Kurti and Plenković discuss Kosovo–Croatia cooperation and the Specialist Chambers’ judgment

Kosovo’s caretaker Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, announced that he began the day with a meeting with his Croatian counterpart, Andrej Plenković. The talks focused on strengthening cooperation between Kosovo and Croatia in security, defense, the economy and trade.

In a Facebook post, Kurti described Croatia as a partner state of the Republic of Kosovo and the Croatian people as a friendly nation.

He stressed that, alongside the already strong cooperation in security and defense, the two countries aim to further expand their economic and trade relations.

Kurti said Kosovo recorded economic growth of 5.4% in the first quarter and 4.1% in the second quarter of this year. According to him, the country’s economy is expected to exceed €12 billion this year, compared with €7 billion in the first year of his government.

The caretaker prime minister added that, in addition to sustained economic growth, the rule of law had been strengthened during this period and democratic progress had been recorded.

Kurti also declared that the decision of the Specialist Chambers was inaccurate, unjust and grave. He linked this position to the shared history of Kosovo and Croatia, which, according to him, fought for liberation and independence against the same regime—that of Milošević.

He stressed that it is clear who committed crimes during the four wars in the former Yugoslavia and that the war of the people of Kosovo was just, pure and a war of liberation against Serbia’s genocidal regime.

According to Kurti, Serbia continues to deny and conceal the crimes committed in Kosovo, while its archives remain closed and classified. He underlined that opening them is essential to clarifying the fate of people who were forcibly disappeared during the war, as well as to establishing truth and justice.

Kurti also accused Serbia of systematically continuing administrative ethnic cleansing against the Albanian community in the Preševo Valley by deactivating addresses and excluding people from institutions.

At the meeting, he praised the growing military cooperation with Croatia, including in the defense sector. Kurti emphasized the importance of Kosovo’s membership in the Adriatic Charter and thanked Croatia for its continued and unwavering support for the country’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration process, as well as for addressing the shared security challenges in the region.