What Kurt said today about visas, Franco-German proposal and the north

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has said he cannot deal with final agreements so that there is no destabilisation, adding that these are two different things. Asked what the government's response is in case of destabilising the situation in the north after the October 31st wedding, Kurti has said there is room for worry, but not for fear.

The chief of executives has said caution is needed, but has added that KFOR and Kosovo Police care for crisis management.

“We cannot deal with the final agreement not to be destabilised because these are two different things, crisis management is a matter of security organs, KFOR, Kosovo Police, E ULEX, and so on, diplomacy contributes, but that's the second point, the first point is this other point that I said we're fully engaged. Is there any place we should be concerned about, of course, whether we should be careful, no doubt. But we don't have to be afraid even because in general, man's fear of being overly feared”, Kurt said.

Kurti has said dialogue continues and has expressed optimism about it, saying it is proving that Kosovo is a successful state, and according to him the European Union has understood who is on the right side between Kosovo and Serbia.

“As far as the German-French proposal does not have such a proposal for final agreements, the general framework of the agreement has been discussed in Brussels for a month at Belgrade's request for 18 August, and the general framework of the agreement has been discussed at that meeting. I've given my proposal there and this should not be confused with the steps in terms of crisis management these are different things. There are discussions, there are options, there are ideas, there are trials, but I can't say that we have something rigid that we could present in a final form, there is no such thing as this, dialogue goes on, meetings, discussions continue, I'm optimistic even because the Republic of Kosovo is proving to be a successful state, and I believe that the European Union has understood who is on the right and the summer side and historical side in the reports between Kosovo and Serbia”, Kurti said.

As regards converting plates, Kurti has once again called on Serbian citizens to do so, while stressing that the deadline for this is October 31st this year.

The “We have already extended the deadline so the deadline has been extended is until October 31st, even Belgrade, on the basis of pledges it has made in Brussels at the time of the governments when I the prime minister was not promising that after mid-January 2018 neither will it be produced nor circulate those signs that are inheritance to the Milosevic regime. I call once again on Kosovo Serb citizens to convert plates into those of the Republic of Kosovo, as the overwhelming majority have done. There are fewer than 10 thousand cars with KM registration signs, EP, PZ, DJ, UR, GL, and so on, so there are less than 10,000 cars, and even with IDs there are 135 thousand RKS identifications that own Serbian citizens in Kosovo, only 2 thousand to 5 thousand of them refuse to do so. So it is not about a Serb stance in Kosovo but a political insistence on an extremist minority. But I believe that even this is not real, since there are illegal structures that make such pressure”, he said.

He has said Serbs in Kosovo are not free because of illegal structures, which, he said, do not wish to allow Serbs to have more than one party and independent political opinion.

At the media conference after accepting the progress report Kurti has expressed optimism on the visa liberalisation issue and has said his government has improved Kosovo's image.

“Three months ago it has been four years since the European Commission for the second time recommended the removal of the visa regime for our citizens, to add further value to Kosovo and its orientation, is our government which has improved Kosovo's image, so even those who have been skeptical do not have to be skeptical because even Kosovo's image has improved markedly during 2021-2022. So that's why we're optimistic and I don't believe that we have to prepare now for negative scenarios and I don't believe that there's either reason or logic or plans for new conditions, conditions are done, that's 95, and we are optimisticly looking ahead of”, the prime minister said.