{"id":64201,"date":"2023-07-01T08:46:56","date_gmt":"2023-07-01T08:46:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/?p=64201"},"modified":"2023-07-01T11:44:40","modified_gmt":"2023-07-01T11:44:40","slug":"they-have-pushed-you-in-a-corner-and-you-have-to-do-something-and-to-get-out-of-this-corner-the-messages-of-former-ambassador-bosch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/they-have-pushed-you-in-a-corner-and-you-have-to-do-something-and-to-get-out-of-this-corner-the-messages-of-former-ambassador-bosch\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;They have pushed you in a corner and you have to do something and to get out of this corner&#8221;, the messages of former ambassador Bosch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2>After the warnings of\nthe European Union for measures against Kosovo, the former ambassador of the\nNetherlands, Robert Bosch, considers that the situation is serious. He advises\nthe executive to consider the demands of the allies, even though he considers\nthat they are not one hundred percent justified. The Dutch diplomat speaks in\nan interview for KosovaPress about the tensions that Serbia is creating and its\nnon-punishment by the EU.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The European Union has warned that it will make public the punitive measures against Kosovo, which the member countries have prepared, according to them, because the required steps have not been taken to reduce tensions in the north of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\u201cJu kan\u00eb shtyr\u00eb n\u00eb nj\u00eb cep, duhet t\u00eb dilni nga aty\u201d, mesazhet e ish-ambasadorit Bosch\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ms-8l-rhQbk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;What I read\nabout it of course looks extremely serious and not so much serious because of\nthe situation there, but because of the reaction or the action or whatever of\nthe European Commission or the European Union or whatever you want to call it.\nBecause they are, I must say, extremely aggressive and threatening with all\nkind of things, so that that makes it so serious. Of course, you should give in\nto their demands, although I think partly, they are not 100% justified,\nalthough, of course one of the main demands is that you withdraw the special\npolice, the special police forces. Anyway, if they demand this as long as you\nhave no more police there, then it&#8217;s alright according to me&#8221;, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The diplomat, who has\nserved in Kosovo, advises the Government led by Albin Kurti not to act against\nthe mission of the state&#8217;s allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBut you should also\nmake very clear, much more clear, according to me, what you do to express your\npoints but don&#8217;t go against the mission of the people who until now were your\nbiggest friends, being the United Kingdom, and the United States especially,\nand the EU to a lesser extent because of course you still have this problem\nthat five countries do not recognize (Kosovo). So, it means that EU is less,\nlet&#8217;s say, reliable than the UK and the US. But still, you have to listen to\nthem. Mr. Cleverly also said you have to do, he said the day before yesterday,\nthe British Foreign minister, you really have to do it, even if it&#8217;s feels\nunfair, do it&#8221;, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Among the measures\nmentioned by the EU is the suspension of the work of all working groups for the\nStabilization-Association Agreement, the disapproval of projects from the fund\nfor investment in the Western Balkans and the suspension of financing of EU\nprograms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This was made known\nthis week by the general director for enlargement of the European Commission,\nJan Koopman, who emphasized that the measures are reversible if steps are taken\nto de-escalate the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the former\nambassador of the Netherlands, it is unclear why all this is done against\nKosovo, when Serbia is the country that is creating all the problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;So, I really do\nnot know why are they so extremely much against Kosovo while the problems have\nbeen created by the Serbs? It&#8217;s not that you created the problem, they (Serbs)\nhave created the problems. Why are you now being punished so much for what the\nSerbs did? And then I don&#8217;t want to say if it&#8217;s Belgrade government or these\nother groups, you know, the two groups that now were declared a terrorist\norganization, which also I think\u2026, why do you have to call them terrorist\norganizations? You can say they&#8217;re criminal organizations, terrorist of course\nis one step further, so also, this doesn&#8217;t help you know when you exaggerate,\nbecause now is the time to try to moderate, to be as moderate as possible.\nNormally speaking from the Kosovo side, you have been always quite moderate as\ncompared to the Serbs. But I mean, now is the time to even be more moderate\nbecause justified or unjustified, according to me, unjustified they have pushed\nyou in a corner and you have to do something and to get out of this corner&#8221;,\nsaid Bosch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the beginning of\nJune, the US envoy for the Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, and the EU Special\nRepresentative for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, presented three\nrequests to Prime Minister Kurti: Calming the situation in the north, holding\nnew elections and returning to dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bosch says that the\nelections in the four northern municipalities should be held as soon as\npossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The thing is,\nyou were being punished for not doing exactly what you were told and of course\nas I said, I also thought it&#8217;s very unfair what you are being asked, but to me,\nplease do it anyway because what is the main thing that they&#8217;re asking that\nyou&#8217;re not doing is to withdraw the special police forces, and all the rest,\nand then of course it&#8217;s the association, but the association, as I said, if you\ndo it according to the Constitutional Court it&#8217;s nothing. So, I mean, you have\nto give in into these things, that is all what I say, because then if you do\nwhat they say, they cannot be angry with you anymore because then you have done\nit, and then you get these new elections as soon as possible and then if they\ndo not participate again, it then again is their problem, they are the one who\nmade the problem&#8221;, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The situation in the\nnorth of Kosovo has been tense since May 26, when the elected presidents were\nforced to go to their workplaces under the assistance of the Kosova Police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since then, Serbian\nprotesters have been standing in front of the municipal buildings, who are\nopposing the Albanian mayors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During this time, the\nprotesters in the north, among them some with masks, have attacked members of\nthe Kosova Police, KFOR, as well as journalists, who are reporting from the\nnorthern part of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After that, the\nSerbian forces kidnapped three Kosovo border police officers, within the\nterritory of our country, and held them for almost two weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They were released\nonly after pressure from the international community, in particular the United\nStates of America, the United Kingdom, and Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;You came there\nbecause&nbsp; after this license plates issue\nthe whole structures, the Kosovar Serbian structures were disbanded, as you\nknow, I mean not only that their mayors of the municipalities resigned, but\nalso the police, the judges and the prosecutors, everybody resigned, which of\ncourse made this whole thing, and then came into a vacuum, and that is of\ncourse not caused by you, but caused by the ones who resigned, so and the\nlicense plate business was also, you cannot blame, they blamed you for forcing\nthe people to get the license plate, but that was agreed years and years ago\nand it was postponed, and it was postponed, and was postponed. You cannot be\nblamed for that, and even the foreigners at the time, they also said it was\njustified that they should have this license plates and through that all these\nthings came&#8221;, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The diplomat from the\nNetherlands says that there should be law and order in the northern part of\nKosovo as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know\nwhat the EU or and even Americans are saying, they were telling it was fine and\nnow when it all goes wrong \u2018you are to blame\u2019. I think it&#8217;s very odd and very\nunfair, but the thing is, the problem is caused by them, by the Serbs, by\nwithdrawing totally (from the institutions), because then you have a situation\nyou need of course anywhere in any place, and especially in a place like that\nwhere you have the law and order was already very weak. You cannot have no law\nand order whatsoever. You need to have police, you need to have police, and\nthen you can wonder, do you need to bring the special police or do you have to\nbring normal police or even EULEX police, I don&#8217;t know, but I mean you have to\nhave police. And now of course, you are being pushed by the EU and by the\nAmericans that you should get rid of the special police especially. OK, if they\nasked you OK, then you have to do it still, you should listen to Lajcak&#8221;,\nhe said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Kosova Police is\ncontinuing to take care of municipal facilities in the north of the country,\nwhile the presence of KFOR soldiers continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bosch believes that\npeacekeeping troops should continue to stay there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;As far as KFOR\nis concerned, KFOR should of course stay there and be there (in the north), as\na moderating force while you can&#8217;t send normal police there. And another thing\nI was thinking, which I do not know if the Kosovar Serbian police withdrew can\nthey not come back, can they not be convinced to come back, I mean the same\npeople, I mean, not other people, but the same people to ask them, please come\nback we will forgive you what you did, that you just disappeared without\npermission, but please come back, this might also be a possibility, it&#8217;s of\ncourse &nbsp;not totally according to the rule\nof law but who cares now about the exact rule of law, because this is an\nextremely strange situation. So, you have to do something in order to get out\nof this real crisis for your country. Again, I think it&#8217;s not fair that you are\npushed so much into a corner, but it&#8217;s being, it&#8217;s happening and then this is\nthe fact of life and you have to get to react to it in a proper grown-up manner,\nand be flexible&#8221;, said Bosch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kosovo and Serbia\nagreed on the basic agreement on February 27 in Brussels, and they also agreed\non its annex on March 18 in Ohrid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike the president\nof Serbia, Aleksander Vucic, the prime minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, was\nready to sign and implement the agreement in full.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;When he came to\nBelgrade (Vucic), the first thing what he said is all the main thing of this\nagreement, we are not letting Kosovo to become a member of the United Nations, and\nwe are not, as he said specifically, and we will never recognize, but even so\nthat was OK because that was not part of the same that you had to recognize but\nto become a member of the International organizations, including United\nNations, was the main thing of this agreement. And then also, I didn&#8217;t hear\nanybody saying that, \u2018if you say this Mr. Vucic, this really undermine the\nwhole thing from the beginning, we cannot see you as a serious partner\nanymore\u2019. Nobody said that. On the contrary, I think Mr. Hill and Mr. Borrell\nsaid it was a very serious partner, again, very odd because he is not a serious\npartner. He&#8217;s the only one who immediately, the main point of the agreement\nhere he undermined, and now Mr. Scholz asked again on the two parties to sit together\nand to do something, which is of course good to put it on the two parties but\nalso to say &#8216;listen Mr. Vucic if you don&#8217;t do it, you will have serious\nconsequences, because at least the Kosovo side, they were positive, but you\nhave been only negative\u2019. So, of course there should be, according to me, that\nif any pressure or sanctions should be made, it should be not against you, but\nagainst Serbia, because they are the ones who have caused these problems and\nthey are still causing the problem, not only here, we have seen also what\nhappened in Republika Serbska&#8221;, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, regarding\nthe Association, Bosch says that Kosovo should form it in accordance with the\ncountry&#8217;s constitution and &#8220;if the Serbs are not happy, it is their\nproblem&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;This association\nof Serbian majority municipalities you should just do it according to the\nverdict of the Constitutional Court. So, it means that this is an association\nwithout executive powers. And then what\u2019s the problem to have this association?\nOf course, then the Serbs will say, \u2018oh, it&#8217;s horrible, it&#8217;s horrible\u2019, but\nthen it&#8217;s their problem. You have done your duty, you have made this\nassociation and in accordance with your own Constitution, and if they are then\nnot happy then it&#8217;s their problem. But now it&#8217;s your problem because you have\nnot made it&#8221;, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After the EU&#8217;s\nwarnings about punishments against Kosovo, Prime Minister Albin Kurti reacted\nby saying that as far as European values are concerned, our country is one of\nthe most sincere and stable partners in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Related to the demands for the de-escalation of the situation, the chief executive has expressed his willingness to reduce the number of police officers in the municipal buildings in the north, but stressing that this is done simultaneously with the establishment of order in that part. In this way, according to him, the way will be opened for holding early elections.\/ G.Kadrija  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After the warnings of the European Union for measures against Kosovo, the former ambassador of the Netherlands, Robert Bosch, considers that the situation is serious. He advises the executive to consider the demands of the allies, even though he considers that they are not one hundred percent justified. The Dutch diplomat speaks in an interview [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":64202,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[301,306,298,296,3131],"tags":[2157],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64201"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64201"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64223,"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64201\/revisions\/64223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}