Official DEAR: Kurti violated <x0 red line” with trying to block Serbian List

The only thing I would especially stress, which was more disturbing to us, was concrete efforts to make Kosovo citizens impossible, and in this case the Kosovo Serbs, to choose their representatives, both in the broad sense and in leadership positions in institutions. There's a range of actions more widely, regarding the north, that we think would be destabilizing and that we've raised concerns about. But, I think the main thing we want to stress is actions that would deny Kosovo citizens the right to choose their representatives”, the senior American official has said.

The prime minister's move in office, Albin Kurti, who according to the US “has violated the red line” and has led to the decision to suspend the planned strategic dialogue, is, among other things, “the effort to prevent Serbian List's participation in the elections”, a senior official at the Washington-based American State Department has said. In a conversation with TIME, he has said that he has also preceded a series of other actions that “have created division and instability within the country, but even wider in the region”.

The US official has also talked about how the US views the way to resolving issues related to the integration of Serbs into Kosovo institutions. He has said he hopes the Brussels-led process will bring results, yet another move would be essential. “I am also talking about a parallel process, where the Government of Kosovo speaks to its citizens and includes them in plans, whether they come out of dialogue or if they come out of the dialogue between Kosovo and its citizens”, he has said. He has declared that Serbia's parallel structures should be integrated within Kosovo institutions, but that this should be done in such a way as to ensure long-term and sustainable solutions.

As for the constitutional uncertainty about the Serbian Deputy Speaker of the Assembly's vote, the top official in Washington, has said it is necessary to ensure Serbian representation in this position, and that a solution must be found in order to achieve that either institutional or political.

He has confirmed that the American presence in KFOR is essential for American interests for peace and stability in the Western Balkans, but that it has not ruled out expansion of measures in other areas if the government in office or a future government continues with similar actions so far.

The senior US official has reiterated that US measures do not concern the people of Kosovo or the state of Kosovo and has said that the doors of co-operation with the US have been opened-up, if incumbent Prime Minister Albin Kurti takes concrete action. He added that the U.S. has not been easy to decide on suspension and that he hopes there will soon be a change of course.

The Causes of Sussion

Although US officials have directed continued criticism at the address of the Government of Kosovo, for what they have called unilateral actions related to actions about parallel structures, as well as the removal of the dinar exploitation, Washington has not taken measures until 12 September this year, in contrast with the European Union that has imposed sanctions on Kosovo since 2023. This decision, according to Washington State Department senior official, has come even after what it has called Kurt's attempt to block the Serbian List to participate in the election.

The only thing that I would especially stress, which was more disturbing to us, was concrete efforts to make Kosovo citizens impossible, and in this case the Kosovo Serbs, to choose their representatives, both in the broad sense and in leadership positions in institutions. There's a range of actions more widely, regarding the north, that we think would be destabilizing and that we've raised concerns about. But I think the main thing we want to stress is actions that would deny the citizens of Kosovo the right to elect their representatives”, he said.

It has added that about actions that the US has seen as unilateral and destabilising, there have been <x0) a series of conversations with Kurt in a private and diplomatic way, just as we always do about the disturbing” actions.

We were clear, too, there would be consequences if this continued. And at some point we felt that we couldn't wait any longer and that we had to protect our interests”, he said.

A month earlier, the leading American diplomat, accredited in Kosovo, Anu Prattipati, had gone to the office to incumbent Prime Minister Albin Kurti, to ask that they stop actions that prevent Serbian political subjects from participating in the October 12th local elections. She made it known to him that the United States is watching this case. But, however, that afternoon the CEC made the decision that the Serbian List should not be certified, which was then rejected by PZAP.

Integration of Serbs

The US official has stressed that the decision to suspend the planned strategic dialogue has nothing to do with the US report to the people of Kosovo, nor with Kosovo as a state. But it has added that, essentially, the point that Kosovo Serbs are trying to stress is that Kosovo Serbs are citizens of this country and they must be part of its political, social and economic life.

He has said there has been a series of actions that have been aiming to hinder their participation.

So, I think we're especially talking about a political process, and we need to move on. What we have insisted is that no one on this side, no one, doubts that parallel institutions should eventually be integrated into the Kosovo system”, he has declared. But the important thing is how this will be done, he said.

Integration, according to him, can only happen “in a way that brings stability, with full co-operation and full co-ordination with the population affected”.

Asked how this could happen to the largest Serbian party in Kosovo, the Serb List supported by Serbia's government, and Belgrade acts against the integration of Serbs to Kosovo institutions, he has said the Kosovo government should show will.

“The essence of what I mean in our focus is that if we have a scenario in which the government in Pristina is willing to engage in full dialogue with its citizens for the road ahead, and then there is an impasse on the other side, then our focus will go to them. I don't think we're in that situation right now”, he said.

Asked about the fact that some of the measures the government has taken so far, regarding Serbia's parallel structures have not produced tensions, the American official has said they may look like achievements but are not sustainable.

It's clear that you can do something that in the short term is satisfactory, both legally and emotionally, to bring things under control, but that's not sustainable in the long run if you don't have the compatibility of the affected population”, he said.

Determining and integrating parallel structures into the Kosovo system have been the goals of all negotiating processes, from Vienna's to the last one resulting from the Ohrid Agreement, but which have yet to produce no results.

The American official has said that to some extent he understands the frustration for the slow flow of dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, which the US supports and hopes in results, but that the “a that we certainly do not support, are Kurt's unilateral steps to do so in a destabilising manner, because it is simply not sustainable”.

Asked whether the concrete measures the US calls for by incumbent Prime Minister Albin Kurti are the return to the process of dialogue and implementation of the Ohrid Agreement, which Serbia, however, has formally rejected, he has said American officials have spoken to Europeans and support the progress of that process. However, according to him, the US finds it necessary to communicate directly between the Government of Kosovo and the Kosovo Serb community.

“I am also talking about a parallel process, where the Government of Kosovo speaks to its citizens and includes them in plans, whether they come out of dialogue or if they come out of the dialogue between Kosovo and its citizens”, he has said. There's a two-step process here. The first is reangement through the EU dialogue to pursue normalisation with Serbia. But the main point is that there must be commitment with Kosovo Serbs for the future”.

He has stated that in this context future elections can offer that opportunity. “We hope that Kosovo Serbs will choose their representatives. This provides an opportunity after the elections for the Government of Kosovo to open a dialogue on how to make integration properly: in a sustainable manner, that respects human rights and fully integrates them into the country's political, social and economic life”, he said.

The American official has mentioned Kurti's recent speech, where he spoke of engagement with Kosovo Serbs after the elections, as a positive “step”, but has stressed that the “that is needed are concrete actions”.

The incumbent Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, last week has addressed Serbian citizens through a videotape, where he announced that “over the next mandate” The government will work on the integration of education and health into a single system, joining experiences and forces with international partners, including the European Union, the QUINT countries and KFOR. The Serbian list reacted to Kurti's statements, stressing that integration of education and health into the Kosovo system is not part of any agreement and has described it as a threat to the Serb community.
Albin Kurti before taking over the executive leadership, while opposing dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia in Brussels, stressed that he would shift the process within Kosovo into a dialogue with Kosovo Serb citizens for resolving related issues, yet a formal process structured in that form has not occurred.

Serbian Deputy Chairman

Asked about the constitutional qualms about the election of the Serbian Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, where the Serbian List has the right to candidate proposal and MPs to vote or not, while still not having a Constitutional Court decision, the US official has declared that this leadership position belongs to Kosovo Serbs and that its institutions should find a solution, whether institutional or political.

All right, politics is messy, and now you have some problems. Kosovo has strong and vital institutions, and it is up to them to find the way forward. Kosovo Serbs have the right to be in the leadership of the Parliament. They must have the right to elect their representatives to leadership positions. This is something we would like to see it preserved, through any solution, whether institutionally or politically”, he said.

The American official, questioned whether even Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani's harsh statements about the Serbian deputy chairman's election issue have affected the suspension decision, has said the US statement on the matter has been clear, that the decision is only related to Government and the prime minister in office.

Co-operation With the United States

Although planned strategic dialogue has been suspended, Kosovo continues co-operation with the US in various fields of defence, trade, education, as well as through the MCC, but according to the US official, “if there are other destabilizing steps that create division within the country, we can take other steps to protect our interests”.

The suspension, according to him, has not been an easy decision, nor has it been desired.

It's really a disaster we were forced to take this step. We want to be able to take it back, but this can only happen on the basis of concrete action,” has said. He added that this is the election of every Kosovo government, and currently of incumbent Prime Minister Albin Kurti, who has the door-to-arms to return to the spirit of co-operation that has defined our relationship. ”

“It can have the strongest possible relationship with the United States, further deepen that partnership, and help Kosovo become an example of stability in the region and a prosperous country. Or it can take unilateral and destabilising steps that create internal and instability divisions in the region, but cannot have both,”, he has said. So we hope to see a change of course soon. We hope to get this relationship back on track, but that's a choice he has to make. ”

The State Department's top official, when asked whether there will be American presence movements in KFOR, has clearly said that the U.S.'s core interest in the Western Balkans is to maintain peace and stability, and we will take whatever steps we see necessary to preserve it”./Periscopi/