Kurti: “Open Balkans” for corruption, war criminals and influence from the East

After being asked by reporters about the meeting of leaders of Albania, Northern Macedonia and Serbia in Skopje on Thursday, Kurti asked what the Balkans would be open about.

As the prime minister's office reports, the chief executive said that since Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, he refuses to face his country's past and his own, it seems his tendency for the Balkans to be open to powers from the East, especially for the Russian Federation, but also for China, as well as the “open to autism, oligarchy and war criminals, in opposition to the European values of democracy and the rule of law<1.

These comments by Kurti after visiting the exhibition of old books and the time press during the demonstrations of 81, in particular those referring to the image of Ukshin Hoti, Kurti, participated in the conversation with the well-known poet Jevdet Bajray at the National Theatre, with cʹrast and promoted his books: “Ca grapes from Rahoveci”, “when the vine cries”, <x4Me> at the najlon<5> and <66>

Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama has said Thursday at the Regional Co-operation Economic Forum held in Skopje that he does not understand why other Western Balkan countries have not joined him, Northern Macedonia Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, in the initiative of regional economic co-operation, known as the “mini-Schengen<18x>.

But Rama said he knows why Kosovo is not participating in the initiative that has now changed its name.

The “E know what Kosovo thinks about, and at this point I am absolutely with an opposite attitude, because for me all these countries must be part of this process and do their best for themselves, for their people, for their societies, and for all of them together”, Rama has said.

He said that the past should be left behind and that it should not denerate the future.

For Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti's decision not to join this initiative, the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vuciq, also spoke indirectly that day, saying some think only about the upcoming elections.

We'll always have options to this initiative. There will always be someone who wants to look for conspiracy theories, who don't think about the economy, which they don't think in the long run, and those who only think about the upcoming elections that come from”, Vuciq said.

Before him, Northern Macedonia Prime Minister Zoran Zaef invited Kurti and other Western Balkan leaders to join the initiative.

“Nism is open to all Western Balkan countries, so we invite and encourage our colleagues to unite because of our peoples. We are all Western and European Balkans. To create a vision of real development to benefit all our citizens”, Zaev has indicated.

Kosovo's prime minister had declared last year that “mini- Schengeni” could be Serbia's vision of a new Yugoslavia.

“I have to be honest that the Balkan mini-Schengeni is not reality, more is the idea than the project. To co-operate the six countries in the region, we have the Berlin Process framework. In that sense there is nothing new. The Balkan Mini-Schengeni has its own risks, I have said it represents the fourth Yugoslavia, which Serbia loves, that is Belgrade's initiative”, Kurti expressed.

But Kosovo had pledged to Washington's agreement to join the <x0mini-Schengen” initiative, but Kurti has since begun positioned himself as a sharp critic of this project. Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani is on the same line.

At the recent summit of Western Balkan leaders in Tirana, Kurti even declared that “mini-Schengeni” no longer exists.

“There is no more mini-Schengen, there is a joint regional market, and the Berlin Process, which will have the next meeting in the first half of July”, Kurti said.