The Deputy Secretary of the US Department of State, Philip Reeker stated during his speech at the Prespa Forum that only the reciprocal recognition between Kosovo and Serbia is a sustainable solution for the dialogue process.

Reeker also expressed his reservations regarding EU’s decision to not lift the visa regime for Kosovo, something that like he said, weakens the motivation to approach the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue with a spirit of compromise and flexibility.

“We believe that a sustainable solution is the one that includes mutual recognition and allows both countries to truly leave their disagreements behind, to put history in context and move toward a safer and more sustainable future.

Allow me to mention another field, where the EU can strengthen the consistency and credibility, and that is the liberalization of visas for Kosovo. After the continuous declarations of the European Commission and European Parliament that Kosovo has achieved all the preset conditions for free movement and travel to the Schengen area, the negation of visa liberalization toward Kosovo, combined with the negation of a European perspective on the horizon, weakens the motivation to approach the dialogue between Kosovo-Serbia with a spirit of compromise and flexibility,” argued Reeker.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

• Kosovo’s MFA clashes with Serbia’s ambassador to North Macedonia  
• Palmer: Leaders of the Western Balkans should be more concrete in the realization of objectives
• Regional Schengen, Vucic: EU’s decision on negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia was unfair