{"id":14782,"date":"2021-12-23T15:46:02","date_gmt":"2021-12-23T14:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.predsjednik.hr\/?post_type=news&p=14782"},"modified":"2021-12-23T15:46:05","modified_gmt":"2021-12-23T14:46:05","slug":"president-milanovic-in-kosovo-eu-should-be-much-clearer-about-european-perspective-for-western-balkans","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.predsjednik.hr\/en\/news\/president-milanovic-in-kosovo-eu-should-be-much-clearer-about-european-perspective-for-western-balkans\/","title":{"rendered":"President Milanovi\u0107 in Kosovo: EU should be much clearer about European perspective for Western Balkans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At the invitation of the President of the Republic of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu, the President of the Republic of Croatia Zoran Milanovi\u0107 is on a two-day official visit to the Republic of Kosovo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The official visit of President Milanovi\u0107 to the Republic of Kosovo began with a welcoming ceremony at Ibrahim Rugova Square in Pri\u0161tina, which was followed by a t\u00eate-\u00e0-t\u00eate meeting of the two presidents and a bilateral meeting of the delegations of the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Kosovo. After the meetings, President Milanovi\u0107 and President Osmani-Sadriu jointly planted a tree of friendship in the courtyard of the Kosovo Parliament building as a symbolic act of friendship between the two countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement to the press after his meeting with the President of the Republic of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu, President Milanovi\u0107 said that the Republic of Kosovo is a friendly country with which Croatia has a lot of common experiences that were not from the same period, but the events and problems encountered are similar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToday, Croatia is a member of the European Union and NATO that is facing new challenges of understanding and defining its place in this huge, unimaginably large and powerful organization in which small countries sometimes lose their way. However, in regard to Kosovo I can say that it is a country that is dear to us, without the intention to spite others, because I am not here to spite Belgrade or anyone else. Kosovo is a predictable country with a very vibrant democracy,\u201d President Milanovi\u0107 pointed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Croatian President emphasized that the Republic of Kosovo, like almost all the countries of the Western Balkans, is standing in one place on its path towards European and Euro-Atlantic institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEither not much or nothing is changing. The European Union should be much clearer on what it wants and on the perspective it gives. This is an ideal recipe for a kind of political depression and that is why my advice to our friends in Kosovo is to look at what the others have done while they waited and to not necessarily repeat the errors and misconceptions of others but to strongly concentrate on themselves,\u201d President Milanovi\u0107 underscored, expressing regret over the approach taken by the European Union, since he believes that Kosovo is a country that could very quickly function politically as part of these institutions because there is no divided loyalty. \u201cThere is loyalty to the institutions and to the state of the majority Albanian people, which is an important element. If such a state was a member of one of the two alliances, you would know what to expect \u2013 if a democratically elected government changed, everything would more or less remain the same in relation to loyalty to the state and loyalty to the integrations, where major long-term commitments were assumed,\u201d President Milanovi\u0107 explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn my part I will discuss and persuade all those who can be influential because it is perplexing to see the extent of the ignorance on the highest levels of politics and authorities in Western Europe and the European Union regarding the situation in Kosovo, and especially in Bosnia and Herzegovina,\u201d President Milanovi\u0107 stated. He added that we have been observing such a situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina for twenty years already. \u201cI don\u2019t wish this to anyone. Kosovo needs a solution, Kosovo isn\u2019t a problem, the resolution of the status of Kosovo isn\u2019t simple. Some European Union countries have still not recognized Kosovo, and I will do everything on my part to acquaint them better with the situation, because from personal experience and from discussions with politicians and other statesmen I realize that people are not informed,\u201d President Milanovi\u0107 said in his statement after his meeting with the President of the Republic of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the statements the journalists were interested in President Milanovi\u0107\u2019s view on the Open Balkan initiative. \u201cSince the Republic of Croatia is a member of the European Union, it is not in our immediate interest, but if the initiative has good intentions, then it should include, as Madam President has said, all the states of the region. Kosovo is a state, it was recognized by many European Union states. If not and if it\u2019s the opposite \u2013 then the question is what are its motives? Therefore, either all the states, I can\u2019t say no one because no one is standing in the way of others to establish it mutually and leave Kosovo on the side, then it is clearer what the motives are. Therefore, it does not interest me directly, connecting people is a good thing and so are open borders,\u201d the Croatian President said, underlining that no one enters such alliances with emotions but with calculations and that it is senseless if it does not include Kosovo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn Kosovo there is no security risk in the sense of security of borders and integrity,\u201d President Milanovi\u0107 replied in terms of how he views the security situation in Kosovo. In this context, he talked about armament in the region saying that Croatia has recently purchased fighter planes, which have a defensive purpose. \u201cAll those who are arming themselves say they are doing so only to defend themselves. It\u2019s not always so, in the Croatian case it is, because what we are doing and what we are not doing it is evident. We are a NATO member, we are doing it for our sake, but our security is guaranteed even without new fighter planes. We are doing it for our sake, to be up-to-date, to make progress, but this is not free of charge, it costs. Serbia is arming itself, repairing some old systems, investing quite a bit. Evidently someone very much wants to invest in that, will it last long or just until the election remains to be seen,\u201d President Milanovi\u0107 stated, and underlined that he doesn\u2019t see this as a threat to Kosovo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked by the press about the obstacles that the Republic of Croatia will put before Serbia on its path to the European Union, President Milanovi\u0107 replied that Serbia has to disclose where the missing persons are. \u201cWe are opening very few issues. We didn\u2019t attack Serbia, the war wasn\u2019t fought in Serbia, Serbia wasn\u2019t burned, but Croatia was. In this case our moral position is quite strong \u2013 they used to be our enemies, they no longer are, but Serbia must decide alone what it wants,\u201d the President said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t go to Bosnia and Herzegovina, to the La\u0161va Valley for security reasons, without being more concrete. I can say that I didn\u2019t go for security and organizational reasons, not because of my own security. A whole series of things just coincided, common sense said it should be skipped. Had it been some other place in Bosnia and Herzegovina these problems wouldn\u2019t exist, but given the ethnic composition of the area, more recent history, I think it was responsible for me to ultimately decide not to go there and complicate life for the people there,\u201d President Milanovi\u0107 said in explaining the recent cancellation of his trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and concluded that he feels safe and good in Kosovo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the remainder of his Official visit to Kosovo, President Milanovi\u0107 held separate meetings with the Chairman of the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo Glauk Konjufca and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo Albin Kurti.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia \/ Marko Beljan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The official visit of President Milanovi\u0107 to the Republic of Kosovo began with a welcoming ceremony at Ibrahim Rugova Square in Pri\u0161tina, which was followed by a t\u00eate-\u00e0-t\u00eate meeting of the two presidents and a bilateral meeting of the delegations of the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Kosovo. After the meetings, President Milanovi\u0107 and President Osmani-Sadriu jointly planted a tree of friendship in the courtyard of the Kosovo Parliament building as a symbolic act of friendship between the two countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14735,"template":"","news-cat":[12],"class_list":["post-14782","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-cat-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPresident Milanovi\u0107 in Kosovo: EU should be much clearer about European perspective for Western Balkans - President of the Republic of Croatia - Zoran Milanovi\u0107<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.predsjednik.hr\/en\/news\/president-milanovic-in-kosovo-eu-should-be-much-clearer-about-european-perspective-for-western-balkans\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"President Milanovi\u0107 in Kosovo: EU should be much clearer about European perspective for Western Balkans - President of the Republic of Croatia - Zoran Milanovi\u0107\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The official visit of President Milanovi\u0107 to the Republic of Kosovo began with a welcoming ceremony at Ibrahim Rugova Square in Pri\u0161tina, which was followed by a t\u00eate-\u00e0-t\u00eate meeting of the two presidents and a bilateral meeting of the delegations of the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Kosovo. 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