European Parliament Again to Call on 5 EU Countries to recognise Kosovo

This EP invitation is repeated in the draft report for Kosovo, prepared at the Foreign Policy Commission by Kosovo rapporteur Violet von Cremon. This call is not new, as the European Parliament continues to be the only EU institution since the beginning refers to Kosovo as a state and constantly calls on member states to recognise Kosovo's citizenship.

“found that the five member states have still not recognised Kosovo and repeated calls on those to do so; it is highlighted that recognition would benefit the normalisation of reports between Kosovo and Serbia”, the document says.

This report includes a two-year period, since there was no European Parliament report in 2019 because it was a year of European elections, and new EP compositions were expected.

The draft report says Kosovo is continuing to suffer from political instability, especially after the October 2019 parliamentary elections. Kosovo is required to step up efforts to address problems in the field of rule of law, fundamental rights, functioning of institutions and economic development. It also expresses regret over the removal of an anti-corruption task force within the Kosovo Police.

The report underlines that Kosovo continues to be the only state of the Western Balkan region whose citizens need visas to travel to the Schengen area, even though Kosovo has met all conditions for visa liberalisation since 2018.

Therefore, with this report, based on its draft textist, the Eurodeputs welcome the repetition of the European Commission's stance that Kosovo can benefit from visa liberalisation and call on the Council to urgently move towards establishing the visa-free regime for Kosovo citizens, writes rel.

The European Parliament, through this report, requires Kosovo to step up efforts in fighting corruption and organised crime and to prove more political will even in fulfilling specific conditions with the agenda of European reforms (ERA).

This text expresses regret over the Kosovo Government's decision to wipe out the Ministry of European Integrations, but it requires that new structures have the proper level of competencies so that they will be able to co-ordinate the integration process.

A considerable part of the report compiled by the EP is dedicated to dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia. The EP, said in the report, welcomes the resumption of dialogue and the commitment expressed by the two countries for the process. Pristina and official Belgrade are invited to continue constructive engagement in search of comprehensive agreements, but also to implement agreements reached so far.

Also reportedly, the agreement reached in Washington on September 4th for normalising economic relations is announced and underlined that transatlantic co-operation is a key factor in stability in the region.

More efforts are required in this document to discover the fate of undiscovered persons since the recent war in Kosovo. It also repeats support for establishing the regional Commission for the facts of war crimes and serious human rights violations on the territory of the former Yugoslavia (RECOM).

“Call for greater efforts in reviewing the demands of the family of the undiscovered persons, opening the war archives, and uncovering data for persons who are still listed as missing from the 1998-99 war period in Kosovo”, the document says.

The report also deals with the state of the environment in Kosovo, where high levels of pollution are highlighted in Kosovo and demand that power generation capacities increase from alternative sources. The EP expresses concern about the high rate of early mortality as a consequence of pollution and seeks to address these problems and gradually disrupt energy production from coal.

In this direction it is required of Kosovo to respect European standards, while the European Commission is required to include Kosovo in the strategy of the Green European Agreement.

The report was drafted by the rapporteur for Kosovo in the European Parliament, Violet von Cremon. It will be first debated at the European Parliament Foreign Commission, where it will be voted in as a report. Then it will also be debated and adopted as a European Parliament resolution during a plenary session.