New year, old demand: EU expects Kosovo to start founding association early in year

Governmenters led Prime Minister Albin Kurti yesterday began the new year by celebrating some achievements they earned. One minister even said that for less than three years, they managed to do what their predecessors “failed to do for two decades”. Dialogue with Serbia cannot be overlooked, EU emissary Miroslav Lajcak, who spoke of progress in normalising relations, said on the other side of the EU's emission, stressing that “Kosovo is finally expected to move forward with the establishment of association”. In Brussels, they expect this to begin early this year.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti and his deputy, Donika Grovalla, went early to the “Adem Jashari” airport to track the first citizens travelling without visas after liberalisation went into effect.

“This morning of the new 2024 year does not have a better start than with expanding rights and opportunities for citizens of our Republic”, Kurti said at a media conference, where he spoke of strengthening the state's identity and dignity in the international arena.

Since Monday, January 1st, vehicles with license plates issued by Kosovo began moving freely on Serbia's territory, according to a decision made in advance in Belgrade.

After lunch, Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi, Kosovo's chief negotiator in dialogue with Serbia, wrote on Facebook that the Serbian company, Elektrossever, has begun nominating electricity consumed in the country's north, as agreed with KED. He said that “1 January 2024 marked the beginning of important processes for our country, and for more processes that are taking place for the first time”.

“After more than 20 years, even in the north of our country, the same current will be paid as in the entire territory of the Republic of Kosovo”, Bislim wrote. He got this sentence to post to his Facebook account, as well as the head of the System, Transition and Electricity Market in Kosovo (KOSTT), Evenar Zeqiri.

Finance Minister Iron Murati wrote yesterday that “at that others failed to do for two decades was done for less than 3 years”, citing visa liberalisation, recognition of vehicle plates from Serbia and the current agreement in the north.

And LVV deputy Dimal Basha thus demonstrated joy for one of yesterday's successes.

When our drivers were forced to stick stickers in Serbia, while Serbian drivers were running freely with Serbia's license plates in Kosovo!
Today, Serbian citizens continue to place stickers in Kosovo, while our citizens freely circulate with RKS in Serbia!
The change has a name!
Albin Kurti wrote”.

Yesterday, the European Union's envoy for Kosovo-Serbia dialogue Miroslav Lajcak has specifically spoken of the Association of Serb majority municipalities and some progress achieved in this direction in an interview for the Serbian media, “Politika”.

Lajcak said that it is expected that “Kosovo will finally move forward” towards establishing the Association, and Serbia parallelly “fulfilled the essential parts of its obligations under the” agreement. He said implementation cannot be an endless process, and showed that in Brussels they are waiting for the establishment of the Association to begin at the beginning of this year.

“Discutions for their steps and actions and rankings are continuing and we expect the parties to reach an agreement soon so that implementation can finally begin. It is clear, however, that while Kosovo is finally expected to move forward with the establishment of the Serbian majority municipalities' Association/Unitivity, Serbia is expected to meet in parallel the essential parts of its obligations under the agreement. This process should be transparent and fair”, Lajcak said, asked when he expects dialogue to resume and what has been discussed in recent separate meetings with key negotiators Besnik Bislimi and Petar Petkovic.

Lajcak said that in the additional “ ” of December “there have been some advances”.

Emisari said that in October, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq “agreed in principle to European draft status at a meeting with the French president, German Chancellor, Italian prime minister, as well as the president of the European Council and senior representative in Brussels”, citing this as a clear “before”.

“was also found to need additional work in the statute before implementation begins. This is a clear step forward, and unlike the past years, we are now actively discussing the creation of an Association/Unity based on the proposal we have presented. We have already had two rounds of expert-level talks with Serbia for the draft-state and have managed to clear up some misunderstandings and answer certain questions, but we have not covered all issues yet. Since the European draft state contains many detailed provisions for a wide range of topics, we will have to continue these discussions after the holidays. However, this cannot be an endless process and we expect the implementation of the agreement and the establishment of association/community to begin at the beginning of 2024”, Lajcak said.

The diplomat also stressed that “dialog cannot be bypassed”.

From Brussels even a week ago, they said the foundation of the association “is expected to start soon”. The EU said it is expecting moves from Kosovo, as it welcomed Serbia's decision to recognise the license plates issued by the state, which it does not officially recognise.

EU spokeswoman Nabila Masrali has told Gazeta Express that it is now the advanced phase of the process of establishing this community of municipalities.

“We expect both sides to continue discussions on the basis of this draft. Kosovo has had the opportunity to present a proposal for Association in the last 10 years. At this advanced phase of the process, where the establishment of Association is expected to begin soon, Kosovo is invited to provide their comments and suggestions for the draft on the table”, Masrali said.

The answer was specifically for Kurti, who had earlier expressed readiness to write a draft status status to the association, thus reacting to EU emissary Miroslav Lajcak, who said that the draft association status is an internal issue for Kosovo.

While the European Union and the United States expect Kosovo's prime minister to move urgently towards forming association, Kurti said ahead last week that the chance for this was lost on the night of October 26th, when he held in Brussels a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, France's president, Emmanuel Macron and Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Melon.

Lajcak, who has won an important mediation experience in meetings between Kurti and Vuciqi and the chief negotiators, has recently presented more pleased with the implementation process, saying there is progress in normalising relations.