By Rafaela Prifti/
Dielli reported on the Zoom meeting of the US Presidential Envoy on Kosovo Serbia dialogue with community representatives on Friday.
A Special Prosecutor in the Hague announced formally existing charges against Kosovo President Thaci, while he and Prime Minister Hoti were on their way to Washington for a round of talks with Serbia’s leader at the White House. On his Tweeter account on June 25th Ambassador Grenell acknowledged the decision of Mr. Thaci and then Mr. Hoti to return to Kosovo, while asserting that “we look forward to rescheduling the meeting soon”.
The cancelled talks led by US prompted a call with the Albanian-American community. Leading up to it, Ambassador Grenell had a briefing with President Trump, according to press reporting and the organizer of the call, Martin Vulaj.
On Friday, Ambassador Grenell met online Elmi Berisha, President of Pan-Albanian Federation of America VATRA, Martin Vulaj, former Executive Director of NAAC, Ana Cenaj, Representative of Albanian Cultural Center of Dallas Community and Uk Lushi of the Atlantic Battalion. During the call, Special Envoy on Kosovo Serbia Dialogue indicated that having the approval of the President for the dialogue resumption is of particular importance now, said Mr. Vulaj. The stated concern was that the President may have concluded that the parties are simply not ready for the deal and may well have the envoy assigned to other tasks. Reportedly, Ambassador Grenell did secure the green light to restart the dialogue under his auspices. On behalf of VATRA, its President Elmi Berisha expressed full confidence in President’s Trump administration. In the call, the American diplomat is reported to have said that Kosovo politicians have to organize and express their intentions with respect to restarting the dialogue. Mr. Grenell’s hope is to continue the process with rescheduling a meeting in about a month’s time, said Mr. Vulaj, who set up the call. According to him, Ambassador Richard Grenell indicated that the process consists of two phases: the first one is the economic normalization which he is working on and, the second is the political agreement phase where the engagement of Europeans comes in as the US Envoy views it as primarily their responsibility. The participants on the call were assured that there never was a secret deal or plan for a fast deal and also land swaps and such were not only never on the table but never discussed at all in Mr. Grenell’s presence. He reiterated his position and strong belief in improving economic relations as the economic growth that creates jobs and stabilizes migration can create an environment where political agreements are possible. Former Head of NAAC said that Ambassador Grenell was critical of Europeans’ narrow focus on political issues and expressed frustration with the Europeans’ failure to approve the liberalization of visas for Kosovo. “The takeaway,” said Mr. Vulaj was that “Ambassador Grenell stressed the urgency for the Kosovars to get organized and determine who will be sitting at those two seats at the table in the talks led by the US.”