Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti has stressed that his country needs Swiss support as it seeks to join the Council of Europe.
To become a member of the Council of Europe, the country needs friends "who represent us truthfully", Kurti said in an interview with the Neue Zürcher Zeitung published on Friday.
Kosovo is aiming to join the Council of Europe next year, he told the paper. In the run-up, he said, it was a matter of geopolitics. The BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) would not recognise Kosovo. "We need Switzerland's support," Kurti said. The interview came after his meeting with President Alain Berset a week ago.
Switzerland supports Kosovo's aspiration to join the Council of Europe, the Swiss foreign ministry announced after the meeting. Its admission would allow all inhabitants of the country - including members of the Serbian minority - to have access to the European Court of Human Rights.
Call for restraint
After the meeting, Berset called on Kosovo and Serbia to implement agreements negotiated in Brussels and Ohrid in the spring, which should help normalise relations between the two countries. Berset emphasised Switzerland's support in the normalisation process, according to the foreign ministry.
Two days after the meeting, heavy fighting broke out in Serb-inhabited northern Kosovo. "There will be a before and after September 24," Kurti said in the interview.
The Swiss foreign ministry condemned the attack on Kosovo police "in the strongest possible terms". It called for calm and restraint.