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Kosovo President: Open Balkans initiative feeds Serbian "appetites for hegemony"

Kosovo President: Open Balkans initiative feeds Serbian
Prishtina, 6 April 2022 (MIA) — Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani said the Open Balkans regional cooperation initiative, launched by former Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, was feeding Serbia’s “appetites for hegemony” and Kosovo would not take any part in it, according to MIA’s Prishtina correspondent. In an interview with ATV on Tuesday evening, President Osmani also said the Open Balkans initiative hindered the European integration of the region. She said the initiative was unnecessary. "In fact," Osmani said, "it is delaying the European integration process and does not consider Kosovo an equal and sovereign state, so we do not need to feed Serbia's hegemonic appetites." “The initiative has already failed. Kosovo will not join it, nor will any other country in the region," she added. The Kosovo President also said she was puzzled by Albanian Prime Minister Rama’s support of an initiative led by Serbian President Vucic, who does not recognize Kosovo as an independent country. "I cannot understand how Albania could accept an initiative in which Kosovo is not treated as a sovereign state and where Vucic, the leader of a country that works daily to destabilize Kosovo and violate its sovereignty, has a leading role," she said. mr/