European Union Spokesperson Peter Stano has said that the bloc does not rule out the possibility of Kosovo facing additional measures if the Government fails to meet international demands.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a series of measures, or proposals for a series of measures. Some of them have already come into force. Some are still being discussed, and member states will gradually implement them if there is no change in the approach of the authorities in Kosovo. The spectrum is relatively wide,\u201d said Stano at a press conference.<\/p>\n
According to him, the measures taken against Kosovo are not sanctions or restrictive measures in the classical sense.<\/p>\n
Stano stated that the measures are temporary and are a response to the \u201cfailure\u201d of Kosovo\u2019s Prime Minister Albin Kurti to take concrete and immediate steps to reduce tensions in the northern part of Kosovo.<\/p>\n
When asked why the EU is not taking measures against Serbia, which \u201cdoes not implement the agreement with Kosovo, instigates problems in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and does not support sanctions against Russia\u201d, Stano said that these issues should not be mixed with each other.<\/p>\n
\u201c… because there is a specific situation in Kosovo, tensions created as a result of elections with low citizen participation.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stated that Serbia has taken steps to reduce tensions by making partial withdrawals of the army from the areas near the territory of Kosovo.<\/p>\n
Throughout the press conference, Stano reiterated several times that despite efforts and bilateral discussions between high-level EU officials and Prime Minister Kurti, the latter has \u201cnot taken the necessary steps to reduce tensions\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe letter he sent to the High Representative Borrell, where he made five proposals, does not address the main problem and fails to take steps to reduce tensions.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked to comment on Kurti\u2019s criticism of the EU envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue Miroslav Laj\u010d\u00e1k, that he is not acting as an impartial facilitator but \u201ccomes with Serbia\u2019s requests\u201d, Stano said he does not comment on the statements of parties and that \u201cLaj\u010d\u00e1k was appointed and received his mandate from 27 EU countries and carries out his mandate on behalf of the EU in an impartial manner\u201d.<\/p>\n
Diplomatic sources say that the European Union has prepared initial measures, such as sanctions against Kosovo due to the government\u2019s failure to respond to the immediate steps requested by the European Union for the reduction of tensions in the north.<\/p>\n
According to these measures, the sanctions will include the suspension of invitations for Kosovo\u2019s participation in high-level events and bilateral visits from the European Union and member states. Meetings will only take place when they need to focus on addressing the crisis in northern Kosovo and finding a solution.<\/p>\n
Local Serbs have opposed such actions and have been protesting in front of municipal buildings since May 29th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n EU diplomatic sources have said that member states are not obligated to implement measures against Kosovo, but some of them have already started to apply certain restrictive measures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" European Union Spokesperson Peter Stano has said that the bloc does not rule out the possibility of Kosovo facing additional measures if the Government fails to meet international demands. \u201cThere is a series of measures, or proposals for a series of measures. Some of them have already come into force. Some are still being discussed, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":55495,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[163],"tags":[2471,308,150,243,151,383,2787,2203,2725,785,2489,2585],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n