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| Albin Kurti and Sean Cairncross |
The MCC Director Sean Cairncross, appointed by President Donald Trump, spoke with the new Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti on phone today and communicated the decision to block MCC's € 50 million, as well as the gas project, from which is expected to be invested another 150m euros.
"Kosovo cannot count on the MCC's 50m euros, as well as the other 150m euros for gas planned to be invested in Kosovo," the source said.
The decision comes after the Left-Wing Government of Kosovo is refusing to unconditionally lift the tariff on goods imported from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
This is the worst blow to Kosovo by the United States, following Prime Minister Kurti's insistence not to lift the tariff on Serbian and Bosnian goods.
The conversation between Sean Cairncross and Albin Kurti was scheduled to take place on March 6, but Kurti had been sidelined.
On the same day, LDK Chairman Isa Mustafa said that Ambassador Richard Grenell had warned that MCC funding would be stopped if the tariff was not lifted.
The United States is insisting on lifting the tariff and continuing the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue. But Kurti insists on the gradual and conditional removal of the tariff. He also warns of the tariff being replaced with reciprocity measures if Serbia does not give up its diplomatic campaign against Kosovo's independence and removes all non-tariff barriers to Kosovo.
While today the Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti received at the meeting a Franco-German delegation, comprised of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's adviser Jan Hecker and that of the French President Emmanuel Macron, Emmanuel Bonne.
The media was only allowed to take pictures and there would be no press releases.The meeting was also attended by the German Ambassador to Kosovo Christian Heldt.