On Sunday, it has been two years since Kosovo submitted its application for membership in the European Union. The request is still in the drawer of the European Council. An official of the European Union told KOHNA that the application is being reviewed in the European Council and that discussions are being held among the member states. “Regarding the process, once a unanimous agreement is reached, the Council will formally invite the European Commission to review the application and prepare an opinion on the merits of the country’s application based on the membership criteria,” says the response.
The official did not say what are the reasons why no movement has been made in this direction, he only said that any progress requires unanimity.
“Note that any progress requires unanimity and, within the EU, there are five member states that currently do not recognize Kosovo’s independence,” the official said. He did not want to comment on the possibility of moving forward with the application during the next year.
“Discussions between member states are ongoing and at this stage it is not possible to predict the outcome. However, President Costa has repeated on many occasions that enlargement remains a geostrategic priority for the EU, as mentioned in the Strategic Agenda 2024-2029. And the future Polish Presidency has stated in its program that it will work to ‘advance the enlargement process, both in the eastern direction and in relation to the Western Balkans, in accordance with the inclusion of countries aspiring to join the EU, with the merit-based approach. Therefore, the work will continue next year to advance in the expansion process”, says the answer.
And the ambassador of France in Kosovo, Olivier Guerot, in a statement for “KosovaPress”, said that some EU member countries are still not convinced that it is the right moment to consider Kosovo’s application.
“I think some EU members are not entirely convinced that it is appropriate at the moment. Here I think we return to the issue of the implementation of the Ohrid agreement or the February 27 agreement to convince all member countries that it is the right moment. We support that Kosovo eventually becomes a member of the EU, as well as other countries in the region. We clearly see the path towards European integration, we wish that some conditions are met, one of the most important conditions is this political condition that Kosovo be fully engaged in the dialogue and in the implementation of the agreements reached during the dialogue. For other issues such as the readiness for internal reforms, the readiness of the economy, the readiness of the institutions, we see a progress made by the government of Kosovo”, he said.
Klisman Kadiu, adviser to Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi, said that movement is expected from the new EU leadership.
“We are waiting for the acceptance of the questionnaire and evaluation based on meritocracy for the advancement in the process. Kosovo deserves to receive the status of a candidate country, and we will prove this by accepting the completed questionnaire, according to the criteria and deadlines set by the European Union… We expect concrete steps with the arrival of the new constellation in the composition of the institutions in the Union European, and the future presidency of Poland from January”, said Kadiu.
