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Kurti: We will not rush with nominating a candidate for the PM, our priority is the pandemic

Albin Kurti; Photo: Flickr / UPF International

PRISTINA – Kosovo acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti said yesterday that he would respond to the Kosovo president Hashim Thaçi’s request to nominate a candidate for the Prime Minister for the formation of the Kosovo government, assessing that the president had rushed with the request, Danas reports.

“We will not leave the President without an answer, but we will not rush. Our priority is the coronavirus pandemic. The best solution is to work together to fight the coronavirus and when it passes then we go to an early election. It is unfortunate that the President announced a plan for the new Government, calling on political leaders on the same day, which is a violation of the Constitution,” Kurti told RTV 21.

Kurti had a telephone call today with the French President Emmanuel Macron, about the situation with the pandemic, Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue, and the abolition of tariffs, the Kosovo Prime Minister’s Office stated, KoSSev reports.

The two officials discussed the dialogue and the relevant commitment to the actual preparation and real involvement of the parties in this dialogue.

Macron voiced support for the reestablishment of trade between Belgrade and Pristina, but also promised to increase the role France and himself in mediating the dialogue.

According to him, this will also be the goal of the Paris Summit, a summit organized by France and Germany with the European Union, once the right conditions are created.

Kurti promised, on the one hand, that Europe would never be surprised, as his government sees in the implementation of reciprocity measure the effective implementation of what is contained in the Brussels agreements, as well as the fulfillment of the promises made to the electorate.

On the other hand, he underlined the fact that the effectiveness of the dialogue depends on Europe’s involvement. “Europe cannot be replaced by any other continent, nor can France be replaced by any other country. Europe is both an environment and a prospect of normalizing relations between Kosovo and Serbia,” Kurti said.

He also referred to a joint statement by France and Germany, which have because of the pandemic, expressed their dissatisfaction over holding a session in which no confidence in the Kurti’s government was voted. He added that he is grateful to the French president because of that.

Kurti stressed that the gap created by this proposal cannot be filled, nor can the political crisis be overcome, except for new elections, the only legitimate and legal way to revive the new government.

“Any other attempt to produce any government in the current state of affairs goes through unconstitutional ways. New political elections are possible only after the health crisis has been resolved,” Kurti added.

Kurti: Fight against COVID-19 remains a priority

Kurti briefed the French president on the measures being implemented by the Kosovo government, and that the fight against the COVID-19 virus remains a priority of this government. Kurti thanked Macron for the support provided by France and the European Union to Kosovo in the fight against COVID-19, and that the European aid set for Kosovo started at €5 million and would reach a total value of €68 million.

Kurti also announced that he plans to visit municipalities in north of Kosovo at the time of the pandemic, and that he will not divide the municipalities according to their ethnicity, since, as he said, the virus does not do that either.

“I go to two-three municipalities every day. What I did was I called on regional hospitals to be ready. We need to focus on the pandemic. I intend to go north as well, so far what I have done is that I have spoken to ten mayors of Serbian municipalities and none have refused to speak with me. We only talked about the pandemic,” he said.

So far, 224 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Kosovo.

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