New local elections in the north of Kosovo will be scheduled as soon as twenty percent of citizens in four municipalities submit petitions to hold the vote, says Kosovo Prime Minister Aljbin Kurti.
"That's the only way we would ensure that there is no election boycott again," he said in an interview with the Viennese newspaper Standard.
"I don't want to have four Albanian mayors in the North, that's not my goal and it's not fun for me," he added. "Because, due to the low turnout in the elections, these mayors have little political legitimacy, even though they were elected completely legally."
As he stated, it is necessary for Belgrade to "stop mobbing".
"Belgrade is not interested in the democratic participation of Serbs in Kosovo, but wants territorial compensation for the loss of Yugoslavia," says the Kosovo Prime Minister.
He claims that Serbia is waging a "hybrid war", and that he is personally "every day" on the front page of the daily "Politika".
"I have already been to the north of Kosovo a couple of times and I meet with Serbs there, but those meetings are not public because people ask me not to be. Their families and children come under pressure," says Kurti. "This year alone, 15 cars with Kosovo license plates were set on fire in the North."
"Nirvana has a song 'Lithium'"
When asked why there was no agreement again at the meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić in Brussels, Kurti says that he was ready for an "umbrella agreement" with Serbia (the Ohrid Agreement), as well as an agreement on the formation of the Union of Serbian Municipalities.
"But Vučić wanted Serbia and Kosovo to sign it separately, each with the European Union. But I should not normalize relations with the EU but with Serbia," Kurti said.
The Prime Minister of Kosovo claims that Vučić asked for a letter to be signed as well, in which it will be stated that Serbia will never recognize the independence of Kosovo and that Pristina should never enter the UN - although it was agreed otherwise in Ohrid.
Kurti recounts that he told the mediators from the EU that "the judge should play when he sees a violation of the rules".
Mediators, he says, act like a football referee who lost his whistle and just runs after the players on the field.
"No one wants to hand over to Serbia when it violates agreements," Kurti claims.
When asked by the journalist, why the mediators from the EU put themselves in such a position, Kurti says that the "pacification" of Serbia is at work.
And to the journalist's remark that it might not be because "the EU wants lithium from Serbia", the Kosovo Prime Minister says:
"Of course, I don't know that, but I don't believe that's the case. If that's the case, then it should be said that lithium from Serbia will save the world. Only one thing is certain, Nirvana has a song called 'Lithium'."
"The West is pushing Serbia in the direction of Russia"
In an interview with the Vienna newspaper, Kurti says that in March of last year "many international friends" told him that he should not be too harsh towards Serbia because Belgrade will impose sanctions on Russia after the elections (April 2022).
"It has been over a year and a half since the election and there are still no sanctions. We must not underestimate the range of historical, cultural, but also military, intelligence and energy ties between Serbia and Russia," warns Kurti.
"Paradoxically, the West, with its softness towards Serbia, is pushing it in the direction of Russia, although the intention is certainly different. But Belgrade has more love for Moscow and fear of Moscow than it has in the direction of Brussels," the Kosovo Prime Minister believes.
Kurti connected Russia's dissatisfaction with the collapse of the Soviet Union and its invasion of Ukraine with Serbia's actions in the region.
According to Kurti, Serbia is dissatisfied with the breakup of Yugoslavia and is therefore eyeing part of the territory of BiH, does not agree with the independence of Montenegro and wants Northern Kosovo.
"All attempts at destabilization that Serbia undertakes towards neighboring countries are a message to the West: Give us something somewhere! Serbia does not see us as real countries."
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