Kosovo*

Spoiler:

I would vote to unify Albania and Kosovo, election winner Albin Kurti tells Euronews

By Orlando Crowcroft  •  Updated: 16/02/2021 - 21:42

Kosovo opposition leader and election winner Albin Kurti says that if a referendum was held on his country joining Albania, he would vote yes.

His comments came in an interview with Euronews just days after his Vetëvendosje party won its largest share of the vote in Kosovo so far, paving the way for Kurti to form a government.
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- Your last term as PM ended during the COVID-19 pandemic. What is the first thing you are going to do as PM to tackle the pandemic in Kosovo?

We plan to start allocating adequate funds for vaccination and a programme of priorities regarding social groups who should be vaccinated first and in what order, and we plan to have 60 per cent of the population vaccinated by this year, in cooperation with the EU.
When I left office on the 3rd of June last year, we had only 30 deaths and the number of cured people was three-and-a-half times higher than active cases. Since I left office, we had more than fifteen hundred deaths.

- Have you discussed accepting vaccines from Serbia as North Macedonia has done?

We plan to discuss this issue with our partners, with countries that did recognise us and in particular with [the] EU.

- Is that a no to vaccines from Serbia?

No, we are not going to get vaccines from Serbia, which gets vaccines from Russia and China. Both in terms of values and interests, our orientation has always been towards the West.

- It could be seen as a way to build bridges with Belgrade.

We don't want to replace the EU and US with any eastern non-democratic powers because it has been proven that there is no certainty regarding quality, on the one hand, and on the other hand, there are always strings attached in the form of geopolitical games.

- You’ve said your government will apply for European Union candidate status, but the EU has said repeatedly that Kosovo’s ascension to the EU depends on dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina being restarted. Do you plan to restart it?

Well, I think that Serbia should face its own past. They caused four wars in the former Yugoslavia and it seems that there's no regret, no penitence, for that within the state about this. It is important to have changes in Serbia regarding how they view Kosovo.
I'm ready to engage in a dialogue where people will be the beneficiaries. But I think it is not acceptable to anyone in Kosovo - of course, including me - to engage in a dialogue where we are supposed to compensate the state of Serbia for the loss of this state during times of Milosevic. Serbia committed genocide in Kosovo.
We don't have to read history books or listen to our grandfathers. We experienced that. I think it's very important to address justice being delayed and denied and based on the past in order to have more long-term peace, security, stability and reconciliation.

- Do you still want a full apology, recognition and reparations from Serbia?

I think that is necessary. What else is Serbia going to do, try and attack us again? I think that they should move away from the Russian Federation and from China and they should try to do it as fast as possible. They have to liberate themselves from Kosovo. We liberated Kosovo from Serbia. I think that Serbia should liberate itself from Kosovo.

- How do you achieve reconciliation between Serbs and Kosovars in Kosovo?

For reconciliation, with Serbs in Kosovo, it is not necessary because we did not fight with them. We fought against Belgrade, who was against us and committed genocide in spring 1999 and to that end we need Serbia to face its past, to look itself in the mirror rather than look at Kosovo with military binoculars. And to recognise our independence and show some regrets for the crimes committed by the regime. I think that what Serbia needs is a Serbian Charles de Gaulle who will say, just as Charles de Gaulle said ‘France is great without Algeria’, that Serbia is great without Kosovo.

- You've been described as a nationalist, albeit a leftist nationalist, how do you feel about that title?

I am a social democrat and if you see some nationalist traits in me it comes from the history of Kosovo and it is of an anti-colonial, liberation character. In order to reach equality between people and nations and not to dominate someone else. We could say that all three were nationalists - Charles de Gaulle, Marine Le Pen and Franz Fanon, but if you put these three in the same basket you could make a big mistake.

- You once said that you would support a great union with Albania, is this still the case?

We still do not have a law on referendums in Kosovo, but two referendums could solve this, in Albania and Kosovo.

- How would you vote in that referendum?

Once we would have a strengthening of the state in Kosovo. Once we can do it peacefully and democratically. I think I would vote yes. Yes.

- Do you have a message for Europe?

Europe should reform itself and not only its enlargement objective. The Western Balkans six and EU are very important for each other. And I think that with Western Balkans six, EU will achieve congruence with Europe as a continent and we should never forget this and never let it go.

https://www.euronews.com/2021/02/16/i-would-vote-to-unify-albania-and-kosovo-election-winner-albin-kurti-tells-euronews

Janko Suvar wrote:niko nas nece jebati!

Spoiler:

“Kosovo behaves like a country free from COVID-19 … But Kosovo is a country ravaged by the pandemic … In the U.S., if you don’t wear a mask in public you might end up in a viral video; in Kosovo you’re more likely to trend on social media because you’re wearing a mask.”

Vilmos Tehenészfiú wrote:That's a feature, not a bug.

Pošto ima snimak nije teško pronaći počinioce. Užasava da u linču nad detetom što učestvuje, što mirno posmatra više mladih ljudi dok stariji histericno podstiču nasilje. Ovo je veliki greh koji svako normalan osudjuje. A ko je nalagodavac neka se istraži. https://t.co/cQjw0ZlQPo

— Sava Janjic (@SavaJanjic) February 23, 2021