EU Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn welcomed last night opening of the new chapters in Serbia’s EU accession negotiations, and highlighted that Serbia in the future must focus on the rule of law and normalization of relations with Pristina, Serbian media reported.

He assessed the opening of chapters as an indicator of a Serbia’s serious commitment and its realistic and firm European perspective, Serbian media reported further.

EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn met President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci at the sidelines of the Western Balkans leaders summit in Sofia and called for "strong, shared commitment of all political actors in Pristina to make next steps on Kosovo's EU path." "Progress in dialogue with Serbia is key," Hahn tweeted.

Kosovo’s Minister for European Integration, Dhurata Hoxha, met today in Brussels with the EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn, to discuss the integrating agenda of Kosovo.

Minister Hoxha stressed progress made in many fields, starting from the rule of law, economic development and good neighborly relations.

Hoxha requested from Hahn support, especially on economic development respectively help for new entrepreneurs that would impact increase of working places.

“Spain is grateful to the Government of Serbia because it did not bring up that issue, as the President Aleksandar Vucic already explained,” stated Spanish Ambassador to Serbia, Miguel Fuertes Suarez.

The Spanish Ambassador made these remarks while commenting the information that Belgrade, following the plea of his country, postponed sending the letter to Brussels, asking for further explanation on the EU stance that Kosovo and Catalonia are incomparable, daily writes further.

Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Behgjet Pacolli, met during his visit to Brussels the European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, Johannes Hahn, whom he informed that European integration remains the main goal of Kosovo’s foreign policy. In a Facebook post, Pacolli also said he expressed the commitment of Kosovo institutions to step up implementation of the European agenda, including Stabilisation and Association Agreement and visa liberalisation.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, and Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn, met Western Balkans leaders in New York and reconfirmed the region’s European perspective.

Normalization of relations with Pristina is an issue directly affecting further progress of Serbia in the accession process, said Johannes Hahn, who welcomed Vucic’s initiative for internal dialogue on Kosovo, Danas daily reported.

The EU Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Commissioner, Johannes Hahn is in two-day visit to Serbia.

In an interview for Deutsche Welle, the European Union Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn, said the ongoing Trieste summit for the Western Balkans is aimed at providing as many concrete results as possible. He mentioned in this respect a number of projects the EU plans to fund in the field of transport, energy, trade, infrastructure which will amount to around 1 billion euro. “We think that in the coming years around 80,000 new jobs will be opened in this region,” Hahn said.

The European Union Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn, told Tema that statements for eventual national unification of Albanians in case EU does not open doors for Kosovo and Albania, are dangerous and unacceptable. “First of all, there is an uncontested perspective of all Western Balkans countries to join the EU and we will continue to work with all partners in the region in a bilateral manner on their European road.

European Commissioner For Regional Policy & Enlargement Johannes Hahn told CorD that the pace of negotiations depends on the progress countries make in implementing the necessary reforms.

-Quality goes before speed, but I always say that it is good to be ambitious. The Berlin Process serves to drive that reform programme forward, always with a view to strengthening each country’s preparations to meet their European Integration ambitions, said Hahn to CorD Magazine, published monthly in Belgrade.