Kosovo President Hashim Thaci met on Thursday Sweden’s Ambassador to Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, nonresident for Kosovo, Mats Staffansson. President Thaci said the entry into force of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) has positively influenced the political dialogue within Kosovo, as all parties are participating in the discussion for the implementation of the SAA.
Kosovo’s Minister for European Integration, Bekim Collaku, said today that he is confident that the European Commission will very soon announce a positive assessment on visa liberalization for Kosovo. Collaku made these remarks during a press conference with the French Minister for European Affairs, Harlem Desir, and German Minister of State for Europe, Michael Roth. Desir said France would continue to support Kosovo. “France and Germany support Kosovo and I can say that Kosovo has achieved a lot of progress but more remains to be done.
Kosovo expects to receive very soon the recommendation for visa liberalization as government officials in Pristina claim all criteria required by the European Union have already been met. Fisnik Rexhepi, senior advisor to Kosovo’s Minister for European Integration Bekim Collaku, told the news portal that Kosovo too is in the EU’s agenda for visa liberalization. “We have met the criteria required by EU institutions through an unprecedented rigorous roadmap. EU institutions are reviewing the Kosovo case.
Kosovo’s Minister for European Integration, Bekim Collaku, said in a meeting today with a delegation from the German Bundestag that Kosovo has fulfilled all necessary criteria for visa liberalization and expects a corresponding decision from the EU on the matter. Collaku also spoke about Germany’s support for Kosovo’s European integration agenda.
Kosovo Assembly with 64 votes in favor, 10 abstentions and one vote against, today elected Besim Dina as chairman of the board of the Procurement Review Body (PRB). As members of the board were elected: Nuhi Paqarizi and Goran Milenkovic. Their mandate will last five years. The Assembly also elected Besnik Osmani as General Auditor. European Integration Minister Bekim Collaku said this is good news for the functioning of the institutions and it is also important for visa liberalization process.
Kosovo’s European Integration Minister Bekim Collaku met today with the EU Special Representative and head of EU Office in Kosovo Samuel Zbogar and discussed preparations for the upcoming visit of EU experts for the assessment of the visa liberalization criteria implementation. Collaku said relevant Kosovo institutions are well-prepared to address all concerns of the EU experts.
Kosovo’s Prime Minister Isa Mustafa said today that the failure of the Kosovo Assembly to elect the members of the Procurement Review Body will not impact the visa liberalization process for Kosovo. “I think there is no reason why this should threaten the visa liberalization process. We have met all the criteria.
Today’s continuation of the plenary session of the Kosovo Assembly aimed at appointing members for the Procurement Review Body, one of the prerequisites for visa liberalization, has failed. The chairman of the session, Xhavit Haliti, initially said that none of the representatives of the Serb community met the criteria to be appointed for the procurement authority whereas when the electronic voting of the members that were deemed to meet the criteria took place, the MPs from the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) did not vote.
The paper’s Brussels-based correspondent, Augustin Palokaj, writes in an opinion piece today that Kosovo has no political or moral power to seek favors from the EU. “The political elite in Kosovo doesn’t have the credibility to at least ask from the EU to be fair and correct towards Kosovo. With the high level of corruption and the failure of the justice system, political leaders cannot ask for such things. Therefore the process of visa liberalization is where it is with Kosovo, pending and without any specific dates when it might happen.
Prime Minister of Kosovo, Isa Mustafa, said Kosovo institutions have met all necessary criteria of the visa lbieralisation process. He said he was hopeful that next week when the European Commission experts are due to visit Kosovo and assess it against the visa liberalisation criteria they would decide not to delay issuing a positive recommendation for Kosovo. Mustafa said that the criteria regarding office space for the Ombudsperson Institution has been met and that the programme for the procurement review authority will be ready by next week.