Talkingpolitics

  By Altin Gjeta Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbia’s President Aleksander Vucic met last week in Brussels for the second time within the framework of the EU-facilitated Prishtina-Belgrade dialogue on the normalisation of the relations between the two neighbouring countries. The dialogue resumed last month after a one-year pause that came as a result of the political situation in Kosovo, where the country’s wartime leaders, including President Hashim Thaci and other senior politicians, were indicted by the Hague-based Specialist Chambers on war crime charges. Soon after, a Constitutional Court ruling led to snap elections in Kosovo that were won in a landslide by Albin Kurti’s Vetevendosje, a fervent opponent of the international policies implemented in post-war Kosovo. The resumption of the dialogue coincides with the 10th anniversary of the EU-facilitated talks between Kosovo and Serbia marked by tensions, frequent interruption, and few tangible results. The EU’s incr...

By Altin Gjeta Albin Kurti’s Vetevendosje landslide victory on February 14 elections this year came as blow to the old elite of post-war Kosovo. He was elected Prime Minister after years of struggling in the streets of Kosovo against almost everyone. The Self-Determination Movement (Vetevendojse in Albanian) was founded as a protest grassroots movement while Kosovo was under the administration of the international community in the 2000s and then was transformed into a political party after Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008. Unlike most parties in the Balkans, Vetevendojse was inspired by leftist anti-colonial movements of the modern era mixed with a fervent nationalist rhetoric. In the 2000s Albin Kurti focused his movement’s target against international community’s policies in Kosovo. He opposed every single proposal of the internationals on the final status question of Kosovo, including Marti Ahtisaari’s Comprehensive Proposal for the Kosovo Status (Ahtisaari Plan)...