TIRANA, June 8 – Jeton Zulfaj, advisor to the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, dwelt on the Open Balkans initiative in a talk show on a Kosovar TV, referring to the fact that the consecutive meeting of Balkan leaders was held in Ohrid on Wednesday.
Zulfaj called the initiative a political project. “Kosovo is not part and will not participate in this initiative because it is an unnecessary duplication,” he said.
Kurti’s advisor said that this initiatiit was a continuation of what was seen in Novi Sad with the Mini-Schengen that was transformed into the Open Balkans, but had its roots in 2017 in the Customs Union, which was presented by President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic., and which as the Russian Foreign Minister, Lavrov, said was an initiative of Serbia.
According to Zulfaj, Serbia does not recognize Kosovo as an equal party, therefore it can not participate in the Open Balkans initiative. “While in the Berlin process, we are an equal party. There we are guaranteed equality, because we are also with our friends and international partners. We have the common regional market with four freedoms and we aim to reach agreements in this frame,” he said.
According to him, it is incomprehensible why Albania proudly pushes forward this initiative, when it is to the detriment of Kosovo’s statehood.
“The protection of independence and sovereignty is major principle of Prime Minister Kurti. We have continuously declared in each of the meetings what are the damages and dangers that come from Serbia. So it is incomprehensible why Albania proudly pushed forward this initiative, when it is to the detriment of the statehood of Kosovo,” said Zulfaj.
/Argumentum.al
