Croatian Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic called for peace and cooperation in the Western Balkans region, following accusations by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic that Croatia, Albania and Kosovo have created "a military alliance against the Serbian people."
“Croatia is a member of the European Union and everything it does in international relations is done transparently,” Božinović stressed. After attending the traditional festive reception organized by the Serbian National Council (SNV) to celebrate Christmas according to the Julian calendar, Božinović said that messages of peace and cooperation are something that should be shared in the region and neighboring countries.
The day before, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, during a visit to Trebinje, in the Bosnian entity of Republika Srpska, had said that Croatia, Albania and Kosovo had not created an alliance against Austria, because Austria is militarily neutral, but against Serbia and the Serbian people. “In Belgrade, we understand well the new military alliance created between Zagreb, Pristina and Tirana,” Vučić declared.
The defense ministers of Croatia, Kosovo, and Albania signed a declaration to strengthen defense cooperation in March 2025. At the time, Serbia reacted harshly, seeing it as an initiative against it.
Earlier, the Croatian government told REL that the declaration does not aim to create a military alliance, and such an alliance is not necessary apart from NATO. Croatia and Albania are members of NATO, while Kosovo, which Serbia does not recognize as independent, is not a member of the Western military alliance.
The Croatian minister's reaction comes a day after Kosovo's acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Donika Gërvalla, reacted to the warning that Serbia will double its army, accusing Belgrade of pushing forward Russian foreign policy. According to Gërvalla, the real threat lies "in its [Serbian] leadership, which, instead of building a normal European country focused on EU reforms and democracy, dreams of a regional empire, a miniature Russian mentality."/REL
