Kosovo continues to be stubborn in its firm rejection of Open Balkan even though Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, as well as the Serbian President Alexander Vucic continue to send invitations its way each time they meet.
Every Kosovar administration has so far refused to sit in the same roundtable bringing together all six western Balkan countries.
This approach is not profitable for the country, according to Veton Surroi, a renowned Albanian analyst and a consultant to the Kosovar PM, Albin Kurti.
“I think we should be participating as full members or by watching or expressing our opinions on any reasonable initiative that takes place in the Western Balkans and we should be involved because for every single initiative that may take place here in Europe, we must be active participants and voice our opinion, and this includes all other initiatives that may happen in the future” – Surroi said during an interview on Balkans Debrief directed by Ilva Tare.
Regardless of this, Prime Minister Albin Kurti seems set and determined to keep rejecting this initiative. He wants Serbia to recognize Kosovo first – only then can both countries sit at the same table as equals, according to Kurti.
The process of negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo is stalled with no apparent results whatsoever in the last few years. Surroi calls this process ‘not serious’ because instead of delivering results, the countries are still “dealing with license plate issues even 23 years after the war”.
Despite his firm stance on Open Balkan, Veton Surroi continues to think that Serbia should recognize Kosovo as an independent state as soon as possible because this is a reality that no one can change.
“We need to reach an agreement between both states, about how the future will play out and about how to integrate the Serbian national interest into the relationship between Kosovo and Serbia and vice versa” – Surroi concluded.
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