The next meeting of the senior state officials of the Western Balkans will meet at the Western Balkans Conference which will be held on 27 August in Brussels. The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Isa Mustafa, confirmed the news during a press conference held on Tuesday.
During this meeting, they are expected to discuss the up to date work on the projects of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and those of Transport and Infrastructure.
The European Integration Minister, Bekim Collaku, today signed a financial agreement between Kosovo and the EU on the next Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) program, consisting of €66 million. The European Commission director for Western Balkans, Jean Eric Paquet signed the agreement on behalf of the EU. Collaku said that the IPA annual program will support the sectors of rule of law, fundamental human rights, energy, innovation, agriculture and rural development.
The formation of the special court and its departments is underway, while the European Union has yet to decide about the seats of the specialist chambers and the office of the specialist prosecution. EU officials in Pristina told the news site that they are finalizing agreements with the country host where the special court will be based. This will then be followed by the selection of judges and the recruitment of staff.
The European Union through the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) allocated over € 55 million to support the rule of law in Kosovo. European Integration Minister Bekim Collaku said that the projects would be implemented from 2016 until 2018. According to him, €24 million will go on projects to support the Kosovo justice system reforms, while €13 million for projects for the Ministry of Internal Afairs.
Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister, Hashim Thaci, in an interview with the Germany-based Handelsblatt said that Kosovo’s membership in the European Union and NATO is an irreversible way. “The European Commission has called on the EU to sign the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with Kosovo and this is the best evidence that Kosovo has met the criteria set by Brussels for the SAA,” Thaci said. According to him, Kosovo had to meet many more criteria than the countries of the region in order to be granted visa liberalization.
The outgoing Dutch Ambassador in Serbia Laurent Stokvis said in an interview for Danas that he expect opening of the first chapter in the negotiations with the EU during this year. Stokvis has indicated that, from a technical point of view "an action plan for Chapter 23 on the rule of law has not been adopted ". From the political aspect, he noted that Belgrade and Pristina need to reach an agreement on issues that are now on the negotiating table.
Head of Kosovo’s technical delegation in the discussions between Kosovo and Serbia held in Brussels, Rrahim Pacolli, has proposed to the government of Kosovo to stop the discussions with Serbia, due to the lack of implementation of the agreement on the freedom of movement. “Serbia’s non-implementation of the agreement for the free movement of the citizens shows once again lack of seriousness and stability demonstrated continuously by the Serbian political elite towards the international factor.
The first meeting of the National Council for Investment, which was set up a few days ago by the government, is expected to be held in late July. This Council will manage the process of financing of infrastructure projects in Kosovo. This was announced by the Minister of European Integration, Bekim Collaku. According to him, this body aims to ensure synergy between the different sources of funding, namely the budget, loans and grants. He stressed that the EU has allocated 1 billion euros to finance infrastructure projects.
The front page editorial of this daily writes that the visit of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Tirana, after her reception of the high level delegation from Kosovo, might have rightfully enthused many people, being that these events proved increased attention of the most powerful EU state towards Balkans in general and Albanians in particular. “German attentiveness to concretize the Berlin process is a momentum that has to be used wisely by the politicians currently leading with Albania and Kosovo.
Is the wish of Hashim Thaqi to again become Kosovo Prime Minister maybe the main reason why last Brussels round of talks didn’t result in agreement between Belgrade and Pristina? Will the establishment of the Special Court for crimes committed by KLA (whose leader was Thaqi) be a trigger to terminate the coalition with Prime Minister Isa Mustafa and result in the new elections?