The European Union is not investing strong efforts to resolve the Kosovo-Serbia problem and stimulate reforms in the Western Balkans, but it still wants to stabilize the region, the Beta news agency was told at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
Diplomatic sources told the news agency that the EU’s strategic goal is the security, political and economic stabilization of the Western Balkans.
Veton Surroi considers that renegotiation of the agreement for the demarcation of the border between Kosovo and Montenegro is an interest of Kosovo, because, according to him, this would create an internal consensus. He also considers that it is an interest of Kosovo and Montenegro for the demarcation to happen based on the consent of both parties. Currently this is not possible being that one of the parties is not unanimous, he writes.
Kosovo Assembly President, Kadri Veseli, posted on Facebook today on the occasion of Europe Day saying that Kosovo has never been closer to the European Union. Veseli wrote: “Today is Europe Day which marks the historic declaration by Robert Schuman 66 years ago when he presented the visionary idea of creating inter-state institutions between countries that just years earlier had waged the worst war against one another.
The Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Isa Mustafa, issued a press release today saying that Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, will visit Pristina on Thursday. Mogherini is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Mustafa. Mogherini and Mustafa are expected to give a joint conference for the media.
Brussels-based correspondent Augustin Palokaj argues in an opinion piece that the main condition for Kosovo to obtain visa liberalization is the sentencing of senior officials in cases of corruption and organized crime. “The European Union wants proof of this. There is no more room for politicians because it seems that visa liberalization is now in the hands of Kosovo’s courts.
Several news sites report that Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Isa Mustafa, has travelled to Brussels where he will meet with leaders of the European Union.
The European Union is calling on Pristina and Belgrade to implement the duties that are included in the agreement for the formation of the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities. One day after the Constitutional Court of Kosovo suspended the agreement until a decision on its constitutional compliance is made, officials in Brussels say that the agreement reached on August 25 between Kosovo and Serbia prime ministers must be implemented.
Following the ratification of the Stabilization/Association Agreement with the European Union, First Deputy Prime Minister Hashim Thaci told reporters in the Assembly hall that Kosovo will now assume new obligations and responsibilities. “These responsibilities will be directly linked to the implementation of certain criteria that are required to move forward with reforms in the legislation and the economy.
The Kosovo Government presented to the European Union today a report on the last six months of the dialogue with Belgrade. The report signed by Kosovo’s Minister for Dialogue Edita Tahiri notes: “In general terms, the Government of Kosovo considers that the Brussels dialogue has made very good progress in this reporting period because there were number of agreements reached in important topics and, the implementation process has been progressing in some of them.
Elmaz Isufi, in an opinion piece for Koha, writes that the promises of political parties in the election campaign, to reduce unemployment and poverty, may be fulfilled easier than their predictions. Not from their development policies, but from the massive escape of Kosovo citizens, mostly young people, towards European countries. If for nothing else, this will serve for internal statistics to be translated into success - fewer unemployed, less poor, writes Isufi.