„We’re seeing that choices are being made despite our partnership, and that is a signal to us, we can’t not accept that as a signal. At some point, when we want to re-establish that coordination and partnership with this government, we stand ready. Because we always stand with the people of Kosovo, that doesn’t mean that we have to stand with an individual who doesn’t share that instinct to cooperate and to coordinate“, the EU Special Envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, said in Pristina today.
At the very beginning of his address to the media, Escobar emphasized that he was sorry to be in Pristina „under these circumstances“, stressing that the relationship between the US and Kosovo is strong and that this will not change.
„We will continue to be your strongest supporter in the international community. We are committed to your independence, sovereignty, your security, and your economic prosperity,“ he said.
„When I am in contact with people from the country – Kosovars, who come to Washington, I am reminded again and again of the great opportunities that exist between our two countries and the great opportunities that exist in this country, as a start-up culture, as an entrepreneurial culture, which will in future create jobs within Europe. So that’s what I’m focused on.“
In this regard, the US official says that he hopes that people understand the difficulties that the US currently has with the Kosovo’s Prime minister, which, he emphasized, do not affect their position.
The US special envoy and the European mediator for the Western Balkans and the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, Gabriel Escobar and Miroslav Lajcak, ended their two-day stay in Pristina.
They came to resolve the latest crisis in the north.
To solve the latest crisis in the north, the highest representatives Kosovo’s Western partners reiterated their demands to Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti – to urgently de-escalate the crisis in the north and then proceed with the implementation of the Ohrid Agreement and to form the ASM.
De-escalation involves the withdrawal of police forces from municipal buildings in Zvecan, Leposavic and Zubin Potok, so that the mayors continue to carry out their, as they say, “administrative” mandate from alternate locations, and to call local elections with the guaranteed participation of Srpska Lista.
He revealed that it “pains” him that people think the US is engaging with Kosovo for Serbia’s benefit.
“But we do have some challenges in the bilateral relationship, in dealing with prime minister. I will be very honest, the US has been your biggest supporter. It pains me to see that people think that somehow, we’re leading the relationship and our engagement with Kosovo for the benefit of Serbia,“ Escobar said.
“I’ve been with the US government since I was 19 years old, I started out in the military, and I have seen the US government abandon federal buildings for floods, fires, hurricanes, covid and even protests, and no one ever questions the legitimacy and the authority of the US government. I want to remind people, Serbia was against your independence in 2008, and we went forward. They were against our recognition campaign throughout the years, and we went forward. Even on this, they were against the Council of Europe, and we went forward. They were against the elections, and we saw them as the legitimate function, they were against the result – and we said that the elections were free and fair.”
Escobar revealed that they then gave concrete suggestions to the Kosovo government.
“We ask the government to think about how they would move forward after that, and we gave some concrete suggestions. We’re puzzled why they would think that somehow we’re the adversary. I’ll give you an example, I’ve been with the federal government, we really were saying – let’s not inflame the already delicate situations, and it was the insistence on going in by force to have mayors going to a particular building.”
He asked: Why these buildings? Why under these conditions? Why after we asked them for coordination, even though we stand behind them that they would not coordinate?
„That it’s saying something to us about how they see us as a partner and that has had consequences“ – he warned.
The U.S. diplomat noted that the measures taken by the US against Pristina are not sanctions.
“I have seen people use the word sanctions; it’s not sanctions. We’re seeing that choices are being made in spite of our partnership, and that is a signal to us, we can’t not accept that as a signal. At some point, when we want to reestablish that coordination and partnership with this government, we stand ready.”
He added that the US always stands with the people of Kosovo, but that doesn’t mean that they must stand with an individual who “doesn’t share that instinct to cooperate and to coordinate.”
“Why there is this lack of coordination and lack of flexibility and political vision to move, pass this and go forward on the opportunities that are presented in the normalization agreement.”
When asked about the potential consequences for Kosovo, he replied:
“It will send a powerful signal that Kosovo is not interested in coordinating with us. I think that would be unfortunate. By the way, not Kosovo – the Prime Minister. I want to make it clear that we don’t see this having an impact on long-term relationship, but the action taken or not taken could have some consequences that could affect parts of the relationship. I don’t want to go there.”
Escobar pointed out that they are „fully confused“, but „fully united“ with the European Union – “Kosovo’s closest allies,” on why this is happening.
The EU, he emphasized, presented the way forward was immediate de-escalation, specifying that this is the first requirement, the elections the second, while the third is the implementation of the Ohrid Agreement.
“That would involve a plan for mayors not to have to work in those buildings while the tensions are so high. In the US, we have a lot of experience with that and we try to share our experience. I was working in a federal building in San Francisco in 1991 when they had protests against the Gulf War. They shut down the federal building, they had prosecutors, FBI, and other federal institutions – they just moved to a different building, and they kept working. No one said that we gave our sovereignty to that crowd, not at all. One is de-escalation. The second is that we would like to see new elections with the participation of Serbs. And third – we need to move immediately to the implementation of the Ohrid agreement, which means we need to see a real effort by Kosovo to engage on the Association and we need to see steps taken by Serbia. That has to be done now. We have to agree on that today and tomorrow. Because on Friday, both Miroslav and I are being asked to give reports to our respective superiors as to whether we were successful or not.”
Read more:
Escobar in Pristina: If you turn your back on this agreement, you’ve turned your back on Europe
Escobar: The international community is not going to let another conflict happen again
Escobar: The ASM is a way to unwind Serbia’s control of the north
Escobar: Whenever we talk to Kurti and Bislimi, they only want to talk about Serbia
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