Escobar: This year Kosovo has lost support for recognition, NATO integration: We hope to do it in 2024.

US Emisari for the Western Balkans Gabriel Escobar, in an interview for “Pavovic Today”, has been asked about possible measures or consequences from the US to keep Prime Minister Albin Kurti responsible for the dialogue issue, the newspaper Express writes.

He said he wants to talk about measures, but about consequences. Escobar has said that Kosovo is already facing the consequences of unwillingness to work closely with the European Union.

He has said he has offered Kosovo a new recognition campaign to convince the different countries that Kosovo has done everything necessary under the Ohrid Agreement.

Escobar has said they have hoped for strategic dialogue as well The US-Kosovo, and they look forward to Kosovo joining NATO's Partnership for Peace and supporting Kosovo's EU candidacy. But it says that for this year these are on the table, and it has expressed hope that they could happen in 2024. All of this, according to Escobar, since Kosovo is implementing the Ohrid Agreement.

I don't want to talk about the measures. I wanna talk about the consequences. So Kosovo is already facing consequences from its unwillingness to work closely with the European Union. But what I'm saying is what you have is not consequences, but missed opportunities. So after Ohrid, I had discussed with the Kosovo government, The US will launch a new recognition campaign to convince countries that Kosovo has done everything necessary under the Ohrid Agreement. We expected a strategic bilateral dialogue; we look forward to a closer relationship with NATO, potentially including the Partnership for Peace, and then the support of Kosovo's European Union candidacy. Unfortunately, because we haven't had any application in Ohrid, all this is now off the table. I wish, I would hope we could do this in 2024.”, Escobar said of Pavlovic Today.