The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said it is important for Kosovo to continue building strong institutions and to \u201creduce tensions\u201d in the country, following her meetings with the country’s leaders on Wednesday in Pristina.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe remain committed to a future where all six Western Balkan partners will be part of our Union. For this, it is important that Kosovo continues to build strong institutions, reduce tensions in the country, and also complete the necessary steps to benefit from the Growth Plan,\u201d she wrote on her account on X.<\/p>\n
It is not clear what specific tensions von der Leyen was referring to in her post on X, but Kosovo authorities have recently been criticized by the EU for shutting down offices in Mitrovica belonging to the Health Insurance Fund and the Disability and Pension Insurance Fund, which operate under Serbia\u2019s system.<\/p>\n
In September, the EU had called on Kosovo\u2019s caretaker government and other relevant institutions to \u201crefrain from such provocations and harmful actions, and to consult with the local Serb community and international partners.\u201d<\/p>\n
Von der Leyen was received in separate meetings by Kosovo\u2019s President Vjosa Osmani and caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti. Neither von der Leyen nor Kosovo\u2019s leaders made any statements to the media after the meetings.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said it is important for Kosovo to continue building strong institutions and to \u201creduce tensions\u201d in the country, following her meetings with the country’s leaders on Wednesday in Pristina. \u201cWe remain committed to a future where all six Western Balkan partners will be part of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":80832,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[163,1803],"tags":[243,151],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n