Swiss ambassador says Kosovo must recruit better people to MPJ

During a debate organised by the Kosovo Democratic Institute (KDI) on Friday, with the subject “The change of dialogue with Serbia in Kosovo's foreign policy”, Kolly said foreign policy has impact on each citizen of Kosovo.

He views dialogue as one of the most important parts of foreign policy.

“is not the minister for energy or road regulation (Infrastructural), where a lot of money is needed, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs needs a lot of money, but people working at the ministry are very important. In that sense recruiting the best people, it's very vital for this Minister”, Kolly said.

For Ambassador Colin, too, the next very important process is membership in international organisations, which, according to him, needs to be spent a lot of energy.

Dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, with the European Union's mediation started in March 2011, which was led by former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, and former Prime Minister Isa Mustafa.

Within this dialogue, 35 agreements have been reached between 2011 and 2020.

Eugen Cakoli from the Kosovo Democratic Institute (KDI) said the Kurti Government should not bypass dialogue with Serbia.

Cakolli said the period of time when an agreement between the parties can be reached is unclear.

The current “situation seems nothing hopeful, especially for Kosovo. On the one hand, there are always added voices in Serbia and the position that there will never be recognition of Kosovo, and on the other hand, in Kosovo we have the bypass at least declaration of this topic and we have extreme polarisation that has put the dialogue process on a statuskuo”, Cakoli said.

Before Kosovo's prime minister is elected for the second time, Albin Kurti had named dialogue as the “fourth priorities” after pandemic, employment of justice.

Finally, he has said there will not be a meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq soon.

Kurti, too, has said that the issue of dialogue should not replace either the fighting of pandemic or the fight against corruption.

Part of this debate was meant to be Kosovo Foreign Minister Donika Grovalla, but she was not present.

Pacolli: We had no diplomacy.

The ruling party's MP, the Vetevendosje Movement, Victory Pacolli, said that in past governments they have not invested enough in foreign policy.

According to her, domestic politics, corruption and poor diplomacy have affected Kosovo's failures of dialogue and foreign policy.

We have not had embassies prepared to push away the Kosovo agenda. Our embassies have been led by people who have been the political faces of the ruling parties, who in most cases have served the interests of political parties that have been sent there and their private interests, but not the interests of the state”, Pacolli said.

Pacolli said dialogue with Serbia should not prevent the development of bilateral reports with states that have recognised Kosovo.

Opposition: Kosovo without foreign policy

Opposition party members in Kosovo say the government is not transparent in terms of dialogue with Serbia.

Albanian Medici, deputy chairman of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), dialogue is needed not only on the level of meeting the criteria for membership in the European Union, but on the future of the countries of the region.

The most important thing for us is that we see this dialogue necessary to bring peace to the region. A final comprehensive agreement should bring mutual recognition of the two countries and, also, by respecting the current borders and constitutionality, or Kosovo's internal constitutional regulation”, Medici said.

While Bernard Nikaj, secretary for external relations at the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), said Kosovo does not have a co-ordinated foreign policy in terms of achieving strategic goals.

There is a certain time that our foreign policy is in an undefinated situation. Integration into the European Union is a long-term policy of the Republic of Kosovo. So far I think that dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia has been an integral part of our road and our journey towards the European Union”, Nikaj said.

Dialogue on normalisation of reports between Kosovo and Serbia, under EU mediation, has started in 2011.

Finally, the European Commission, through the Progress Report, published on October 19th, invited Kosovo and Serbia to have a constructive engagement in dialogue and to urgently reach a comprehensive, legally binding agreement for normalising the reports.