Mustafa: Citizens are bearing the consequences of voting those who have prevented visa liberalisation

The former LDK chairman, in an interview for Online Economy, has stated that political will has been missing at the time to gain visa liberalisation.

Even the demarcation has not been a condition that other countries have had, but the case has been seized since Kosovo's overall interest has been seen, not only but in the stability of the region that Montenegro becomes a NATO member. It was not a preference for a state to become a NATO member if it did not regulate all border issues with its neighbours, so it has been a requirement to ratify the agreement and get liberalisation”.

“We were able to get it in 2016, but there was no political will from the opposition that is now visible and then damaged. Now it has been expected that if we enter this phase, we will have problems because we have been warned even then that some countries have internal problems with the extreme right or the extreme left to support liberalisation for Kosovo, as has France”.

Mustafa talking about the new criteria has said they have been expected because long ago the moment has been lost, while adding that visa liberalisation will connect with the Kosovo-Serbia final agreement.

Now we've come to the situation we've been warned about. We have been warned that if we don't do the job in 2016 and enter the European Parliament election zone and elections of several other states we will have problems. Now this issue has been opened and it has been expected to open, because we are in the phase of dialogue and now the dialogue is being used to condition, according to me, visa liberalisation with new conditions. It is incorrect because Kosovo has fulfilled all criteria with the ratification of the Demarketing Agreement with Montenegro, and I expect that in this form we will be conditioned even further until a” agreement is made.

The former prime minister has also spoken of the Franco-German proposal for the final agreement with Serbia.

The “actually can now become half an agreement, because it seems to have come out of some information that has come up in opinion and the frames that France and Germany have offered do not completely close the issue of the final agreement with Serbia, but it can conclude a part now of a later part that means that if visa liberalisation is done with such an agreement, then the agreement will not be what has been expected for Kosovo”.

He has also commented on the opposition's actions at the time he was prime minister, citing the costs of citizens for visas.

“The consequences are clear, as told by former Prime Minister Hoti that citizens have paid about 90m euros for visa procedures. Not all who paid them have received visas, and most of them have wasted their money. We will still pay until we meet the new criteria France puts before us, so citizens have paid for such opposition behavior, but citizens themselves have paid for their behaviour, because citizens have given their vote to those who have since prevented visa liberalisation, those who have brought tear gas, Molotov bombs and others, so citizens are solidified with such actions by their own voting. Therefore, we as citizens should also bear the consequences of our conscience and our conduct. It's bad, too, it's not very satisfying that I'm saying this, but we're really in a situation that we're now paying for the damage done to the country earlier on”.