Cufaj: Stubborn Kurti risks Western support

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti must agree to the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities because Kosovo must not be left without Western protection, a writer and former Kosovo's Ambassador to Germany Beqe Cufaj says, noting that the Western plan is to spare Aleksandar Vucic from legal recognition of Kosovo but to recognize it in fact, Deutsche Welle reports.

European and American diplomats did not care too much about the subject of Kosovo after the declaration of independence 15 years ago, Cufaj says.

"There were endless conversations and few results. New crises were emerging on the geopolitical table. The talks between Pristina and Belgrade were favorable ground for figures. On one side Putin stood with his faithful soldier in Serbia, former Milosevic's minister Aleksandar Vucic. On the other side, the West with the rebel child Kosovo. Who had the upper hand? Putin, of course. If you were to talk to Angela Merkel about Kosovo and Serbia, the conversation would actually be about Putin," Cufaj writes in an editorial for the weekly newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

According to Cufaj, everyone woke up when Putin marched into Ukraine.

"Suddenly, the Balkans became a topic again. Previously, there were endless talks and technical agreements between Kosovo and Serbia in Brussels, 33 signed agreements that have not been implemented. With Russia's aggression against Ukraine, all that became unimportant," he noted.

The West, Cufaj writes, came up with a proposal based on the agreement of the two Germanys.

"Kosovo must accept that proposal, and also allow the formation of a community of municipalities with a Serbian majority. There are two problems here. The first is that Kosovo fears that the Serbs, who are politically controlled by Belgrade, might seek reunification with Serbia. Another problem, from my perspective, is the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti," Cufaj writes.

He adds that after two years in power, it seems that Kurti is no different from his predecessor.

"Albanians from Kosovo are emigrating en masse to Germany. Corruption and nepotism still reign, the party manages the institutions," the writer says.

In his opinion, Serbian President Vucic timidly accepted the Franco-German plan, while Kurti's message - as the public understands it - is the refusal to form the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities. Cufaj recalls that Kurti still insists that such a community can only exist in the case of Serbia's recognition of Kosovo.

"It annoys international partners, especially the Americans and the Germans. After two years in power, Kurti will have to give up both pre-election promises. It didn't come to a better life for the citizens, and he will not be able to prevent the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities," Cufaj writes.

He points out that Kosovo has a stubborn prime minister but does not have tanks, planes, and a large army, while Vucic does, and Vucic, as Kurti complains, is Putin's extended arm.

The advisors of Scholz, Macron, and Biden can tell him that they will protect him from Vucic and Putin with NATO troops. Is the West afraid of Vucic because he is Putin's friend? No. But the diplomats convinced their politicians: we will save Vucic from the pressure to recognize Kosovo de jure, but in return, we will distance him from Putin, and Kosovo will receive a de facto recognition by Serbia. That's normalization. It is the maximum from the minimum. With the condition that Kosovo grants autonomy to its Serbs," the writer states.

"Should the West turn its back on Kosovo, for which it has stationed thousands of soldiers for over two decades to preserve the fragile peace - just because Kurti refuses a deal with Serbia? Kosovo cannot afford to remain without the protection of the West," the text of the weekly Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung concludes.