Kosovo is my personal matter, Clinton says
Source: B92, Beta, Tanjug
PRIŠTINA -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Priština Wednesday that Kosovo’s independence was indisputable.
Hillary Clinton and Hashim Thaci (Tanjug/AP)
However, she added that normalization of relations with Serbia would be crucial for Kosovo’s progress.
“It will take political will, even courage, but if they make
progress on the pathway, Kosovo and Serbia will get help in their
efforts to resolve other urgent issues, such as strengthening of the
economy and creating opportunities for their people,” Clinton said.
She and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
Catherine Ashton met with Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga and PM Hashim
Thaci on Wednesday.
After the meeting with Thaci, Clinton said that the U.S. would not allow anyone to question Kosovo’s independence.
“We are opposed to every talk on the change of borders or reopening of
the issue of Kosovo’s independence. This cannot be discussed,” the U.S.
official noted.
“For me, my family and my fellow Americans this is more than a foreign policy issue, it is personal,” Clinton stressed.
She said that she had conveyed to Kosovo leadership a message about the
necessity to continue dialogue with Belgrade and reach concrete results
in the normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo.
Clinton also stated that agreements reached so far in the Belgrade-Priština talks needed to be implemented.
The U.S. secretary of state said that the U.S. had always supported the
people of Kosovo and they would stay partners on Kosovo's further path
of development.
“I am here today with EU High Representative
Catherine Ashton because the U.S. fully supports aspirations of the
people of Kosovo to become part of the EU and Euro-Atlantic
integration,” she explained.
Clinton added that Thaci had taken the political risk by meeting Serbia’s PM Ivica Dačić in Brussels.
“Kosovo’s future is in Europe. We will be with you on that road, we
will be with you while you discuss normalization of relations with
Serbia,” she stressed.
Ashton said that the EU pathway was not
easy but that Kosovo would in the end be a country where law and order
are respected and economic prosperity is ensured.
Speaking
about the dialogue and normalization of relations, Ashton said she felt
that this was not an easy process for the people of Kosovo because of
their history.
“New meetings will take place very soon, the aim
is to improve things, and this process should move forward. You should
know that not only the EU will be engaged in this. We will closely
cooperate with the U.S. in this process,” she said.
Thaci said
that citizens of Kosovo would forever be grateful to the U.S. and the
Western European countries for everything they had done for Kosovo but
stressed that “despite the enormous progress, Kosovo is still not Kosovo
of our dreams”.
“We are working for European and Euro-Atlantic
Kosovo. We are aware that we still have a lot to do in law and order,
against corruption, we should work for wellbeing of the citizens and for
greater participation of minority representatives in Kosovo’s social
and political life,” Thaci noted.
As for northern Kosovo, he
pointed out that, “although a lot has been done for this part of the
country, even more should be done”.
“We will work on attractive
projects for the north. The presence of Serbian structures causes us
great difficulties,” the Kosovo PM pointed out.
“Kosovo’s
institutions will fulfill all the criteria in order to integrate in the
EU and NATO. The EU integration has no alternative,” he added.
“The state of Kosovo is being consolidated, independence, sovereignty,
internal organization cannot be questioned. The dialogue is of crucial
importance for the two states’ relations,” Thaci concluded.
According to announcements, Clinton and Ashton will also meet with leaders of political parties in Kosovo.
Clinton and Ashton arrived in Priština on Tuesday night, after their
short visit to Belgrade. They were welcomed by Jahjaga and EU Special
Envoy in Kosovo Samuel Žbogar at Priština airport.
Priština-based Albanian language daily Koha Ditore’s Editor Agron
Bajrami told B92 Radio earlier on Wednesday that he expected that
messages similar to those heard in Belgrade would be heard in Kosovo.
“Since we are at the beginning of the dialogue on the political level, I
think general messages that have already been heard in Belgrade can be
expected, that Kosovo’s integrity will not be a topic of the talks, that
Kosovo’s independence is a done deal as far as the U.S. is concerned
and that it cannot be negotiated but they will have to negotiate other
things that should lead to better relations between Kosovo and Serbia.
The north is among those things,” he said and added that he believed
that the north of the province would be discussed in the end of the
negotiating process.
On the other hand, certain Kosovo Albanian
analysts believe that the visit is aimed at exerting pressure on
Priština to give up on the north and grant this part a special status.
They have warned that the normalization of relations between Belgrade
and Priština would be meaningless if Kosovo was not accepted in the UN
and if it was not recognized by all EU member states in the end.
Priština-based Albanian language daily Zeri has quoted analyst Behgjet
Shala as saying that “Priština is not in a position to request
anything”.
“This visit has only one goal, to ask Kosovo to give
up on the north and for the northern part to get a special status,”
Shala said.
