President of the country, Hashim Thaçi, participated today at the “Vox Populi on the Grand Finale between Kosovo and Serbia”
President Thaçi said that the conclusion of the political dialogue with Serbia, with a legally binding agreement which includes mutual agreement, is a national interest of Kosovo, and therefore it is paramount that we are unified on this process.
“We want to once and for all clarify our relations as a state with the state of Serbia, which can only be achieved through a dialogue with clear timeframe, precise objectives, and international support and guarantees, pre-eminently from USA and EU.
I have no doubt at all that if we do not reach the legally binding agreement between Kosovo and Serbia this year, we will be entering into a dangerous zone of this relationship, which could destabilize the whole region, ”said President Thaçi.
He added that the latest developments are, unfortunately, not promising at all, and that things are still standing still.
“Despite latest initiatives to unblock the dialogue, the result is zero. The lack of dialogue and of the perspective for achieving of an agreement on normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia is highest potential danger to the stability and security of Kosovo,” said President Thaçi.
President Thaçi said that only few weeks ago we marked , in presence of Kosovo’s greatest friends, President Clinton, Secretary Albright and General Clark, the twentieth anniversary of Kosovo’s liberation, the most important event to us, but also to the world at the end of the 20th century.
“All of us here know that we cannot wait for another twenty years, to end once and for all, the relations between us and Serbia. Time is not an ally of ours, the status quo in our relations with Serbia is unsustainable. This is also demonstrated by your survey, according to which more than 91% are against the status quo,” said President Thaçi.
You also analysed and tested other scenarios as well, added the President, but it is clear that an Association with executive competencies is strongly opposed by the citizens of Kosovo.
“This is a good lesson to those who are still working on this option, they stop such dangerous endeavours. And I am very pleased that the option of the border correction or of the border demarcation has achieved the greatest support of the citizens of Kosovo, despite of the negative campaign carried out by the political parties against this scenario,” said the President.
President Thaçi said that it is sad that at an historic moment such as this moment now, Kosovo’s political class is failing to unify in order to make the ideal of our fellow compatriots to join the Presheva Valley with Kosovo a reality.
“ I in my actual capacity as the Presdient of Kosovo, have a moral and also a stately duty to do everything in my power to help the realisation of the aspiration of the Albanians living in the Presheva Valley to join Kosovo in a completely peaceful and democratic manner,” said Presdient Thaçi.
At the end of his address, President Thaçi said that none of us has the right to keep the state of Kosovo aloof and not to give the relations between Kosovo and Serbia the proper and the only possible epilogue, which includes the agreement for normalisation of relations between the two states and mutual recognition.