Norway: Grasping Presevo is same as laying hold of Kosovo

He commented on the Kosovo PM Ramush Haradinaj’s remark about the two southern regions in Serbia with predominantly ethnic Albanian population describing them as a part of Kosovo.

The ambassador told Blic daily, that “those who speak about Kosovo as an integral part of Serbia should not be surprised when the others call parts of Serbia the eastern Kosovo.”

Both Bujanovac and Presevo have been mentioned as parts of Serbia proper that could be exchanged for the northern chunk of Kosovo mostly populated by the Serbs. The idea of the territory swap does not have much advocates in the international community, with the US being strongly against.

Bjørnstad also talked about the safety in Kosovo, saying he visited it several times, driving in a car with Belgrade licence plates and had no problem. He said that “incidents happen everywhere, but those who haven’t been in Kosovo tend to exaggerate” the lack of safety.