Speaker Osmani criticises EU on how they facilitated Kosovo-Serbia dialogue

Gazeta Express

20/05/2020 17:32

Kosovo Parliament Press Service published on Wednesday the addressing of Speaker Vjosa Osmani to the Columbia University panel on “The Future of Kosovo” held via Zoom on Tuesday. Osmani criticised the European Union on how they facilitated Kosovo-Serbia dialogue and reiterated her position against land swap.

According to Parliament’s Press Service the Speaker stated that of 33 agreements signed between Kosovo and Serbia as part of the EU-facilitated dialogue in Brussels, 90 percent of them have not been implemented by Serbia, Gazeta Express reports. “I come from Mitrovica, and if you go there and ask people, either on the north or south of the divided city, the impact these agreements had ion their daily lives, you can hear a few positive answers from them,” Osmani stated.

She said the Dialogue needs guiding principles based on the stability in the region. “We know that land swap would open Pandora’s Box. We hear a lot of voices saying that we will not take the entire territory to the Iber River, but in another location, and voices saying that Serbia will get only parts of northern municipalities of Leposavic and Zubin Potok, but all this is the same because the Box will open. And when you open it, there is no turning back,” Osmani said in her addressing. She said the dialogue launched in 2010, has produced no tangible results, in the spirit of the declaration of Kosovo’s independence. “The way the dialogue has been launched and facilitated, and what are its results, goes against the goals of those who declared the Independence. And of course, were not in line with the concepts of the Declaration of the Independence,” Osmani stated.

According to Osmani current format of dialogue is in Serbia’s favour. “I pressed for a long time to change current format and if we continue the same pace, the dialogue will be concluded by dividing Kosovo not only in territorial terms but also in relation to its sovereignty and its capacities to develop and stand in its feet as sovereign and independent country,” Osmani said. /GazetaExpress/