Kurti: Serbia has understood that we are a state

Acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti said that Serbia has understood better than ever that Kosovo is a state, even though it continues to refuse to recognize it. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he also accused opposition parties of failing to cooperate, leading to two elections last year. He stressed that the people of Kosovo, according to him, refuse to return to the “era of corruption.”

He said that the contributor to instability in the region through Serbia is the Russian Federation.

"Out of the four neighbors we have as the Republic of Kosovo, three recognize us. Only Serbia does not recognize us and it does not seem that it will soon. Although I think they understand better than ever that we are another country. The reality has changed a lot. But what needs to happen is that their dream of return is extinguished. Also, its contributor is the Russian Empire, or what is now the Russian Federation. The Russian Empire does not want neighbors, but it is impossible not to have neighbors," he said.

In addition, he accused the opposition regarding the new elections, underlining that the lack of cooperation on their part brought about the new elections and the good result for him, where he received over 51 percent of the votes.

“First, we did not go to new elections because we wanted to. This was not our intention, but it was a consequence of the lack of cooperation with the opposition. We won 42.3 percent in February, but it was not enough. We tried everything. We tried to meet with one or two opposition political parties. One of them did not want to meet, one of them wanted the position of speaker of parliament with only three deputies. Then, they did not accept our proposed name for speaker of parliament, although we replaced that name dozens of times; the opposition again said 'no' to everyone. Then, I replaced my name with my deputy in the party, Glauk Konjufca, who was speaker of parliament and will be the next deputy prime minister and foreign minister. They said no again. So, throughout 2025, it was clear to people that we did not have a government not because we did not win the elections, but because no one wanted to cooperate with us. "So, I think if I wanted new elections, people would punish me. I didn't want new elections, but if new elections were there, I better be ready. So there were consequences from the opposition's non-cooperation, not from my enthusiasm for new elections," Kurti added.

On the other hand, Kurti said that during his governing mandate he inherited a situation of endemic corruption, therefore, according to him, the people of Kosovo refuse to return to that situation in the future.

He stressed that no one within his government cabinet has even the slightest imagination of being involved in any degree of corruption.

"We have inherited a situation where corruption has been endemic. There is strong resistance and resilience of the people to never return there. So, our hope is the people; that they will inform the system and the public about the corruption they encounter. No one, absolutely no one within the cabinet of ministers has even the slightest imagination of being involved in any degree of corruption, so we must lead by example," he concluded.

The Vetëvendosje Movement won 51.11 percent of the vote in the December 28 elections.