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Visit to Kosovo, NATO chief: Flexibility and compromises for progress in dialogue with Serbia

2025-03-11 16:12:31 / KOSOVA ALFA PRESS

Visit to Kosovo, NATO chief: Flexibility and compromises for progress in

The Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Mark Rutte, said in Pristina that dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia is the only way to resolve open issues.

"To move this dialogue forward, both sides must show flexibility and make the necessary compromises and focus on long-term benefits ," Rutte said.

According to him, normalization brings more stability and security to the entire region.

At a joint press conference with Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, Rutte stated that stability in the Western Balkans region depends on all parties, choosing "diplomacy over violence."

"The solution to long-term peace is political," the NATO chief said.

During the visit to Pristina, the NATO chief will meet with Prime Minister Albin Kurti.

Rutte said in an interview with Al Jazeera Balkans the day before that Kosovo is a very important country and that NATO has a significant presence through KFOR.

"There were elections, we will see how the new government is formed, but this is part of the democratic process. There is nothing wrong with that," Rutte said, adding that the alliance makes continuous efforts to ensure that this country is in its best shape.

Meanwhile, Kosovo's President, Vjosa Osmani, said she supports the statement made a day earlier in Bosnia by Rutte that there should be no security vacuums in the region, because according to her, "history has proven that those vacuums have often been misused by malignant factors."

Osmani also spoke about Serbia, which he accused of undermining “efforts for peace and stability.” With the help of Russia and other factors, the Kosovo president says, Belgrade is aiming to destabilize Kosovo.

In this regard, she mentioned the attacks that have occurred in recent years in the Serb-majority north, including against KFOR members in May 2023.

"The presence of NATO troops in Kosovo is not only a guarantee for our security against any attempt to undermine the peace and stability for which we have all worked and sacrificed for so long," said Osmani.

According to her, the lack of responsibility for these attacks, for which Osmani blamed Serbia, has encouraged Belgrade to "continue with attacks through its paramilitary structures."

"Therefore, it is important that we jointly strengthen the presence of both personnel and means to protect the border in order to prevent both the entry of terrorist groups and their armaments, which aim to create conflicts in our region. As US President Donald Trump has said, the policy of peace through strength is the one that will be best understood in this region, especially by those who might consider using destabilizing actions," said Osmani.

The NATO chief said days ago that stability in Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia is in the interest of everyone in the Western military alliance, and that he sees no reason to believe there could be any dramatic change in terms of American commitment to NATO.

The issue of reconsidering the US position in Europe has begun to circulate since statements made by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in February, when he said that Europeans cannot expect the US military presence on the continent to last forever, while calling on Europeans to increase defense spending.

Even US President Donald Trump has called for Europeans to pay more in this sector, raising questions about whether they would now be able to defend the US, as NATO's Article 5 requires.

The US has around 100,000 troops in Europe, of which 600 are stationed in Kosovo, as part of KFOR, which has a total of around 4,600 members.

The US Department of Defense told Radio Free Europe a few days ago that for now there are no planned changes in terms of the positioning of their forces.

Rutte's visit to Kosovo follows his visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina on March 10, where he gave the message that the alliance will not allow "the hard-won peace to be jeopardized."/ REL

 

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