Kosovo’s former prime minister, Ramush Haradinaj has responded to PM Edi Rama by giving his own version of the Berlin debate, which included the attendance of German chancellor, Angela Merkel and French president, Emanuel Macron.
In an interview for Radio Television Kosova, Haradinaj confirmed that harsh tones were in fact used during their conversation but he also underlined that his statements “were directed at PM Rama, not the European leaders”.
He called the Albanian prime minister’s claims “baseless” and continued by saying that he was forced to raise his voice, seeing that at the time, Rama was wrongfully positioned on the issues of Kosovo’s demarcation and the opening of Balkan borders – a dangerous stance, which according to him, would steer the region in the direction of new wars.
Referring to the statements made earlier by PM Rama, claiming that Haradinaj’s stance, when showing the fields to the European leaders, rid Kosovo of its chance to obtain visa liberalization, the former PM of Kosovo gave the following argument: “I’m forced to protect my fields, from my brother Edi Rama”.
These back-and-forth exchanges come at a time when the political scene on both sides of the border is engulfed in heated debates regarding the recent initiative known as ‘Open Balkans’.
Yesterday, PM Edi Rama stated that the German government supports ‘Open Balkans’, claiming that this refutes all the criticism it has been experiencing lately. According to Rama, the German government is expecting involved parties to promptly sign the agreement for a Joint Regional Market, before the EU-Balkans Summit planned to take place on October 6th”.
However, according to Jeton Zulfaj, political advisor to Kosovo’s PM Albin Kurti, Germany isn’t in favor of this initiative, but instead it only supports the Joint Regional Market that is part of the framework established by the Berlin Process”.
