Maliqi: Kurti doesn't realize the seriousness of the situation, but scores political points

Analyst Shkelzen Maliqi told Kosovo Online that Prime Minister Albin Kurti's decision to postpone the deadline for issuing fines to owners of vehicles that have not been re-registered with RKS license plates for 48 hours may open the way to finding a solution to the current crisis.

Maliqi says that he hopes that Kurti will relent, because the Kosovo side was a problem in the talks in Brussels.

"It seems that Prime Minister Kurti will still give in, because he was a problem and did not give in to Brussels. It is not known exactly what options are being negotiated. Borrell must have had some compromise formula. I hope that the deadline will be extended, at least for a few days, maybe even for a few months, which was the proposal of the United States of America and others," he said.

He stated that the dialogue becamr unpredictable, because always in negotiations one side tightened, and as he added, this time unfortunately it was Kurti. According to him, postponing the deadline by two days was not a big "discount", but perhaps the US ambassador to Kosovo, Jeffrey Hovenier, suggested some new element to Kurti.

He added that there is a possibility and that based on negative comments, both in Kosovo and from international diplomats, Kurti decided to give the negotiations a chance for two more days.

"I hope that the criticism against Kurti will help him to calm down a little and accept some solution to postpone the measures," he said.

Our interlocutor believes that the Prime Minister of Kosovo does not understand the seriousness of the situation in Kosovo, but that he is collecting political points.

"We don't know the details, so we can't comment much. Kurti went with twenty proposals, probably all of them were unacceptable, or he was joking a bit. Kurti doesn't take the situation seriously, he collects votes, because his popularity is declining with this type of negotiation. He wants to show that he is someone and something, that he can deal with American pressure and in some way criticize the EU for its pro-Serbian position, but such an action was undiplomatic," he said.

Maliqi emphasized that the Serbs needed a guarantee for the formation of the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities and added that it was an international obligation that Kosovo should undertake and present models for its formation.

"I hope that the dialogue will continue, only then can solutions be reached that make other things passable. The problem is with guarantees, the Serbs in Kosovo should have them. They are asking for the formation of the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities, and Kurti does not want to to come to that. He is very wrong on that issue, because it is an international obligation of Kosovo and it is necessary to think about the modalities for the formation of the CSM, and not to prevent its formation," Maliqi concluded.