Progress Report on Kosovo not expected to be positive

The European Commission's Progress Report, which will be published in the second week of April, according to EU integration connoisseurs and Kosovo Assembly MPs, is not expected to be very positive.

The European Commission releases the findings, known as the Progress Report, once a year for Western Balkan countries, by which it measures the progress of these countries towards European integrations and determines obligations to meet the criteria, the REL reports.

This year, the publishing date is said to be April 17th.

The arrest of six Turkish citizens living in Kosovo and their deportation to Turkey, according to Avni Mazrekt, European Law professor, will be reflected in the findings that will be published in the European Commission's Progress Report, part of Kosovo.

He says that in a country where, as he calls it, there is chaos of institutional interaction, a positive report cannot be expected.

Kosovo will not fully qualify in this report, because in those three directions, in which the state is assessed by European Commission reports, there are political, economic and judicial criteria. The political criterion, the critical point in the country, is institutional stability and credibility in institutions and normally such an act that ignores procedures, ignores the laws in power of Kosovo where there is fog and chaos of institutional interaction, cannot be expected a positive qualifications for Kosovo, and this goes in the direction of negative qualifications. Also, there are other areas besides this case, so that Kosovo does not qualify positively in terms of institutional capacities”, Mazreku estimates.

Last Thursday in Kosovo, six Turkish citizens were arrested and later deported to Turkey. Five of those deported were employees in Kosovo's “schools Mehmet Akif”, the property of Turkish cleric Fetullah Gulen, meanwhile, the sixth person was a Turkish doctor.

Erdogan blames cleric Gulen for a coup effort in Turkey in 2016.

The leaders of the central institutions in Kosovo have said they have not been aware of this operation. For this fact, Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj on Friday has dismissed Interior Minister Flamur Sefaj and Kosovo Intelligence Agency chief Driton Gashi from office.

On the other hand, Blerta Deliu-Codra, chairman of the Commission for European Integration in the Kosovo Assembly, tells Radio Free Europe that this report will testify a lot and there will be some clarifications Kosovo needs in its mechanisms in rule of law and other areas.

“Report will be a real situation reflection report in Kosovo and I do not expect it to be very positive. There will be positive effects on some actions Kosovo institutions have taken, such as demarcation of the border with Montenegro, but we do remember that Kosovo has long been involved in electoral processes, then elections have prevented even taking the necessary steps to address the problems domestic institutions have had, she says.

“I see it as easy progress, but I think that us as institutions, we are left with the burden of devoting ourselves and working harder to meet the challenges that will be in the Kosovo Progress Report”, deputy Deliu-Codra points out.

Otherwise, the latest progress report has raised many remarks about the work of institutions. Concerns were raised about continuing clashes in Kosovo between the ruling political parties and the opposition.