Prime Minister Albin Kurti has reiterated that his government opposes the establishment of a monoethnic association of Serb municipalities, arguing this could lead to a dysfunctional Kosovo state.
Speaking to BBC’s HARDtalk on Tuesday, Kurti stressed that it is Serbia that demands the establishment of the association with the aim to undermine state-building in Kosovo as it has done in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where Serbs of the Serb Republic—one of the two entities that make up the country— consistently block institutions and threaten to dissolve it.
“They want to repeat Bosnia in Kosova. I am not going to allow this, be that in opposition or in the government. That’s why people voted for me: to prevent bosniazation of Kosova,” Kurti said.
The Association of Serb-majority Municipalities was agreed between Kosovo and Serbia in 2013, but two years later Kosovo’s Constitutional Court found it unconstitutional. It stated that such an organization cannot have executive rights reserved exclusively for the central government.
Kurti laid this out on HARDtalk in response to the journalist’s question regarding the alleged violation of Kosovo Serbs’ rights by the government.
“I am confident that with our program we are going to help Serbs as much as Albanians. If you ask Serbs in Kosova what are your key requirements, they will say jobs and justice. But Belgrade wants to have a state within a state; a state of Serbia within the independent state of Kosova.”
In the interview, Kurti also stressed his willingness to establish good relations with Serbia, but added that the parliamentary majority’s top priorities are to improve the economy and reform the judiciary.
