
The President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, reiterated on Monday that Serbia with its policies is destabilizing the region. During a press conference held after the meeting she had in Pristina with Slovenian President Borut Pahor, Osmani said that despite Belgrade’s stance, Kosovo is interested in resolving all open issues with Serbia in a constructive way.
“Kosovo has been a constructive party in the dialogue with Serbia, but Serbia is not interested in reaching a legally binding agreement. Therefore only mutual recognition should be in the center of this process. Our neighbor do not want peace in the Western Balkans. I hope the EU is clear with Serbia on this. Serbia is also continuing through illegal structures in the north to destabilize Kosovo “, said Osmani.
Moreover, Osmani stressed that Russian influence poses another threat to the stability of the region.
“To fight these destabilizing tendencies, we need the support of our friends, we need the support of Slovenia”, said Osmani. According to her, Kosovo has no other way but Euro-Atlantic integration. She mentioned that Kosovo has met the conditions for visa liberalization, but the European Union is late with this for Kosovo so this damages the credibility of EU.
Pahor, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, also spoke about visas. Slovenian President agreed that the EU should liberalize visas for Kosovo. Meanwhile talking about dialogue with Serbia, Pahor said the parties should move forward.
“Slovenia also supports Kosovo’s Euro-Atlantic perspective. The most important issues should be resolved through the dialogue, and the first condition on that is the implementation of the agreements reached in the EU-facilitated dialogue,”said Slovenian President.
Pahor was on a one-day visit to Pristina, where he also met with the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti.
He arrived in Pristina after a visit to Belgrade, where he said that “the inclusion process of the region in the EU is very slow, and that this stalemate is reinforcing the policies of nationalism and border changes, which are dangerous to peace and security.”