The leader of the opposition in Kosovo, Albin Kurti, whose party just saw a landslide victory party in the general elections of the 14th of February, said to Euronews that he would vote in favour of joining Albania if a referendum on that issue would take place in Kosovo. “Once we would have a strengthening of the state in Kosovo. Once we can do it peacefully and democratically. I think I would vote yes. Yes,” responded Kurti.
On this issue, Kurti explained that there are first some contradictions to be resolved in the Constitution of Kosovo. “We believe in strengthening the state of Kosovo as a sovereign and independent republic and in our constitution, article 1.1 is in contradiction with article 1.3. Article 1.1 says that Kosovo is a sovereign independent country and article 1.3 says that Kosovo cannot join another country. So I believe that full independence implies also, independence from independence, so we could join a federation with Albania or an EU federation. Two referendums in the future could solve this, in Albania and Kosovo, but never by violating our constitution. The constitution would have to be changed first and only if it can be done in a peaceful and democratic manner one day.”
The joint ticket between Albin Kurti for prime minister and Vjosa Osmani managed to win the largest number of votes in Kosovo, receiving 378,550 votes, or 47,85% of the votes, increasing with 157,739 votes the number of votes from the previous elections held on the 6th of October, 2019. In the last days, both the United States and the European Union called for dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, as many expect from Kurti to take a tougher stance with Serbia compared to his predecessors. During the interview with Euronews, asked whether he was planning to restart the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, Kurti responded by saying that “I’m ready to engage in a dialogue where people will be the beneficiaries. But I think it is not acceptable to anyone in Kosovo – of course, including me, – to engage in a dialogue where we are supposed to compensate the state of Serbia for the loss of this state during times of Milosevic. Serbia committed genocide in Kosovo.”
Kurti also continued by saying that “Serbia should liberate itself from Kosovo,” and considered as “necessary” a full apology, recognition and reparations from Serbia.
