The envoy of the United States of America for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, said that several member states of the Council of Europe have requested that Kosovo establish the Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority.<\/p>\n
During a conversation with journalists, Escobar said that the issue of the Association and some issues related to the Serbian minority, which have not been fulfilled, were continuous requests.<\/p>\n
“This is what is causing the concern that Kosovo may not have the votes for the Council of Europe”, said Escobar on May 8, writes Radio Free Europe.<\/p>\n
He said that the US does not have a vote in this European organization for human rights, but Washington’s position is that Kosovo should be a full member of the European Union, NATO and the United Nations “and will we continue to work on this”.<\/p>\n
“As for European integration, I think it is important for Kosovo to listen to its European allies and work with European allies, as we strengthen Kosovo’s candidacy in all Euro-Atlantic structures”, he added.<\/p>\n
The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, declared earlier on May 8 that his Government will not accept the establishment of the Association as a condition for membership in the Council of Europe.<\/p>\n
Kosovo has already passed two stages on the way to admission to the Council of Europe. However, the final decision on Kosovo’s admission or not to this organization can be taken on May 16, when the Foreign Ministers of this organization meet.<\/p>\n
For Kosovo to become a member of the Council of Europe, its acceptance must be supported by at least two-thirds of the 46 member countries.<\/p>\n
Asked if the issue of the Association and the Council of Europe are related issues, Escobar said that “they are very related”.<\/p>\n
“I think they are very connected. First, the Council of Europe deals with the treatment of minorities and Kosovo has made a clear commitment to the treatment of minorities and this includes the Association. This is a serious commitment that is also written in the Ahtisaari Plan, it is written in the Brussels and Ohrid Agreement”, said Escobar.<\/p>\n
“We find it difficult to understand why Kosovo does not fulfill its legal obligation and has not signaled that it is committed to doing so. Our concern is that after [Kosovo’s accession to the Council of Europe] there would only be more delays [for the implementation of the agreement on the Association], and this is what some believe,” the senior American official added.<\/p>\n
Within the dialogue for the normalization of relations, which is mediated by the European Union, Kosovo and Serbia have reached an agreement in 2013 and then in 2015 for the establishment of the Association.<\/p>\n
In 2015, the Constitutional Court of Kosovo said that the Agreement on the principles for the establishment of the Association was not in full compliance with the Constitution.<\/p>\n
The EU and the USA have repeatedly called on Kosovo to establish the Association. Last year, the international community presented Kosovo and Serbia with a draft statute for the Association.<\/p>\n
The parties initially accepted the draft statute, but no steps have yet been taken towards its establishment.<\/p>\n
During this virtual conversation with journalists, Escobar, who ends his term at the end of this month. He said that the post was for 2 years, but he had asked for an additional year in the hope that progress would be made towards the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia.<\/p>\n
“Because I really believed that by the end of this year we would have more progress on the Ohrid Agreement, that we would have full implementation of some requirements for Serbia and the Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority and that we would be able to bring Kosovo closer to European integration through the Partnership for Peace and candidacy for the EU.<\/p>\n
He blamed Kosovo and Serbia for failing to fulfill their commitments arising from the Agreement on the road to the normalization of relations and its implementation Annex, which the parties reached last year.<\/p>\n
Escobar said he still hopes that this can be achieved through the full implementation of the normalization agreement, which he described as “historic”.<\/p>\n
The agreement of 11 articles, among other things, foresees a level of self-management for the Serbian community in Kosovo and mutual recognition of state symbols, while asking Pristina and Belgrade to also implement all previous agreements reached during the dialogue.<\/p>\n
The American diplomat said that the EU envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, is in Washington. The key topics, according to him, will be strategies on how to move forward with the implementation of the Agreement on the road to normalization and the issue of banning the use of the Serbian dinar in Kosovo for making payments.<\/p>\n
Kosovo and Serbia, under the mediation of the EU, have been conducting negotiations for normalization since 2011. The process is supported by Washington and the mediators have said that the goal of the dialogue is for the parties to achieve full normalization of relations.<\/p>\n
Escobar said that he thought that a normalization agreement between Kosovo and Serbia should not have been so difficult to implement.<\/p>\n
According to him, Kosovo would benefit from new recognitions, the Partnership for Peace, candidacy for the EU, dialogue on bilateral strategic partnership with the USA and a donor conference. For Serbia, it would also be beneficial to organize a donor conference, a faster solution to Chapter 35 of the EU membership talks, which would enable Serbia to close this chapter and additional investments for both parties.<\/p>\n
In exchange for these benefits, Escobar said the states would have to agree to work together to make life much better for Serb citizens in Kosovo.<\/p>\n
During the conversation with journalists, Escobar was also asked about the visit of the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, to Serbia. He said that the time of this visit was chosen to “increase tensions between Serbia and the rest of the Western community”.<\/p>\n
The visit coincides with the anniversary of the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade by NATO. The Western military alliance has said it mistakenly bombed the embassy in 1999.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the European diplomat was optimistic about the European path of other countries in the region, including Albania and North Macedonia. Escobar said he believes the newest member of the EU will be Montenegro.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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The envoy of the United States of America for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, said that several member states of the Council of Europe have requested that Kosovo establish the Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority. During a conversation with journalists, Escobar said that the issue of the Association and some issues related to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":69012,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[163,1803],"tags":[870,1350,303,150,243,151,3982,762,1564,301,804],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n