Kurt admits to American prestige: EU measures are damaging Kosovo

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has acknowledged that the European Union's punitive measures imposed on Kosovo after the government's unwillingness to de-climate the situation in the country's north according to the international community's demands are damaging Kosovo socio-economically.

In an interview for American prestige, Bloomberg, while staying in Slovenia under Blid's Strategic Forum, Kurti has stressed that Union austerity measures “are damaging the country in terms of financial support”, which are anchored to Kosovo in the form of grants and loans from the EU.

“The measures are damaging our state agencies and our business community”, Kurti said in an interview for Bloomberg.

The government's chief in this same interview has said that Kosovo and Serbia should normalise the reports, before allies start dealing with elections in the United States and the EU.

“There is a sense of urgency to implement the agreement and to normalise reports between Kosovo and Serbia, with mutual recognition at the centre, most recently until next year's spring”.

According to him, the return to the Brussels/Ohri Agreement adopted by Kosovo and Serbia in February and in March of this year is the only way forward.

The Agreement is still on the table”, he has posted.

The Kurti, among other things, has told Bloomberg that the US and the EU are willing to assist and support Kosovo, but all of the same also want to turn Serbia away from Russian influence.

Otherwise, the blocking of several projects in Kosovo due to EU measures had hinted in an interview for Klan Kosova and Germany's ambassador to Kosovo months ago.

On June 29th, a day after announcing the news of the deployment of punitive measures on the part of the Union, Kosovo was supposed to accept a grant from the EU through which the project conducted by France for the construction of a sewage plant in Pristina and surrounding municipalities would be funded, the AP writes.

So at least France's ambassador to Kosovo, Olivier Guerot, announced that the project in question, which at this stage was being suspended, was also being supported by the German state, as the latter would build pipes that would send sewage to this facility.

The project is not being discussed, so the grant is not approved and I am very sorry about that. Much work has been done for this project from France in co-operation with the current Kosovo government and also with past governments for Kosovo citizens. I look forward to the moment when we can continue this project. The implementation of this very concrete project would have had a positive impact on the quality of citizens' lives, on environmental quality. This project has been postponed and I am very sorry about this”, he said.

The Kosovo government, if not sanctioned, would also benefit from German state projects related to renewable energy.

However, both France and Germany, with the deployment of punitive measures approved by the 27 EU member states, has suspended several projects linking with renewable energy, as Ambassador Jorn Rohde said on an issue that could be resolved immediately.

“We want fresh air for Kosovo, as we want it for France and Germany, so the more it lasts naturally affects citizens' lives, so we need rapid progress and enlargement because the last thing people want is uncertainty and you know we have a lot of potential for economic development in the Western Balkans, we want the entire region to be closer to the EU”

Rohde, also in an interview for Klan Kosova, told of a conversation that had taken place “with a very good friend of Kosovo”, who had identified the German diplomat, that the current link in the north is jeopardising “to turn Kosovo back several years in approach to European structures”.

This is the last thing we want, for us it's clear that as soon as we continue on the path of the EU and the Council of Europe is better, and this is being undermined by the current” situation, he added.