Kosovo’s Acting President Vjosa Osmani has stated that the dialogue with Serbia should be suspended due to war crimes indictments against several former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) members who have turned politicians.
In an interview for Deutsche Welle published on Tuesday, Osmani argued that the coalition representing Kosovo in talks with Serbia is weak. She suggested for Kosovo institutions and political parties to discuss and unify their positions regarding the dialogue.
“I think that due to current developments, now is not the time to continue the dialogue right away. The Kosovo institutions should take some time to sit in talks and consult among themselves, create a much more unified stance on the dialogue. Anyone who negotiates on behalf of Kosovo and for Kosovo, should have a much more unified position of the political spectrum than just the coalition it represents,” Osmani stated.
Osmani, who is also the Speaker of Parliament, took over the president’s duties after President Hashim Thaci announced his resignation and went to The Hague to face war crimes charges.
The arrests for war crimes charges of four former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leaders, who were also senior politicians, including Thaci, have triggered demands for the dialogue with Serbia to be suspended due to the suggested weakened position of the Kosovo team.
The suspension was also required by junior coalition ally the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) of former prime minister Ramush Haradinaj but the government refused.
The government was voted in with 61 votes, the minimum required in the 120-seat parliament. Since then, one of the supporting MPs, Etem Arifi, left the parliament after he was taken to prison for embezzlement.
