Grenell: "Little Schengen" initiative should include Pristina

Ambassador Richard Grenell, US President Donald Trump's envoy for the Belgrade-Pristina talks, welcomed the "Balkan Schengen" initiative, noting that it could be successful if it included everyone in the region, including so-called Kosovo.

"We welcome the Western Balkans' mini-Schengen initiative as a way to launch free movement of people and goods. We believe that to be successful, this initiative must involve everyone in the region, including the government of Kosovo. The Trump administration is focused on helping the entire region create economic opportunities and jobs for young people," the US embassy said in a statement.

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A joint initiative by the leaders of the three Balkan countries, Albania, Serbia and North Macedonia to create a "Balkan Schengen" area has fueled reactions and differences between Pristina and Tirana, the Kosovo Online portal reported last night.

A meeting was held in Ohrid after the first meeting on October 10 in Novi Sad, to which Pristina, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina were also invited.

So-called Kosovo declined to participate, describing the initiative as an attempt to re-create Yugoslavia, while Montenegro was restrained.

Photo: Tanjug/Zoran Zestic

The president of temporary Pristina institutions, Hashim Thaci, said that so-called Kosovo doesn't want to replace a Euro-Atlantic future with any regional initiative.

Self-Determination Movement leader Albin Kurti, the candidate for prime minister of the provisional institutions, said missteps had been made with regards to the regional initiative on free movement of people and goods, as Albania should have waited for the formation of a new Pristina government before any regional initiative.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama criticized Pristina for self-isolation, stressing that the initiative aims only to provide free movement of people across the Western Balkans.

(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)