Global Courant
The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, today addressed the Serbian citizens with a video, through which he spoke about the situation in the north of the country.
In Serbian, Kurti says that the situation is not easy.
The full word
Dear citizens of Kosovo,
I know that the situation is not easy at all and we are all afraid of possible unpredictable events in the near future. I also know that, over the last three weeks, we have also made international news, presenting ourselves in a not-so-good light.
But let’s start in order. I regret that we had to hold elections in four municipalities in the north with such a low turnout. On December 10 of last year, we postponed the election day for four months, in the hope that the Serbian List would participate. The international community promised us that if we accept the Ohrid annex, they will ensure the participation of the Serbian List in the elections. On March 17 of this year, we extended the party registration deadline by five days. All this for nothing. I thought that at least Aleksandar Jabllanović would win in Leposaviq, but he dropped out on April 21, two days before the sure win. I heard that he got one million euros and two apartments in Belgrade. It may not be true, but it must still be a lot of pressure or a very luxurious offer, which led Jabllanovic to say that he will not take the penalty immediately. The representatives of the Serbian List, including Jabllanovic, have said all kinds of things about Kosovo and about me, but I remained ready to accept them as future mayors. Unfortunately, I have neither the power nor the will to force them to vote. Lulzim Hetemi is now the mayor of the municipality, until a new one is elected. For this we need early elections and an open, free, pre-election campaign in 4 municipalities in the north. Without a fair and democratic campaign, there is no fair and democratic election. And that is why the rule of law is needed in the first place, that is, an environment where there is no fear and no criminals. This is what we want and must put together. With the rule of law, we can gradually reduce the number of police officers in municipal buildings.
On the other hand, we need meetings in Brussels for the urgent, full and unconditional implementation of the basic agreement from Brussels, of which the Ohrid Annex is an integral part. Now it is clear to me that the president of Serbia said YES to the agreement not to sign it and now he complains and regrets that he said YES, that he accepted that agreement, which means de facto recognition of the Republic of Kosovo.
Apparently, the government in Belgrade is wanted with the time machine. Sometimes they want to go back to the time before June 1999 when we were released, sometimes before February 2008. when we declared independence, sometimes before February of this year when the president of Serbia Vucic accepted the Brussels Agreement and, as you heard yourself, sometimes they want to go back in the time machine before December 2001 when I got out of Serbian prisons.
Attacking and kidnapping policemen, shooting at KFOR soldiers, violent attacks on journalists will not be tolerated. A democratic and liberal society does not tolerate thug culture.
Aleksandar Vučić today represents Serbia’s willingness to lose another war. At the same time, he is your guarantee that the 90s will not become the past. I am not for war. I am against war. I am a social democrat. I suffered during the war, I was a prisoner of war for more than two and a half years. He seems to have only good memories of the war and such feelings, because even then he was in power as Milosevic’s minister, and unlike today, he had power even without obligations because Milosevic carried all the responsibility.
These so-called progressives for more than 10 years have criminalized politics in Serbia and now in the north of Kosovo they are trying to politicize criminals. On the other hand, we closed 16 illegal roads in the north, destroyed 83 criminal groups, confiscated about 2 tons of narcotics, destroyed 14 drug laboratories, 8 of them in the north and 5 of them for the production of cryptocurrencies.
Dear citizens,
Kosovo is the country with the highest degree of democracy in our region. According to prestigious international institutions and organizations, such as Transparency International, World Justice Project, World Press Freedom Index “Reporters without Borders”, Freedom House and V-Dem, Kosovo ranks first in the Western Balkans in terms of the fight against corruption. rule of law, media freedom, political freedom and civil rights, as well as democratic elections. Our democratic progress is accompanied by economic development. During these last years we have had an average increase of 7% in gross domestic product, exports and foreign investments have doubled, the annual budget this year is 17% higher than in 2022 and tax revenues have increased by two thirds unchanged. fiscal policy, because people pay more taxes when they see that there is no corruption in the government and also when they are optimistic they spend more than they save and this benefits not only them but also our entire economy. We have secured the largest increase in the budget for health, agriculture, defense and education. We did not keep the economic growth for the state, but distributed it to the people: two packages of measures, for economic revitalization and for coping with inflation, in a total of almost one billion euros. After all, the European Commission Report on Kosovo from October last year is the best in the last 15 years. So, from January 1, 2024. The visa regime for the passports of Kosovo citizens is also removed.
We have done a lot for the Serbian community. We have completed the restoration of the Orthodox heritage in Kosovo: the Monastery of Tamnica and Saint Mary in Kamenica, as well as the Monastery of Draganac in Noviërda. The restoration of four traditional houses in Prizren, owned by Serbs, has begun. Based on the last call for direct aid, several organizations and individuals have received financial support for book publishing, sports, cultural and artistic activities. The conservation plan of Hoçë e Madhe village is being drafted.
The work of the committee responsible for the verification of diplomas of the University of North Mitrovica has been reestablished. This commission has so far received 44 applications from graduates. And in the future, to facilitate the application process, we are implementing an online platform. All with the aim of a higher level of efficiency.
We have also created the “Government for the Family” assistance program, based on which we offer subsidies for the wages of the only employee in the family. With this program we helped 115 Serbian families. Likewise, our Ministry of Communities and Returns helped establish 123 small businesses, among which 48 were for the benefit of the Serbian community. And our Employment Agency has mediated the employment of 371 people from the Serbian community – twice as many as last year.
We doubled the budget of the office of the Commissioner for Languages in terms of cooperation in projects with non-governmental organizations, supported the Balkan studies program at the University of Pristina and distributed 19 grants to non-governmental organizations. and the media supporting the Serbian community and started building 8 houses for Serbian families.
Our new platform “SuperJob” enables young people aged 18 to 25 to receive the minimum wage as a bonus: so far we have 11 thousand active young people, six and a half thousand additional registered with more than eight thousand open opportunities work. We allocated 3 million euros to non-governmental organizations, farmers and start-ups. The application deadline is this Friday, so hurry.
Dear citizens,
I have repeatedly emphasized that this country is our common country – the one that embraces and protects us and for whose sake we are bound to fight. Let’s move towards a better future together, building strong bridges, because of what we want for ourselves and our families. Home is where home is and our country is home to all of us.
Thank you very much and I wish you all the best.
Global Courantl
