The former American envoy for Kosovo and Serbia, Richard Grenell, recently appointed Donald Trump special envoy for special missions, criticized Prime Minister Kosovar Albin Kurti, causing perplexity in Kosovo just before Sunday’s vote.
The administration of the American president Donald Trump has Suddenly involved in Kosovo while the country of Western Balkans entered the last stages of the electoral race In view of the parliamentary elections which will be held on Sunday in the country.
While the outgoing center-left Prime Minister Albin Kurti ends his campaign to obtain a clear majority for his second term, severe Washington criticism could compromise his political position in the country.
Friday, Albin Kurti told the press to Pristina that “Relations between Kosovo and Washington are currently at their best from the start”.
Richard Grenell, the former American envoy for Serbia and Kosovo in the first administration of Donald Trump, however replied dryly on X, qualifying the declaration of the outgoing Prime Minister of “fantasy”.
“Relations have never been so low. Albin Kurti was sentenced by the first Trump administration, the Biden administration, NATO, the EU, the American Embassy, Anthony (sic) Blinken”he said.
In a previous message published on X at the start of the week, Richard Grenell qualified Albin Kurti as “Unreliable partner for Washington”.
Changing the United States is “disconcerting”.
For Kosovo and its Albanian majority, Relations with the United States have been vital since the conflict with Serbia in the late 1990swhich was followed by an intervention by NATO in 1999 and the leadership of the American military forces which faced Serbia of Slobodan Milošević.
In Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, many boulevards and monuments are dedicated to personalities from the Clinton administration who took the initiative to intervene against Serbia.
Being in bad words with the United States would be A political loss for an Albanian Kosovar political leader, in particular while ethnic tensions with the Serbian community and Serbia are dealing withand that the economic crisis causes growing resentment towards the government in place.
“The Trump administration’s diplomatic offensive against the outgoing Prime Minister seemed rather worrying in Pristina, after decades of excellent relations with the United States”explains Eraldin Fazliu, political editor of the KTV news channel.
“Richard Grenell, who now holds a fairly important position in the Trump administration, has had a truly aggressive approach to Albin Kurti lately”.
“He now interferes in our elections by saying that Alban Kurti was not a good partner for the United States”he continues.
Serbs expect positive from Donald Trump
Unlike Pristina, where Washington’s new diplomatic approach took the political leaders, In the Serbian part of Mitrovica, we hope for good relations between the Serbs and the Trump administrationas Aleksandar Rapajić explains a Serbian NGO in Mitrovica.
“We expect the new (American) administration to bring new power, new blood in this process and that it is starting to find certain solutions, not just to have meetings and discussions”he said. “The Serbs are therefore hopeful that their position will improve in Kosovo”.
Belgrade and Pristina have failed to implement the Brussels agreements concerning the normalization of their relations.
According to these agreements dating from 2013, Serbia must take measures to recognize Kosovo as an independent state. In exchange, Pristina is supposed to grant Serbs living in Kosovo the right to create an association of Serbian municipalities with a certain degree of autonomy.
The American contingent and the backbone of the peacekeeping mission led by NATO in Kosovo, KFOR, are based in Camp Bondsteel, in the south-east of the country.
Additional sources • Adaptation: Vincent Reynier