Several Serbian-language media outlets yesterday and today have published articles claiming that "Kurti is looking for war", "is aiming for the elimination and expulsion of Serbs, not an agreement" or that he is "looking for a storm in Kosovo".
Serbian media base these claims on the failure to reach any agreement after yesterday's meeting in Brussels in the statements made by EU representative Josep Borrell and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.
The statements of the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, after the meeting in Brussels do not suggest that Kurti is seeking war or the elimination of Serbs, as claimed in the headlines of these media. In fact, Kurti expressed his readiness for other meetings of this level.
Links to articles published in Serbian media:
https://informer.rs/vesti/politika/751130/kurti-ugrozio-mir-balkanu
Excerpts from articles published in Serbian media:
Even after almost eight hours of tense and sometimes dramatic talks between representatives of Belgrade, Pristina and the EU, yesterday in Brussels, due to the continuous obstacles led by the Prime Minister of the provisional institutions in the province, Albin Kurti, absolutely no agreement was reached regarding the license plates.
By rejecting all proposals, Kurti has only confirmed suspicions that his goal is to provoke conflicts and expel the Serbian people from Kosovo and Metohija.
According to unofficial assessments from the circle of European officials, Kurti showed yesterday that he is trying to provoke conflicts in every way. Practically, as was warned, the crazy prime minister of the provisional institutions of Pristina is wishing for a new "storm" in Kosovo.
The claims of the Serbian media are based on statements made by the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, and the EU High Representative. President Vučić in his statement did not draw parallels to a claim by Prime Minister Kurti about war, elimination or expulsion of Serbs.
"We face sleepless nights and many difficult days, but we will listen to and adhere to the advice and requests of the High Representative. He asked them not to enforce fines and for us not to issue new KM plates, which we have accepted." (here)
In his speech from Brussels, following the failed negotiations, the president said that the coming period will not be easy.
In his speech from Brussels, following the failed negotiations, the president said that the coming period will not be easy.
EU High Representative Joseph Borrell, in his statement after the Kurti-Vučić meeting in Brussels, blamed the two leaders for the failure to reach an agreement. However, he stressed that the EU proposal was accepted by Vučić, but not by Kurti.
"Both bear full responsibility for the failure of the talks today and for any escalation and violence that may occur on the ground. We presented a proposal that President Aleksandar Vučić accepted, while Prime Minister Albin Kurti did not." (here)
While Prime Minister Kurti, in his appearance to the media after the meeting, despite expressing his dissatisfaction with the EU proposal, he expressed his willingness to continue discussions.
"I am ready to come here and hold meetings always with the same structure and order, to reach a final agreement on the full normalization of relations with mutual recognition at the center and other issues like the one with car license plates. But one cannot function without the other. We cannot be irresponsible and not address current issues, but we cannot turn into state leaders who only deal with car license plates and do not talk about the normalization of their relations." (here)
Analyze:
Some Serbian media outlets, based on statements by Serbian President Vučić and EU representative Borrell, have claimed that Kurti is seeking war, aiming to eliminate and expel Serbs, not an agreement, and is seeking a storm in Kosovo.
But based on the statements made, Vučić's statements leave no room for such claims, and Borrell blames both sides for not reaching an agreement on license plates.
Moreover, Kurti's statements made after the meeting do not imply a tendency that he is not seeking an agreement but war, on the contrary, he states that he is ready to come for talks in Brussels.
Based on the methodology of the work, hibrid.info assesses that these claims are unfounded and are classified as "conspiracy theories".
ASSESSMENT
"Conspiracy theories" are media reports that disseminate a false or unverifiable description of a phenomenon, event, or person, presenting it as part of or the result of a secret plan ("conspiracy"). A characteristic of these reports is that they present a series of claims, presented as facts, between which cause-effect relationships are established, without providing any credible evidence.