Protection or isolation of Kosovo?

One of the characteristic cases, recently, has to do with the government's refusal to cooperate in unblocking the ban on the import of goods from Serbia. In the Progress Report for Kosovo, for 2023, the European Commission has emphasized that the stoppage of the circulation of goods is contrary to the spirit of the Stabilization-Association Agreement, which constitutes the only contractual agreement between Kosovo and the European Union.

The official representative of Germany, Manuel Sarazin, held two meetings with Prime Minister Kurti at the beginning of September, within one week, to reach a solution to this problem. The Prime Minister of Kosovo explained that the reason for rejecting this ban has nothing to do with trade, but with "national security", namely with the risk that together with the goods from Serbia, weapons will also enter. The German side pledged to ensure the installation of X-Ray equipment, which would enable the detection of weapons at the border. Even this proposal did not sway the government's determination to stop the import of some goods from Serbia. Thus, the Kurti Government is putting Kosovo at risk of being excluded from the Berlin Summit Process, and this would be the second most serious blow after Kosovo's non-membership in the Council of Europe.

The license plate crisis

However, national security was actually not made possible by Kurti, but by the allied countries of NATO. In this context, I remind you of the case of the crisis which Kurti caused it with the license plates of citizens' cars in 2021: at that time Vucic concentrated military troops on the border with Kosovo. Against this threat, it was NATO's reaction that forced Serbia to withdraw its troops from the border with Kosovo. NATO warned the General Staff of the Serbian Army what response it would give to this threat  to attack Kosovo: in the letter that the chief of staff of the Serbian army sent to Vučić, there are also three lines that were published by the daily "Danas": "Mr. The NATO president has informed us that, in their reaction, the size of our army would be hit first". On the other hand, it was the allied countries that they solved it the problem with license plates. 

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Indeed, the national security of Kosovo has been made possible by NATO for more than a quarter of a century. However, it is Kurti's policy, with orientation isolationist which endangers him. We are witnesses, now four years of this harmful orientation, which is against interests of Kosovo. I need to clarify that  not only security, but also economic development, as well as development in all spheres of Kosovo, is based on the powerful, political and economic support of allied countries. The citizens of Kosovo, in fact,  they did not vote for Kurti to damage international relations and cooperation.

During the 8 years, as ambassador of Kosovo in France (2008-2017), but also before, since 1999 (NATO intervention), I have witnessed, among other things, the surprise and the respect of the high diplomats of the states of many countries with EXTENT and the intensity of the support (political, economic and military) that Western countries offered to Kosovo. However, for four years now we have been witnessing erosion of this support due to the policy of the Kurti Government: they are especially non-coordination and non-cooperation with allied countries, but also the lack of knowledge that affects the realization of political and economic objectives.

The result of this policy suits not only Serbia, but also Russia: the damage to multiple ties with Western countries, these four years, realized what those two countries had planned in particular since the liberation of Kosovo from Serbia.

"Kosovo did not break free from NATO"

I have to remind you that Kurti's political optics were also manifested in his statement to the media in 2010, that "Kosovo was not liberated by NATO": this is "true", namely this self mystification , even ten years after the Serbian army and police were expelled from Kosovo, after it signed the act of capitulation with NATO in Kumanovo, ten years after Kurti wanted to open the eyes of the Albanians of Kosovo, but also to others that "Kosovo is not was freed from NATO". This statement reveals character hallucinating of Kurt's political "visions" and on the other hand his anti-Western orientation. He needed to publicly deny it in his own words reality massive liberation, which was accepted not only by Serbia and Russia, but also by other non-Western countries, although they declared against the liberation operation. It is about a pearl of the "new language" language that Orwell criticized: namely, the stripping of words from their meaning, the destruction of the meaning and meaning they carry.

This statement is related to the ideological "treasure" of the LVV, namely to the positions against NATO's intervention in 1999. While the great majority of political parties and the vast majority of Kosovo Albanians understood very well the meaning and importance of the intervention of NATO showing ACKNOWLEDGMENT towards Western countries for the liberation of Kosovo.

An intervention of such proportions has remained as a major military but also political event, not only in the history of Albanians. Meanwhile, the LVV, under the influence of Enverist and leftist "anti-imperialist" ideological schemes, over the years opposed NATO's intervention. Being against this NATO intervention, which bombed the military and strategic targets of Serbia, means, objectively, being for EXTENSION of the mass crimes committed by Serbian troops on Kosovo Albanians and the prevention of the return of nearly 800000 Albanians to their homes. Thus, the necessity of cultivating fruitful relations with the western countries has been evident since the weather for the Albanians of Kosovo and for its political officials.

This became all the more clear because Serbia's main hope and preoccupation is, since 1999, how to be damaged Kosovo's relations with these western countries, how to isolate Kosovo. But precisely the western countries that participated in the liberation of Kosovo strongly helped, in the future, the establishment of political and economic ties of Kosovo with 108 countries from several continents. They helped in its integration into 33 international organizations, including CEFTA (2007). And the Kurti Government, now four years later, did not succeed ANYrecognition by other countries nor integration into any organization. Thus, the "protection of sovereignty" of Kosovo by the Kurti Government resulted in isolation more and more pronounced.

But the current situation is made even more serious by the fact that this government has not shown neither will nor knowledge for international cooperation with countries with which during two decades we have had regular cooperation in several fields: political, economic and cultural.

Against the independence of Kosovo

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In this context, we should also mention Kurt's vehement attitude against independence of Kosovo (Clan of Kosovo, 27 January 2008) on a TV show. This did not prevent him from asking for the votes of the citizens of Kosovo for the post of Prime Minister, with very vocal promises that he will make Kosovo flourish.

For the ban on imports from Serbia, Kosovo has been criticized in this year's report of the American State Department on the climate of doing business in Kosovo. It is said there that "the ban has caused great confusion among importers and has negatively affected companies owned by foreign entities in Kosovo, due to the interruption in the supply chain".

Matthew Miller, the spokesman for the State Department, recently during a press conference, recommended to Prime Minister Kurti that to return in close cooperation with the USA, the European Union and NATO. Meanwhile, the Kurti Government prefers to confront the high officials of Western countries: this is how it looks the biggest and most impressive. Then some councilors and ministers, the more ignorant the more arrogant, imitate these strut which are anyway harmful for Kosovo. But they are also an expression of a policy that is characterized by infertility. It is about behavior, which are not actions that would offer any benefit to the state of Kosovo. It is certain that these attitudes towards the allied countries only harm the interests of Kosovo.

Another aspect of Kosovo's isolation appears with the imposition of punitive measures by the US and European countries; these countries have even considered the possibility of some other punitive measures against Kosovo. Thus, for the first time, now in a quarter of a century, the prime minister of Kosovo is not invited, except exceptionally, by his counterparts from allied countries, neither to bilateral meetings nor to international conferences. These countries have made it known that under these circumstances they cannot commit to the creation of new connections of Kosovo with countries and international organizations. But these serious reactions have not shaken Kurt's determination to oppose all these countries, until yesterday allies, with a decisive role in the liberation of Kosovo, in its reconstruction, in economic development, in the development of education and science, and in particular support in building Kosovo's international relations with other countries.

Kosovo is closing itself

Kosovo's failure to become a member of the Council of Europe, and now also warnings about a possible exception from the Berlin Process, in case Kosovo does not act in accordance with the free trade agreement, CEFTA, have affirmed the assertion that Kosovo I'm closing it myself the journey towards important international organizations.

The previous governments of Kosovo have had various flaws, but they have not lacked an elementary political pragmatism in cooperation and coordination with the USA, with the countries of the European Union and with NATO.

The citizens of Kosovo did not vote for this government to isolate the country, impoverish it cooperation which is the nerve of a country's development. This government has now made its policy of isolation visible. This policy, as it has already become clear, suits not only Serbia, but also Russia: although Kurti will present himself as a "defender" of Kosovo's sovereignty. However, the very way he is acting reveals the content of his policy: the refusal to cooperate with allied countries regarding the problems between Kosovo and Serbia, ignoring the international political role and weight of those countries for Kosovo, reveals LOYALTY to the legacy of the Enversite policy, whose model has been symbolized by the bunker, as a figure of the drastic isolation of a state and country.

The consequences of the destruction of Albania, in all areas, during the rule of Enver Hoxha, have been thematized and illuminated, for several decades now, in the analyzes of the authors and political personalities of Albania, but also of other countries. However, the LVV as a party has remained closed to these critical analyses.                    

Attacks on the media, civil society and the sphere of justice

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Not by chance, one of the serious problems of the Kurti Government's policy is related to the pressures and attacks on media, civil society and the sphere of justice, but also to education unions. These are features that characterize non-democratic regimes. Speeches about "protecting sovereignty", although there is still no office like that of Orban, as if they want to obscure those serious problems.

The Kurti government, with its own actions nonpolitical, has deepened the division and animosity between the institutions of Kosovo and the allied states, primarily with the USA and those of the European Union. On the other hand, Serbia has recently managed to conclude a multi-year strategic cooperation agreement with the United States of America in the field of energy. It has simultaneously concluded agreements with Germany for the use of lithium, as well as with France for the supply of military aircraft. Whereas Kosovo has been punished, due to the government's irresponsibility, for a year now, with financial measures from the EU, thus hindering Kosovo's economic and institutional reforms towards the EU.