Kosovo’s former deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Anton Berisha told Franko Egro, host of Balkan Talks on Euronews Albania, that Kosovo must take on a constructive approach with its allies, as Serbia will scorn any condition that Kosovo might want to set forth.
According to Berisha, Serbia will recognize Kosovo only if the European Union and the United States pressure it to do so.
Furthermore, he said that he was not surprised by the Serbian President’s response in not recognizing Kosovo.
“I think it would be politically naïve to expect any other response from Vucic. The Kosovo-Serbia dialogue is not for Kosovo, as if it was, an agreement would not be reached, because Serbia would not accept, as it has done so far, Kosovo’s conditions throughout the years”, said the former deputy foreign minister.
Berisha thinks that Kurti is using the dialogue for “domestic purposes”, rolling on decade old-line wrecked by tensions and irreconciliation.
“Kosovo is persisting with its wrong practices, instead of having a dialogue locked by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it continues to create posts as it has done in the past, such as organs with temporary staff. In other words, everything begins from zero all the time, instead of using the means allotted by the Foreign Ministry, because even in the case when the foreign minister is changed, the professional diplomatic staff remains there”, he explained.
To Berisha, the EU has a determinant role in the dialogue.
“The EU is the organization that both Kosovo and Serbia aspire to join. The EU is a determinant factor and this is well-known. Kosovo is only one of the factors in the process, but not the party that gets to make the decisions”, he said.
Speaking about Kosovo’s approach, he suggests that the country must stay on the same line as the United States and the EU.
“We’ve been a nonconstructive party and we’ve damaged our position with the allies at the dialogue, adding to that are the domestic developments breaching democratic norms, be that from past governments, but including this one, which came to power with major promises but in fact, it is reseizing the state and institutions, and this is damaging for us. Dialogue with Serbia is not the only point, but our capabilities to organize and maintain the state through European standards is too”, concluded Berisha.
