Press Conference of Prime Minister Edi Rama with Albanian reporters who followed his visit to Serbia:
The Democratic Party of Serbia wanted your visit to Belgrade to be cancelled. On the other hand, it looks like you also have a clear strategy to make Mr Vučić uncomfortable every time you meet with him. It happened two years ago, it happened in Tirana, and it happened also yesterday. He didn’t have his earphones, but he was wearing glasses and it was pretty clear that he was in a very difficult position when you talked about Trepca. Is this a strategy, or just your position?
Prime Minister Rama: It’s not me who makes him uncomfortable but the topic, Kosovo. But I know no other cure to his embarrassment than repeating my belief that the sooner they recognize Kosovo, the sooner the embarrassment will be gone.
Unlike the visit of two years ago, you noted also in the meetings you had with Prime Minister Vučić that this one was warmer. Today’s meeting at the Economic Forum in Nis seemed even warmer indeed. How will this affect the economic chamber between the two countries to increase trade and exchanges, but also to bring these two countries closer?
Prime Minister Rama: I believe that it will greatly affect the implementation of the action plan for removing the many barriers that are a major problem for trade exchanges, and this is the challenge of our governments, not the challenge of business. The Chamber of Commerce will have definitely its influence. It is well known that Serbia has a more advanced model of its Chamber of Commerce, which is the creation of a highly respected persona not only here but also internationally, the President of the Chamber, who was the promoter of this initiative. Meanwhile, we have passed a new law on the Chamber, and I believe that it will be helpful. But at the end of the day, I am convinced that Albania will become more and more a destination for entrepreneurs and tourists from Serbia, for we must take into account that the distances they have to travel during the summer are very remote compared with the distances to reach Albania, if the objective to have a highway connecting Belgrade with Pristina and then Durres through the road of the Nation is achieved. This is a novelty that would bring increased economic development to everybody, and obviously would enhance also relations between our two countries.
How does this straightforward diplomacy of yours with Mr Vučić or in Greece affect Serbian or Greek politics for Albanians of Kosovo in Presevo?
Prime Minister Rama: I think that it affects them positively. In an earlier interview with a Serbian television, I said I was here two years ago and that hot press conference took place. There was a very difficult moment after the press conference, as we were not communicating at all, and then I told the Serbian Prime Minister, if you genuinely believe what you say, and I think you do, that time has come to build a friendship between Albania and Serbia that passes through the construction of a friendship between the two of us, then you should not react as if it were the end of the world when I say something with which you don’t agree, but you should consider this as the most certain sign of the will to build a friendship on the basis of open and straightforward speech, and to the principle that whether you like or not my truth, you have to respect it as my truth. Although there was still embarrassment in yesterday’s reaction, however it was not the same as two years ago, which means that progress has been made on this issue, as it has been made in the way the media and journalists have accepted this truth. I remember two years ago, when I had to talk to Serbian reporters I felt like I was talking to members of the Prime Minister’s party, who were very angry at me. While today it is different. And it is very important for this truth to advance and become normal in the ears of these people because it helps a process that sooner or later – we cannot know this – will have a clear ending. We cannot wait for another 100 years, on the contrary! So I believe that yes, it is a way that helps and assists everywhere and is beneficial to Albanians wherever they are. The same applies to the Albanians of Presevo. Talks were very difficult two years ago because he couldn’t accept me talking about the Albanians of Presevo. “What do you have to do with the Albanians of Presevo? They are Serbian citizens. They are residents of Serbia.” Today, we met with him, and some really positive things have been made, and the atmosphere among the Albanian representatives of Presevo is very positive in the sense that there is hope that things will improve.
Is it Mr Vučić’s merit, or the elites here are changing in terms of the mentality about the Albanians?
Prime Minister Rama: My opinion and my respect for him is related to the fact that he is making a real effort to move the gravity of power in Serbia towards the future. It is a country that has always had its gravity in the past. And this is something positive. Of course, seen with our eyes, based on our interests, our wounds, our past, this is something we would like to develop with a much stronger amplitude, but if we put ourselves in his shoes, this is something positive that must definitely be respected.
Mr Rama you already mentioned it, but can you specify a little bit. There was a second meeting today with representatives of Presevo in the presence of Mr Vučić. Did you talk about specific projects?
Prime Minister Rama: Yes, of course. Yesterday we discussed several issues. First, we synced up the mutual recognition of degrees, and this works out normally now. There are bureaucratic issues, but not for political reasons anymore. Therefore, the degrees are recognized normally. There’s the problem of textbooks. We have agreed to use the textbooks we use in Albania, and the Prime Minister has agreed. I spoke with him yesterday in a meeting before I met with Albanian representatives of Presevo, and we can send them our texts because Presevo has some issues with textbooks. We discussed also another very important problem that they have in terms of some old enterprises that have not been privatized, and which they rightly see as a potential employment etc. The Prime Minister explained how it will proceed, in addition to guaranteeing that for any investor that invests in Presevo, the Serbian government will provide a 50% subsidy since the first moment. We also talked – actually I with them – about the twinning between the municipalities of the Valley and our municipalities to facilitate joint funding projects in view of expanding the urban revival program, which has created a very positive impact on the perception in that area.
There was a meeting of the Ministers of Energy in Sarajevo, and they came up with a decision to urge Serbia to unblock the interconnector. Did you talk about this with Mr Vučić?
Prime Minister Rama: Of course, it was the topic of my talks yesterday, and also today with the World Bank Regional Director. For me it was a continuation because we discussed this also in Paris. Of course, what happened with Trepca does not help, but he reconfirmed the will to find a solution because it is not that simple according to them, not us, since it concerns the broader agreement within the dialogue about energy. And it concerns also Kosovo’s membership in an international energy institution, which means that the dialogue is necessary because if we act tough from a distance believing that we win a duel with Belgrade, we will actually trip over our own feet. Kosovo needs energy, it needs the interconnection to work. Well, how is this solved? By turning our backs to each other and by making speeches that unfortunately are becoming more and more speeches that we deliver to show each other who is the greatest patriot, with a tendency to manipulate people for votes as much as possible? Or by doing concrete things for people?
Kosovo boycotted the forum yesterday. What is your message?
Prime Minister Rama: I have no lesson to teach and no asked advice to give to anybody, much less to the leadership in Kosovo which is neither unworkable nor can be skipped, a process that is in the first place the leadership process of the Albanians of Kosovo in this dialogue. I simply say that being the winners of the war, and having the great moral advantage of the winner, we are the ones who not only don’t need to avoid any possibility to communicate but we should create more opportunities to communicate because we have nothing to be ashamed of, whereas when we don’t communicate, not only we don’t behave as winners but we create room for the opposite of what we think, we prevent a process that is primarily a process in which we are interested, we prevent a process which we need to see primarily as a process that is for our people, for families, for those who want a better economy, for those who want a job and so on. It is not a process that politics can take, lock in the hall of Parliament and transform it into an arena for wrestling among ourselves about who loves Kosovo more, who loves Albania more, who loves the flag more.
Prime Minister Vučić has been in Tirana, you returned to Belgrade. Can we talk about an enhancement of relations between Serbia and Albania? Or is there always a threatening hand above us?
Prime Minister Rama: The dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia has many issues because it is a dialogue for a real peace process. If we didn’t have these problems, it would mean that it is not a dialogue for peace. The dialogue for peace is difficult and at risk everywhere, for even a smallest thing can take it to a point where it seems like it is 100 years back. This is the case everywhere and always. Therefore, it is no surprise that many small things can give us the feeling that everything we have built was in vain. But in fact, it is not.
Petrit Selimi of the Democratic Party has written recently a piece about you. Maybe he has done it with the permission of your friend, President Thaci. He says, have you per chance fallen into the trap of Serbs? Is the road Nis-Tirana a pretext?
Prime Minister Rama: First, I don’t know this Petrit Selimi, and I am not at all surprised. On the contrary, I congratulate with every petrit selimi who writes his own opinion because we live in a country, in a free space where there is no censorship either by the party or Serbia. Therefore, I wish Petrit Selimi and all the other petrit selimis much success, and may they write whatever they want. As for me, I will continue to do what I think is the most auspicious for Albanians in Albania and of course, when I talk about Kosovo, also for Albanians in Kosovo. Then history will judge both me and Petrit Selimi, if it remembers him.
