Kurti for Bloomberg: Billions for Western Balkans Must Connect to EU Values

There he has stressed that European Union funds for all six Western Balkan states must be related to EU values, broadcasts Klankosova.tv.

The European Union must connect the division of tens of millions of euros, reserved for the six Balkan countries hoping to join the bloc, with their data on rule of law and fighting corruption”, Kurti has indicated.

Prime Minister Kurti's statements are a rare call for more EU supervision from a region that is increasingly disappointed with the bloc's reluctance to speed up the accession process of new members.

They also coincide with confrontation between the European Commission and its members Poland and Hungary, who risk losing aid to billions of euros because of the impasse in democracy and violations of rule of law.

“shouldn't have EU funds, without EU values,” he said during an interview on summit margins in Slovenia. “The EU should not give up its transforming nature, for that transaction”.

Kurti has said that although he understands a move of member states to further expand the bloc due to disagreements and clashes over the democratic values of members who were admitted earlier this century, he warns against spreading this grief in the enlargement process.

I think it's good for the EU to return to its own essence, which is enlargement”.

And whenever the enlargement of the EU is said to be, first and foremost, is the Western Balkans, with which the EU achieves its harmony as continent”, it has said among other things.