agreement that brought recognition of our state's independence from Serbia.

We all need to know that relations with Serbia do not normalise without agreement on mutual recognition. writes Mr. Hoti, Periscope escorts.

We remember that Albin Kurti had promised not to dialogue at all in Brussels without apology and compensation, which has been violated. He has also promised the establishment of full reciprocity against Serbia, but also violated it.

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In the past government, dialogue has begun for final agreements on mutual recognition based on platforms of principles, goals and red lines in dialogue. As such, this platform has been the framework of action within which dialogue is made. The platform has surrendered to our international partners before the start of dialogue.

Only after agreeing with partners on Kosovo's position and expectations from the dialogue have we launched dialogue with the objective of only “reaching the final agreement for mutual recognition and normalisation of relations”. And progress has been made as far as the contents of the final agreement are concerned, and in terms of establishing the supporting context for the final agreement on non-recognitional countries of the European Union and beyond.

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Unfortunately, with the actions of the current government, such as today's meeting in Brussels, we are going back to technical dialogue.

There's nothing for the license plates to dialogue with. The license agreement expired on September 15, 2021. A year earlier, in September 2020, in implementation of the Brussels Agreement, former Interior Minister Veliu has canceled administrative instruction to prevent registration of vehicles further based on the 2016 agreement, so that beyond September 15th, 2021 there will be no circulation of vehicles registered under the Brussels agreement.

Thus, the current government's decision on the license of movement on September 14, 2016, has been a consequence of the government's preliminary decision and based on the Brussels Agreement on freedom of movement.

In September 2020, when we canceled the administrative directive quoted above, there have been reactions from Brussels that were required to renegotiate the license agreement for the plates. We have argued that agreement on mutual recognition should be reached, which naturally solves all technical problems in the relationship with Serbia. Our refusal was based on initial agreement with partners that we were launching dialogue only for mutual recognition and normalisation of relations, and that there is no agreement on anything until the final agreement with mutual recognition is reached in its centre. For this stance, we had in particular the support of the White House given through some official statements and letters to Serbia and Kosovo.

This approach of the current government is shifting the focus of dialogue from “the final agreement on mutual recognition” in the dialogue for “technical issue”. This kind of dialogue not only represents reaching the agreement for mutual recognition, but creates additional expectations among international partners regarding Kosovo's position on the nature of the final agreement.

All should be clear that relations with Serbia do not normalise without agreement for mutual recognition. When the generation of daily problems that surface in the relationship with Serbia is analysed, it is evident that those problems are the result of a lack of mutual recognition.