Prime Minister Albin Kurti met today in Brussels with General Director for Enlargement Gert Jan Koopman, with whom he discussed the process of Kosovo’s integration into the EU, including the perspective for advancing the candidacy for membership in the current European context.
In the meeting, other issues related to the EU expansion process in the Western Balkans region were discussed, including the need for the functionalization of the Common Regional Market, on the principles of equal participation for all the states of the region.
Kurti said that Kosovo is interested in making the Common Regional Market operational, especially now when the 10th anniversary of the Berlin Process is being marked and added that this should be achieved by advancing in the direction of bringing the region closer to European standards, both in the field of economy and those in the field of democracy and the rule of law.
He emphasized that for Kosovo, the current obstacles in its progress are related to the security situation and the constant threat from Serbia and which he said that Kosovo seeks to address in cooperation with Western partners, precisely because of Serbia’s numerous and close ties with Russia.
Speaking about the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue process, which is a separate process, but which has an impact on the expansion of the EU, Kurti said that Kosovo has always been a constructive party and that he is interested in the conclusion of this process.
Kosovo reaffirms its commitment to the process of normalizing relations between Kosovo and Serbia and pledges constructive engagement in the process to move it forward quickly. In this context, Kosovo pledges to fully implement all respective obligations arising from the basic agreement on the road to normalization and its implementing annex, including all past dialogue agreements. The implementation details will be discussed in the dialogue under the facilitation of the EU, Prime Minister Kurti said.
At the meeting, the beginning of the implementation of the Growth Plan was also discussed, as an instrument of the European Commission created to give a great impetus to the fastest and most comprehensive rapprochement of the countries of the Western Balkans with the EU.
Meanwhile, Koopman ordered that the commitment of the European institutions in Brussels for the integration of Kosovo and the Western Balkans in the EU is strong and will continue to be so even with the future composition of the European Commission.
